Google is expanding ads in AI Mode to ten countries and introducing ads in responses to follow-up questions within the same conversation in the United States. The October 28 announcement concerns advertising in Search's conversational experience, where users can continue a search through comparisons and successive questions. Ad availability remains tied to markets, language and the eligibility of existing campaigns.
The announced expansion covers Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. For the fourth quarter of 2026, Google separately outlined plans to add Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Those three markets belong to the announced roadmap, while the first group is included in the expansion now under way.
English in the included markets, follow-up questions in the US
The Google Ads documentation specifies that ads inside AI Mode and AI Overviews are available in English in the listed markets. Pakistan has an additional qualification: text ads only. Indonesia appears on the AI Overviews list, with an explicit distinction that this availability does not include AI Mode. Romania is not included in the current list for these internal placements.
The US launch of multiturn ads adds the possibility of an ad appearing when the user continues the conversation. Commercial relevance can emerge in the first question or later, after the person clarifies their needs. Ads carry a Sponsored label and are visually distinguished from the system's organically generated responses.
AI Mode is a search experience that supports detailed questions, comparisons and continued conversation. The availability of the experience to users and the availability of a particular advertising placement are described separately. The list for ads inside responses should not be confused with countries where standard ads can appear above or below an AI Overview.
Existing campaigns participate through the Google Ads auction
Google includes existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns in its eligibility rules. Participation uses the Google Ads auction, without a separate campaign or budget created specifically for AI Mode. The system can match an ad directly to a commercial query, or use both the query and the AI response to identify a relevant commercial option.
Contextual matching is available to mechanisms such as AI Max for Search with search term matching enabled, broad match keywords, Shopping and Performance Max. Exact and phrase match keywords can participate when the query directly expresses commercial intent. Google distinguishes their eligibility from exploratory questions matched contextually against the response.
In Search, AI Max combines search term matching with asset optimization. The first component uses keywords, advertising assets and website pages to identify relevant searches. The second includes text customization and final URL expansion. Text and URL settings can be managed individually, while final URL expansion requires text customization to be enabled.
Performance Max uses a goal-based campaign to access advertising inventory across several Google services, including Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. The campaign uses the conversion goals and assets provided by the advertiser. Eligibility for AI search experiences builds on that existing mechanism, under Google's specified market and language conditions.
AI explanations and advertising copy have different roles
In some placements, Gemini can generate a brief explanation of the relationship between sponsored options and the user's search. These explanations can introduce a group of ads or add context alongside an individual ad. The information used can come from the query, the AI response and public sources, including the advertiser's website.
The generated explanation is not an ad headline or description. The advertiser does not manually write, edit or approve it and has no separate option to turn it off. Google also mentions placements with static headers. Campaign assets, product information and the landing page remain separate components from this generated context.
Reporting remains within current campaigns
Impressions, clicks, conversions and costs from these placements enter the aggregate reports for eligible campaigns. Search terms are also incorporated into standard reporting. The search terms report describes the phrases that triggered ads; Google applies privacy thresholds, so the list does not represent a complete inventory of every individual search.
In that report, a search term is the expression used by the person, while a keyword is the element configured by the advertiser for matching. The distinction remains relevant to conversational queries. Aggregate data can include AI Mode activity without standard reporting automatically turning it into an independent campaign with its own budget.
Google retains the auction mechanism and bidding models applicable to Search, without an additional participation fee for these experiences. The company states that paid advertising and the organic selection of AI responses operate independently. The announced expansion changes the markets and points in the conversation where ads can appear, within existing campaigns and controls.
Advertiser controls continue to include negative keywords and brand exclusions. AI Overviews and AI Mode are part of Search: campaigns cannot target these two experiences exclusively or opt out of their placements separately while maintaining the same participation in Search. Google treats this availability as part of search inventory, managed through the eligible campaign's rules.
In its expansion announcement, the company also describes the behavior of conversational queries. According to a Google report for the US from May 2026, questions in AI Mode are, on average, three times longer than traditional searches. Separately, internal US data from August 20 to September 3, 2026 indicates similar click-through rates for sponsored and organic items in AI Mode product lists. The comparison concerns those list items, rather than every advertising format or all the newly added markets.
