🔍 Read the full analysis: AI Search Ads And Slowing Growth: Google’s Worldwide Expansion on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Google announced on October 28 that ads in its conversational AI Mode search are expanding to 10 more countries, with ads also entering US follow-up questions. The news comes as Alphabet reported Google Search & other revenue growth slowed to 12% in the third quarter, while questions remain about ad effectiveness, website traffic and how clearly ads are separated from AI answers.
Google said on October 28 that ads in its conversational AI Mode search are expanding to 10 additional countries, while US users will also see ads in follow-up questions. The announcement coincided with Alphabet reporting that Google Search & other revenue grew 12% in the third quarter, slower than in the previous quarter, putting a new ad format alongside questions about how the company will sustain growth as search changes.
The new markets are Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. Google plans to add Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2026, according to the announcement by Shashi Thakur, who leads Google’s search ads. The company’s help page lists 12 countries for ads in AI answers as of October 29 and says the feature is available in English; Germany and other EU countries are not listed.
In the United States, Google is introducing what it calls “multiturn ads” in AI Mode. That means ads may appear not just alongside the first response, but also when a user asks a follow-up question. Google says the ads will be labeled “Sponsored”. Existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns participate automatically, according to Google Ads Help. Advertisers do not get a separate targeting control or an opt-out for these placements, and reporting is provided in aggregate. Google’s AI may also generate short explanations beside ads that advertisers cannot edit.
Google describes AI Overviews as summaries shown within regular search results and AI Mode as a separate, chat-style search experience. The company says AI Mode queries average three times the length of traditional searches. It also says click-through rates for sponsored and unpaid product-list items in AI Mode were similar in internal US data collected from August 20 to September 3, 2026. That comparison concerns product-list items within AI Mode, not clicks to external websites.
Infographic 01 · From test to global
The answer now carries the ad, in more places.
How Google moved ads into its AI answers in two years, where they show today, and the revenue pressure behind the move.
Where ads appear inside AI answers
Per Google’s help page and the 28 Oct post. The list “may not be exhaustive”.
Follow-up questions (“multiturn ads”): US only. Germany and the rest of the EU: not listed. Ads above or below AI Overviews can show wherever AI Overviews exist (200+ countries and territories).
Why now: Google Search & other revenue growth
Year over year, as reported by Alphabet. Bars scaled to 19%.
Q2 to Q3 2026: about +0.1%. Same months a year earlier: about +4.4% (my arithmetic). Google names exchange rates as the largest driver of the slowdown, and the “lower monetization” of AI Mode as one factor.
- 3 Oct 2024Ads inside AI Overviews go liveUS, mobile, after months of testing
- 21 May 2025Desktop in the US; first tests in AI ModeEnglish-speaking countries announced for later in 2025
- 20 May 2026New formats in testingConversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers, both with a Gemini-written “AI explainer”
- 28 Oct 2026AI Mode ads in 10 more countriesPlus “multiturn ads” in follow-up questions in the US; labeled “Sponsored”
- Q4 2026Planned: Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom“Additional locales, including” these three
Sources: Google, 28 Oct 2026; Google Ads Help, accessed 29 Oct 2026; Google, 3 Oct 2024; Google, 21 May 2025; Google, 20 May 2026; Alphabet Q3 2026 release and the Q4 2025, Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 releases. “3× longer” is Google’s AI Mode report (US, May 2026). Quarter-on-quarter changes and bar scaling: Thorsten Meyer.
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Ads Reach Further Into Search
The expansion puts advertising inside a search experience where users can ask a question, receive a synthesized response and continue the conversation without returning to a conventional results page. That could give advertisers more chances to reach people as they refine what they want, but it also makes the boundary between an answer and an ad more consequential for users.
For publishers, the key issue is whether users click through to the websites that supply information or find what they need in the AI response. A 2026 working paper by Agarwal and Sen reports a randomized experiment involving 1,065 US users: when AI Overviews appeared, clicks to websites fell by 39.8%, while clicks on ads showed no measurable change. The study is evidence about that experiment, not a universal estimate of traffic effects across all searches or markets.
The financial backdrop adds another dimension. Google Search remains Alphabet’s largest business, generating $63.4 billion in the third quarter, about half of Alphabet’s revenue. The expansion gives Google additional ways to place ads in AI search, but the available figures do not establish how much these new formats will contribute to future revenue or whether they will make up for lower monetization in AI Mode.
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From Search Results to AI Mode
Google has been adding advertising to AI search in stages. Ads in AI Overviews began appearing for mobile users in the United States in October 2024. In May 2025, the company brought them to desktop and began testing ads in AI Mode. At Google Marketing Live in May 2026, it started testing formats including Conversational Discovery ads, which use Gemini to tailor ad text to a question, and Highlighted Answers, where an ad can appear in a list of AI recommendations.
Alphabet’s latest results show Search & other revenue rising from $63.3 billion in Q2 2026 to $63.4 billion in Q3. Year-over-year growth was 17% in Q2 and 12% in Q3. The preceding three reported growth rates were 17%, 19% and 17%, for Q4 2025, Q1 2026 and Q2 2026, respectively. Those figures show a slowdown in the reported growth rate, though not a decline in quarterly revenue.
On Alphabet’s earnings call, chief business officer Philipp Schindler cited several influences on growth, including currency movements, changes in some retail advertising and spending patterns in media and entertainment. He also said that strong growth in AI Mode queries affected results because those searches had “lower monetization”. The company has not provided a public figure in the supplied material for the revenue gap between AI Mode queries and traditional searches.
““The strong growth in AI Mode queries had an impact because of the lower monetization we were seeing in AI mode.””
— Philipp Schindler, Alphabet chief business officer, on the earnings call
Traffic, Labels and Ad Returns
Google’s stated label policy is clear, but the material available does not provide an independent audit of whether users consistently distinguish sponsored placements from the AI-generated answer. Google also says ads do not influence the answer itself; that remains the company’s claim in the supplied reporting, rather than an independently verified finding.
It is also unclear how the new placements will affect advertisers’ costs, conversions or returns over time. Google’s internal comparison of sponsored and unpaid product-list click-through rates covers a short period and does not measure website clicks. The cited publisher study, meanwhile, examines AI Overviews in a US experiment and does not establish the effect of AI Mode ads or predict results in the newly added countries.
The timing and availability of later country launches could change, and no launch date beyond the fourth-quarter plan for Brazil, Mexico and the UK is provided. The supplied information does not say when ads may expand to Germany or the rest of the EU.
Expansion and Performance Data
Google’s stated next step is to bring AI Mode ads to Brazil, Mexico and the UK in Q4 2026. Advertisers and users will be able to see how the placements operate as the service expands, although the announced plan does not give specific dates for each market.
Future Alphabet earnings reports may show whether AI Mode’s lower monetization changes as usage grows and whether Search revenue growth stabilizes or continues to slow. Further public information on ad reporting, advertiser controls, labeling and independent evaluations of traffic effects would help clarify the impact. Until then, the scale of the rollout is confirmed, but its longer-term commercial and publishing effects remain unsettled.
Key Questions
Where is Google expanding ads in AI Mode?
Google announced ads in AI Mode for 10 additional countries: Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore. It plans Brazil, Mexico and the UK for the fourth quarter of 2026.
What are multiturn ads?
They are ads that can appear in follow-up questions in US AI Mode, rather than only alongside the initial search response.
Can advertisers opt out of these placements?
Google Ads Help says existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns participate automatically. The supplied information says advertisers have no separate opt-out or targeting control for these placements, and results are reported in aggregate.
How did Google Search advertising perform in the third quarter?
Alphabet reported $63.4 billion in Search & other revenue for Q3 2026, with year-over-year growth of 12%, down from 17% in Q2. The revenue total increased slightly from the prior quarter; the growth rate is a year-over-year comparison.
Are ads in AI answers independently verified as separate from the answer?
Google says ads will carry a “Sponsored” label and says advertising does not influence the AI answer. The supplied material contains no independent audit confirming that separation or showing how reliably users recognize the labels.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
