Google Rebuilds Ad Stack Around Gemini, Adds AI to Search Ads and Shopping
Google announced a sweeping integration of its Gemini AI model across ads, shopping, and analytics at Google Marketing Live on May 20. The company introduced new ad formats designed for AI Mode in Search, expanded its cross-retailer checkout system, and built a unified agent that connects campaign setup and measurement across multiple products.
The updates target five areas: new ad formats for AI Mode in Search; expansion of Universal Commerce Protocol and Universal Cart; new YouTube Demand Gen features; AI-powered video creation in Asset Studio; and Ask Advisor, a cross-product agent for campaign management.
New Ad Formats for AI Mode in Search
Google is testing two new ad formats inside AI Mode. Conversational Discovery ads return creative tailored to a specific search, paired with a Gemini-written explainer about the product or service. Highlighted Answers make ads eligible to appear as recommendations when AI Mode returns list-style responses, such as a list of language apps. Both formats remain clearly labeled as sponsored.
Two additional formats will reach the wider Search experience in coming months. AI-powered Shopping ads use Gemini to surface relevant products for category queries and write custom explainers for each result. Business Agent for Leads replaces static lead forms with a Gemini-powered chat agent embedded in the ad and grounded in the advertiser's website.
Direct Offers, Google's promotions pilot launched in January with Chewy, Gap, and L'Oreal, is expanding with promotion bundling, native checkout for Universal Cart merchants, and a travel expansion with Booking and Expedia.
Universal Cart Expands Across Retailers and Countries
Google is widening Universal Cart, which lets shoppers check out across multiple retailers without leaving Google's ecosystem. Launch partners include Nike, Sephora, Target, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Wayfair, and Shopify merchants like Fenty and Steve Madden. Affirm and Klarna are embedded as buy-now-pay-later options inside Google Pay.
The company is extending Universal Commerce Protocol-powered checkout to YouTube Shopping ads and Demand Gen Direct Offers campaigns. Canada and Australia will receive the feature in coming months, with the U.K. to follow.
Google is also adding new verticals: hotel booking via AI Mode in Search and local food delivery via Google Maps. Retailers in the U.S. can use conversational attributes to rewrite product descriptions to match how people search in AI Mode and Gemini.
YouTube Demand Gen Gets Video Creation and Checkout
YouTube Demand Gen is gaining multimodal video creation in Asset Studio, the ability to boost authentic creator partnership videos directly from the asset picker, and dynamic product videos based on real-time user interest. Google Maps inventory placements and checkout links are expanding to nine new markets.
Product feeds are expanding into new surfaces and verticals, including automotive. The platform is also adding one-click Demand Gen campaign creation from Performance Max, Campaign Type Attribution, Uplift Experiments, and privacy-safe third-party integrations including TransUnion.
Asset Studio Integrates Gemini Omni for Video Generation
Google is integrating its Gemini Omni model into Asset Studio for video asset generation. The tool accepts natural language prompts and offers one-click A/B testing and a brief-to-asset workflow. Asset Studio with Gemini-powered features will roll out globally in English this summer.
This positions Google alongside Meta's AI tooling and Adobe Firefly in the AI creative tools market.
Ask Advisor Connects Ads, Analytics, and Shopping
Ask Advisor is a Gemini-powered agent that spans Google Ads, Google Analytics, Merchant Center, and Google Marketing Platform. A request like "find new customers for my hair care products" pulls product data from Merchant Center, sets up a Google Ads campaign, and feeds performance insights from both Ads and Analytics.
Ask Advisor is now in beta for English-language accounts, with broader rollout later this year. It lines up against Meta's Advantage+ and Microsoft Advertising's Copilot, though Google's pitch is cross-product orchestration across ads, analytics, commerce, and measurement.
On the measurement side, Google is bringing Meridian, its open-source Marketing Mix Model, into Google Analytics 360 as a unified command center. Qualified Future Conversions, a Gemini-powered signal that links upper-funnel spend to future sales, will eventually integrate with Meridian to refine accuracy.
Context: One Billion Monthly Users in AI Mode
Google said at I/O earlier this week that AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users. Google Marketing Live 2026 is the commercial layer the company is bolting onto that already-scaled AI Search surface.
The updates thread Gemini through every surface where advertisers reach shoppers. Universal Cart and the Universal Commerce Protocol position Google as the open-protocol alternative to Amazon's closed checkout. Ask Advisor, Asset Studio, and Meridian respond to the industry-wide shift toward AI-assisted campaign management and marketing mix modeling as cookies and signal loss reshape attribution.
For creatives, the Asset Studio integration with Gemini Omni means video ad creation now uses natural language prompts and AI generation. See more on AI Design and AI for Marketing to understand how these tools fit into your workflow.
Your membership also unlocks:
