Following on from its broader AI-focused announcements at its I/O conference yesterday, Google has outlined a range of coming ad updates and tools, at its Marketing Live event, including improved smart bidding, ad opportunities in AI search results, AI creative tools for marketers, and more.
First off, Google’s looking to help advertisers maximize their ad spend with improved smart bidding for Search campaigns, which will use AI to optimize ad spend.
As explained by Google:
“Today, we’re announcing Smart Bidding Exploration – our biggest update to bidding in over a decade. With new, flexible ROAS targets, the same lender can now open itself up to bid on less obvious but potentially highly valuable queries more often, like “how to buy a home”. This allows Google AI to find new, qualified leads that the lender wouldn’t have captured otherwise.”
So, essentially, this will enable you to put your trust in Google’s AI system to optimize your Search placements for you, which should be able to drive better results, given that it’s able to analyze huge streams of Search data.
Indeed, Google says that campaigns using Smart Bidding Exploration see, on average, an 18% increase in unique search query categories with conversions and a 19% increase in conversions.
It makes sense as an approach to Search trends, relying on actual data, as opposed to human analysis and perception, and it could help you maximize your Search ad spend.
Google’s also expanding its ads in AI overviews to more regions, as it looks to maintain its ad opportunities amid the broader AI discovery shift.
One of the concerns with Google’s AI overviews is that they limit ad opportunities, with AI summaries limiting exposure time. But Google’s looking to counter this with expanded ad opportunities linked to these summaries.
“Starting today, Search and Shopping ads in AI Overviews will be expanding to desktop in the U.S. Later this year, we’ll also expand ads in AI Overviews in English to select countries on mobile and desktop. This expansion means businesses will have more chances to connect with people and support their journey from discovery to decision.”
Google’s also starting to test ads in its AI Mode chatbot, which will see promotions placed below AI responses.
Which likely won’t be as effective as traditional Search ads, but with more and more people switching to AI discovery, it may be the best placement you can get.
Google says that advertisers who are already using Performance Max, Shopping, and Search campaigns with broad match will be eligible to have their ads appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Google’s also bringing more AI-powered creative tools, including image-to-video and AI outpainting.
Image-to-video, as it sounds, will enable you to generate video assets from your still image creatives, providing a more engaging promotional option.
Outpainting enables you to transfer your images into different formats, by generating expanded backgrounds to fit your requirements.
“Outpainting is currently available in Google Ads App campaigns and will expand to more campaign types later this year.”
Google’s also rolling out updated brand profiles in Search:
“Through Merchant Center, retailers will be able to claim their profiles and easily access tools to curate imagery, edit descriptions, and review videos, ensuring consistent and up-to-date brand representation across Google.”
It’s also launching new video management tools within Merchant Center, which will make it easier to manage your video assets from various websites, while also offering proactive AI suggestions to help enhance them for promotions and trends.
It’s also experimenting with more visually focused ad formats:
“Currently being tested in the U.S., these new video ads give businesses the ability to share video content alongside product information for a truly interactive experience where viewers can click on a video to start, hear and see a shoppable inventory.”
Google’s also adding a new process that will identify the best content opportunities across merchants’ shopping catalogs, and pre-generate on-brand images and videos. It’s also launching a new Asset Studio for Google Ads, which will provide a central management option for your ad assets.
Finally, Google’s also rolling out a new AI agent that will be available across all of its ad creation and management platforms, providing an always-on assistant for your campaigns.
There are a heap of elements to consider here, and with AI changing the way that people search, it’s worth considering how you might be able to use these various tools to lean into relevant trends, and maximize ad performance.
It’ll take some time to get used to the various options, but with assistance tools available, you should be able to tap into more opportunities across Google’s apps.
