by Charlie Chester, Digital

Google’s annual I/O keynote dropped last week, and as ever it came with a wave of big AI announcements. Here’s our take on what matters for your campaigns, and what doesn’t. 

At the core of it: Google want to remain key players on the rapidly developing AI stage, and are pushing further into AI-led search. According to this release AI Mode now surpasses one billion monthly users (though it’s worth flagging however that this does appear to be 1bn queries, from 100 million monthly users). On top of this, the flagship release for this year is a major update to the search bar which will encourage longer form, more exploratory searching. With all of this in mind, the direction of travel is clear, Google want AI to handle more of the search journey, from query to action.  

Key Updates: 

  • Intelligent Search Bar: 
  • What is it: an AI powered search bar, instead of showing regularly asked questions to auto-complete your search, the search bar will encourage you to ask longer, more detailed questions. 
  • Impact: a more personal search experience, users will search for more intimate, specific requirements and ask very specific questions. This will lead to an increase in long tail search terms. 
  • AI In Search: 
  • What is it: an upgraded AI model (Flash 3.5) for AI Mode and Overviews 
  • Impact: more accurate and engaging answers are likely to encourage users to further increase their usage of these features. 
  • Search Agents  
  • What is it: user created, always on researching tools feeding back on changes, e.g. an agent to scan property portals and alert you when new flats are available. 
  • Impact: this may reduce the frequency of user visits to site, and lead to increased referral traffic, or encourage users to engage with summarised versions of pages. 
  • Agentic Coding: 
  • What is it: Expect personalised tools and visuals in the search results, e.g. tailored graphs and data tables, or automated updates to your calendar based on searches. 
  • Impact: This is a different way of interacting with search, a similar example could that we already see flight arrival and departure times, or options to book flights in Google search results. Users will likely come to expect richer and more engaging summaries on the SERP. This will also include a more connected experience between Google products, e.g. Photos, calendar, etc. 

What this means for paid search 

The most relevant shift for advertisers isn’t the consumer-facing AI features, it’s the continued consolidation of Google’s ad products around AI-native formats. Smart Shopping campaigns were long ago consolidated into Performance Max, Dynamic Search Ads are being replaced by AI Max in September, and match types are forever becoming increasingly broad, even at exact and phrase level. The common thread is that Google is moving advertisers toward tools that operate on intent and context, not just keywords. Where we could once rely on tidy and expansive keyword lists to capture demand, curating intent signals and generating clean data are becoming the new baseline for effective search. 

Our view 

The immediate impact on your campaigns is minimal, there’s no detail yet on how paid placements will interact with newer features like information agents (which will be initially limited to paid users – Google currently has an estimated 15-25 million paid users, many of them through workspaces, meaning this will likely be more impactful for B2B clients. ChatGPT still leads the race in terms of paid subscribers), which are set to monitor the web around the clock and send users synthesised updates. That’s a space to watch, but it’s early days. 

What we do know is that AI Max and Performance Max are the gateway into AI-driven results, the tools that allow us to match against what users mean, not just what they type. Testing these formats properly, and building the creative and conversion infrastructure to support them, is the most practical action advertisers can take right now. 

It’s also worth noting that Google has been promising a fundamental reimagining of search for several years now. The landscape is shifting, but it’s shifting steadily, not overnight. Our approach is measured testing rather than reactive overhaul, which keeps us well-positioned as these changes bed in.