Google unveiled a strategy to use artificial intelligence (AI) to shift search from keyword-driven queries to conversational, visual experiences, and to reshape the advertising market into a structure centered on "context."
Dan Taylor, vice president of Google's global advertising institutional sector, said at an online media roundtable for Asia-Pacific (APAC) reporters on the 12th, "AI is not the end of search, but an 'expansion moment,'" adding, "As the way consumers search changes, advertising is evolving into a form that becomes useful information for users and delivers higher efficiency for corporations."
According to Google, there are more than about 500 trillion searches per year on Google Search, and search queries have continued to increase since the introduction of AI technology. In particular, instead of entering short keywords as in the past, users are increasingly using search by asking longer and more complex questions.
In line with this shift, Google is expanding the search structure around "AI Overviews" and "AI Mode." AI Overviews is a feature where Generative AI summarizes and provides key information at the top of search results, and more than 2 billion monthly users in over 200 countries worldwide are currently using it.
Taylor said, "In the past, ads were served to match keywords, but now we place ads by considering the context of AI-generated answers," adding, "This is becoming an 'AHA moment' for advertisers, offering entirely new opportunities for brands to be discovered."
The newly introduced AI Mode handles questions that are much more complex and specific than traditional search. In fact, the average query length in AI Mode is about three times longer than in conventional search. Through this, Google is more precisely identifying users' commercial intent and improving the accuracy of ad consolidation.
Google is also actively applying its core AI model, "Gemini," to its advertising systems. Since adopting Gemini, the Google ads system has seen a 40% average reduction in low-relevance ad impressions. Google said that as large language models gain a deeper understanding of user search intent, the accuracy of matching ads with products has significantly improved.
Image-based search is also growing rapidly. Google's visual search service "Google Lens" now handles more than 25 billion searches per month, and about 20% of those include commercial intent. This is a method of finding information immediately by photographing objects or products with a smartphone camera, cited as a representative example of the expansion of AI-based search.
Examples of ad performance using AI were also disclosed. India's insurance platform "PolicyBazaar" increased health insurance sales by 28% while cutting expense per sale by 23% through an AI-based search campaign. Singapore furniture brand "Castlery" likewise reduced ad production expense by 60% compared with live-action shoots by using Google's Generative AI ad creation tools.
Google also plans to expand "agentic AI" technologies that support the entire user purchase journey. For example, an AI agent like "Google Ads Advisor" would automatically analyze and optimize the operation of ad campaigns.
In addition, through the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), Google is building a new shopping structure in which AI is consolidated with online malls to support product discovery and purchases.
Taylor said, "AI is not a technology that replaces marketers, but one that maximizes marketing performance," adding, "Google is innovating both consumer experiences and the advertising ecosystem through Gemini."