Google’s new wave of AI-powered ad innovations is already rewiring the ecommerce landscape, putting Shopping ads at the center of the action.
At Google Marketing Live 2025, the company unveiled a suite of updates that blend AI with automation.
These updates cover everything from product placements in AI Overviews to creative tools and campaign optimization features.
For PPC advertisers running Shopping and Performance Max campaigns, these changes bring both new opportunities and fresh challenges.
Here’s what’s live, what’s coming next, and where to focus your strategy in the months ahead.
Shopping Ads appear in AI Overviews
Google’s AI Overviews – the AI-generated summaries that now appear at the top of select search results – are starting to include Shopping ads.
These product listings are embedded directly within the AI content, particularly for queries with high commercial intent (e.g., “best running shoes for flat feet” or “eco-friendly garden furniture”).
This rollout is currently live on desktop in the U.S., with wider expansion expected. Importantly, these placements are powered by existing Shopping and Performance Max campaigns – there’s no need to opt in.
Initial industry response suggests a mix of opportunities and concerns.
While visibility increases in AI-enhanced SERPs, organic and standard paid listings may be pushed further down the page.
Advertisers should closely monitor impression share, CTR, and overall conversion performance as these placements expand.
AI Mode: A new search experience, now featuring ads
In parallel, Google is piloting AI Mode, a conversational search interface.
Powered by Gemini, this feature allows users to engage in multi-step queries, effectively asking follow-up questions and refining their intent in real time.
Ads are now appearing in these results, again using existing Shopping and PMax campaign data.
While still early in development, this interface marks a notable shift in user behaviour and opens up new ground for advertisers, particularly in mid- to lower-funnel discovery.
The conversational flow presents new opportunities for products that typically rely on content marketing or multi-touch journeys.
However, it also introduces further opacity into how queries are matched to ads, making regular analysis of search terms and placements essential.
Creative production gets a boost with AI tools
One of the more practical announcements for ecommerce advertisers came in the form of creative automation.
AI-generated image backgrounds and product videos are coming to Merchant Center.
Importantly, the tools include approval workflows, so advertisers maintain brand control.
For small and mid-sized retailers, this represents a cost-effective way to scale creative output across formats and surfaces, including Demand Gen and YouTube placements.
Dig deeper: How Google Ads’ AI tools fix creative bottlenecks, streamline asset creation
AI Max for Search campaigns: More automation, less black box
Beyond Shopping, Google announced the beta release of AI Max – a new layer that enhances Search campaigns with additional automation, while keeping the structure and insights of traditional setups.
AI Max includes:
- Broader match expansion.
- Dynamic headline and description generation.
- Smart URL selection.
Advertisers retain access to granular performance data, including search term reports and asset-level insights, offering a more transparent alternative to Performance Max.
Alongside this, Google is rolling out Smart Bidding Exploration, a new tool that helps uncover untapped queries and performance improvements by relaxing ROAS constraints where appropriate.
Together, these tools aim to help advertisers scale campaigns without sacrificing visibility into what’s working.
Google’s ‘Power Pair’ strategy: Performance Max, Demand Gen, and AI Max
Also announced at GML, Google is encouraging a multi-campaign strategy with the rollout of a “Power Pair” model.
This framework combines three AI-enhanced campaign types:
- Performance Max for all-in-one reach.
- Demand Gen for visually rich placements across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail.
- AI Max for enhanced Search performance.
This approach is designed to deliver full-funnel coverage using shared creative and audience signals.
For ecommerce advertisers with larger product ranges or seasonal peaks, this cross-surface synergy could offer efficiency and scale, but only if budgets are managed effectively.
What’s still U.S.-only – for now
Two notable updates remain limited to the U.S. market, but may impact international advertisers down the line:
- Virtual try-on: Google is expanding its AI-powered apparel try-on tool, which lets users upload a photo and visualise how products will look on them.
- Agentic checkout: A new “Buy for me” functionality in AI Mode enables frictionless in-chat checkout, potentially reducing drop-off between product discovery and conversion.
While these tools aren’t yet available globally, they signal Google’s intent to own more of the shopping journey – from inspiration to transaction.
Strategic takeaways for PPC advertisers
Google’s latest changes introduce more AI touchpoints into campaign setup, creative, and placement, but the core principles of PPC success remain.
Here’s where advertisers should focus:
- Audit Shopping performance for changes in impression share and CTR as AI Overviews roll out.
- Test AI-generated creative in Merchant Center for product types with limited visual assets.
- Experiment with AI Max for Search campaigns where control is critical but scale is needed.
- Consolidate cross-channel campaigns using the Power Pair approach – but ensure proper budget and audience segmentation.
- Keep close tabs on data visibility – monitor reporting changes and ensure conversion tracking is robust.
Driving full-funnel results with Google’s AI-powered campaign stack
The shift to AI-first advertising is no longer theoretical – it’s live, and it’s evolving fast.
For advertisers, the opportunity is clear.
Lean into the tools that improve scale and efficiency while staying grounded in data and strategic oversight.
Google’s new AI Shopping ecosystem doesn’t replace the fundamentals of good PPC.
It simply adds new layers. Those who adapt early will be best placed to navigate the next wave of search.