Key takeaways
- Google said on October 28 that ads in AI Mode are scaling in 10 new countries, including India, Canada and Australia.
- Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
- Google says click-through rates are similar for sponsored and organic product listings in AI Mode, based on its own US data.
Google is expanding ads in AI Mode, its conversational search experience, to 10 more countries, the company said on October 28. Google's AI Mode ads are now scaling in Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore, with Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.
The move comes the day Alphabet's earnings put the question of how AI search makes money in front of investors. Our report on the results covers the stock reaction.
What Google announced
The post, written by Shashi Thakur, a vice president at Google, says ads in AI Mode are moving to new countries. Ads are labeled "Sponsored." Google also says it is launching multiturn ads in the United States, which show ads on follow-up questions in the same AI Mode conversation, and that it will keep testing new formats.
The announcement does not say which languages the ads will run in, and it lists no advertiser requirements, pointing to a support page instead.
The numbers Google gives
Google says AI Mode queries are on average three times longer than traditional searches, citing its own AI Mode report for the US from May 2026. It also says click-through rates are "already similar" between sponsored and organic product list items in AI Mode. That figure comes from internal Google data for the US between August 20 and September 3, 2026. It has not been checked by anyone outside Google, and it covers product listings only.
Why it matters
AI Mode answers in full sentences and invites follow-up questions, so there are fewer clear moments to show a link. Ads in the answer are how Google plans to be paid for that format. Techmeme, summarizing Google's results, links the expansion to slower growth in core search advertising. We did not open that report, so treat the link as a lead.
For advertisers in the 10 countries, ads in AI Mode become a place to buy attention. For users there, the change means answers that may carry sponsored results.
What we don't know yet
Google has not said how much AI Mode ads earn, how many people use AI Mode in each country, or which ad products qualify. Watch for the Brazil, Mexico and UK launches, which Google ties to the fourth quarter.
