Google announced two new ad formats designed specifically for AI Mode at Google Marketing Live. Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers represent Google's most direct push yet to weave advertising into the conversational AI experiences that are replacing traditional search result pages. The formats are powered by Gemini and place ads inside AI-generated responses rather than alongside them.

By the end of this article, you will understand how these new formats work, what they mean for advertisers, and what you should do to prepare your campaigns for a conversational Search environment.

Table of Contents

How Conversational Discovery Ads Work

Conversational Discovery ads are designed to respond to detailed or exploratory prompts inside AI Mode. Google's example showed someone asking how to make their home smell like fancy spas or a rainy forest using low-maintenance solutions. The ad format uses Gemini to generate tailored creative and surface product features tied to the context of the conversation, rather than relying primarily on keyword targeting.

That creates a different type of Search interaction than advertisers are used to optimizing for. These ads appear built for longer, conversational prompts where users refine what they want throughout the interaction rather than searching with a single high-intent query. The shift matters because the optimization frameworks that work for traditional Search do not translate cleanly to a conversational context.

Highlighted Answers: Ads Inside Recommendation Lists

The second format, Highlighted Answers, places ads directly inside recommendation lists generated by AI Mode. Google used the example of someone researching language learning apps before a trip. Advertisers with highly relevant ads may appear directly within those recommendations, moving ads closer to the recommendation itself instead of alongside traditional Search results.

For advertisers, that could create visibility earlier in the research process, before users narrow down to a final decision. Traditional Search advertising captures intent at the moment of conversion. Highlighted Answers captures intent at the moment of exploration, when users are still forming their preferences rather than acting on them.

Both formats will include an independent AI explainer that synthesizes information about a product or service alongside the advertiser's creative. Ads will continue to carry sponsored labels, so the transparency that exists in traditional Search advertising carries over to these new formats.

Why This Matters For Advertisers

The updates suggest Google is pushing ads deeper into conversational Search experiences. For advertisers, that increases the importance of creative quality, landing page content, structured product data, and first-party conversion signals. Gemini is evaluating more than a simple keyword query. It is interpreting the broader context of the conversation before surfacing ads, which means advertisers need to think about how their products and services map to the conversational journeys their customers are taking.

The broader pattern is clear. AI Mode is not an optional add-on for Google's advertising business. It is becoming the primary interface through which a growing segment of users interact with Search. The ad formats that work in that environment need to be built for conversation, context, and recommendation rather than for keywords, bids, and placements.

The Measurement Challenge

Conversational searches are far less structured than traditional keyword searches. That may make it harder for advertisers to understand which prompts, themes, or interactions actually influenced performance over time. The attribution models that work for Search ads do not yet have a clear equivalent in conversational AI advertising.

When a user has a 15-minute conversation with AI Mode about planning a trip, discovering several products along the way, and finally purchasing one, attributing that purchase to a specific ad interaction in that conversation is technically complex and not yet well-solved.

Google has said it will provide reporting on these formats, but the granularity will likely lag behind what advertisers are accustomed to in traditional Search. Early adopters should be prepared to work with less precise attribution data and to develop their own frameworks for evaluating the effectiveness of conversational ad formats.

Conclusion

Advertisers who start experimenting with these formats now will have a significant advantage over those who wait for the best practices to crystallize before acting. The advertisers who succeed will be those who treat AI Mode advertising as a new capability to develop rather than an extension of their existing Search campaigns.

The timeline for rollout matters. Google has said these formats will appear in AI Mode over the coming months, which means the window for experimentation is opening now. Advertisers who wait for the formats to be fully mature before testing them will find themselves behind competitors who built expertise during the early rollout period.

Sources: Search Engine Journal

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