5 things every performance marketer should be asking about AI Search
As Google introduces the biggest evolution of Search in more than 25 years, this roadmap explores five questions every marketing leader should be asking, highlighting the tools, strategies and brands already putting the answers into practice.
14 min read
Today’s consumer journey can start anywhere: a YouTube video, an online discussion, a Google Lens search or a recommendation from a creator or friend. Regardless of the entry point, the path from discovery to decision is more fluid than ever.
As curiosity turns into consideration, people begin asking more specific questions. They actively compare options, validate claims and look for reassurance before making a decision. Whether typed, spoken, visual or conversational, every query reveals another clue about what someone is trying to achieve.
As AI expands the ways people search, that richer context creates new opportunities for marketers to recognize and respond to intent.
AI is no longer just a feature in Search. Google Search is AI Search. Some of the richest commercial opportunities no longer sit inside keywords – they emerge through a conversation.
Scott Sinclair
head of Search, Google
Search by the numbers:
AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users, with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch*
Nearly 1 in 6 AI Mode queries are now non-text, using voice or images**
3 in 4 users say AI Mode and/or AI Overviews help them make faster and more confident decisions.**
What happens when a keyword becomes a conversation?
For decades, Search strategy was built around predicting the right keywords. Today, competitive advantage comes from understanding intent rather than anticipating every possible search.
Queries in AI Mode are now three times longer than traditional searches, revealing far more context than a handful of keywords ever could. Rather than simply describing a product, people increasingly explain their situation, priorities and needs.
Consider how someone might search for a business bank account:
For marketers, this changes how Search campaigns are built. Organizations that continue planning around static keyword lists risk competing for yesterday’s demand while AI uncovers emerging demand as it forms.
Tool spotlight: AI Max for Search
AI Max for Search helps marketers connect with a broader range of relevant, high-intent searches without constantly expanding keyword lists.
As searches become more conversational and harder to predict, marketers need to respond with the right targeting, creative and landing-page experience. That means getting comfortable with the three core AI Max capabilities:
- Search term matching uses AI-powered targeting to help your brand show up for relevant searches at the right moment.
- Text customization uses AI-powered creative to tailor ad messaging to the context of each search.
- Final URL expansion uses AI to select the most relevant landing page, helping ensure the experience after the click matches what the customer is looking for.
Together, the three settings help marketers respond to richer, more varied searches across the journey from query to landing page.
⚙︎ AI in action: How Monzo used AI-powered Search to understand changing customer intent
Rather than simply revealing what product someone wants, people are revealing the problem they’re trying to solve.
Molly Pritchard
growth marketing manager, Monzo
The challenge
As Search becomes more conversational, Monzo wanted to reach people exploring their financial options with complex questions, not just those looking for a specific product.
The approach
Using Google Ads AI Max for Search alongside its existing AI-powered Search strategy, Monzo expanded beyond traditional keyword targeting to connect with richer, more conversational searches.
The impact
uplift in activations within the AI Max campaign
of qualified queries generated through AI Max
of captured queries contained four or more words
Why it matters Search is evolving from matching keywords to understanding intent. The brands that adapt first will be better placed to influence decisions while they’re still being made.
Why it matters Search is evolving from matching keywords to understanding intent. The brands that adapt first will be better placed to influence decisions while they’re still being made.
How do I find my next customer while they are still deciding?
Search isn’t simply where marketers capture demand. It’s increasingly where they can understand – and shape – decisions while they’re still being made.
Major purchase decisions, particularly in categories such as auto, technology and travel, rarely happen in a single search. They unfold through a series of questions, comparisons and moments of validation. Each interaction reveals a little more about where someone is in their decision-making journey, creating richer signals for marketers to understand and act on.
⚙︎ AI in action: How Lenovo found demand while customers were still deciding
The challenge
Lenovo had optimized its existing Search strategy to the point where incremental growth was becoming harder to find. To unlock the next stage of growth, it needed a new approach that could identify emerging demand beyond branded Search while maintaining efficiency and brand quality.
The approach
With clear brand and customer experience guardrails in place, Lenovo piloted AI Max for Search, allowing AI to optimize performance at scale while the team focused on strategic planning, experimentation and identifying new growth opportunities.
The impact
increase in conversion value
increase in incremental revenue
We don’t wait for certainty; we build it through testing.
Erdem Kosukoglu
search business director, Assembly Europe
Why it matters The role of marketers is evolving. As AI takes on more of the execution, competitive advantage comes from providing the strategy, signals and guardrails that help it make better decisions.
Why it matters The role of marketers is evolving. As AI takes on more of the execution, competitive advantage comes from providing the strategy, signals and guardrails that help it make better decisions.
How do I orchestrate my marketing around customer intent?
When the distance between discovery and decision collapses into mere moments, spotting intent earlier only matters if your marketing can respond just as quickly. Rather than manually optimizing individual campaigns, AI enables brands to orchestrate signals, creative and media around a shared understanding of customer intent, delivering more relevant experiences at every interaction.
That changes the marketer’s role. Managing bids and keywords still matters. But competitive advantage increasingly comes from defining clear business objectives, strengthening first-party signals, investing in high-quality creative and establishing the guardrails that help AI make better decisions.
⚙︎ AI in action: How OMD built a connected AI marketing system
The challenge
Customers don’t experience marketing as separate campaigns, yet many organizations still plan and optimize them that way.
The approach
OMD connected AI-powered campaigns across Google’s ecosystem – from Video Reach Campaigns and Demand Gen to Performance Max and AI Max – allowing signals from one interaction to inform the next and helping clients respond to intent wherever it emerged.
The impact
uplift in sales for clients
lift in brand searches
reduction in video efficiency metrics
AI optimizes campaigns. Strategic expertise ensures they’re optimizing towards the right business outcomes.
Jack Stingemore
managing partner of performance strategy, OMD UK
Why it matters OMD shows that AI delivers its greatest value when marketers stop optimizing channels independently and start orchestrating connected marketing systems around customer intent.
Why it matters OMD shows that AI delivers its greatest value when marketers stop optimizing channels independently and start orchestrating connected marketing systems around customer intent.
How do I make Search work harder for my bottom line?
Understanding customer intent is only part of the equation. To unlock AI’s full commercial value, you also need to teach it what success looks like. For teams under pressure to prove ROI, metrics like clicks and cost-per-acquisition paint an incomplete picture.
The shift is from optimizing for campaign metrics to optimizing for business impact. That means connecting Search campaigns directly to business data, such as profit margins, customer lifetime value and in-store outcomes.
When AI understands which customers create the greatest value, it can make smarter decisions about where to invest, which queries to prioritize and how to maximize long-term commercial performance. The goal becomes better conversions rather than simply more of them.
Tool spotlight: Value-Based Bidding
Value-Based Bidding helps Google AI distinguish between conversions based on what they are worth to the business. By incorporating first-party signals such as revenue, profit or customer lifetime value, marketers can guide bidding towards the outcomes that matter most.
For businesses with longer buying cycles, capabilities such as Journey-aware Bidding extend this principle further by helping AI optimize against signals from the entire customer journey, not just the first conversion.
A demand-led approach to budgeting A demand-led approach gives campaigns the flexibility to respond when valuable demand emerges, rather than allowing a fixed daily budget to cut off opportunity.
⚙︎ AI in action: How Hilton taught AI what commercial value looks like
The challenge
Two travelers can begin with almost identical searches, yet generate completely different commercial outcomes. Hilton needed a way to distinguish between them and prioritize the opportunities that would create the greatest business value.
The approach
Hilton combined AI Max with its first-party revenue signals, giving Google AI the context it needed to identify higher-value bookings while expanding Search coverage.
The impact
increase in bookings from expanded match and URL
increase in average booking value
The opportunity wasn’t simply reaching more travelers. It was recognizing which travelers mattered most to the business and giving AI the context to optimize towards them.
Claire Gibbs
head of performance EMEA, Hilton
Why it matters AI delivers its greatest commercial impact when it understands what success looks like for your business – not simply how to generate more conversions.
Why it matters AI delivers its greatest commercial impact when it understands what success looks like for your business – not simply how to generate more conversions.
Am I interrupting the journey, or helping to complete it?
AI-powered features like AI Overviews and conversational search experiences like AI Mode are expanding the surfaces where discovery and decision-making happen – creating new opportunities for advertisers to play a genuinely helpful role.
When people ask more detailed questions, compare options and seek reassurance directly within Search, relevance depends on understanding the underlying need and responding with information, creative and experiences that help someone move forward.
“As Search becomes more conversational, the best ads are the ones that help people move forward,” says Sinclair. “The brands that answer questions, solve problems and build confidence are the ones most likely to earn attention – and action.”
In other words, to sell, you need to solve. The opportunity is to use richer intent signals, stronger business data and AI-powered campaigns together, not simply to appear during the journey, but to make it easier to complete.
⚙︎ AI in action: How JD Sports proved Search’s impact beyond online sales
We’ve always known our digital and retail customer are one and the same. The real unlock was building a strategy that treated them as one connected customer across every touchpoint.
Liza-Marie Nolan
associate director of digital media, JD Sports Fashion
The challenge
Customers don’t shop in channels, they move seamlessly between Search, websites and stores. But many retailers still measure those interactions separately. JD Sports wanted to understand how AI-powered Search influenced the entire customer journey, not just online conversions.
The approach
Working with Google, JD Sports tested omnichannel bidding, enabling Google AI to optimize for both online and in-store outcomes. A controlled GeoX experiment then used JD Sports’ offline sales data and matched test and control regions to measure Search’s incremental omnichannel impact.
The impact
increase in revenue generated from within the Google ecosystem
uplift in omnichannel revenue
Why it matters Search’s commercial impact does not end at the click. By measuring incremental value across online and in-store sales, marketers can give AI a more complete picture of the outcomes that matter to your business.
Why it matters Search’s commercial impact does not end at the click. By measuring incremental value across online and in-store sales, marketers can give AI a more complete picture of the outcomes that matter to your business.
Tool spotlight: Meridian GeoX
Meridian GeoX is Google’s open-source incrementality testing solution. By comparing matched test and control regions, it isolates the true commercial value of marketing activity beyond traditional attribution.
As AI automates more execution, proving incrementality becomes critical. GeoX gives AI clearer performance feedback while providing leadership with the statistical proof needed to guide future investment decisions with confidence.
⚙︎ The roadmap: Five principles for leading in the era of AI Search
Decode the conversation
Shift from targeting static keywords to understanding the intent, context and the ‘why’ behind longer, conversational searches.
Find demand while decisions are forming
Capture high-intent exploratory demand earlier in the journey, unlocking growth beyond branded search.
Orchestrate connected marketing systems
Break down channel silos to allow customer signals and creative to flow seamlessly across touchpoints.
Anchor AI to true commercial value
Move beyond volume metrics by feeding first-party margin, lifetime value and offline data into value-based bidding.
Solve to sell across the entire journey
Connect digital intent directly to seamless real-world and omnichannel outcomes, making discovery actionable.
Decode the conversation
Shift from targeting static keywords to understanding the intent, context and the ‘why’ behind longer, conversational searches.
Find demand while decisions are forming
Capture high-intent exploratory demand earlier in the journey, unlocking growth beyond branded search.
Orchestrate connected marketing systems
Break down channel silos to allow customer signals and creative to flow seamlessly across touchpoints.
Anchor AI to true commercial value
Move beyond volume metrics by feeding first-party margin, lifetime value and offline data into value-based bidding.
Solve to sell across the entire journey
Connect digital intent directly to seamless real-world and omnichannel outcomes, making discovery actionable.
The future of Search marketing is no longer about predicting and capturing isolated keywords, managing fragmented campaigns or waiting for perfect certainty. It belongs to brands that build confidence through rapid experimentation, provide AI with strong business signals, and turn moments of intent into measurable commercial impact.
