Welcome to this week’s PPC Pulse: updates all revolve around how AI is being woven directly into search monetization and campaign structure.
Google is testing Shopping ads inside AI Mode conversations. Microsoft published a practical guide on how AI search surfaces brands. The Google Ads Decoded podcast made it clear that keywords are no longer the strategic starting point for campaign structure.
Here’s what happened this week and why it matters for advertisers.
Google Testing Shopping Ads Inside AI Mode
In a blog post from Google this week, Vidhya Srinivasan, vice president/general manager of Ads & Commerce at Google, confirmed they’re testing a new ad format in AI Mode.
Specifically, it’s a Shopping ad format that recommends products based on a user’s query within AI Mode.
In addition to this announcement, Google also said it’s testing similar formats in other verticals beyond retail, such as the travel category.
What may be the most interesting part of the announcement was the framing of ads. Srinivasan stated:
“We aren’t just bringing ads to AI experiences in Search; we are reinventing what an ad is.”
This could signal a shift in the existing ad formats in Google Ads or the possibility of adding in new formats down the road.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
This feels less like a “new placement” and more about how Search monetization is changing.
In AI Mode, the user journey is compressed. People are not scanning a page of results in the same way. They’re asking, refining, comparing, and making decisions inside a conversation.
That matters because it changes what “being present” looks like. It’s not only about ranking, or even being the first paid result. It’s about being one of the options the AI experience is willing to put in front of someone while they’re comparing.
For Shopping advertisers, this puts more pressure on feed strength. If AI Mode is assembling recommendations based on product attributes, availability, pricing, and retailer options, your data has to be clean enough to compete in that environment.
It also raises a practical question that I think a lot of teams are going to feel quickly. If AI Mode surfaces fewer visible commercial options than a traditional results page, those slots get more competitive. Winning may depend more on eligibility and relevance than on brute force bidding.
What PPC Professionals Are Saying
The initial reaction across PPC LinkedIn has mostly been “this was inevitable,” with people focusing on how this might work operationally.
Thomas Eccel, founder/managing director at AdSea Innovations, shared the announcement and called out that this format will be eligible through existing Shopping and Performance Max setups, which is the part advertisers will care about first. Are you going to need a net-new campaign type, or is this a distribution expansion of what already exists?
In a post shared by Andrew Lolk, founder of SavvyRevenue, comments around how Google is going about monetizing AI Mode vs. other players like ChatGPT and Claude were discussed.
Martin GroBe, head of SEA and Programmatic Display at Suchmeisterei GmbH, stated:
“Google has the advantage of having established AI Mode as a version of Gemini that users perceive as an evolution of Google Search and therefore accept advertising quite naturally. This allows Google to conduct monetization tests in AI Mode without negatively impacting the user experience of ‘Pure Gemini.’ Regarding Pure Gemini, Google can sit back and watch how successful Claude/ChatGPT are with their ad strategies – and then start monetization with the winning strategy.”
A lot of the chatter is less “cool new thing” and more “OK, what’s the eligibility, and what data do we need to tighten up now.” Others were questioning what attribution will look like if these ads are being shown in a discovery-first phase.
Microsoft Releases AI Search Playbook For Marketers
Microsoft Advertising published an updated edition of its AI search playbook, positioned as a practical guide for how AI-powered search and assistants are reshaping discovery.
Microsoft’s angle in this focuses more on being understood, trusted, and surfaced inside of AI-generated answers and less on simply ranking links.
It also directly addresses the overlap and difference between SEO and what it calls generative engine optimization, along with guidance on creating clearer, more structured content that AI systems can interpret confidently.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
On the surface, this looks like an SEO conversation. But paid teams should care for two reasons.
First, Microsoft is putting a flag in the ground that AI-driven discovery is not theoretical. It is treating it as the current operating environment, and it wants marketers to adjust how they show up.
Second, the “structure” theme is the part that connects directly to paid performance. In AI experiences, brands do not get pulled into answers because the copy is clever. They get pulled in because information is clear, consistent, and easy for machines to interpret.
Even if you live in Microsoft Ads or Google Ads all day, this should sound familiar. The industry keeps moving toward fewer manual levers, and more dependence on clean inputs. Content quality, feed quality, and landing page clarity are part of those inputs.
This guide is basically Microsoft saying: if you want visibility in AI discovery, you need to treat your information architecture like performance infrastructure.
What Professionals Are Saying
The response to Microsoft’s playbook has been positive, mostly because it aims to explain the mechanics without turning it into hype.
International SEO Consultant Aleyda Solis, who contributed to the guide (along with other professionals), praised Microsoft for “leading the way” and sharing practical resources for search marketers they can actually use.
Navah Hopkins, Microsoft Ads liaison, also shared the update with her take on why it’s useful for paid media folks, including topics like budget focus, landing page insights, and communication styles.
That theme of “finally, someone wrote this down in plain language” shows up in a lot of the reactions.
“Keywords Are A Means To An End” In Ads Decoded Podcast
In the latest Ads Decoded episode focusing on Search campaign structure, Google made a direct point that will land differently depending on how long you’ve been in this industry.
This week’s guest was Brandon Ervin, director of Product Management for Search Ads at Google. He and the host, Ginny Marvin (Google Ads liaison), discussed multiple topics, including account structure and the role of keywords now.
Ervin stated that the role of keywords in 2026 was that “keywords are a means to an end” and not the end itself, and that advertisers should start with the business goal and go-to-market approach first. Keywords become a thematic layer that supports that strategy.
They also discussed the ongoing shift toward semantic matching, why exact match still has a role for tighter control, and how query matching continues to evolve with frequent backend improvements.
Ginny Marvin also shared the episode on LinkedIn, framing it around modern Search structures and the role of the keyword in today’s environment.
Why This Matters For Advertisers
This topic matters because it is essentially Google validating what many advertisers have had to learn the hard way.
For years, the gold standard was granularity. Tight ad groups. Tight keyword lists. Maximum control.
And to be fair, that approach worked for a long time. I was firmly in that camp. SKAG structures made sense in the era they were built for. Broad match felt like an unnecessary gamble. Campaign consolidation felt like you were asking for wasted spend.
But the reality is the system changed. User behavior changed. And the way Google interprets intent changed.
So when Google says “keywords are a means to an end,” the real message is: stop treating keyword architecture as the strategy. Treat it as one layer of a strategy that starts with business outcomes, messaging, and intent.
It also reframes how people should think about search terms that “don’t look right” at first glance. Sometimes, those queries are noise. Sometimes, they are a discovery behavior that your account can either learn from, or completely miss because you filtered too aggressively.
I don’t think this means everyone should throw structure out the window. But it does mean segmentation should have a job. If two ad groups have the same intent, same landing page, and same creative approach, splitting them may just be creating artificial walls that the system has to work around.
What PPC Professionals Are Saying
The PPC conversation around this topic tends to split into two camps.
One group hears “keywords are a means to an end” and translates it as “Google wants us to have less control.” The other group hears it and says, “finally, this is how the system has been behaving anyway.”
The comments on Ginny Marvin’s post about the episode reflect that interest, especially around modern structure decisions and what still deserves separation in 2026.
Brad Geddes, co-founder of Adalysis, thanked Ervin and Marvin for their candidness, stating:
“I suspected that Google was using conversion data from across the account for bidding and other optimization, but I could never get anyone to confirm this. You finally confirmed it, so now I can confidently say this is true 🙂 TY.”
Alexandr Stambari, performance marketing specialist, showed support for the message overall, but expressed a concern about segmentation. He stated:
“However, there’s one point that concerns me slightly: moving too far away from segmentation can reduce control. In highly competitive niches (e-commerce, B2B lead generation), segmentation by intent, margin, and query type still plays an important role. Full consolidation without deep analytics can average out performance and hide growth opportunities.”
Marvin responded to his comment and reiterated that Ervin makes it clear that “advertisers should use segmentation where it makes sense and ground their analysis and their structure in their business goals.”
It’s also notable that Google is choosing to have this conversation in public, in a format designed for marketers, not engineers. That tells you it expects more advertisers to be wrestling with restructuring decisions this year.
Theme Of The Week: Tightening AI Search Infrastructure
This week’s updates all reinforce the same underlying shift. AI is not adding a new layer to Search. It is exposing whether your existing structure holds up.
Google is testing Shopping ads inside AI Mode, which means product visibility depends on how well your data can compete inside a summarized answer. Microsoft is explaining how brands are surfaced in AI responses, and structured, trustworthy inputs are central to that process. Google is also reminding advertisers that keywords are simply one input. The real foundation is business intent.
When discovery happens inside generated answers and fewer placements carry more weight, structure stops being a preference. It becomes performance leverage.
If your feeds are clean, your content is clear, and your campaigns are aligned to real intent, that leverage works in your favor. If not, AI environments tend to surface the gaps quickly.
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