Google is expanding AI Search ads internationally as traditional Search growth slows and Alphabet looks for new ways to monetise AI features.
Google is expanding advertising in its AI-powered Search experiences to international markets as growth in traditional Search advertising slows. The move gives Alphabet a new way to monetise longer, more complex searches generated through AI Mode. It also tests whether ads can fit naturally inside answers produced by generative AI.
Google expands AI Search ads globally
Google Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler said the company is scaling ads in AI Overviews and AI Mode to more users and queries. The expansion includes international markets, while multi-turn ads and AI Mode are also expanding in the United States. 
TechCrunch reported on Google’s AI Search advertising plans.
The new formats build on Google’s Gemini-powered advertising plans. They include sponsored product recommendations and conversational discovery ads that respond to users’ questions. Google says the formats are designed to connect commercial information with more detailed, interactive searches.
Schindler said sponsored product listings in AI Mode have click-through rates comparable to organic listings in early results. He also said user research indicates that people find the ads relevant. Those are company-reported early findings, not an independent assessment of long-term performance.
The international rollout gives advertisers access to a larger potential audience. It also gives Google more data on how people respond to commercial results in different languages and markets. The company has not provided a separate revenue figure for AI Search ads.
Search advertising growth loses momentum
Alphabet reported $127.6 billion in third-quarter revenue, up 25% from a year earlier. Google Services revenue increased 11% to $96.3 billion, while Search and other revenue rose 12% to $63.35 billion, according to 
Alphabet’s official earnings release.
The Search growth rate was slower than in the previous two quarters. TechCrunch reported 17% growth in the second quarter and 19% in the first quarter. That slowdown increases pressure on Google to make AI Search a meaningful advertising business without weakening the user experience that supports its core product.
Alphabet’s shares fell after the results, according to TechCrunch. The market reaction reflects investor concern about the balance between strong overall growth and slower expansion in Google’s central advertising engine. It also highlights the importance of future evidence on AI-related revenue.
Google still has a large advertising base to protect. Search and other revenue remains much larger than newer AI monetisation formats. The company must show that AI features add commercial value rather than simply shift activity away from established search pages.
AI changes how people use Search
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Search queries grew at their fastest year-over-year rate in five years. He credited AI features with encouraging longer and more complex questions. Pichai said queries in AI Mode are three times longer on average than traditional searches.
One in five AI Mode searches globally involves voice, images or documents, according to the company’s investor call. Google also said it has surpassed 50 billion visual searches per month. These figures suggest that AI is changing the types of information users bring to Search.
Longer queries may create more opportunities for targeted advertising. They may also make ad placement more difficult because answers can combine information from several sources. Google must therefore balance commercial placement with relevance, transparency and trust.
Google Cloud adds another growth engine
Alphabet’s advertising business remains its largest source of revenue, but Google Cloud is growing faster. Cloud revenue surged 103% to $30.7 billion in the third quarter, driven by demand for AI infrastructure, services and TPU systems. Google Cloud also includes Google Workspace and other enterprise products.
The cloud result gives Alphabet another major AI-related growth engine. However, cloud revenue is different from Search advertising revenue and does not prove that AI ads will scale at the same rate. Investors will likely track both businesses separately as Google expands its AI products.
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In conclusion, Google is taking AI Search advertising global as traditional Search growth slows. Early company data suggests users are engaging with sponsored products in AI Mode, but the strategy remains unproven at scale. The next test will be whether Google can grow AI ad revenue without compromising the quality and trust of Search.
