What Happened
During Alphabet's third-quarter earnings call, Google announced it is bringing ads in its AI-powered Search experiences to international markets for the first time. According to TechCrunch, Philipp Schindler, Google's chief business officer, told investors: "This includes taking our monetization footprint global for the first time. Today, we're announcing the expansion of ads in AI mode into international markets alongside multi-turn ads and AI mode in the U.S."
The timing is telling. Alphabet reported $127.6 billion in revenue, up 25% year over year, yet Google Search revenue grew only 12% in the third quarter — down from 17% in the second quarter and 19% in the first. Alphabet shares fell 8% after the results. In short, the money machine that is search advertising is cooling, and Google is counting on AI formats to pick up the slack.
Why It Matters for Small Businesses
For years, the recipe for small business visibility online was fairly settled: rank well organically, bid sensibly on keywords, and appear in the search results. AI Mode changes the shape of that results page. Instead of a list of blue links, users increasingly receive a generated answer, with sponsored product listings and recommendations built into the response.
Google says the early signs are positive. According to Schindler, click-through rates for sponsored product listings in AI Mode are already comparable to those for organic listings, and Google's user research suggests people find the ads relevant. That matters because it means paid placement inside AI answers is not being ignored — it is behaving like the real estate businesses already fight over.
Search behaviour is shifting too. Sundar Pichai said queries grew at their fastest year-over-year rate in five years. 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, and Google has passed 50 billion visual searches per month. People are asking fuller, more specific questions — which changes how small firms should describe their products and services.
A Practical Example
Imagine a small bicycle repair shop in Valletta. Previously, someone might search "bike repair near me" and scan a list of links. In AI Mode, that same person might type a longer, conversational query: "My gears are slipping on a hybrid bike, where can I get it fixed this week and roughly how much does it cost?"
The AI answer may summarise options and show sponsored product or service listings inside it. To appear, the shop benefits from content that answers these fuller questions directly — a clear services page covering "gear adjustment", typical turnaround times, and pricing ranges, plus product feed data for any parts it sells. The multi-turn nature of AI Mode also means a follow-up like "do they do same-day repairs?" could surface your business again if your information is detailed and well structured. The lesson: write for real questions, keep product and service data accurate, and don't assume a short keyword is enough anymore.
What Next
Expect these ad formats to reach more markets and more query types over the coming months, building on Google's May announcement of Gemini-powered formats such as conversational discovery ads. Small businesses should audit how their products and services are described, keep structured data and shopping feeds tidy, and test the new formats with modest budgets before competitors crowd in. Watching your own category inside AI Mode is the simplest way to see what is changing.
Brain.mt can help you using AI for your business. Contact me for more information. I also offer dedicated workshops and training about this subject, so your team can adapt to how search is changing rather than react to it late.
