5 AI Ad Changes to Know from Google Marketing Live 2026

Key Takeaways

• Google Marketing Live 2026 ran on 20 May 2026 and landed five concrete advertising changes, every one of them powered by Gemini and pointed at the AI Mode era of Search.
• The five shifts that matter most for Malaysian advertisers: Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers inside AI Mode, AI-powered Shopping ads in Search, Business Agent for Leads (a chat agent inside the ad), Ask Advisor (a cross-product Gemini agent), and the Direct Offers expansion with native checkout.
• Google cites Ipsos research that 75 percent of people report making faster, more confident decisions using AI Mode in Search, which is the consumer behaviour driving all five launches.
• The price of entry to most of these formats is having AI Max for Search, AI Max for Shopping, and Performance Max already running. Accounts still on legacy keyword-only campaigns will be slow to qualify.
• For Malaysian brands acting on this now, working with the right partner for Google Ads in Malaysia that already runs AI Max and Performance Max is what shortens the gap between announcement and adoption.

If you run paid media for a Malaysian brand, the next twelve months of Google Ads are not going to look like the last twelve before. On 20 May 2026, Google held its annual Google Marketing Live keynote and announced a wave of ad-product changes, every one of them built on Gemini and every one of them tied to a single user behaviour: people are talking to AI Mode, not typing two-word queries.

Google cites Ipsos research from December 2025 showing 75 percent of consumers say they make faster, more confident decisions using AI Mode in Search. That is the consumer behaviour Google has spent the last six months redesigning ad inventory around. We’ll walk you through the five changes from Google Marketing Live 2026 that matter most, what they actually do, and what Malaysian advertisers should be lining up to take advantage of them.

What Google Announced at Google Marketing Live 2026

The headline framing from Vidhya Srinivasan, VP of Google Ads and Commerce, was direct: the old trade-off between a smart decision and a fast decision no longer holds, and the only way to win in the age of AI is with AI. That sets up everything else in the keynote.

So does Google Ads use AI in 2026? Yes, and considerably more than at any previous Marketing Live event. Gemini is now embedded across ad creative generation, conversational ad formats, campaign management, measurement, and the new agent layer that sits across the product suite. 

With that, the five changes below are the ones with the most direct revenue implications for Malaysian advertisers.

Change 1: New Ad Formats Inside AI Mode

The first big shift is two new ad formats designed specifically for AI Mode in Search: Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers. Both are built with Gemini, both carry a clear “Sponsored” label, and both include an independent AI explainer alongside the advertiser’s creative.

• Conversational Discovery ads respond to the specific question a user is asking. From Google’s own example: someone searches for low-maintenance ways to make their home smell like a spa, and the ad pulls in the most relevant products with a Gemini-written explainer of why those products fit. 
• Highlighted Answers appear within AI Mode’s recommendation lists, so when AI Mode suggests, say, the best language apps for an upcoming trip, eligible high-quality ads can sit inside that list as a Highlighted Answer.

What this means for Malaysian brands is that keyword-only Search campaigns will not be eligible for these placements. The campaigns that qualify are the ones already running on AI Max for Search and Performance Max, with strong creative assets and clean product feeds.

Change 2: AI-Powered Shopping Ads in Search

The second change extends AI explainers into mainstream Search. AI-powered Shopping ads will let Gemini pull a brand’s most relevant products in response to a query (Google’s example is an espresso machine search) and write a custom explainer for each product highlighting why it might be the right choice for that specific shopper.

For Malaysian retailers running e-commerce, this is the more consequential update than AI Mode ads, simply because Search volume in Malaysia still dwarfs AI Mode volume. The brands that benefit from Google AI ads are the ones with rich Merchant Center feeds, clean product attributes, and AI Max for Shopping already running. Likewise, the brands that lose ground are the ones with sparse or outdated product data, because Gemini will struggle to write a convincing explainer from a thin feed.

Change 3: Business Agent for Leads

The third change is one Malaysian service-industry advertisers should pay close attention to: Business Agent for Leads. Instead of clicking through to a static lead form, a user clicks a Chat button inside the ad itself and talks to a Gemini-powered agent that draws answers from the brand’s own website.

Google’s example is a student researching universities, asking the agent questions about programmes, intake, and fees in real time. For Malaysian businesses in education, property, healthcare, financial services, and B2B SaaS, this collapses the awareness-to-qualified-lead window dramatically, as the chat now replaces the form, and the form was the leak.

But there is a catch, and that is the agent’s answers are only as good as the source material on your website. If your service pages are thin, contradictory, or out of date, the Business Agent will surface that inconsistency to every prospect who clicks Chat.

Change 4: Ask Advisor, the Cross-Product Gemini Agent

The fourth change is structural. Ask Advisor is a unified Gemini agent that spans Google Ads, Google Analytics, Merchant Center, and Google Marketing Platform. The pitch from Google is an always-on strategic partner that connects insights across products, so you can ask one question and get an answer that pulls from all four data sources at once.

The practical implication here is that the work of cross-referencing a Search Console drop against a Google Ads conversion dip against a Merchant Center disapproval rate can collapse into a single conversational thread. Ads Advisor (the narrower Google Ads-only agent) is also picking up three new agentic safety and policy features alongside Ask Advisor, which Google says will help streamline account hygiene.

Change 5: Direct Offers Goes Bundled and Native

The fifth change is the Direct Offers expansion. Direct Offers launched in January 2026 with brands like Chewy, Gap, and L’Oreal, and Google is now upgrading it on three fronts:

• Promotion bundling: brands upload multiple promotions (discounts, giveaways, local coupons) plus eligible products and guardrails. Gemini then constructs the most compelling bundled offer for the specific query.
• Native checkout: Universal Commerce Protocol merchants now get native checkout integration, so high-intent research converts into a completed sale without the user leaving the ad surface.
• Travel expansion: travel partners like Booking and Expedia can soon surface special offers directly within a user’s AI-assisted trip planning session.

For Malaysian e-commerce, FMCG, and travel advertisers, this is a meaningful broadening of the deal surface inside AI Mode. The qualification path runs through Merchant Center feed quality and, for full native checkout, Universal Commerce Protocol integration.

Why This Matters for Malaysian Businesses

With these five changes, three threads tie them all together and each has a direct implication for Malaysian businesses.

First, foundation. Almost every new format requires AI Max for Search, AI Max for Shopping, or Performance Max to be running underneath it. Accounts on legacy keyword-only campaigns will be slow to qualify, and the gap between AI-native and legacy advertisers is going to widen each quarter.

Second, data quality. The Gemini-written explainers, the Business Agent’s answers, and the bundled Direct Offers all draw from the data you feed Google. A clean Merchant Center feed, well-written website copy, and accurate Business Profile information are the inputs that translate into a strong AI ad experience.

Third, speed. The Malaysian advertisers who adopt AI Max and Performance Max early will accumulate Gemini learning signals earlier than competitors. That signal adds up over time, and moving late means you will be playing catch-up not just on placements, but also on the algorithmic learning underneath them.

Get Your Google Ads Ready for the AI Era

The big picture from Google Marketing Live 2026 is that Gemini is now stitched through every layer of paid media on Google. The brands that move first on AI Max, Performance Max, Merchant Center hygiene, and Business Agent setup are the ones that will collect the largest share of the new AI Mode placements as they roll out across markets in the coming months.

Here at Primal, we run paid media, AI search, and analytics in-house through our ElevateSEO™ approach. As a leading digital marketing agency in Malaysia, we help brands move from legacy Search to AI Max and Performance Max, clean up Merchant Center feeds for Gemini-readiness, and pair paid media with our expertise in AI SEO in Malaysia so the same brand shows up across both AI Mode ads and AI Mode organic citations.

References:

1. Google Marketing Live 2026: News and Announcements. Retrieved June 30, 2026, from https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/google-marketing-live-2026-collection/ 
2. A New Generation of Ads for the AI Era of Search. Retrieved June 30, 2026, from https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/google-marketing-live-search-ads/ 
3. Meet Ask Advisor, Your New AI-Powered Collaborator. Retrieved June 30, 2026, from https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/ask-advisor/ 
4. Google Marketing Live 2026: Key Highlights & Product News. Retrieved July 1, 2026, from https://business.google.com/us/accelerate/googlemarketinglive/ 

 

Talk to our team today for expertise in Google ads in Malaysia. Together with our experience in AI SEO in Malaysia, we can help map your account against the five Google Marketing Live 2026 changes and find a clear path to adoption.

 

Frequently Asked Questions About Google Marketing Live 2026

What is Google Marketing Live 2026 and when did it take place?

A: Google Marketing Live is Google’s annual advertising keynote, hosted on 20 May 2026. The 2026 edition focused entirely on Gemini-powered changes to Google Ads, YouTube, and Shopping, including new ad formats inside AI Mode, the Ask Advisor cross-product agent, Business Agent for Leads, AI-powered Shopping ads, and the Direct Offers expansion.

Does Google Ads use AI across the platform now?

A: Yes, and the 2026 announcements deepened that integration significantly. Gemini now sits behind ad creative generation in Asset Studio, the new Conversational Discovery and Highlighted Answers formats in AI Mode, AI-powered Shopping ad explainers, the Business Agent for Leads chat experience inside ads, and the Ask Advisor agent that spans Google Ads, Analytics, Merchant Center, and Marketing Platform.

How will Google AI ads changes affect Malaysian advertisers specifically?

A: Most of the new formats require AI Max for Search, AI Max for Shopping, or Performance Max to be running underneath them, so Malaysian brands on legacy keyword-only campaigns will be slow to qualify for AI Mode placements. The advertisers who benefit fastest are those with clean Merchant Center feeds, strong creative assets, and a content-rich website that the Business Agent can draw from.

When will the Google Marketing Live 2026 features roll out in Malaysia?

A: Google announced rollout in waves across the coming months from May 2026 onwards, with availability varying by feature and market. AI Mode and AI Max placements are expected to expand earliest, with Business Agent for Leads and the full Direct Offers expansion following on a tiered timeline. Brands should set up Performance Max and AI Max now to qualify as features become available.