What Google has announced
On 28 October, Google said it is taking ads in AI Mode beyond the US. AI Mode is the chat-style version of Google Search. You type a longer question and get a written answer with links underneath, instead of a page of ten results. Ads have been showing inside those answers in the US for a while. They're now live in ten more countries, including Canada and Australia.
The UK is on the list for later this year. In its announcement on the Google Ads & Commerce Blog, Google says it plans to expand in the last quarter of 2026 "including Brazil, Mexico, and the United Kingdom". There's no date yet. It could arrive in the middle of your Christmas trading, or just after it.
There's no new campaign to set up and no separate budget. PPC Land reports that Google's help page makes existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns eligible automatically. Campaigns using broad match, AI Max or Performance Max can be matched to a much wider range of AI Mode conversations. Exact and phrase match keywords only qualify when the question has clear buying intent.
What you can and can't control
You can't opt out of AI Mode on its own. If a campaign can show on Search, it can show in AI Mode. Your negative keywords and brand exclusions still apply.
You won't get a separate line in your reports either. Clicks, costs and conversions from AI Mode are mixed in with your normal Search results, and the questions that triggered your ads only appear in aggregate in the search terms report. Google may also add short "AI explainers" around your ad, which you can't write, edit or switch off.
What it means for a business like yours
This is a major shake-up for search, and search has already changed quickly over the last two years. People research products and services, and find local businesses, differently from how they did in 2024. AI Mode pushes that further, and now the ads sit inside it too.
Google says AI Mode queries are, on average, three times longer than traditional searches, based on its US data. That's the part I'd think about. Someone who types "boiler repair Bristol" today might ask AI Mode whether their combi boiler is worth fixing after losing pressure twice this month, and roughly what a replacement would cost. Your ad could appear under that answer, matched by Google's reading of the conversation rather than a keyword you chose.
For some businesses that's good news. A long, specific question often comes from someone close to buying. For others it's a new way to pay for clicks from people who were only researching, or who want something you don't offer. Because AI Mode traffic is blended into your Search reports, you won't easily see which it is.
It matters most if you run broad match, AI Max or Performance Max, since Google matches those most freely. If you already use them, you've accepted some of this trade. AI Mode widens it. Accounts built on tight exact and phrase match keywords will see less change. I wouldn't rush to switch everything to exact match, though. I'd want to know which campaigns are exposed before the change lands, and judge them on results once it does.
What I'd do before it reaches the UK
1. Take a baseline now
Benchmark your spend, conversions, cost per lead or sale and conversion rate for each Search and Performance Max campaign over the last four to six weeks. Once AI Mode ads start showing in the UK, there won't be an AI Mode segment to look at. A clear picture of "before" is the only way to tell whether something changed.
2. Check you're counting the right conversions
Google's automation decides where to show your ads based on what you tell it counts as a conversion. If page views, brochure downloads and every form fill are all treated the same, AI Mode will find you more of those. Make sure your main conversion goals are the actions that bring in money. If you can, feed qualified leads or sales back from your CRM, so Google learns what a good customer looks like. That's the best protection against paying for long, vague conversations that never turn into business.
3. Tidy your negative keywords and brand exclusions
These still work in AI Mode, so they're worth an hour. Add the services you don't offer and the areas you don't cover. Most local accounts also leak money on jobs and training searches. If you run Performance Max, check your brand exclusions and account-level negatives as well.
4. Read the search terms report more often
The questions behind AI Mode clicks only show in aggregate, but shifts still come through. Longer, chattier search terms appearing after the UK launch are a clue. I'd check weekly for the first month after it lands, instead of monthly.
5. Make sure your landing pages answer the question
Someone arriving from a detailed AI Mode conversation expects your page to pick up where the answer left off. If they asked about cost and your page has no prices or ranges, they'll go back and click something else. A clinic in Cheltenham or a builder in Bath will usually win more from clear prices and service areas than from a clever headline.
For agencies
Your clients will read about AI Mode ads before they see them in their accounts. I'd send a short note now explaining what's coming, which of their campaigns are eligible and how you'll judge whether it's working. Agree the baseline before the launch, so nobody argues about it in January. Plan for the extra time as well. Longer, more varied search terms take longer to review, and clients will want to know what's changed and why. If you need extra hands to audit campaigns and conversion tracking across a batch of accounts, I offer white-label PPC support for agencies.
Should you be worried?
Not yet. Google hasn't given a UK date, and nothing changes in your account until it does.
It'll be interesting to see how people use AI Mode, and whether they treat the ads inside it the way they treat ads on a normal results page. My guess is that it creates more work for whoever manages your ads. When people change how they search, the account has to change with them. There will be new kinds of search term to read, and landing pages that need to answer fuller questions. That's been true of every shift in search over the last couple of years, and this one looks bigger.
I see AI Mode as another step in the same direction as AI Max and Performance Max. Google matches your ads to what it thinks people mean, and asks you to trust it. I'd go along with that only as far as the results justify. Judge it on cost per qualified lead and on sales, and pull back the campaigns where those numbers slip. I covered the wider checks in what AI Max and Performance Max change for your Google Ads.
In short
Ads in Google's AI Mode are due in the UK before the end of the year. Your existing campaigns will be eligible automatically, with no separate opt-out and no separate reporting. Take a baseline and check your conversion tracking now, then watch your search terms closely once it lands. Expect your account to need more looking after than it does today.
If you'd like someone to look over your account before it does, that's part of how I run Google Ads for businesses in Bristol and the South West. Send me a message below and tell me what you're running.