Google announced something unusual this week: their AI assistant Gemini won’t have any ads. At all. Not now, not soon, and possibly not for a very long time.
For a company that makes virtually all of its money from advertising, that’s a remarkable decision. And it tells us something important about where Google thinks the future of search is heading – and what that means for how people will find your products.
The Trust Problem Google Is Trying to Solve
Google’s reasoning is straightforward: people won’t trust an AI assistant that’s trying to sell them something. If you ask Gemini for advice on which trainers to buy and it recommends a sponsored product, you’ll stop trusting its suggestions entirely.
This matters because Google believes conversational AI is the future of how people search. Not typing keywords into a box, but having a back-and-forth conversation with an assistant that understands context and remembers what you’ve said.
But here’s the thing – Google still needs to make money. They’re not suddenly becoming a charity. So what’s actually happening here?
The strategy appears to be this: keep Gemini ad-free to build trust and usage, whilst continuing to monetise traditional search where people are actively looking to buy things. Your Google Shopping campaigns and search ads aren’t going anywhere. In fact, they’re becoming more important as Google tries to maintain a clear separation between “helpful AI assistant” and “place where commercial transactions happen.”
What This Means for Your Google Ads
In the short term, nothing changes. Your Shopping campaigns still run. Your search ads still appear. People still click through and buy your products.
But thinking further ahead, this split matters. Google is creating two distinct experiences: one for exploration and research (Gemini), and one for commercial intent (traditional search with ads). The customer journey is getting longer and more complex.
Someone might ask Gemini about the best type of running shoe for flat feet, get detailed advice, and then go to Google Search to actually find and buy those shoes. That’s where your ads come in. But they’re arriving more informed and potentially more selective about what they’re looking for.
The practical takeaway? Make sure your product data is detailed and accurate. When someone has done their research and knows exactly what they want, your product titles, descriptions, and specifications need to match what they’re searching for. Generic or vague product information won’t cut it when you’re competing for customers who’ve already had an AI assistant explain precisely what features they need.
Meanwhile, Over at Meta…
Whilst Google is keeping ads out of Gemini, Meta has been working on something more immediately practical: better product-level reporting for Facebook and Instagram ads.
This has been a longstanding frustration for anyone running catalogue ads. You can see that your campaign is spending money and generating sales, but working out which specific products are performing well versus which ones are burning budget? That’s been unnecessarily difficult.
The new product-level data that’s becoming available helps answer basic questions like: which products are getting impressions but not clicks? Which ones are getting clicks but not converting? Which products are actually profitable versus which ones just look busy?
If you’re running both Google Shopping and Meta catalogue ads (and most e-commerce businesses should be), this helps you make better decisions about where to focus. Maybe a product performs brilliantly on Google Shopping but barely converts on Facebook. Or vice versa. Without product-level data, you’re just guessing.
The Reports You Should Actually Be Using
Speaking of data, there’s been useful discussion this week about which Google Analytics reports actually matter for paid advertising.
It’s easy to get lost in Analytics. There are hundreds of reports, thousands of metrics, and endless ways to slice your data. Most of it doesn’t help you make better decisions about your ad spend.
The reports that actually matter for your Google Ads are the ones that connect ad clicks to business outcomes. Which campaigns are driving customers who actually buy something? Which traffic sources bring visitors who browse three pages and leave versus visitors who add products to cart?
Here’s what’s worth your attention: landing page performance (which pages are your ads sending people to, and do those pages actually convert?), conversion paths (how many touchpoints before someone buys?), and assisted conversions (which campaigns help even when they don’t get the final click?).
The last one is particularly important if you’re running both brand and non-brand campaigns. Your brand campaigns might show the most conversions because they get the final click, but your non-brand campaigns might be doing the heavy lifting earlier in the journey. Without understanding assisted conversions, you might cut budget from campaigns that are actually working.
Remarketing Lists That Actually Work
There’s also been renewed discussion about remarketing – showing ads to people who’ve already visited your website.
The basic remarketing list (everyone who visited in the last 30 days) is a start, but it’s not particularly sophisticated. Someone who viewed one product page three weeks ago is very different from someone who added items to cart yesterday and didn’t complete checkout.
The remarketing lists that tend to perform better are the specific ones: people who viewed products but didn’t add to cart (they’re interested but not convinced), people who added to cart but didn’t purchase (they’re very close, just need a nudge), people who bought in the past but haven’t returned (win them back with new products).
Each of these audiences needs different messaging. The person who abandoned their cart might respond to free delivery. The person who just browsed might need more information about why your product is worth buying. The previous customer might want to know what’s new since they last visited.
Generic “come back to our website” ads work less well than specific messages tailored to what someone actually did on your site.
What to Watch For
The Gemini decision is the most strategically interesting development this week. Google is making a long-term bet that they can keep AI assistants and advertising separate, whilst still maintaining their ad revenue.
For your business, that means the fundamentals of good Google Ads haven’t changed: detailed product data, relevant landing pages, and campaigns structured around what people are actually searching for. But the customer journey is evolving. People will do more research before they search with commercial intent, which means they’ll be more informed and more specific about what they want when they do finally click your ads.
Make sure your campaigns are ready for customers who know exactly what they’re looking for.