I’ve been watching the AI arms race heat up this week, and there’s some genuinely interesting stuff happening that’s going to change how we approach paid search strategy going forward. Google’s just dropped Gemini 3, their latest AI model, and it’s not just another incremental update. This is the engine that powers everything from your Smart Shopping campaigns to how Google understands what your customers are actually searching for.
Let me walk you through what’s happening in the world of paid advertising this week, and more importantly, what it actually means for your business.
Google’s Gemini 3: The Brain Behind Your Campaigns Just Got an Upgrade
Google’s unveiled Gemini 3, and they’re claiming it’s now leading the pack in maths, science, and something called “multimodal” AI. Now, I know that sounds like technical jargon, but here’s why you should care: this is the technology that sits behind Google Ads and makes decisions about your campaigns.
When Google talks about “multimodal,” they mean their AI can now better understand images, text, and context all at once. Think about what that means for your product feeds. When you upload a photo of a blue sofa, Google’s AI doesn’t just see pixels anymore—it understands it’s a sofa, that it’s blue, what style it is, and crucially, what kind of customer might be searching for it.
From what I’ve seen across campaigns over the years, the quality of Google’s AI directly impacts how well your ads perform. Better AI means better matching between your products and customer searches. It means your Shopping campaigns should get more accurate over time, showing your products to people who are actually likely to buy them.
Microsoft’s Making Moves: AI Agents Are Coming to Windows
Microsoft’s not sitting still either. They’ve remade Windows to work with what they’re calling “autonomous AI agents”—basically, AI assistants that can actually do tasks for you rather than just answer questions.
Why does this matter for your e-commerce business? Well, think about how you manage your advertising right now. You’re probably juggling between Google Ads, your Shopify dashboard, your analytics, maybe some spreadsheets. Microsoft’s vision is that AI agents could handle routine tasks across all these platforms automatically.
I’m paying close attention to this because the way we manage paid search is changing. We’re moving from manually tweaking every campaign setting to setting strategic goals and letting AI handle more of the tactical work. It’s not quite there yet, but this is the direction we’re heading—and I’ll be exploring how these tools develop over the coming months.
Scotts Miracle-Gro on Navigating AI Search: A Real-World Perspective
Here’s something particularly relevant. Scotts Miracle-Gro’s digital team has been talking about how they’re adapting to AI-driven search and retail media, and their experience mirrors what I’m seeing with accounts I manage.
The key insight? Traditional keyword strategies aren’t enough anymore. When someone searches for “how to fix yellow grass,” Google’s AI now understands the intent behind that question and can match it to your lawn fertiliser product—even if “yellow grass” isn’t in your keyword list.
This is both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity is that you can reach customers you might have missed with traditional keyword targeting. The challenge is that you need to make sure your product data is rich and detailed enough for Google’s AI to understand what you’re selling and who needs it.
In my experience working with e-commerce businesses, the ones who win in this new AI-driven world are those who invest time in their product feed quality. Detailed descriptions, good images, proper categorisation—all of this helps Google’s AI work effectively for you rather than against you.
What This All Means Going Forward
Look, I’ll be straight with you. The world of paid advertising is shifting from manual control to strategic oversight. You’re not going to be setting individual keyword bids much longer—Google’s AI is already making most of those decisions in Smart Bidding campaigns. What matters now is:
- Feed quality: Your product data needs to be comprehensive and accurate. Google’s AI can only work with what you give it.
- Clear conversion tracking: AI learns from results. If your conversion tracking is wonky, the AI learns the wrong lessons.
- Strategic goals: You need to tell Google what success looks like for your business—whether that’s maximising sales, hitting a target ROAS, or something else.
- Creative assets: With AI getting better at understanding images and context, having multiple high-quality images and videos of your products becomes more important, not less.
The Practical Takeaway
If you’re running Google Ads for your e-commerce store, here’s what I’d be focusing on right now:
First, audit your product feed. Is every product properly categorised? Do you have detailed descriptions? Are your images high quality? This isn’t busy work—it’s how you communicate with Google’s AI about what you’re selling.
Second, make sure your conversion tracking is bulletproof. With AI making more decisions, accurate data is crucial. If Google’s AI thinks a particular product or audience converts well based on faulty data, it’ll keep pushing budget that way.
Third, start thinking strategically rather than tactically. Instead of “I need to bid £2.50 on this keyword,” think “I need to achieve 400% ROAS on this product category.” That’s the language of AI-driven advertising.
The technology behind Google Ads is getting smarter—genuinely smarter, not just marketing talk. But it’s not magic. It needs good data, clear goals, and strategic oversight. That’s where the combination of AI capability and human expertise makes the difference between campaigns that just spend money and campaigns that actually grow your business.
I’m watching how these AI developments roll out across the platform, and I’ll keep you posted on what actually matters versus what’s just noise. The paid search landscape is changing quickly, but the fundamentals remain: understand your customer, give them what they’re looking for, and measure what works.