Google Ads in AI Mode: what Australians should check

Google now shows ads inside AI Mode in Australia. Google announced the change on 28 October 2026, naming Australia among ten countries, and its Google Ads Help page says Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are automatically eligible to serve ads in AI Mode and AI Overviews. You do not need a new campaign or a separate budget, and the ads carry a "Sponsored" label.

You also cannot switch it off on its own. Google says you cannot target ads only at AI Mode, or opt out of AI Mode while staying in Search. Your controls are the ones you already have: match types, negative keywords, brand exclusions, landing pages and the conversion data you feed back to Google. There is no separate AI Mode report either. The results are included in your normal campaign reports and search terms report.

So the work this week is a check of what is already running: which match types you use, which negatives are missing, whether auto-tagging is on, and whether Google learns which clicks became qualified leads in HubSpot.

What do ads in Google AI Mode look like, and when do they show?

AI Mode is the conversational tab in Google Search, where a person asks a longer question and gets a written answer with links. Ads now appear "directly within or alongside" those answers, according to Google Ads Help. Ads on follow-up questions, which Google calls multiturn ads, are launching in the US first. Every ad is labelled "Sponsored" and set apart from the answer, and Google says the look may change.

Other details from the same page:

• Formats. Text ads and Shopping ads. Google says it is also experimenting with local inventory ads and vehicle ads.
• Language and countries. English, in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan (text ads only), the Philippines and Singapore, with Indonesia in AI Overviews only. Google says the list may not be complete.
• AI explainers. Google may add a short line of text, written by its Gemini models, explaining how an ad relates to the search. Advertisers cannot write, edit, approve or opt out of these.
• AI Overviews too. The same rules cover AI Overviews, the summary at the top of a normal results page. An ad will not show both inside an AI Overview and directly below it.

Your ad can now sit next to an answer Google wrote about your category, sometimes several questions into a conversation, so it has to make sense to someone who has already read a page about the problem.

Why are AI Mode queries longer, and what does that mean for your keywords?

Google says queries in AI Mode are, on average, three times longer than traditional searches. That figure comes from Google's own AI Mode report on United States data from May 2026. Google has not published an Australian figure, so treat it as a direction.

Longer questions change how Google decides to show an ad. Google Ads Help describes two kinds of matching:

• Direct query matching. The question itself shows clear commercial intent, such as "HubSpot partner Brisbane pricing". This works much like a normal search ad.
• Contextual matching. The question is broader or exploratory, and Google matches the ad to the question and to the AI answer it wrote, when the answer points towards a purchase.

Which of your campaigns can use each kind depends on how they target:

Google's recommendation is to use broad match or AI Max, pair it with Smart Bidding set to conversions or conversion value, and give it accurate first-party conversion data. Most B2B accounts fall down on that last part. If a form fill is all Google counts as a conversion, broad match will find you more form fills, including the student, the job seeker and the competitor.

A sensible order for a B2B account: keep your exact and phrase match campaigns running for the searches you know convert, test broad match or AI Max in one campaign with a clear budget, and widen it once Google is learning from qualified leads rather than raw form fills. Review the search terms report weekly for four weeks, and add negatives for the long questions that will never buy.

Can you see AI Mode traffic in Google Ads reporting?

Not on its own. Google Ads Help says impressions, clicks, conversions and cost from AI Overviews and AI Mode are included in aggregate in your standard campaign reports, and that the queries are included in aggregate in your search terms report. Google does not describe a segment or column that splits AI Mode out.

What you can do with the reports you have:

• Mark the date. Add a note in Google Ads for 28 October 2026, so anyone comparing periods knows the inventory changed.
• Watch query length. Sort or filter your search terms report for long, question-style terms. A run of them appearing after late October is the closest view you will get of AI Mode and AI Overviews traffic.
• Judge it on pipeline. Click-through rate and cost per click will move for reasons you cannot see. With AI Mode mixed into everything, qualified leads and deals from paid search, measured in HubSpot, are the honest measure of whether it is helping.

Can you opt out of ads in AI Mode, or out of AI Mode altogether?

For ads, no. Google says you cannot opt out of showing ads in AI Overviews or AI Mode separately from Search. If a campaign runs on Search, it is eligible. Your levers are negative keywords and brand exclusions. Use them to keep your ads off questions you never want to pay for.

For your website's organic appearance, there is now a control. In June 2026 Google announced a Search Console setting that lets a site owner choose whether the site appears in, and helps ground answers in, generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google later noted that the controls had rolled out to all websites worldwide. Two lines from Google matter here: sites that opt out "will not receive traffic or impressions" from those features, and the choice is not used for ranking in normal search results. The same update gives site owners information about which pages appear in AI responses and in which countries.

For most Australian B2B businesses, opting out of AI answers costs more than it saves, because those answers are where buyers now research a shortlist. Our guide to why a site can rank on Google and still be invisible to AI covers what gets a page quoted, and our B2B content and SEO hub covers the content side.

How do you track an AI Mode click through to a HubSpot deal?

The same way you track any Google Ads click. Our guide to the HubSpot and Google Ads setup that shows which clicks become deals covers it step by step. Here is what to confirm for AI Mode specifically:

• Auto-tagging is on in Google Ads. It adds a Google Click Identifier (GCLID) to the landing page URL, and Google says auto-tagging is required to track offline conversions such as a deal closing in your CRM.
• HubSpot auto-tracking is on. Once your Google Ads account is connected, HubSpot adds UTM parameters to supported ads so it can attribute contacts to the ad they clicked. HubSpot can only attribute contacts to ads clicked after auto-tracking is enabled, so an account connected years ago with tracking off has gaps. HubSpot's knowledge base lists Performance Max campaigns as supported for tracking and reporting.
• Your forms keep the source. The form fill is where an anonymous click becomes a contact. Our guide to capturing UTM parameters in HubSpot forms covers the fields to check.
• HubSpot sends qualified leads back to Google. HubSpot ad conversion events send lifecycle stage changes, such as a contact becoming a sales qualified lead, to Google Ads through Enhanced Conversions. Google's bidding then learns from leads your sales team accepted.

The limits on conversion events, from HubSpot's knowledge base: Marketing Hub Starter allows 5 events, Professional 50 and Enterprise 100. Only lifecycle stage changes after you create the event count. Each event uses a fixed value, because the option to use the deal amount is no longer available. Sending real deal amounts needs a custom setup with workflows and Google's Offline Conversions API. Accounts managed through a Google Ads manager account cannot sync through Enhanced Conversions, which catches out businesses whose agency owns the account structure.

Built from the Google Ads Help and HubSpot Knowledge Base pages listed in the sources. Auto-tagging and HubSpot auto-tracking both need to be on.

This is the work we do on our RevOps and HubSpot projects: connecting Google Ads to HubSpot so a click shows up as a contact, a lifecycle stage and a deal, and sending the stages that matter back to Google. Our post on what a HubSpot SEO and paid media strategy includes shows where this sits in the wider plan.

This video from our YouTube channel is a beginner's guide to HubSpot Ads.

What should you check in your Google Ads account this week?

Most of this takes an afternoon, and none of it needs a new campaign.

If the last three rows are the hard part, that is usually a HubSpot setup question more than a Google Ads one. It is the part of our RevOps and HubSpot work that ties paid search spend to the sales pipeline.

Frequently asked questions

Are Google ads showing in AI Mode in Australia? Yes. Google announced on 28 October 2026 that it is scaling ads in AI Mode to ten countries including Australia and New Zealand. The ads are in English and labelled "Sponsored".

Do I need a new campaign for Google AI Mode ads? No. Google says Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are automatically eligible to serve ads in AI Mode and AI Overviews, with no new campaign or separate budget.

Can I opt out of Google ads in AI Mode? Not separately from Search. Google says you cannot target ads only at AI Mode or opt out of it while staying in Search, so use negative keywords and brand exclusions to control where your ads appear.

Can I see AI Mode results in Google Ads reports? Not as a separate segment. Google includes AI Mode and AI Overviews performance in aggregate in standard campaign reports and in the search terms report.

Do exact match keywords show in AI Mode? Only when the question shows direct commercial intent. Google says exact and phrase match are not eligible for contextual matching, which covers broader questions and needs broad match, AI Max, Shopping or Performance Max.

Sources

• Ads in AI Mode expand to new markets, Google, 28 October 2026, for the ten countries, the "Sponsored" label and the three times longer query figure (US data, May 2026).
• About ads in AI-powered experiences in Google Search, Google Ads Help, for eligible campaigns, formats, countries, matching, reporting, AI explainers and opt-out limits.
• New opportunities, control and insights for website owners, Google, June 2026 and updated 31 August 2026, for the Search Console AI controls and insights.
• About auto-tagging, Google Ads Help, for the GCLID and offline conversions.
• Ad tracking in HubSpot, HubSpot Knowledge Base, for auto-tracking and attribution after it is enabled.
• Track and report on your Google ads in HubSpot, HubSpot Knowledge Base, for supported ad types including Performance Max.
• Create and sync ad conversion events with your Google Ads account, HubSpot Knowledge Base, for lifecycle stage events, Enhanced Conversions and limits by subscription.

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Want Google Ads clicks to show up in HubSpot as deals? See our RevOps and HubSpot work.