Google is scaling AI Mode ads to more countries around the world, even as its own executives acknowledge that AI Mode currently earns less per query than traditional Search. The expansion, discussed on Alphabet's third-quarter earnings call on October 28, captures the central tension in AI search today: usage is growing fast, but the business model that made traditional search so profitable has not yet caught up with the new format.
Alphabet chief business officer Philipp Schindler said AI Mode earns less per query than traditional Search, and that strong AI Mode query growth weighed on Search growth. That admission matters because it explains why Google is moving quickly on ads in AI Mode rather than waiting for the format to mature. In traditional search, a results page is built around links and ads that users understand and click. In AI Mode, the answer itself takes centre stage, and advertising has to fit around a conversational response without breaking the experience. Until that format earns as much per query as the old one, every additional AI Mode query dilutes average revenue, even if total usage rises. Schindler's comments make that trade-off explicit.
Google is scaling AI Mode ads to Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Singapore, with Brazil, Mexico, and the UK planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. That is a broad geographic expansion in a single move, and it signals that Google now considers the ad format ready for large, diverse markets rather than a small test. For advertisers, the list matters because it determines where AI Mode inventory will be available and where campaigns will need new creative and measurement approaches. For publishers and SEOs, it matters because ads inside AI answers will shape what users see first, and how much room organic results and citations have on the page.
In the United States, users will see multiturn ads in follow-up queries. That detail is important because AI Mode is conversational: a user asks a question, receives an answer, and then asks a follow-up. Showing ads in those follow-up turns means advertising follows the conversation rather than appearing only at the start. Done well, that could make ads more relevant, because the system has more context about what the user actually wants. Done badly, it could feel intrusive, because the user is in the middle of a dialogue rather than scanning a list. How Google balances relevance and intrusion in multiturn ads will shape both user trust and advertiser returns.
The earnings context puts the expansion in perspective. Google Search ad revenue grew 12% to $63.3 billion in the third quarter, a reminder that traditional search remains an enormous business even as AI Mode grows. At the same time, chief executive Sundar Pichai said AI Mode queries are on average three times longer than traditional searches. Longer queries suggest users are asking more complex, more specific questions in AI Mode, which could eventually support richer, better-targeted advertising. For now, though, the gap between query growth and revenue per query is the story: Google is scaling a format that is popular with users but still less profitable per interaction than the format it is gradually replacing.
For advertisers, AI Mode ads mean learning a new placement where success depends on matching conversational intent rather than a single keyword. Campaigns will need to consider how a user refines a question over several turns, and what message is helpful at each stage. For SEOs, the expansion is a reminder that AI Mode is not a side experiment. As ads and answers fill more of the AI Mode experience, organic visibility will depend on being cited inside answers and on earning the kind of authority that AI systems surface. Content that answers complex questions clearly, with original evidence and a credible author, is the best preparation for a search landscape where the answer, the ad, and the citation increasingly share the same screen.
Sources: Pivot News and 9to5Google, October 31, 2026.
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