0:02 Everyone is underestimating just how
0:04 much Google's AI is about to change the
0:06 way search and advertising actually
0:08 work. Google has leveraged the AI
0:10 revolution to transform how billions of
0:12 people spend their money online today.
0:14 I've been watching this transformation
0:16 unfold and what most people haven't
0:19 realized yet is a complete game changer.
0:21 I'm Neil Patel. My agency NP Digital
0:23 manages Google ads for some of the most
0:26 recognizable brands in the world. And
0:28 today I'm going to break down what
0:31 changed, why it matters, and how you can
0:40 Everyone who said Gen Z only uses Tik
0:43 Tok to search is wrong. Studies are
0:45 showing otherwise. Gen Z actually
0:46 searches on Google more than any other
0:48 age group. But they're not just
0:50 searching more. They're searching in a
0:51 completely different way. Instead of
0:54 typing pizza delivery, they're asking,
0:57 "What's the best late night food that
0:58 won't make me feel terrible in the
1:00 morning?" And it's not just Gen Z.
1:02 Google's AA overviews are now reaching
1:04 over 2 billion people every month. But
1:06 here's the really crazy part. People who
1:09 use AA overviews don't search less, they
1:11 search more. They start asking questions
1:13 they never would have asked before,
1:15 like, "How to keep suits from wrinkling
1:18 when traveling on long haul flights?" or
1:20 what is the difference between a flat
1:22 white and a cappuccino? In Google's
1:24 biggest markets like the US and India,
1:27 AI overviews are driving over 10% growth
1:29 in completely new types of search
1:31 queries. And this growth accelerates
1:33 over time. Now, what does this mean for
1:35 your business? Every day, more potential
1:37 customers are asking questions in ways
1:39 traditional keyword research never
1:41 anticipated. If Google is using AI to
1:44 provide a new level of helpfulness to
1:46 new answers, why wouldn't your ad
1:48 campaigns? That means being ready to
1:50 connect with customers as they not only
1:52 search for your product, but they
1:54 discover it via a conversation with
1:56 search. Take a picture of an inspiration
1:59 or ask search to resolve a debate for
2:02 them on comparing two solutions. In a
2:04 new environment, a manual keyword
2:12 Remember when finding the right answer
2:14 meant scrolling through page one of
2:17 Google? Thanks to AI, we just got a
2:19 major upgrade. Now, when you ask a
2:21 question, Google's AI doesn't just look
2:24 once. It fires off multiple searches at
2:26 the same time, each from a different
2:28 angle, to piece together the best
2:29 possible answer for you. Think about
2:31 this. When someone searches for how to
2:33 choose the best laptop, are they a
2:35 college student trying to stretch a
2:37 budget, a video editor chasing speed, or
2:39 a grandparent who just wants simplicity?
2:41 The old Google would show everyone the
2:44 same results. The new Google doesn't. It
2:46 understands the person behind the
2:49 search. For years, Google systems relied
2:52 on simple signals like where you were or
2:54 the device you were using to guess what
2:57 might be relevant. But now with Google
2:59 AI, it goes way deeper. It can simply
3:02 process, reason, and understand the full
3:05 meaning behind those same signals. So,
3:06 it's not just predicting what you're
3:09 looking for. It's recognizing why you're
3:11 searching and when you're most ready to
3:14 take action. And that ship doesn't just
3:16 make search smarter, it makes ads
3:18 smarter, too, by connecting what people
3:20 search, scroll, stream, and shop across
3:23 Google's ecosystem. AI can now deliver
3:26 ads that feel more relevant and timely,
3:28 meeting users before even they realize
3:30 what they need. And it's not just about
3:33 individual searches anymore. Google's AI
3:35 understands search journeys across its
3:37 entire ecosystem. Search, YouTube,
3:40 Gmail, maps, and beyond. Here's where it
3:42 gets even bigger. A overviews are
3:44 changing how people use Google. Instead
3:46 of sending users off to click 10
3:49 different links and wasting an hour of
3:51 their time, Google provides the answer
3:53 right inside the search within seconds.
3:56 So when people do click onto your
3:58 website, the quality tends to be higher
3:59 because they're ready to make their
4:01 decision. And when the ads are
4:03 integrated directly into AI overviews
4:06 and AI mode, they benefit from an AI
4:09 power response that gets a user ready to
4:10 convert. So, if you're a business owner,
4:12 here's the reality. It's no longer just
4:15 about being seen. It's about showing up
4:17 when it matters the most. When people
4:19 are comparing, deciding, and getting
4:21 help from AI. That's why branding is
4:22 more important than ever. Because Google
4:24 is pulling context from everywhere. Your
4:27 website, your reviews, even how people
4:29 mention you on Reddit. And behind all of
4:31 that, Google has been building something
4:34 even bigger. An AI powered ad system
4:36 designed to give you an edge in this new
4:37 landscape. Here's what this means for
4:39 you. You can reach people before they
4:41 start searching. Guide them while
4:43 they're exploring and capture them the
4:46 moment they're ready to buy. These three
4:48 AIdriven systems work together to help
4:50 you win across the full customer
4:52 journey. Demand genet creates awareness
4:55 and desire. Performance Max unifies
4:58 every surface from search to YouTube to
5:01 maximize conversations. AIAX for search
5:03 predicts intent in real time uncovering
5:06 demand before it even exists. Each one
5:08 plays a unique role. Together, they let
5:11 you move with the speed of Google's own
5:14 AI, turning curiosity into clicks and
5:15 clicks into customers. Let me show you
5:23 Every business owner asks the same
5:26 question. Where are my customers? The
5:28 truth is, you don't know if they're
5:30 watching videos on YouTube, reading
5:32 emails in Gmail, or searching on Google
5:34 Maps. Performance Max campaigns take
5:36 away the guesswork. It runs your ads
5:38 across search, YouTube, Gmail, Google
5:41 Maps, Discovery, the display network,
5:43 and millions of websites at the exact
5:46 right time. The AI processes billions of
5:49 interactions to figure out exactly when
5:51 and where each person is most likely to
5:54 buy. My agency helped Little Bellies
5:56 take advantage of this system in a
5:59 crowded baby food market, and the
6:01 results were incredible. Little Bellies
6:03 was competing against major corporations
6:05 with less than 2% market share.
6:07 Performance Max became their omniresence
6:10 engine across Google's ecosystem from
6:12 search to YouTube to Gmail and display.
6:14 By feeding the system quality creative
6:16 assets, showing happy babies enjoying
6:18 their organic snacks and parents
6:20 integrating them into everyday routines.
6:23 The AI learned to find highintent
6:26 parents at the exact right moments. The
6:29 results, a 56% year-over-year growth in
6:31 the US market share, making Little
6:33 Bellies one of the fastest growing baby
6:36 snack brands in America. And non-branded
6:39 search impressions jumped 363%
6:41 as the brand captured parents actively
6:44 researching baby food options. And the
6:47 cost per acquisition dropped 69% from
6:50 $13 to just $4. The magic happened
6:52 because Performance Max identified
6:54 parents across their entire journey.
6:56 Someone might see Little Bellies while
6:58 watching parenting content on YouTube
7:00 and later search organic baby snacks and
7:03 see a text ad, encounter an influencer
7:05 post on social and finally convert after
7:07 seeing a Gmail remarketing ad. The AI
7:10 optimizes entire path automatically
7:12 meeting parents wherever they're
7:14 searching for trusted nutrition advice.
7:16 But here's where most people go wrong.
7:19 They let AI run on limited or poor
7:21 quality data. They use performance max
7:23 as their only campaign type. Performance
7:25 Max is like the star player of your
7:28 team. It's powerful, but it can't win
7:30 the game alone. Think of it as your
7:31 exploration engine. It should run
7:34 alongside proven paid search campaigns
7:36 if you already have them or work as a
7:38 discovery tool if you're just starting
7:41 out. That's why this next type of AI ad
7:50 Have you ever wondered why some brands
7:53 seem to pop up everywhere right before
7:55 you realize you need them? That's not
7:57 coincidence. It's Google's demand genen
7:59 campaigns. Traditional advertising
8:01 responds to intent. Someone searches for
8:03 running shoes and you show them ads.
8:06 Demand genen creates intent. You show
8:08 running shoe ads to someone watching
8:10 workout videos before they even think
8:12 about shopping for running shoes.
8:14 They're not searching yet, but Google's
8:16 AI can predict who's most likely to
8:18 become a customer based on behavior
8:20 patterns. It gets even more powerful
8:22 when you feed it your own targeting and
8:24 first-party data. That's what helps the
8:25 AI learn faster and find better
8:27 customers. Even if you don't have your
8:30 own video assets, Google's AI can build
8:32 them for you. You just upload a few
8:35 images, headlines, your logo, and it'll
8:37 automatically turn that into short form
8:39 videos for YouTube Shorts, Discover, and
8:41 Gmail. Google recently released a case
8:44 study that shows just how powerful this
8:48 approach can be. Samsung saw a 400% jump
8:51 in click-throughs with 70% lower costs
8:52 using demand genet. Instead of only
8:54 targeting people already searching for
8:57 their TVs, Samsung started reaching
8:59 people watching tech reviews on YouTube
9:02 who hadn't even decided that they wanted
9:04 a new TV yet. This dramatic improvement
9:07 happened because traditional advertising
9:09 fights over the same pool of people
9:10 actively searching. When you're running
9:12 demand genen, your goal isn't to just
9:15 shape perception. It's to create demand
9:16 that converts. Instead of selling
9:18 features, you want to show
9:19 possibilities, how your offer fits
9:21 naturally into someone's world. That's
9:24 why demand uses visually engaging
9:26 formats like short videos, carousels,
9:28 and lifestyle imagery. They capture
9:30 attention in the discovery phase when
9:32 people are curious but not yet comparing
9:34 products. As a system learns, it
9:36 automatically creates more assets based
9:39 on which visuals and formats are
9:41 performing the best. Every impression
9:43 builds familiarity and emotional
9:46 context. So by the time someone's ready
9:48 to buy, whether that's on search or
9:50 YouTube, your brand already feels
9:53 familiar. And that's where AIAX research
9:55 complements the power of YouTube,
9:58 converting curiosity into intent in new moments.
10:06 This third AI ad system is where
10:08 Google's AI absolutely gets mind-blowing
10:11 and how good it is. It's called AIAX for
10:13 search. Think of it as a one-click
10:14 supercharge for your existing search
10:16 campaigns. You don't have to rebuild or
10:18 start from scratch. AAX learns from
10:20 what's already working. Your keywords,
10:22 your assets, your landing pages, even
10:24 your creative tone. From there, it
10:26 expands your reach, uncovering new
10:29 queries, new audiences, and new
10:30 opportunities you might never find
10:32 manually. And here's where it gets even
10:34 better. AMAX doesn't just match
10:37 keywords. It reads context. It analyzes
10:40 every search history, location, device,
10:42 time of day, and thousands of other
10:44 intent signals to understand the why
10:46 behind every query. That's the kind of
10:49 nuance only AI can detect and now it's
10:52 built right into your campaigns. It also
10:54 enhances your creative performance. In a
10:56 world where AI generate answers like air
10:59 or views and air mode are rewriting how
11:01 users interact. Contextually tailored
11:04 ads become more critical. AMAX helps
11:06 align your visuals, messaging, and
11:08 offers so they feel part of the
11:09 experience, not an interruption. One of
11:12 my agency clients, Maxis, a
11:14 telecommunications company in Malaysia,
11:17 piloted this feature and saw a 207%
11:20 increase in conversion volume. The AI
11:22 surfaced multilingual and longtail
11:24 queries that their manual keyword tools
11:27 had missed, including regional slang and
11:29 problem focused searches that revealed
11:31 brand new intent. Here's a pro tip that
11:33 you can take away from this. When you
11:36 enable AI Max, apply brand controls to
11:38 make sure your ads stay on message while
11:41 AI explores new intent patterns. Then
11:44 check your search term report. It shows
11:46 you which queries trigger your ads
11:49 through AI Max. Many of those terms will
11:51 reveal untapped intent signals or fresh
11:54 content ideas that you'd never uncover
11:56 on your own. And that's only half the
11:58 story. Create AI Max as an intelligence
12:00 system, not just as an ad setting. The
12:02 search terms it uncovers can guide your
12:04 creative strategy, your content
12:05 planning, and even future campaign
12:07 design. Because when you pull it all
12:09 together, performance max, demand genen,
12:12 AI max, and even AI overviews, that's
12:20 most advertisers are still running one
12:22 campaign at a time, managing search
12:24 here, a YouTube ad there, and hoping
12:26 something sticks. But Google's AI
12:28 doesn't think in silos. The real power
12:29 comes when your campaigns start learning
12:31 from each other, even if you're layering
12:34 them in one step at a time. That's what
12:36 I called compound learning. Your organic
12:38 content builds authority that earns
12:40 citations and AI or views, which makes
12:42 your brand more recognizable when
12:44 running performance max ads. Demand
12:47 genen is about finding your audience and
12:49 putting your brand top of mind across
12:51 Google's most visual services. That
12:53 means it doesn't just make your demand
12:55 genen campaign stronger. It also
12:58 improves the results with performance
13:00 max and AI powered search. Google's AI
13:03 connects every system so each one picks
13:05 up where the last one left off. That
13:07 way, every placement works smarter
13:10 together, strengthening each touch point
13:13 and turning more viewers into high value
13:16 customers. and AIAX for search uncovers
13:19 emerging queries and language trends
13:21 that feed right back into your content
13:23 and targeting strategy. It's a feedback
13:26 loop. Each piece makes the other
13:29 smarter. Organic strengthens ads. Ads
13:31 accelerate discovery, search intent,
13:34 unlocks new opportunities. Together,
13:35 they help Google's AI understand your
13:38 business and your audience on a deeper
13:40 level. Now, not every business can or
13:42 should run all three systems, and that's
13:44 okay. What matters is how you connect
13:47 the tools you do use. If your budget is
13:49 just a few thousand a month, start
13:51 simple with Performance Max. It gives
13:53 you reach across search, YouTube, Gmail,
13:56 and discover without needing multiple
13:58 campaigns. Once that's performing, you
14:01 can activate AI Max and paid search to
14:03 capture intent or demand genen to shape
14:05 it. If you're managing larger budgets,
14:07 six or seven figures, that's when
14:09 combining all three becomes truly
14:11 powerful. Each system plays a role.
14:14 Demand genen creates awareness. AAX for
14:16 search finds high intent buyers and
14:19 Performance Max scales everything across
14:20 Google's ecosystem. The more touch
14:22 points you create, the more your
14:24 campaigns learn from one another,
14:26 turning isolated ads into a connected
14:28 marketing engine that grows smarter with
14:30 every impression. You're not just
14:32 feeding a machine. You're training your
14:33 marketing to adapt the way your
14:35 customers do. Across formats, across
14:37 channels, and across intent. That's the
14:39 future of growth on Google. A living
14:41 system that compounds in intelligence
