Google launches Ask Advisor and new agentic ad formats built on Gemini
Ask Advisor, which Google unveiled on Wednesday, runs on Gemini and pulls data from Google Ads, Google Analytics and Merchant Center so advertisers can manage a campaign without switching platforms. Google describes it as an "always-on collaborator and problem solver" that identifies consumer journeys and recommends next steps, and it enters beta for English-language accounts with a wider rollout planned later this year. Merchant Center is getting its own agent, and Google opened beta testing for a set of agentic ad units. Alongside Ask Advisor, Google started testing two ad formats inside AI Mode in the US on mobile and desktop: Conversational Discovery, which answers a shopper's specific question regardless of its length, and Highlighted Answers, which surfaces a list of recommendations, such as the most ideal language apps for an upcoming trip. Both formats carry a "Sponsored" label. Google also plans AI-powered Shopping ads that pull relevant products and write a custom description when someone searches for an item such as an espresso machine, plus Business Agent for Leads, a Gemini-built format that lets a shopper chat with a brand's agent before filling out a lead form, launching in open beta in the US. The company also expanded its Direct Offers pilot, live since January with retailers including Chewy, Gap and L'Oreal surfacing deals, to add promotion bundling, native checkout and travel expansion as new offer types.
Campaign management shifts from monitoring dashboards to prompting an agent that already has Ads, Analytics and Merchant Center data in view, changing how planners spend their time inside these tools. Sponsored labels appear directly inside Conversational Discovery and Highlighted Answers, placing paid content within AI Mode's answer flow itself, so buyers will want to track this placement separately in reporting. The expanded Direct Offers pilot adds native checkout and promotion bundling, a sign that transaction data could increasingly move through Google's own systems. Teams managing TV and cross-channel budgets alongside search should watch how these new formats measure performance before shifting spend toward them.