Google will expand the availability of English-language ads in its AI Overview query results to Asia for the first time, rolling them out to seven new APAC markets: India, Pakistan, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Previously available in the US, the ads will launch later this year.
The move is part of Google’s broader effort to help brands engage with users increasingly turning to AI assistants, such as Gemini, for advice, direction and information, rather than relying solely on keyword-based search. These AI Overview ads are prominently displayed at the top of search results, providing brands with a new platform to reach consumers.
Unveiled at Google Marketing Live in Singapore, the expansion comes as search behaviour shifts dramatically. Google searches on browsers like Safari are dropping for the first time in decades, and an oft-cited report from Statcounter suggests Google’s search market share has dipped below 90% for the first time in years.
With users now providing more complex and in-depth queries to assistants like ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, Perplexity, and Google’s Gemini, users are seeking not just answers, but also immediate ad and context.
“People are spending more time engaging because of the better responses they’re getting, said Sapna Chadha, vice president of Google Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier in a briefing to journalists. “This also provides more opportunities from an advertising lens and a non-advertising lens to lean into that intent. There's more surface and more surface area which can be utilized in unique ways in today's environment. Overall, we have to remember that quality is leading to additional time spent, and that becomes an opportunity which should be a win-win. But it will require us to evolve to the very quick and changing environment as well.”
One of the impacts of this rapid change relates to what many brands and content publishers are noticing as a visible decline in direct web traffic. For years, many have relied on clicks from Google keyword search result links back to their websites, which, as a source, is more likely to diminish, along with the wider audience it has brought.
However, Chadha points out that as 1.5 billion people use AI Overviews every month, “the satisfaction is that people search more, they discover more, and the clicks that they're making are higher quality, and that's leading to more time spent on the sites that they visit.”
Further AI product updates
Among the other marketing-related updates Google made was a confirmation that it would soon begin testing relevant ads within AI Mode, Google’s most advanced AI search tool, in the US, with ads integrated into responses where it makes sense.
Google also announced the expansion of the YouTube Creator Partnerships Hub, a new tool in Google Ads that helps marketers find creators by keyword, category, or trend alongside research insights like audience demographics and engagement, which they can look up before reaching out to the creator. Currently available in Singapore and Indonesia, Google is planning to add more Asian markets soon.
More information was also provided on brand testing for new AI-powered tools, such as AI Max for Search, which utilises Gemini to understand a brand’s website and ads, and then automatically generates headlines based on what people are searching for. Google disclosed that in a five-week campaign experiment in Singapore and Malaysia, Shopee saw a 100% increase in conversions and a 49% higher return on investment (ROI) using this tool.
Another product highlighted was the generative-AI workspace, Asset Studio, which sits within Google Ads and uses video models to generate more variations of a brand’s creative assets based on performance, helping to optimise ongoing campaigns.
Editor's note: The article originally reported Overview ads would be available in the four SEA markets mentioned above and was updated on July 10 to include the additional APAC markets of India, Pakistan and Australia.
