Mind-Blowing Google Ads Updates for 2025

Looks like Google is finally hearing our frustration

If you didn’t catch Google Marketing Live 2025, I suggest you check it out. Google just dropped a bomb that’s going to change everything about how online advertising works.

And I mean EVERYTHING.

What they announced isn’t some “coming soon” roadmap nonsense. This stuff is rolling out NOW and this is probably the biggest shift I’ve seen Google make in a long time for both searchers’ perspective and marketers like me.

I’ll be honest, Google has stepped up their game recently and their search experience has gotten a lot better. I get it, Google is in the business of selling ads but I think they got carried away making every search transactional when we were just seeking information.

Whenever I tried to look something up, it would just be ads, ads, and more ads (I’m partially to blame for that) followed by biased articles… “blah blah blah here’s the top 10 supplements” or “dog treats we recommend that you can buy on Amazon” then more blah blah blah “join our newsletter.” Weird how all recommended products were readily available on Amazon. Go figure!

Ironically, I’m not resorting to ChatGPT as much and spending more time on Google since they smartened up. Perplexity is just one hot mess so let’s not go there.

Are you still manually managing keywords? writing individual ad copy? Oh, how 2024 of you! It’s time to adapt to the new age of AI-powered advertising and make the best use of these new features. Let’s go!

Meet the AI-Powered Dream Team

Google Ads Power Pack: AI Max for Search Campaigns, PMax, and Demand Gen.

Forget everything you know about campaign types. Google revamped their old “Power Pair” and replaced it with something they’re calling the “Power Pack” – three AI-powered campaign types that are designed to handle the entire customer journey.

Here’s your new lineup:

1. AI Max for Search Campaigns (The Keyword Killer)

AI Max completely eliminates keywords. Think of it as a supercharged blend of Dynamic Search Ads and broad match keyword targeting. To be clear, Google is not ditching standard search (at least not yet) and for many use cases, standard search is still the better option.

How it works: Instead of selecting a list of keywords you want to target, AI Max learns from your landing pages, product list (if you upload one), historical conversion data and audience signals to understand what you offer and when it’s relevant to show your ads.

Real example used by Google: Someone searches “electric SUV for a large family” – Volvo didn’t target that specific phrase, but their ad appears at the top with a headline customized in real-time: “electric vehicle and seven seats.”

So with 3 different search campaigns, it’s easy to get confused. The above example sounds a lot like a Dynamic Search Ad (DSA) campaign doesn’t it? Let’s break down all campaigns so it’s easier to see the key differences.

Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) – Traditional Automation

• DSAs automatically generate headlines and choose landing pages based on your website content
• You provide only descriptions for the ad copy; headlines and final URLs are generated dynamically
• Best for advertisers with large or constantly changing inventories
• Limited control over what matches, unless you set exclusions

AI Max for Search Campaigns – Next-Gen Full Automation

• No keyword list, no dynamic ad targets. Google builds a profile based on your site content, assets, and headlines
• Includes brand inclusions/exclusions — something not available in DSAs
• Automates ad creation, targeting, and bidding in a single system

Standard Search (aka Responsive Search Ads) When does standard search become the ideal choice?

• You Need Precision: Exact match, phrase match, and granular bidding for regulated industries or B2B lead gen
• Brand or Legal Requirements: Industries like finance, law, health need tight control over headlines and copy
• Low Conversion Volume: AI Max needs conversion signals to optimize – small budgets benefit from manual control
• Niche or Technical Offerings: Highly specific language benefits from precise keyword targeting
• Creative Strategy Control: When you want to control messaging tone and test specific hooks

According to Google, AI Max delivers 27% more conversions at similar CPA/ROAS compared to exact and phrase match campaigns. We’ve heard Google make bold claims before so take this with a grain of salt.

2. Performance Max (The Everything Campaign)

Performance Max isn’t new, but it’s new-ish. Think of PMax as the campaign that runs everywhere Google has inventory – Search, YouTube, Gmail, Discovery, Shopping, you name it. It’s designed to maximize performance across all Google channels with minimal input from you.

What’s new: They just launched Channel Performance Reporting so you can finally see exactly where your conversions are coming from across all those channels. This still won’t give us everything we want to see but it’s now half the black box it once was.

From Google: “We launched more than 90 quality improvements in Performance Max campaigns that increased conversions and conversion value by more than 10% for advertisers”. Again folks, bold claim, grain of salt.

3. Demand Gen (The Visual Discovery Machine)

Google Ads was mostly built to capture demand that already exists. But what about capturing that audience that would consider a product/service before intent becomes strong? That’s when Google decided to use Meta’s playbook and Demand Gen was born.

This is your go-to for reaching new customers across Google’s most visual platforms like YouTube and Discover. It’s built for prospecting and brand awareness.

The stats: 68% of Demand Gen conversions come from people who haven’t seen your brand’s ads in the past 30 days. That’s pure new customer acquisition.

What’s new for 2025: Google rolled out 60+ improvements including faster campaign ramp-up, bidding upgrades, new channel controls so you can choose where your ads appear, view-through conversion optimization for better conversion visibility, and a new customer acquisition goal that’s currently in the works.

The biggest issue I had with these new AI driven products Google was rolling out was the lack of transparency. Performance Max never showed you where your ads are being served and how they are showing in great detail like standard Google Ads campaigns. Nor did you have any control over it. With Demand Gen and AI Max for Search, Google gives you the best of both worlds. You get the AI optimization power without losing complete control – Demand Gen lets you choose specific channels and placements, while AI Max provides detailed search term reporting so you can see exactly what queries triggered your ads. It’s like having a smart assistant that actually tells you what it’s doing.

E-Commerce Sellers: Your Customers Aren’t Shopping the Way They Used To

Google Ads 2025 AI Try-On Feature for Shopping.

Google is transforming the shopping experience in Search by making it more visual, personalized, and AI-powered. The focus is shifting from simply listing products to inspiring and guiding users throughout their shopping journey — from discovery to decision.

Shopping results are beginning to look more like curated recommendations, blending editorial-style content with product listings, rather than the traditional hard-sell ads users are used to being bombarded with.

Google’s data shows that 86% of shopping journeys now include multiple Google and YouTube touchpoints while bouncing between search, social media, streaming video etc.

Store owners expect customers to instantly make a purchase as soon as they land on the site. Let’s get real. Here’s what’s actually happening:

• Customer sees your product in a YouTube video
• Searches for it on Google to compare prices
• Watches more videos about similar products
• Goes back to Google to search for reviews
• Finally makes a purchase (maybe from you, maybe from a competitor)

The real game-changer for e-commerce: Traditional search has always been a tough sell when it comes to e-commerce. Search ads are just boring, uninspiring… No wonder so many shoppers scroll right past them – Until now.

Google’s new AI Mode Shopping can now understand conversational product searches like “I need a comfortable desk chair that has better back support” and match them to your specific products.

How to Adapt Your E-Commerce Strategy:

1. Feed the AI Beast

• Upload high-quality product images from multiple angles
• Write detailed product descriptions that include use cases and benefits
• Use Google Merchant Center to its full potential (most of you aren’t)

2. Embrace the New Shopping Features

• Try-On Technology: If you sell clothing, customers can upload their photo to see how it looks
• Agentic Checkout: Google will literally buy products for customers when prices drop to their target
• Visual Search: 65% year-over-year growth in Google Lens searches – make sure your products are findable

3. Stop Thinking in Funnels, Start Thinking in Moments Your customers aren’t following your marketing funnel. They’re living their lives, and your products need to show up in the right moments across all these platforms.

Local & Service Businesses: I Didn’t Forget About You

AI Max is actually perfect for local businesses because it can understand location-based intent better than any keyword strategy ever could.

Old way: Bid on “plumber near me,” “emergency plumber Denver,” “24 hour plumbing service”

New way: AI understands when someone searches “water everywhere help my pipe burst” and matches it to your emergency plumbing service, automatically including your distance from their location.

The Creative Revolution (Your Ads Are About to Get a Lot Better)

No, you don’t have to spend $5,000 on a video ad anymore? Those days are over.

Google just launched Asset Studio – This thing is completely mind-blowing! I’m actually going to put out a separate deep-dive article on this because there’s so much to unpack.

Bottom line: You’ll be able to generate stunning product images, show your products in action, and here’s the kicker – create video content using just your product images.

They’re literally consolidating an entire creative department into your ad account, with new capabilities rolling out throughout the year.

What Asset Studio can do:

• Turn a single product photo into a professional video ad
• Resize and reformat ads for every placement automatically
• Generate seasonal variations (Father’s Day, Black Friday, etc.) without you asking
• Create infinite ad variations from your existing assets

Real example: R/GA (a major ad agency) created a complete video campaign using only Google’s AI. What used to take 4 weeks and cost tens of thousands of dollars was done in days at a fraction of the cost.

But here’s the reality check: The brands getting 250%+ adoption increases and 7%+ conversion value boosts are the ones feeding quality assets into the AI. Garbage in, garbage out still applies.

Here’s what’s really happening with ad creatives and video content – Google is automating the entire creative process and seamlessly incorporating these AI-generated assets directly into your ads. Asset Studio doesn’t just create content for you to download and use later; it automatically integrates these generated videos, images, and variations into your active campaigns. The AI is constantly testing different creative combinations, automatically swapping out underperforming assets with new variations, and optimizing your creative mix in real-time without you lifting a finger.

Why Google Is Making This Big AI Push

Let me give you my take on why Google is aggressively steering people away from standard campaigns toward these AI-powered options. It’s not just about making advertising “better” – it’s about control and efficiency at scale.

Google is dealing with billions of searches and millions of advertisers. Manual campaign management doesn’t scale when you’re processing that volume. By pushing everyone toward AI Max, Performance Max, and Demand Gen, they can optimize the entire ad ecosystem more efficiently. Plus, when the AI controls more variables, Google can extract more value from each auction. It’s brilliant from their perspective – they get better performance metrics to report, advertisers see improved results, and Google maximizes revenue from their inventory.

The other reality? Standard campaigns require human expertise to run well. AI campaigns level the playing field – a small business owner can potentially get similar results to a seasoned PPC expert because the AI is doing the heavy lifting. This democratizes advertising while reducing Google’s reliance on the expertise gap in their advertiser base.

The Bottom Line: Ads Are Getting Sneakier (But Less Annoying)

Here’s what Google has really accomplished in 2025 – they’ve done a much better job making ads less invasive while simultaneously being more sneaky about how they serve them. Think about it: AI Overviews blend helpful information with subtle product recommendations, AI Mode Shopping feels like getting personalized advice rather than being sold to, and these new creative formats look more like content than traditional ads.

Google has figured out how to make advertising feel helpful instead of interruptive. When someone searches “how to bring small dogs on flights,” they get useful information AND a perfectly timed ad for an airline-approved pet carrier. It doesn’t feel like an ad – it feels like a solution. That’s the evolution we’re seeing: ads that solve problems rather than interrupt experiences.

The sneaky part? You’re seeing more ads than ever, but they’re so well-integrated into the search experience that they feel natural. Google is essentially turning every search into a potential commerce moment without making it feel like a sales pitch. It’s advertising that doesn’t feel like advertising – and that’s exactly why it’s so effective.

CHEERS!

Greg Morris | The SEM Guys