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Google AI Mode Now Has Shopping Ads: What Cross-Border Sellers Need to Know

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What the ads look like in AI Mode

If you’ve used Google’s AI Mode recently, you might have noticed product recommendations appearing inside the AI’s answers, labeled “Sponsored.” That’s Google’s new AI Mode shopping ad format.

It works nothing like traditional Google Shopping ads. Those were product carousels at the top of search results, fixed positions, uniform format. AI Mode ads are generated dynamically based on what the user is asking about. Someone asks “what sunscreen works best for oily skin,” the AI responds with analysis, and a few sponsored product recommendations appear naturally within the answer.

Google says AI Mode has hit 75 million daily active users. That number is still climbing. For cross-border sellers, this is a new ad surface with different rules from what you’re used to.

Your product data decides whether you show up

You can’t buy your way into AI Mode shopping results with higher bids alone. Google’s AI needs to “understand” what your product is, what it’s for, and what problems it solves before it can match it to the right conversation.

Where does it get that information? Your Merchant Center product feed.

For traditional Google Shopping, keyword-heavy titles and basic descriptions were enough. AI Mode reads structured data. “Women’s Sunscreen SPF50 Face Waterproof Moisturizing 2026” gives the AI limited useful information. “SPF50 Face Sunscreen, Oil-Control Formula, For Oily and Combination Skin, Water Resistant 80 Minutes” lets the AI match you to specific queries about oily-skin sunscreen.

Google recently added a batch of new data attributes to Merchant Center, designed for conversational commerce. These include: answers to common product questions, compatible accessories, and substitute products. Most merchants haven’t filled these in yet. Doing it now puts you ahead.

What Direct Offers means

Google also launched Direct Offers. The idea: when the AI determines a user is close to making a purchase decision, you can show that specific user an exclusive offer, like an extra discount or free shipping. This offer only appears for that user in AI Mode and doesn’t affect your pricing for everyone else.

For cross-border sellers, this is interesting because it lets you influence the user at the very last step of the decision process. Traditional ads pull people into the top of the funnel. Direct Offers push at the bottom.

The feature is still in testing, but it’s worth understanding how it works ahead of time.

What to do now

Go through your Merchant Center product data. Focus on three areas: are titles descriptive (not just keyword stacks), do descriptions cover use cases and problems solved, and are attribute fields fully completed.

Check if Merchant Center has new attribute fields you haven’t filled in yet. Google added several recently. Fill in anything related to “what would a user ask about this product in a conversation.”

If you’re already running Google Shopping ads, you don’t need a separate campaign for AI Mode. The AI Mode shopping ads pull from your existing Merchant Center data and ad account automatically. Your job is just to improve data quality.

This is a window opening on a new channel. Merchants with strong product data will capture traffic first, because most sellers’ feeds are still optimized for traditional Shopping only.

阅读本文中文版: Google AI Mode 上线购物广告了，跨境卖家怎么接

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