Highlights from Google Marketing Live 2026

Last month, our team attended the Google Marketing Live 2026, the annual event where Google unveils the new features that will shape the future of its advertising ecosystem. Every year, this conference gives us a better understanding of the direction Google is taking and the changes that could impact our clients’ digital strategies.

Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence dominated the discussions. Google demonstrated how Gemini will now be integrated into virtually every stage of digital marketing: from ad creation to data analysis, including the search experience and e-commerce.

Here are the ads that caught our attention.

A New Generation of AI-Powered Research

For several years now, Google has been evolving the way it presents search results. With the introduction of Gemini into the search experience, this transformation is accelerating.

Google has introduced new ad formats designed to integrate with conversations generated by artificial intelligence. The goal is to bring users closer to businesses that can answer their questions, while offering a more natural and personalized search experience.

In practical terms, users will be able to ask more detailed questions and receive more comprehensive answers, along with relevant recommendations, products, or ads.

For businesses, this confirms a trend that is already well underway: search engines are getting better and better at understanding the intent behind queries, not just the keywords used.

Google continues to automate its advertising campaigns

One of the central themes of Google Marketing Live 2026 was automation.

Google has announced several improvements to AI Max, its suite of AI-powered tools, as well as new features related to bidding, budgets, and campaign optimization.

The goal is clear: to enable advertisers to reach more potential customers while letting artificial intelligence handle an increasing share of the technical adjustments.

This development is in line with what we've been seeing over the past few years with Performance Max campaigns, smart bidding, and audience automation.

Google is increasingly relying on algorithms to identify the best opportunities for real-time distribution.

Ask Advisor: AI Makes Its Way into Marketing Analysis

Among the most interesting new features is Ask Advisor, a new assistant powered by Gemini that will be connected to Google Ads, Google Analytics, Merchant Center, and the Google Marketing Platform.

The idea behind this tool is simple: to allow advertisers to ask questions in natural language and quickly receive recommendations based on their data.

Google aims to make performance analysis more accessible and speed up the process of turning data into action.

The company also announced new measurement and attribution features in Google Analytics to help advertisers better understand their customers' journey.

This desire to simplify the analysis has been a recurring theme in announcements in recent years, but the integration of Gemini appears to mark a new phase.

Ad creation is getting faster

Google also unveiled several new features in Asset Studio, its ad creation platform.

Thanks to artificial intelligence, advertisers will be able to generate images more easily, adapt visuals to different formats, and create more ad variations based on their brand guidelines.

Producing advertising content is often a challenge for companies. Platforms are increasingly demanding a wider variety of formats, visuals, and creative variations in order to optimize performance.

With these new tools, Google aims to reduce production time while allowing advertisers to test more concepts.

Artificial intelligence is thus becoming a catalyst for creativity, directly integrated into advertising platforms.

YouTube remains at the heart of Google's strategy

Another important announcement concerns YouTube.

Google continues to invest heavily in video and demand generation campaigns, which enable businesses to reach consumers at different stages of their buying journey.

The company also unveiled new Gemini-powered tools designed to facilitate collaboration between brands and content creators.

More than ever, YouTube is being positioned as a platform where brand awareness, engagement, and performance can coexist within a single advertising strategy.

For Google, video plays a central role in the future of digital marketing.

E-commerce is entering a new phase

Google also devoted part of its presentation to what it calls "agent-based commerce."

Behind this concept lies a vision in which artificial intelligence supports consumers throughout their entire shopping journey: product search, comparison of options, personalized recommendations, and even certain transactions.

Google is currently developing several protocols and tools designed to make products easier to discover in AI-powered conversational environments.

Although some of these features are still under development, they provide a good glimpse into the direction e-commerce is taking.

What This Means for Your Business

After attending the various presentations, one conclusion stands out: artificial intelligence is no longer a novelty at Google; it is becoming the foundation of virtually all of its tools.

Search is evolving. Advertising campaigns are becoming increasingly automated. Analytics are becoming more accessible. Content creation is accelerating. E-commerce is becoming more conversational.

However, contrary to what some headlines might suggest, these announcements do not mean that marketing strategies are becoming fully automated.

On the contrary.

The more platforms automate execution, the more important strategic foundations become.

The companies that will achieve the best results are those that understand their customers, invest in high-quality content, have a strong brand, and have reliable data to feed into algorithms.

Google Marketing Live 2026 also confirms several trends we’re already seeing among our clients:

• the organic search engine optimization remains essential despite the advent of AI;

• Video continues to grow in importance;

• Quality data is becoming a competitive advantage;

• advertising campaigns rely more on automation;

• Creativity and brand positioning remain key differentiators.

At Planning Média, our role remains the same: to keep up with changes in platforms, test new features, and guide our clients through these changes so they can take advantage of the opportunities without having to keep up with the latest digital marketing news on a daily basis.

Because, at the end of the day, no matter what new technologies emerge, it's always the right strategies that produce the best results.