1. Review your conversion tracking
Before testing any new advertising format, companies need to be confident in how they will measure results.
Review your current conversion tracking in Google Ads and ensure that the actions being measured reflect meaningful business results.
Depending on your business, this may include completed purchases, qualified inquiries, appointments booked, or other valuable customer actions.
Check for duplicate conversions, incorrect values, outdated tracking configurations, and inconsistencies between Google Ads and your analytics platform.
an act: Make sure your organic conversions are accurate, commercially relevant, and consistently measured.
2. Establish a baseline for ad performance for 90 days
One of the biggest challenges with new ad formats is determining whether they truly improve performance.
Without a reliable baseline, companies may have difficulty distinguishing between incremental value and conversions that could have occurred through existing campaigns.
Review the last 90 days of Google Ads performance, and record metrics like:
- Cost per acquisition (CPA)
- Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS), where applicable
- Conversion rate
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Branded versus non-branded campaign performance
- Performance across devices and relevant campaign types
Take seasonal and seasonal changes into account when interpreting these numbers. A 90-day snapshot is a useful starting point, but year-over-year comparisons may provide additional context.
an act: Maintain a clearly dated performance benchmark that can be used when evaluating future AI advertising opportunities.
3. Review how customers search for your products and services
AI-powered search provides opportunities for people to express their needs in more detailed and conversational ways.
Instead of searching for a broad product or service category, a potential customer may describe a specific problem, budget, requirement, or intended outcome.
Businesses should review the search term information available in their Google Ads accounts, along with keyword research for SEO and customer inquiries.
Find FAQs, comparative searches, specific product requirements, and common objections.
Remember, Google Ads search term reports do not show all search queries, and current search term data should not be treated as a complete representation of future AI placement conversations.
an act: Identify the questions customers ask before making a purchase or inquiry, and check if your website answers them effectively.
4. Optimize your landing pages
Strong landing pages are still important no matter how the ad reaches the potential customer.
If someone arrives after searching for a detailed question through AI-powered search, they should be able to find relevant information quickly.
Review whether your landing pages clearly communicate the following:
- What your business offers
- Who are your products or services suitable for?
- Key features, benefits and limitations
- Pricing or related purchasing information
- Evidence of experience and credibility
- Clear next steps and calls to action
Page speed, mobile usability, and accessibility also remain important parts of the customer experience.
These improvements are valuable independently of AI placement ads. It should not be construed as a guarantee of eligibility or appearance within the new format.
an act: Review your highest-value landing pages and prioritize improvements that make them clearer, more useful, and easier to convert from.
5. Check product information and Merchant Center data
For e-commerce companies, accurate and comprehensive product information is an important foundation for digital advertising.
Review your Google Merchant Center data, where applicable, to ensure your product information is accurate and up to date.
Pay special attention to:
- Product titles and descriptions
- Prices and availability
- Product categories and their attributes
- Images and product identifiers
- Shipping and returns information
- Consistency between feeds and landing pages
High-quality product information supports current shopping campaigns and provides a stronger foundation for future advertising developments.
However, advertisers should wait for confirmed product requirements in the UK before assuming that specific feed attributes will determine ad eligibility in AI mode.
an act: Resolve feed errors and improve the accuracy and completeness of listings for your most commercially important products.
6. Review your existing automation and creative settings
Google Ads already offers automation across a range of campaign types, including features that can impact targeting, creative assets, and landing page selection.
Available controls vary depending on campaign type and enabled features.
Before introducing additional automation, businesses should understand how their existing campaigns are configured.
review:
- Automatically created or customized advertising assets
- Final URL expansion settings, where applicable
- Campaign-level targeting and audience controls
- Brand relevance and exclusion settings
- Creative approval and quality assurance processes
- Asset and campaign reports available
Not every setting is available across every Google Ads campaign type, and you should not assume that existing controls apply unchanged to AI placement ads.
an act: Document which automation features are currently active and who is responsible for reviewing their performance and output.
7. Create a plan to measure the performance of AI ads
New ad placements should be evaluated based on business objectives rather than novelty or impression alone.
Before the AI mode announcement becomes available in the UK, agree what successful performance will look like.
Think about questions like:
- What business outcomes should the ad support?
- What justifies allocating additional budget?
- How will performance compare to existing campaigns?
- What reports are required to make informed decisions?
- How will potential overlap with other marketing channels be evaluated?
- Who will be responsible for reviewing the results and recommending changes?
Companies must also be prepared to face limitations on attribution and reporting, especially during the early stages of new advertising formats.
an act: Create a measurement framework now, then improve it as Google confirms the reporting and campaign controls available to UK advertisers.
Advertising readiness checklist for AI placement in the UK
Google AI Placement Ads FAQ
Is Google AI Mode Ads available in the UK?
Google announced on October 28, 2026 that a subsequent UK expansion was planned for Q4 2026. At the time of publishing this article, the announcement had not confirmed that a UK release was actually live. Businesses should check the latest official Google updates to see their current availability.
When will Google Ads AI Mode launch in the UK?
Google has indicated that expansion into the UK is planned for later in the fourth quarter of 2026. A specific UK launch date has not been confirmed in the referenced announcement.
Will companies need to create new campaigns for AI-placed ads?
UK campaign eligibility and setup requirements must be confirmed according to the latest Google advertiser documentation. Businesses should not assume that every existing campaign will automatically qualify.
Will AI placement advertising increase Google Ads costs?
It is too early to draw reliable conclusions about the impact of AI placement advertising on campaign costs in the UK. Actual performance will depend on factors including advertiser competition, campaign settings, targeting, customer behavior, and Google’s available ad formats.
How should advertisers prepare for AI-powered search?
Businesses can start by improving conversion tracking, reviewing customers’ search intent, enhancing landing pages, maintaining accurate product information, and establishing reliable ad performance standards.
Does AI placement ads affect SEO?
AI-powered research creates additional questions about how companies are discovered across paid and organic experiences. Although advertising and organic visibility are different, companies should consider both within their broader search strategy. Paying for ads should not be treated as a guarantee of organic visibility.
What should British companies do next?
