Google Goes To Town On AI Tools For Shopping & Ads

Google has announced a raft of new generative AI tools for its online shopping tools allowing marketers to create new product shot variations, auto-populate product listings and even generate digital ads.

First up among the changes is a boost to automatically created assets for Search ads. Last year, Google introduced the tech that used content from brands’ landing pages and existing ads to generate headlines and descriptions.

Now, it is adding AI to the mix to more effectively create and adapt Search ads based on the context of a query. For example, Google said that if a user searched for “skin care for dry sensitive skin” AI can use the content from a brand’s landing page and existing ads to create a new headline that aligns even more closely with the query, such as “Soothe Your Dry, Sensitive Skin.”

Similarly, Google is bringing generative AI to its Performance Max campaign management tool. If a brand provides its website for Google’s AI to learn, it will start being able to populate campaigns with text and other assets. It will even suggest new AI-generated images.

This will also be available through the new conversational experience in Google Ads, meaning that marketers will be able to tell the system what to do in a more human way.

Google is experimenting with integrating its Search and Shopping ads into the AI-powered snapshot and conversational mode.

The company explained that if someone is searched for “outdoor activities to do in Maui,” for example, and then narrowed the search further to ask about “activities for kids” and “surfing,” they may see a fully customized ad for a travel brand promoting surfing lessons for kids.

Google confirmed that it would continue to make clear that these AI-generated ads were marked as adverts and were distinguishable from organic Search ads.

Next up, images.

Google is no stranger to using AI to improve its images — it has been the cornerstone of the camera quality on its Pixel line of phones for a number of years. However, marketers are now getting a stab at the action.

For example, brands will now be able to add custom image backgrounds to product shots in order to make them more engaging. But, should a background in an original photo prove distracting, Google’s AI can remove it. What’s more, Google has introduced a tool that can supposedly improve an image’s resolution.

Merchants in the US can access these tools starting in the next few months. These features will also be available to merchants using the Google& YouTube app on Shopify. Expansion around the world and into languages other than English are expected to come over the course of the year.

Google’s VP of global ads, Dan Taylor, told B&T that these features are aimed at businesses of all sizes and that small companies and agencies alike were seeing the benefits of AI.

“They’re all seeing the opportunity and potential of generative AI to be additive to their own skills as a creative partner. While some of the interfaces may seem kind of self-service, we’re actually seeing broad adoption and interest across all of the types of businesses that we work with,” he explained.

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