Google Reports Slower Search Growth Due To AI Mode Monetization
Google's search revenue growth slowed due to lower monetization in AI Mode, among other factors. The company is expanding ads in AI Mode to more countries.
Original reporting · searchenginejournal.com
Original: “Google Says Lower AI Mode Monetization Weighed On Search Growth via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern”
Read “Google Says Lower AI Mode Monetization Weighed On Search Growth via @sejournal,…” at Search Engine Journal →
How this was written. Awesome B2B wrote this article with a language model from Search Engine Journal’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Search Engine Journal’s report
- Google's search revenue growth slowed due to lower monetization in AI Mode and other factors.
- The company is investing heavily in AI, which has driven search query growth.
- Google is expanding ads in AI Mode to more countries and plans to launch ads in AI Mode follow-on question functionality in the United States.
- The expansion of ads in AI Mode is expected to provide more monetization opportunities for Google.
- The company expects a slightly larger currency headwind in the fourth quarter, which will pressure growth.
Google's search revenue increased by 12% year-over-year to $63.35 billion in the third quarter of 2026, according to Search Engine Journal. However, this growth rate is slower than the previous quarters. The search revenue was nearly flat compared to the previous quarter's $63.27 billion.
The slower growth is attributed to several factors, including currency movements and changes in retail and media spending. Google's Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler mentioned that lower monetization in AI Mode was one of the reasons for the slower growth.
Google is investing heavily in AI, which has driven search query growth, including commercial queries. The company's CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the year-over-year query growth rate is the highest it has been in the last five years.
Despite the high query growth rate, the search ad revenue growth was impacted by lower monetization in AI Mode. Schindler explained that the strong AI Mode query growth negatively affected search revenue growth due to lower monetization.
Google is focused on building the best search user experience, followed by monetization. The company is expanding ads in AI Mode to more countries, including Australia, Canada, and India, and plans to launch ads in AI Mode follow-on question functionality in the United States.
The expansion of ads in AI Mode is expected to provide more monetization opportunities for Google. The company's research shows that people are comfortable with ads in AI Mode and find them highly relevant.
Google's CFO Anat Ashkenazi expects a slightly larger currency headwind in the fourth quarter, which will pressure growth. The company plans to expand ads in AI Mode to more locales in the fourth quarter, including Brazil, Mexico, and the U.K.
Questions and answers
What factors contributed to Google's slower search growth?
Currency movements, changes in retail and media spending, and lower monetization in AI Mode contributed to Google's slower search growth.
How is Google expanding ads in AI Mode?
Google is expanding ads in AI Mode to more countries, including Australia, Canada, and India, and plans to launch ads in AI Mode follow-on question functionality in the United States.
What is Google's expectation for the fourth quarter?
Google's CFO Anat Ashkenazi expects a slightly larger currency headwind in the fourth quarter, which will pressure growth.
