AI and the Future of Search: What Every Brand Leader Should Know

Consumer behaviour is evolving quickly. People don’t just search anymore – they stream, scroll, compare and shop in ways that feel less predictable.

Google has recognised this shift and their latest AI-powered tools are designed to meet customers wherever they are, turning unpredictable journeys into opportunities for brands.

With two decades in performance marketing, Harvest has built a solid reputation for helping ambitious brands cut through complexity and turn new technology into measurable growth. Now, we’re testing these tools early so our clients benefit before the competition.

What’s new?

Part of Google’s ‘AI Power Pack’,AI Max is a ‘one-click’ feature bringing together three powerful capabilities:

• Understanding intent: the future of search is predictive. Instead of relying solely on keywords, AI draws on billions of signal combinations to identify what your potential customer is really looking for, before matching them with the most relevant message.
  
  
• Smarter creative: Using your existing content, headlines and landing pages, ads are automatically adapted, with AI generating new variations that feel natural and relevant at scale.
  
  
• Improved landing pages: Google’s powerful AI capability directs people to the page on your site that best fits their needs, even if it’s a blog or information page rather than a sales page. For brands, this unlocks value from the content you already have.

Landing page ‘exclusions’ give us control over which pages Google can use and all of these features can be adjusted or toggled off if needed (although we recommend keeping them on for maximum impact).

How Harvest is applying AI Max

When we tested AI Max with a client, the results were immediate and measurable:

• 36% more leads
• 19% lower cost per lead
• Higher engagement with deeper site content, showing that AI can connect people with material they might never have reached before.

This wasn’t anecdotal. We structured the test carefully: a 50/50 budget split against an existing broad campaign. With all three AI features enabled, we saw stronger click-through rates from automatically generated headlines – capable only through AI – and meaningful conversions even from pages designed to inform rather than sell.

What’s coming next

Google is already extending ads into new AI-driven formats, where search stops being just about keywords and starts being about trusted answers powered by AI:

AI Overview ads: Described as ‘one of the most successful launches in search in the past decade’, ads already appear above and below AI Overviews in 200+ countries. The next phase – ads inside the AI-generated answers themselves – is due to launch in the UK in H2 2025.

AI Mode ads: The new AI Mode feature rolled out by Google aims to tackle the toughest of questions with longer, informed responses. By having clients present within these results, they are positioned as the best solution to consumer queries. Google is testing ads in AI mode in late 2025 for the US, with rollout to other English-speaking markets expected in 2026.

Taken together, these moves mean ads won’t just sit on the edges of search results – they’ll increasingly be part of the trusted answers consumers rely on.

Supporting brands like yours

At Harvest, we help brands stay discoverable, relevant and competitive in an AI-shaped future – cutting through the jargon, focusing on what matters and turning the latest tools and platforms into strategies that deliver leads, lower costs and long-term growth.

If you’d like to see how AI developments – and other technology breakthroughs – could accelerate your next campaign, let’s talk.