Next in Media — "How Google Reinvented Search with AI"

Date: October 28, 2025
Host: Mike Shields
Guest: Dan Taylor, VP of Global Ads, Google

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Mike Shields sits down with Dan Taylor, Google's VP of Global Ads, to discuss the transformational impact of AI on the search business and advertising. Celebrating 25 years of Google Search, they explore how new consumer behaviors, generative AI models, and evolving competition are reshaping both user experience and ad strategies. Taylor shares insights from his nearly two-decade career at Google, the company’s journey towards AI-first thinking, and how advertisers are adapting faster than ever to the changing landscape.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Dan Taylor’s Google Journey & Ads Evolution

• Background and Early Projects
  • Taylor joined Google in 2006 from broadcast advertising, bringing a focus on traditional media and measurement.
  • Early work involved bringing digital ad buying to TV and radio, including the Google Audio Ads project via the DMARC acquisition.
    • "The project was ahead of its time in 2006 ... can we apply addressable advertising technology to traditional broadcast and traffic systems and measurement?" — Dan Taylor [02:25]
• Transition to Emerging Ad Spaces
  • Taylor moved into search, YouTube, programmatic, and mobile advertising, emphasizing the need to connect advertiser needs with product strategy.
  • Noted how early investments in TV and radio tech set the groundwork for modern streaming and podcast monetization.
    • "Connected TV and podcasting, all these new environments. Those early investments did pay off..." — Dan Taylor [03:56]

The AI Moment: Evolution or Revolution?

• Magnitude and Familiarity of AI Shift

  • Taylor describes the current AI-driven changes as both unprecedented and familiar, comparing it to the mobile transition, but on a larger scale.
  • While some see today's AI shift as a complete reinvention of the internet, Taylor frames it as the culmination of years of innovation, accelerated by new consumer expectations.
    • "It feels bigger, but it is oddly familiar ... a massive change in consumer behavior and marketers kind of working hard to keep up with the speed of the consumer." — Dan Taylor [06:31]

• Google’s AI-First Strategy

  • References Sundar Pichai's 2016 AI-first declaration, emphasizing a decade of foundational AI in Google products (search, ads, maps).
    • "We've been on an AI journey for 10 years ... People are fundamentally changing how they search, how they discover information, how they interact with technology." — Dan Taylor [05:31]

AI in Advertising and Search: Impact & Adoption

• Faster Advertiser Adoption

  • Drawing a parallel to the slow initial embrace of mobile ads, Taylor says advertisers are moving much faster with AI thanks to existing foundations like smart bidding and asset-driven creative.
    • "What's different with AI is that advertisers are embracing this shift much faster. In part because we've been on this journey for over a decade..." — Dan Taylor [07:02]
  • Stat: 80% of Google Ads advertisers use at least one AI-powered feature, and 2 million advertisers are using generative AI creative tools.

• No Cold Start

  • Foundational AI tools — predictive analytics, Performance Max campaigns, cross-device measurement — have primed marketers for today’s generative AI capabilities.
    • "We weren't, it wasn't a cold start in terms of getting advertisers into these new experiences." — Dan Taylor [08:22]

Quality, Trust, and Google’s Measured Approach

• Responsible AI Rollout
  • Addressed perceptions that Google lagged behind ChatGPT or Perplexity by stressing the necessity of trust and high standards for accuracy, given the scale and expectations of Google’s user base.
    • "It takes a long time to build trust and only a moment to lose it ... We really wanted to have a high bar for quality and accuracy." — Dan Taylor [09:27]
  • Pointed to Google Labs as a space for large-scale AI experimentation before core integration, maintaining user trust.

Rethinking Search Ads for Conversational AI

• Changing Nature of Queries and Ad Placement

  • AI-driven, conversational queries are much longer and more complex, requiring Google to reconsider when and how ads are shown in the user journey.
    • "The average length of a search query in AI mode is like two to three times longer than what you'd see in a traditional query." — Dan Taylor [12:15]
  • Ads need to be truly relevant and additive; inserting products too early (e.g., running shoes on a “how to train for a marathon” query) can be intrusive.
    • "Our key learning here is ... not the size of the ad or the format ... it's really the most important factor for feedback." — Dan Taylor [13:18]

• New Commercial Moments

  • Longer, exploratory queries expand Google’s reach into earlier phases of user discovery, offering new ad opportunities where traditional SEM keywords wouldn’t reach.
    • Example: Furnishing a college apartment—AI Mode broke down a broad query into actionable product suggestions, like a “lift top coffee table,” and surfaced relevant local inventory.
    • "People are coming to Google earlier in their discovery journey than ever. They're asking kind of these broader questions ... This is a new opportunity to introduce consumers to products and services." — Dan Taylor [15:46]

• Advertiser Response and Performance

  • Tools like AI Max and Performance Max empower marketers to find relevant moments in unpredictable, conversational search journeys.
  • Early results: Monetization rates for these new surfaces are similar to traditional ones, and advertisers are embracing the expansionary potential.
    • "AI Max is probably one of the most successful launches I've ever been a part of in the ads business ... we're seeing monetization right now at approximately the same rate." — Dan Taylor [19:23]

Creative AI Tools: Asset Studio & Customization

• Generative Creative Adoption
  • Advertisers are utilizing generative AI to scale and customize creative assets, especially in text and visual formats for search and display.
    • "One of the more exciting things that I've seen is the ability to scale Creative from your product feed ... and things like that." — Dan Taylor [21:14]
  • Offers robust control for brand-suitable visuals and creative review before campaign deployment, especially in display/video. Appetite for experimentation is high in search thanks to its limited, text-based "canvas."

Shopping, Retail, and Agentic Features

• Integrating Retail & Shopping in AI Search
  • AI facilitates frictionless shopping by anticipating user needs, tracking prices, and offering contextual purchase opportunities.
    • Agentic checkout announced at Google I/O: Lets users set price alerts and buy when thresholds are met, helping both shopper and retailer.
    • "Agentic can just find the price drop and then retailers get the win ... Buy from me when it hits this price rather than me abandoning the shopping cart." — Dan Taylor [24:45]
  • Visual search: Google Lens powers 25 billion searches per month, creating new ad surfaces previously unimaginable.

Competitive Landscape: AI, Retail, Social

• Google’s Competitive Set is Broadening
  • Competition is both from AI-native challengers (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity) and rising search-adjacent platforms (TikTok, Amazon, Pinterest, ride sharing, streaming services).
    • "Anywhere people are spending time and marketers are spending money, that's competition or addressable market for us ... It feels incredibly competitive right now. Fortunately, I also think the pie is getting bigger." — Dan Taylor [26:08]
  • Advertising ecosystem is expanding, not zero-sum; everyone is an ad network now.

Notable Quotes

• On Trust and Responsibility:
  "It takes a long time to build trust and only a moment to lose it ... because people rely on the information they get from Google, we really wanted to have a high bar for quality and accuracy." — Dan Taylor [09:27]

• On the Expanding Role of AI:
  "AI in search has been expansionary for Google. People are coming to Google earlier in their discovery journey than ever...and this is a new opportunity to introduce consumers to products and services they may not even know that they should be asking for." — Dan Taylor [15:46]

• On Ad Relevancy in Conversational Search:
  "When someone enters AI mode and AI overviews, an ad might not be the first thing that they're looking for ... because of the way that consumers are interacting with AI overviews ... there are opportunities to introduce the ad, and that's the main thing that we've been focusing on — when is it additive, when is it helpful?" — Dan Taylor [14:14]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Dan Taylor’s Google Career Overview ......................... [01:50–03:56]
• How Google Approaches AI and Search Evolution ........... [04:13–06:13]
• Advertiser Adoption and Historical Context .................. [06:31–09:13]
• Google’s Approach to Responsible AI .......................... [09:27–11:09]
• How Conversational Search Changes Ads ..................... [12:15–15:24]
• Unlocking New Discovery and Ad Moments ................... [15:46–19:02]
• Advertiser Tools and AI Creative Use Cases .................. [21:14–22:57]
• Shopping, Retail Media, and Agentic Features ............... [22:57–25:47]
• Evolving Competition in Search and Advertising ............. [25:47–27:09]

Memorable Moments

• Taylor’s “lift top coffee table” story:
  Illustrates how AI can surface both advice and specific product suggestions the user might not have considered, expanding both the user journey and the advertising opportunity. [16:52–18:35]

• On shifting competitive dynamics:
  Taylor broadens the typical competitive lens beyond just AI search engines to include anyone offering ad inventory and consumer discovery touchpoints — even ride sharing and grocery stores. [26:08–26:48]

Conclusion

The episode delivers a comprehensive look at how AI is fundamentally reshaping search and advertising. Google's deliberate, trust-first approach balances rapid innovation with responsibility, and advertisers, primed by a decade of AI tooling, are quick to seize the new opportunities. As search becomes more conversational and discovery-oriented, both the user journey and the ad ecosystem expand, with competition intensifying across platforms both familiar and novel.

This conversation is a must-listen for anyone interested in the future of digital advertising, AI-driven experiences, and the rapidly evolving landscape of consumer search behavior.