Google Marketing Live 2025 just wrapped up, and as expected, it was a whirlwind.
AI was everywhere, Google was making big promises, and a ton of shiny new features were thrown at us in rapid fire.
But the truth is, most of it doesn’t matter to you. At least not if you’re just trying to scale your ecommerce business profitably using Google Ads.
So I sat through the whole thing, sifted through the noise, and picked out the five updates that actually matter — the ones that could move the needle for your account this year.
1. AI Product Titles + A/B Testing Right Inside Merchant Center
This was hands-down the most underrated announcement of the whole event. It wasn’t even a mainstage headline, it just quietly dropped mid-demo.
Soon, you’ll be able to:
Use Google’s AI to auto-optimise your product titles.
Run proper A/B split tests on those new AI-generated titles.
… directly from inside Merchant Center.
This is a massive win for Shopping and Performance Max advertisers.
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know I’ve been banging the drum on optimising product titles for years. Better titles = better search matches = better performance.
Now Google’s making it easier than ever to:
Get intelligent title suggestions.
Test those against your originals.
Actually see which one performs better.
No more guessing. No more trusting the AI blindly. Real data. Real results.
2. AI Max for Search: Say Goodbye to Keywords?
Here’s the flashy headline update everyone’s talking about.
Google’s launching AI Max for Search. With one click, your existing Search campaign becomes an AI Max campaign, and that’s where things get wild.
AI Max:
Expands beyond your existing keywords.
Dynamically writes headlines and copy based on intent.
Picks a different landing page if it thinks one will convert better.
Think of it like Smart Bidding meets Dynamic Search Ads on steroids.
I know this sounds terrifying to the keyword control freaks out there. But here’s the thing:
We said the same stuff about automated bidding years ago. And now? You’d be crazy to not use it.
AI Max could follow a similar path. Right now, sure, it might need time to learn. But once it’s trained, it could be a scalable, profitable way to run Search.
Best part? Full transparency. You’ll get reports showing:
What search terms triggered ads.
What landing page was used.
What headline was generated.
So it’s not a total black box.
If you’re willing to stomach a bit of short-term volatility, I’d recommend testing it. Just let the data decide.
3. Smart Bidding Exploration: The New Growth Lever
This one’s quietly brilliant.
Smart Bidding Exploration is a new slider setting that lets you nudge the algorithm to "explore" without touching your ROAS or CPA targets.
Here’s why this is a big deal.
Before, if your campaign got stuck (which happens a lot in low-volume accounts), you had to:
Drop your Target ROAS.
Increase your CPA cap.
Or worse, remove them entirely.
That usually sent your campaign back into learning mode and wrecked performance.
Now, you can just tweak the Smart Bidding Exploration slider. Give the algorithm a bit of leeway to chase new opportunities, without starting from scratch.
This is especially handy when you’re looking to:
Scale cautiously.
Find fresh demand.
Or revive a campaign that’s plateaued.
I can already see us using this a lot for clients this year.
4. AI Overviews & AI Mode: Where Your Ads Are Now Showing
This one’s less about features and more about reach, because Google is moving your ads into entirely new spaces.
AI Overviews and the new AI Mode are now part of core Google Search. And your ads — especially Shopping ads — are being placed right inside these experiences.
AI Overviews already reach 1.5 billion users a month.
And Google says these users:
Click more often.
Stay on site longer.
Convert better.
AI Mode takes this further. It’s Google’s chatbot-style search assistant that’s more conversational, and it remembers what you said.
And yes, it’s full of Shopping ads.
All of this means:
Your feed quality matters more than ever.
Shopping visibility is expanding beyond the old ad slots.
You need to be optimising for visibility inside these new surfaces.
The future of Search is already here.
5. Demand Gen + YouTube Ads Are Finally Delivering for Direct Response
Let’s finish with the updates to Demand Gen and YouTube, because they’re finally living up to the hype.
Google says they made 60+ improvements to Demand Gen in the past year, and they’re claiming a 26% lift in conversions per dollar spent.
Normally I take those numbers with a pinch of salt, but anecdotally? We’ve seen it too.
Here are the updates I think matter most:
New Customer Acquisition Goal in Demand Gen lets you optimise specifically for new customers.
YouTube Prospecting Controls exclude past visitors, brand searchers, or anyone who’s seen your videos. All in one click.
Straight-to-Checkout Links finally supported in YouTube and Demand Gen. Send high-intent users straight to buy.
Creator Partnerships Hub lets you find influencers, see their rates, and boost their videos as ads, all inside Google Ads.
These changes are real progress toward YouTube and Demand Gen becoming proper direct response channels. And I’m optimistic about scaling them more aggressively this year.
Summary: Work With the Machine, Not Against It
A lot of people love to dunk on Google in the AI race.
They say OpenAI is faster. Or that Google’s been late to the party.
But when it comes to distribution? Google is still king.
They have:
8.5 billion searches DAILY, YouTube, Maps, Android, Gmail, Chrome and more.
And now AI is being plugged into every one of those surfaces.
So the lesson here? Don’t fight the machine.
Use it.
Use the tools Google’s giving us to scale smarter, test faster, and get more profitable in 2025.
Conclusion
To recap, here are the five Google Ads updates from GML 2025 that actually matter for ecommerce growth:
AI-powered product titles with A/B testing in Merchant Center.
AI Max for Search campaigns — Google’s boldest move yet toward automation.
Smart Bidding Exploration — guide the algo without resetting your targets.
AI Overviews & AI Mode — new surfaces for your Shopping ads.
YouTube & Demand Gen upgrades — better tools for direct response.
Google’s pushing hard into AI, and whether you like it or not, that’s where the tools (and profits) are heading.
Stay educated, test ruthlessly, and you’ll be ahead of the 99% still playing catch-up.