At this year’s Google Marketing Live 2026 event, one thing became crystal clear: AI is no longer an add-on to search and advertising. It is becoming the foundation of how consumers discover, evaluate, and choose brands online.
For franchise marketers, this shift is especially important. The customer journey is becoming more fragmented, more conversational, and increasingly driven by AI-powered recommendations instead of traditional keyword searches.
The age-old trade off between a smart decision and fast decision doesn’t hold up anymore. As consumers shop smart and shop fast, marketers and retailers need a new playbook to keep pace. Because the only way to win in the age of AI, is with AI.
Google introduced major updates across Search, YouTube, creative generation, measurement, and advertising automation that will directly impact how multi-location brands approach digital marketing moving forward.
Here are the biggest takeaways franchise marketers should pay attention to.
Google announced one of the biggest transformations to Search in decades by combining traditional search capabilities with Gemini-powered AI experiences.
The new Search experience is designed to support longer, more conversational queries and help users move from discovery to decision faster. Instead of searching in short keywords, consumers are increasingly asking nuanced, high-intent questions.
Some of the most notable updates include:
Example of agentic booking capabilities directly within a sponsored search result.
For franchise brands, this means visibility in AI-powered search experiences will depend less on exact-match keywords and more on the overall strength of your digital presence, including:
As Google shared during the event, “the best ads must be answers.”
Ask Google anything. The best ads must be answers.
Google heavily emphasized AI Max for Search and the continued evolution of Performance Max campaigns, while introducing a new generation of ads in AI Mode that will show up in the moments that matter most. While new ad formats such as Direct Offers, AI-Powered Shopping Ads, and Business Agent for Leads are coming soon, AI Max and PMax can be used right now.
For your ads to show up in the new AI-search experience (Google is combining AI Mode and AI Overviews into one new search bar experience), you don’t buy separate AI placement slots. Instead, standard assets are reformatted and automatically pulled from Text and Shopping ads and are eligible to show via PMax or Shopping Campaigns, Broad Match in standard Search Campaigns, Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs), and AI Max.
AI Max is designed to help advertisers appear for more nuanced, conversational, and intent-driven searches that traditional campaigns may miss. Google reported that AI Max campaigns are driving 27% more conversions compared to manual campaign setups.
The platform is also increasingly automating how ads are assembled and displayed in AI-powered experiences. Rather than creating separate AI campaigns, Google is dynamically reformatting existing Search, Shopping, and Performance Max assets into AI experiences automatically.
For franchise marketers, this reinforces a major industry shift: success will increasingly depend on feeding Google strong creative assets, accurate data, and clear conversion signals rather than manually controlling every keyword and ad variation.
Example ad within Google’s new AI-driven search box, which shows up below organic results.
Google repeatedly reinforced YouTube’s role in the modern customer journey. According to the event, Google and YouTube are now present in 82% of all discovery journeys.
Some of the major YouTube announcements included:
This is especially important for franchise brands because consumer discovery is no longer limited to traditional search engines.
We all must stop referring to YouTube as an “upper-funnel” or “awareness” play. With direct transaction capabilities now embedded into the video player itself, YouTube is finally realizing its potential as a full-funnel platform, where a view can move from discovery to purchase in under 60 seconds.
Video content is also increasingly influencing purchase decisions, local discovery, and brand trust earlier in the funnel. Brands that invest in scalable video strategies and localized creative will likely be better positioned as these experiences continue evolving.
One of the biggest themes throughout Google Marketing Live was creative scalability.
Google introduced several new AI-powered creative tools designed to help marketers generate and test assets more efficiently, including:
Google also stressed that creative drives nearly half of all incremental sales. For franchise systems managing campaigns across hundreds or thousands of locations, this could significantly improve the ability to scale localized creative without dramatically increasing production time.
That said, the event also reinforced an important reality: AI only works as well as the data and inputs behind it. Clean data, strong brand standards, and quality creative strategy still matter tremendously.
Another major theme was measurement transparency and cross-channel attribution.
Google acknowledged that today’s customer journey is increasingly difficult to track across channels and devices. To address this, Google announced:
Measurement is your engine for growth in the AI era. As AI transforms campaigns and creativity, your measurement foundation must keep pace.
This is a critical shift for franchise organizations that often struggle with disconnected reporting, siloed data, and unclear attribution between brand and local marketing efforts.
The future of marketing performance will rely heavily on unified measurement frameworks that connect the full customer journey across platforms.
The biggest takeaway from this year’s event is simple: AI is reshaping how consumers search, discover, and engage with brands, and franchise marketers need to adapt quickly.
The brands that will succeed in this new environment are the ones that:
While many of these innovations are still evolving, it’s clear that franchise marketers can no longer think about paid media, organic visibility, creative, and reporting as separate efforts. The future of digital marketing is connected, AI-powered, and increasingly driven by context rather than simple keywords.
At Netsertive, we’re continuing to monitor these changes closely and help franchise brands navigate what this next era of search and advertising means for localized marketing success.
Book a meeting to talk shop and see how these changes could impact your brand.
