During this week’s PPCChat session, host Julie F Bacchin and other PPC experts shared their predictions on attribution, conversion tracking, reporting, and YouTube advertising ahead of Google Marketing Live 2026, scheduled for May 20, 2026.
Q1: What are your overall predictions for what we are likely to hear during tomorrow’s GML event?
I almost made my whole BINGO card just say AI in every square… @NeptuneMoon
as usual, keywordless, but I feel like I’ve been predicting that every time for the last 10 years. My guess is a lot more ai placements, not just tools. @JuliaVyse
@JuliaVyse I think we are closer than ever to keywordless happening though now. We are going to hear about how people are searching differently now. I am expecting a whole lot of “immersive experience” being talked about @NeptuneMoon
Betting small businesses that aren’t household names won’t adtually be mentioned…@revaminkoff
data tracking/cleanliness, the untargetable target, give networks the reins (and budget) use optimized targeting or you will never see those audiences again! @Chriskostecki
Keywordless for sure. The current iteration is AI Max and how it will replace DSA. Match types become more and more of a non-factor as time goes on, so I guess they should formalize it. I also expect to hear more about ads in Gemini because OpenAI got a lot of press for opening ads to ChapGPT @robert_brady
Every year you hear people are searching differently as you mentioned @NeptuneMoon so that is a staple at this point, lol. I think folks nailed it with AI everything again this year. They are investing too much not to say it honestly. Not sure they will mention keywordless this year, but it is coming for sure. Either search themes or Google’s index of a site/page will be the trigger instead of keywords at some point in the not too distant future 1-2 years probably. @Ichasse
Q2: What are your predictions for what we are likely to hear during tomorrow’s GML event about search advertising?
Max everything!!!! But seriously…A lot about how their AI is better at targeting than we are and better at putting the right message and images together on the fly than we ever could hope to be. So sit back and let the AI roll. Oh and the AI can create from scratch better than we could do so let it do ads and images too. I expect announcements on more AI things that are available/will be available soon @NeptuneMoon
Sounds about right…@revaminkoff
Also, something along the lines of “more people are searching in ways they never have before, and we have the AI to handle those searches” – meaning things like lens or using AI Mode for conversational searching. And I will bet we hear at least once about people wanting “deep experiences with their searching” and how Google’s AI delivers that @NeptuneMoon
What are keywords anyways, they aren’t just a word, often don’t include keys. Let’s just stop making them soooo important! with privacy these days it is rude to ask what people searched for – don’t be rude! @Chriskostecki
Search is …vibes. that deep experience thing. I really worry that we’re just agreeing to mass surveillance but now with RayBan and Palantir as the corporate sponsors. @JuliaVyse
I know we are going to get stats on how EVERYONE loves AI Mode for searching so much better than boring old traditional search too. @JuliaVyse That’s why we need all these data centers (the quiet part not being said out loud) @NeptuneMoon
I’ve actually been using that argument for my clients worried they’re behind. You’re not. The most adopted ai is Google. The most headlines are OpenAI and Anthropic. brought to you by Telus iykyk …renderings, if anyone’s curious. oh, and yes, we’re in a rainforest, and in a drought. https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/telus-sovereign-ai-factory-data-centre-vancouver-westbank-project-locations @JuliaVyse
I think we’ll hear more about ads in Gemini/AI Mode @robert_brady
They will be totally honest and say they are planning on replacing digital ads agencies in the next 2-3 years! lol. No, but they will talk about using the updated ad campaign types and how they are unrivaled in their delivery of ads to folks at the point of purchase and when they are making decisions. Using these new campaign types got xyz company 30% more revenue vs. any other campaign type, etc…@Ichasse
Q3: What are your predictions for what we are likely to hear during tomorrow’s GML event about demand gen or YouTube advertising?
I would love to hear Demand Gen is replacing display…@NeptuneMoon
they will be excited to share that Youtube will have even MORE ADS! @Chriskostecki
I expect YouTube to get a fair amount of hype @NeptuneMoon
new formats will pick up the sound of what you are streaming in order to more closely match the content so it’s harder to detect when a video has slid into ads. 10 year conversion windows on YTKids placements? @Chriskostecki
We will hear a lot about just how popular YouTube is and how many hours are consumed daily and how many subscribers were gained, etc. @NeptuneMoon
I’m expecting a lot more addressable TV right in YouTube rather than using other tools. And probably a lot more AI planning tools. Brand safe something something @JuliaVyse
The evolution of Will Smith eating spaghetti? @Chriskostecki
Q4: What are your predictions for what we are likely to hear during tomorrow’s GML event about conversion tracking, attribution, reporting, etc.?
They already are talking about the AI Dashboards in reporting so I expect we will hear A LOT about that @NeptuneMoon
I think this might be where a lot more AI gets promoted. I think robots do math for you is a very safe use case compared with image/video @JuliaVyse
Just plug in all your data, sign away Google’s liability for it, and let them handle everything. Nothing could possibly go wrong. @robert_brady
I have been so busy these last couple of weeks, I am behind on all their pre-event content. They pre-release a lot now – much more than they did in the early years of GML. Big push for first-party data to be shared here, too, I expect. Oh, and conversion modelling through AI will be another one I think. That’s not new per se, but I expect it to get airtime. @NeptuneMoon
Google is already talking about recreating LPs if they don’t think they will convert. I think they will move towards Amazon to control more of the logistics behind real-world conversions @Chriskostecki
AI Mode is going to be so different. Especially if they do go the route of creating landing pages that are conveniently still inside Google @NeptuneMoon
Google’s objectives cloaked as data privacy of course (given). I agree on the AI dashboards becoming a thing as well, which actually could be nice if done well. First party data uploaded into their systems so they can have all that nice juicy data (err I mean to improve your ad performance). @Ichasse
Anyone remember AMP and how that was going to change everything? here we go again, but with ai @JuliaVyse
Interestingly, the way they are rolling out AI mode searching seems in direct contradiction to the court rulings against them in search too @NeptuneMoon
Fingers crossed a read/write connector for Claude. Because I want it to exist and play with it. @timmhalloran
With AI and Google, I feel like the tail is wagging the dog. They’re investing so much in infrastructure for AI that everyone at Google feels pressure to justify that expenditure. So AI gets forced into everything, and AI becomes the solution to every problem. @robert_brady
Q5: Any other predictions we have not covered yet?
Can’t wait to hear what they have the Power Pair guy have to talk about this year! @NeptuneMoon
B2B or low conversion accounts. I don’t think it will be good, but it might get mentioned in the AI-we can do it for you theme. @JuliaVyse
I am pretty sure 90% of the content will be shareholder based content again vs. geared towards advertisers. The other 10% will be some nice cool new stuff they have planned we will be able to use with brands we support. I could just be a grumpy old man at this point, but the GMLs are not what they used to be with regard to advertisers. Another dog and pony show for investors mostly. @Ichasse
@Ichasse Last year definitely felt like “we are totally leading the way in AI, let us tell you all the ways”. I expect we will see some stats on Gemini usage too. Like it has more users than OpenAI or Anthropic by a mile @NeptuneMoon
@JuliaVyse I really hope they mention the little guys, but I’m not holding my breath. @revaminkoff
If I was younger, I would be looking at marketing as a whole so when you have to pivot you can do so pretty quickly. @Ichasse
Who will the giant brands be this year???? Who find incremental success using Demand Gen or YT? @NeptuneMoon
I don’t think they will address the elephant in the room, Reddit Ads is growing and ChatGPT ads just launched. New networks, between search and social. @Chriskostecki
Or AI Max? They will talk like the market leader because they still very much are @NeptuneMoon
Baby elephants? @Chriskostecki
@Chriskostecki they don’t usually discuss competitors, but they may overemphasis their auction. Chatgpt is NOT an auction environment, and reddit is a ‘trusted source’ ? @NeptuneMoon
A Google/reddit ad partnership would make a lot of sense, but probably not likely. I got into the beta yesterday and see bidding options, though the targeting is contextual @Chriskostecki
Q6: And finally…What do you wish we would hear, but probably won’t from GML?
“Here are all these great examples from SMBs no one has ever heard of” @revaminkoff
Anything B2B. There is a reason my bingo card has had “we realized B2B is a thing! (just kidding)” on it for years now…@NeptuneMoon
I will echo B2B, which maybe they will mention in the context of Demand Gen, but other than that /crickets more than likely. @Ichasse
here are fewer acronyms to deal with between GA360, DV360, Google Ads, YouTube Studio…@JuliaVyse
More transparency @revaminkoff
B2B B2B B2B B2B B2B @beyondthepaid
I wish we could hear, we have been listening to your feedback… Just kidding they always say that and then tell us what they wanted anyway, lol. @Ichasse
Well, to be fair @Ichasse they do listen to feedback, but it is not from people like us…I mean Ginny tries for us! This won’t happen, BUT…I would love to hear anything about the value an advertiser’s knowledge has. That it matters at all instead of just “let our machines do it cause they are superior to you in every way.” @NeptuneMoon
I know their goal is to make it easier to run ads, but so far they have made it even more complicated, so yeah talking about the value of advertisers would be a nice hat tip to the professionals in-house/agency/freelance who help work their tools for the brand’s goals.@Chriskostecki
Yeah, that won’t happen. @Ichasse
Did I win? @Chriskostecki
We also won’t have folks with kids in the background or obviously call centers overseas pushing AARs and other things telling you how your account is not properly optimized to capture demand from customers. @Ichasse
B2B would be incredible. @Susan Richards-Benson
PPCChat Participants
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- Julia Vyse @JuliaVyse
- Reva Minkoff @revaminkoff
- Chris Kostecki @Chriskostecki
- Robert Brady @robert_brady
- Lawrence Chasse @Ichasse
- Timothy Halloran @timmhalloran
- Susan Richards-Benson @Susan Richards-Benson
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