By Juliet Umeh

Google has revealed that integrating its advanced AI model, Gemini, into its advertising systems has reduced irrelevant adverts by about 40 percent, as the company expands the use of artificial intelligence to improve search and digital marketing experiences.

The technology giant said the development is part of efforts to make advertising more useful to users while helping businesses reach potential customers more effectively, particularly in fast-growing digital markets like Nigeria.

Vice President, Global Ads at Google, Dan Taylor, disclosed this during a media roundtable where he outlined how AI-powered technologies are transforming search, advertising and digital commerce globally.

According to Taylor, Nigeria’s expanding internet population and strong AI adoption position the country to benefit significantly from AI-driven digital tools.

“AI is driving an expansionary moment for Search,” Taylor said. “We now see over five trillion searches on Google every year, and queries continue to grow annually, largely driven by our AI investments.”

He explained that the way people search online is changing rapidly as users increasingly move from simple keywords to more conversational and complex questions.

“People are asking longer, more detailed and multimodal questions, and this creates new opportunities for brands and businesses to connect with customers through AI-powered experiences,” he said.

Taylor noted that visual search is also growing, revealing that Google Lens records more than 25 billion searches monthly, with about one in five showing commercial intent.

He added that AI-powered features such as AI Overviews are expanding the types of questions users can ask and how they receive answers on Google Search. The feature provides AI-generated summaries within search results alongside links that allow users to explore topics further.

“When users click from search result pages with AI Overviews, those clicks tend to be higher quality, meaning users are more likely to spend more time on the websites they visit,” he said.

Google has also begun integrating advertisements within AI Overviews to help users discover relevant products and services while actively searching.

Taylor said AI is also transforming how advertising campaigns are created and managed, allowing businesses to produce marketing assets faster and reach customers across multiple digital touchpoints.

“With consumers interacting with over 130 mobile touchpoints daily, the traditional linear path to purchase has been replaced by a loop of searching, streaming, scrolling and shopping,” he said. “Our AI-powered campaigns help advertisers show up in those key moments.”

Beyond advertising, Taylor said the next phase of innovation will involve AI systems capable of performing tasks on behalf of users. Google has already introduced AI-powered assistants such as Ads Advisor and Analytics Advisor to help businesses manage and optimise marketing campaigns.