Google Ads AI Attributes: 4 Things You Must Do Today

If you're an e-commerce brand advertising inside of Google Ads, these are the 4 changes that you need to be making right now inside of your Google Shopping feed. As you're aware, there is a whole heap of changes happening right now to how users are completing Google searches, and it's moving away from the traditional 3 or 4 word search, and it's moving to conversational-based searches, and even searches not happening inside of Google Search but happening inside of large language models like Google's Gemini. And because of these massive shifts which are happening in user search behavior, it is highly important that brands make the move now to taking full use of all of the new AI attributes which Google has added into its shopping feed so that your brand can actually show in these new AI-powered searches. And an important point to note here is that we're not just talking about searches that are appearing inside of AI mode or even inside of AI overviews. Because these AI placements, which we're talking about, are also coming to traditional networks like Google Search and also Google Shopping. So if you're running feed-based campaigns inside of Google Ads, so whether it be traditional Shopping campaigns, Performance Max campaigns, or even inside of Demand Gen, you really need to make sure that you've got these 4 core attributes set up correctly inside of your Google Ads Shopping feed. So what we're going to be doing in this video is I'm going to break down what these changes actually are. So what are the new features you can use? What are the risks of not applying them? And then we are also going to be taking you through the recommendations for how to get ready and how to make these changes. Now, there is one small note that I do need to make here, is that while I want this video to be as practical as possible, there are different ways of completing these updates inside of your AAR attributes, and it really comes down to the tech stack that you're using. So whether you are using a platform like Shopify or WooCommerce, whether you're using supplementary feeds inside of Google Merchant Center, or you might be using some third-party tools like Channelbull or Data Feed, FeedWatch, which also allow you to use these features. But the core message you really need to take, that if you are a brand owner running your own ads, you need to manually be making these changes right now. Or if you've got an agency or freelancer that is running these ads, you need to be asking the question and really making sure that they are up to date with these current changes and that they are actively making sure that your feed is ready to be able to appear in these auctions. Because these changes which we're talking about, the AI attributes, are not things that are coming in the future. These are things that you can have in place inside of your Google Merchant Feed right now. Because right now inside of Define Digital Academy, especially for our on-demand and our advisory programs, this is the core focus we're running through with every single ecommerce brand. We're making sure that they have things up to date so that they're gonna be getting what I call an unfair advantage because there is a real first mover option here. And what I want you to think about is that if Google has 5 advertisers and they start rolling out these AI placements inside of your niche and inside of your region, and you're the only advertiser that has these things in place, Who do you think is going to win the placement? Of course it's going to be you. So it's really, really important that you do go through and make these changes as soon as possible. So what I'm going to do right now is I'm going to take you through these 4 core changes. We will go through and explain each one, and then what we will do at the end of this video, we'll actually break down the actual ad placements. We'll jump into a screen share so you can actually see the ad placements, how they're going to look in real life, and what are the individual AI attributes which is going to be grabbing the data to make that ad. But right now, let's go into the 4 core attributes that you need to be updating inside of your Google feed. Now I also do want to make a clear point. As I said, this is something that we're currently working with inside of our on-demand and our advisory clients. And our on-demand program is specifically designed for ecommerce brands like you who are ready to scale. So you're already spending above $5,000 or $10,000 a month inside of Google Ads. So you've already worked out the core basics. So you've got, you know, your keyword targeting right, you've got your conversion tracking set right, and you are seeing some conversions. But if you're ready to scale to the next levels of spend, then our on-demand program is perfect for you. And the reason is because not only do you get a full audit from us making sure you've got all of these things set in place, but you also get a strategic plan for how you can profitably scale. You get one-on-one weekly coaching, and you also get a private Slack channel so you can get all the support from me and our Defined Digital Academy team. If you want to find out more about our on-demand program and also apply, just follow that link in the description below. And when you're also in the— at that link in the description below, if you're just starting out in Google Ads, we've got a whole heap of free resources that you can use in order to get you up to that level. So let's get into the teaching now, but remember, if you did want some extra assistance with your Google Ads campaigns, just follow the link in the description below. So the first attribute that you need to be updating is your question and answers, or your Q&A section. Now the reason for why this is so important, because we are finding a larger and larger shift towards people making conversational-based searches. So it's not just one core term, we're not just searching men's black shirt, we're going into more conversational conversational-based searches. So, you know, a men's t-shirt which also has sweat-wicking technology, which is great that I can wear casually, but I can also wear if I'm going for a longer walk. Those are the type of searches which are becoming more and more popular, and this is what this Q&A functionality is about. So the whole purpose here is that you want to be able to match long-tail conversation questions to verified answers. And what we'll also do is you can also unlock those dynamic AI ad answers and also discovery carousels. But the risk here is that see this, if you don't add in those Q&A, Google will essentially skip your ad and show competitors if they've got this data available inside of their Google Merchant Feed. So the way that we are recommending for this to be implemented is that we do recommend that you grab 5 to 10 real customer questions. Now there is a current limit where you can go up to 30 questions, and the way that we're recommending and Google is recommending to do this is just look at your current FAQ section But also go through and look at your support tickets. You know, what are the common questions that people are asking before they actually make that purchase? And what the goal here is that you answer those questions through the buying journey so they're not even sending through that ticket because they're seeing it really, really clearly in the ad. Now let me give you a really, really practical example here. Let's just say you are selling leather jackets. A common question that comes with leather jackets is, is this leather jacket waterproof? Now if you've got that very, very clearly inside of your questions and answers, you can even put some specific information about its rating rating of how waterproof it is, Google can then use that in the actual ad response. Now there are some options to add this, and you can add it into your feed tool. So if you're using something like Data Feed Watch or Channelbull, or you can actually add it into the store FAQs inside of Shopify, or you can also add it into a Google supplemental feed. So, but as I said, I'm not going to be able to go through the exact ways of how to do that because it does come down to the tech stack that you're running for your store. All right, let's now go to the second AIO attribute feed, which is called document So some people will refer to it as product documents, but it is important to note that inside of Google Merchant Center, it is called a document link. So that's how we are going to be addressing it. And the reason for why this is so important is because Google has made it clear that it is going to prioritize data, actual product data that is coming from the manufacturer, or there's verified PDF documents. What I want you to think about here is user manuals, product specification sheet, installation guides, or ingredient lists, depending on what your product is. But what happens from here is that then Google's AI will read your hosted PDFs to index deep product specifications. And now the reason for why this is so important, because it allows you to win hyper-specific long-tail filtering queries. And an example which I've been using a lot is I want you to think of an example, for example, like a coffee machine. And you could have a lot of the same buyers coming in from really, really different angles. I know for us at the moment, we're in the process of moving to a seaside apartment, so we're going to smaller space. So for us, what we're really looking at is that, yeah, we want a high-quality espresso machine, but we don't have a lot of bench space. So we want to make sure that for us, we need a high-quality espresso machine. We also need that to be in a smaller space. So for us, product dimensions is really, really important. You may have someone else who's more interested— they've got a lot of space, and what it is for them, it's all about how many espressos can they make. There may be someone else, it's all about automation. They want really high levels of automation. So what we're looking at through here is that with these product documents is you're giving Google all of that information so then it can actually create the right responses, the right answers, give it the right information for your ad so that it can best match to the user's search and query. And this is an important note here with all of this is what we're moving from is that Google has not changed in the sense of what the aim of the game is, is to match the user's query to the most relevant ad to the most relevant product. What's changing is that relevant query is not becoming a tool 3-word search inquiry. It's becoming a full conversation, and that's why we need to give it this extra information. Now, once again, how do you implement this is that you can turn your manuals, specification sheets, care guidelines into PDFs. They do have to be under that 50 megabytes. And then what you can actually do is you can have up to 5 documents per product. Now, this can be added through Shopify admin. Also too, you can also use it through a feed tool. But some people have been asking this question, you know, what happens if you've got hundreds of thousands of SKUs? So this is going to be easier for a store with only a couple of product categories. But if you've got hundreds and thousands of different SKUs, you just go through a process of prioritizing your highest selling or your most profitable products. Start from there and then work through the rest of the list. All right. Now let's get to the category which we're calling tech specs. But it's important to note what we're actually talking about here is product details and also product highlights. Some people will refer to it as tech specs, but as I say, inside of your Google Merchant Feed, so the AI attributes, it's actually the product detail and the product highlight. Some people are also talking to this about granular specifications. And the main action here is that what Google is wanting to do is it's turning all of that hyper-specific product details or product highlights into structured and bullet point highlights. What it can also do as well is it also can create some, some AI comparison tables. And it can also go into rewriting your ad titles. Now, when we get into the actual examples, Google has provided some examples of how that will look. But one of the core features here is that this is going to allow Google's AI to essentially go in and rewrite this information so that it can compare your product to your competitor's product. So it can dynamically construct feature tables. And this is where it becomes so important, because if you are not including this information and your competitors are, you're not going to win these comparison searches and you're also not going to win these super, super highly focused or highly detailed searches. Once again, remembering how people— how more and more searches are going to happen. It's going to start with an individual search, but then it could go back to 3 or 4 different questions. And this is why this information becomes so important. Once again, you can go through and add it through to your Shopify or whatever your hosting platform is, and you can also use a supplemental feed. Now let's go to the 4th feature, which is all about your variants and your ranking. Now some people call this your variant ranking. Some of them will call it your most popular products, but the actual attributes you're looking at here is your variant option, your item group title, and also your popularity rank. So they're the important attributes that you need to be updating for your Google Merchant Feed. Now there's a couple of benefits here. The first thing, and this is especially true if you've got multiple variations, so different sizes, different colors of the same product. We're currently working with a client that in some cases has up to 70 variations for the same product. Also from there, it's also helping Google understand the parent-to-child relationships between different SKUs you may have. But the extra feature and the new one is this popularity rank, which will allow Google to even show little tags around which product variations are your most popular or are your best sellers. And this really comes down to letting Google and also the user know when they get into super, super high detailed search, which are the right variants for them or which are the right variants which are the most popular, which other customers are buying right now. And when we talk about the risk of this one, it really comes down to that this is one of those ones, it's all about setting some extra guardrails and information so Google can represent you in the best way. And it will lower the risk of Google showing or pushing low stock or niche variants that aren't really popular or that they are out of stock. And so that can have an effect of wasting your budget. So what it's really going to throw and helping is flagging your proven bestsellers with a popularity rank. So this is going to be more important, especially if you've got a whole heap of different variations and you've got, you know, stores with, you know, hundreds of thousands or thousands of different SKUs. This is going to be one to really go through and focus, but it does take some extra time. Obviously with tools you can go through and do this, but what you want to be doing is that you want to make sure that you're feeding your primary group with an assigned item group title, your format variant option, and then also go through and add in, say for example, your Shopify sales so they can get that popularity rank. Now, one thing I do want to add with these 4 changes, because we're going to go jump onto my computer to have a screen share, so I'm going to show you some real-life examples of how these ads appear. But what I do want to stress, and as I said, the reason why I can't go through a step-by-step process of how to go through and implement this, because it really comes down to that tech stack that you are using. And as I was saying, we are working with all of our on-demand clients and Define Digital Academy clients to really make sure that they get this right. Their business and their brand. And as a reminder, if you did want extra help through this, because this can get quite technical, make sure you follow that link in the description below to apply for on-demand so that we can give you the extra help that you need to really help your brand scale to the next level. But with that said, let's jump into a screen share. Alright, so now that you actually know the changes, let's now really walk through some practical examples of where you're going to be seeing these ads and how they look. And I really think if you can see what the user is going to be seeing in real-life examples that's going to really, really help illustrate why this is so important and why you need to start making these changes. Now, I do need to give a warning that even right now at the time of recording in early August in 2026, a lot of these things aren't appearing, but that doesn't mean that it's not important because Google has mentioned that coming Q4. So especially over the next 1 to 2 months, they are going to start supercharging how often these ads are appearing. So now's the perfect time to start getting these started. And even if they don't start the rollout until early 2027, You're much better to have this ready to go now so that you don't have to worry about when Google turns on the tap and really starts releasing more of these AI ads. Important to note that Google is planning on launching AI Max for Shopping, and this will be one of the key cornerstones of brands that can really take the full advantage of this are going to have these things in place. So let's firstly start what it's calling AI ads to search or AI-powered shopping ads. Now the AI-powered shopping ads are really going to be pulling your data from 2 key sources, and that is the Q&A and also the document link. And a perfect example would be through here is the sponsored products where it's pulling out some extra information, and it's also got question and answer. What you can also see through here is that it may even appear in these options, which is things around your highlighted answers or even conversational ads. So that's the first thing to really think about there. These are the AI-powered shopping ads. It's important to note for this one that this is not in AI mode and it's not in AI overviews. It's on sponsored ad on top, but it is an AI-generated ad. You can really look at that sponsored product. And the question is, is that a shopping ad or is that a text ad? And that is the world we're moving into, where especially from e-commerce, for so long we'd really thought about those 2 types of searches as different beasts— shopping on this side, search on this side. But now they're going to be coming together. So that's why it's important that you need that extra context coming through. Important to note, there still will be shopping ads existing and there still will be search-based ads existing, but more and more you're gonna see these combined ads coming through. Let's now talk about conversational discovery ads, which is the second type of ad. And as I mentioned before, this is once again going to be really reliant on your question and answers and also your document links. So these are the really important ones in through here. And because what it's coming through is that the people are asking more of a conversational or actual questions, Google can put that information into the actual discussion and or it can actually highlight it as an ad. But once again, it doesn't matter whether it's a search inquiry or whether it's a conversational search, people aren't going to click on the ad if it isn't relevant. So relevancy is the key here. And as we've been saying more and more, relevancy, if anything, has even become even more important because you've got to provide it with so much more data. Now you've also got highlighted answers, which comes in from here, and this one's actually more comes into those product highlights and the product details. So this is where it's really, really important that you've got specifications there. So Google is seeing as much as possible so that it can actually give the right answer. And then we move over to the last one, which is this product detail. And this was that data comparison we're talking about. And as you can see from here is that you've got some different options here. Let's just say you've got a camera which has different variations around different lenses, you know, different shoot quality. So it's got all the different features from here. Another example they give is, say for example, laptops. Where they can start breaking down the price versus things like the RAM or things like the storage space. So once again, that becomes highly, highly important. Even if you are in for things, say for example, like supplements, it could have benefits listed in there. But you're not going to get access to these type of ads if you are not giving Google the verified product information. So once again, thank you so much for joining me. It's been an absolute pleasure having you here. My name is Aaron from Defined Digital Academy, and as always, if you did need any extra help or if you would like to apply for for our on-demand program and also see some of the free tools that we provide you if you're just starting your Google Ads journey, just follow that link in the description below. Or if you'd like to stay on YouTube and you're coming up to Black Friday and you want to know a little bit more about the strategy and the game plan that we're using, or that we use every year inside of Define Digital Academy, go through and watch this extra teaching here. See you next time.