Google is at it again, with 2 new ad opportunities that you NEED to know about as a small business owner.
This week on the S.O.B. (small owned business) Marketing podcast, Vivian and I discussing Googleโs conversational discovery and highlighted answers ads. We discuss what they are, how they work, and why these new Google ad options are a big deal for small businesses! We also discuss Googleโs new โbusiness agent for leadsโ option.
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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to SOB Marketing
01:05 Googleโs New AI Ad Opportunities
08:35 Conversational Discovery Ads
12:44 Highlighted Answers Ads
22:46 Business Agent For Leads
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Vivian: How to, I'm trying to come up with an example, how to fix my toilet. Okay, and maybe you're in the business of selling toilet covers.
Chelsea: Well, I don't think that'll fix the toilet. So let's say you're a plumber, okay?
*Intro*
Chelsea: Hey everyone and welcome to the S.O.B. Marketing podcast. Where we celebrate to S.O.B. you are, and if you haven't figured it out yet - we mean Small Owned Business, we don't mean S.O.B...
Vivian: Listen, we know that as a small business owner you are working hard on the daily to keep your business fully operational while trying to promote it. And while some days it may feel like the business is owning you, if we're being honest with each other I bet you would admit that you wouldn't give up the insanity for anything.
Chelsea: Our commitment here at the S.O.B. Marketing podcast is to give you the real talk, what works when it comes to advertising, marketing, and promoting your business. And then what doesn't really work.
Vivian: And Chelsea and I promise to always keep the conversation real.
*Beginning of Episode*
Chelsea: Vivian, I am I'm not raging against the machines today.
Vivian: I miss Chelsea raging against the machines.
Chelsea: I'm, what's one below rage? I guess I'm slightly annoyed.
Vivian: That's not one below rage.
Chelsea: Well then what's one below rage?
Vivian: I don't even know.
Chelsea: You don't even have a backup. So I'm going with slightly annoyed. I'm slightly annoyed with the machines, but that's just my default state. I'm not raging today because we're going to be, yes, talking about AI. However, I'm actually okay with this topic today, Vivian. We're talking about the new Google ad opportunities that involve AI.
Vivian: Yeah, and if I can make a case for you guys sticking around and listening to this. If you're a small business owner and you're like, I have no interest in utilizing AI to promote my small business, that's okay. The two things that I want to say are extremely important as a small business owner. One of them is we always want to stay abreast to new opportunities we have to promote our small business, even if we're not using those opportunities, if we choose not to do the thing. The other thing is we always want to be sure that we understand how consumers are purchasing products, how they're finding information. That changes over time, you guys. I don't have to tell you because if you were alive in the 1990s. You understand this. The world we live in...
Chelsea: Don't I know it?
Vivian: Chelsea was born in...
Chelsea: 1998.
Vivian: Okay, so she was there for two years of the 1990s.
Chelsea: But I was there, but I was there.
Vivian: So you know Chelsea.
Chelsea: I know.
Vivian: You know how the world was.
All right, Chelsea, if you have a hot take, what is it?
Chelsea: My hot take is what I opened with, which is that I'm not raging against the machine over this. If anything, I think these Google ad opportunities are relevant to small business owners and are things that we should consider because it's going to make a big difference.
Vivian: Yeah. One of the things that we want to tell you guys is... how do they say hear all about it?
Chelsea: Hear ye, hear ye?
Vivian: No, what did the newspaper boys used to say?
Chelsea: Extra extra?
Vivian: Yeah, extra, extra. Hear all about it.
Chelsea: Why did I go to hear ye? Why did I go to medieval ages? My bad. It's because I was born in the nineties.
Vivian: Extra, extra hear all about it because you guys, this is hot off the presses. We are bringing you the most updated Google information about these ad opportunities because this was actually announced in a post made by Google. The post was on May 20th, 2026. Okay. So just, literally a week and a half ago as of this recording.
This was titled, "A new generation of ads for the AI era of search". Chelsea, if you're not watching this on YouTube, you guys first of all go do that because Chelsea just did the little glimmering fingers.
Chelsea: Yay. New update. Vivian, I think the reason that I'm not beefing with this, these new ad opportunities is because it's not necessarily using AI. It's just that we're going to be adding the ads to AI. Ooh, whoa, what does that mean?
Vivian: Yes, no, no. This is wonderful. I wanted to just remind everybody. Gemini, because we're going to reference Gemini in this discussion, is actually Google's AI chatbot. So you know, ChatGPT, that's a AI chat bot. Claude, AI chatbot, Grok, AI chatbot. Gemini is Google's version of that. So if you didn't know that, you now do. Send me five dollars. Thank you very much. I'm joking.
Two things we know that Google is really great at, Chelsea.
Chelsea: Okay. They're great for search. I mean, that's their whole thing. Searches are easy.
Vivian: Yes, they're easy and they're effective, right?
Chelsea: Yes. I can always find what I'm looking for on Google.
Vivian: Absolutely, and then what's the other thing that Google is really good at?
Chelsea: Vivian, I'm going to say making that money.
Vivian: Yeah, dollar bills, y'all. They make a lot of that money through ad revenue.
Chelsea: Yes, Google is great about ad opportunities. It's their thing.
Vivian: Yeah, and what we love about these two opportunities that we're going to present to you guys and talk about is the fact that Google is combining both of those things. Okay. Because they know that people are looking for information a little differently because of the use of AI chatbots. They have figured out a way, they have worked on their system to present exactly what people are looking for, the type of information they need and they want up front. They're like, wait, but how can we capitalize on this and allow businesses to tap into that? Through ad opportunities. So I think this is good because we know Google has always been good at their thing. Now that they figured it out and they're like, wow, people are really liking this experience. Now let's also combine the ad opportunities.
Chelsea: Yes, so they figured out AI search. Yes. They're comfortable with it. They're like, people are using it, people enjoy it. So now they're like, how can businesses capitalize on AI search? That's the two new ad opportunities we're going to talk about today. I know you also want to talk about another feature that's new that they slipped into this blog post that you think is going to be super helpful for small businesses too, right?
Vivian: Yes, and we're going to talk about that at the end of this episode. So we're just going to use that as a- let's put a little pin in that. Hopefully that's a compelling enough reason for you guys to stick around. First we'll cover the two ad opportunities and then we're going to talk about this new feature that I think if you're a small business owner, you definitely want to know that Google is working on this because it can help be an extension of your business, it can make your life easier. Okay.
Chelsea: Can I just say if you're not a small business owner, what are you doing here?
Vivian: Get out! Scram. Get out of here.
Chelsea: You don't have to get out, maybe they're thinking of becoming a small business.
Vivian: They are. We've actually had someone leave us a review that said that. That they were gearing up to start their small business and they found our podcast.
Chelsea: Everyone is welcome.
Vivian: We welcome everybody with open arms.
Chelsea: Everyone's welcome. Yes. Okay, Vivian, let's actually talk about these two new ad opportunities.
Vivian: Yes. What is the first one, Chels?
Chelsea: We've got conversational discovery ads.
Vivian: All right. We're going to encourage you, if you have not used Google in some time because you're just ChatGPTing your way into life, we want you to go ahead and go to Google and poke around in there. Do a search inquiry so that way you can see-
Chelsea: Search your name. Search your business's name.
Vivian: Absolutely. Or ask a question in there because I think that's going to give you the best idea of how Google is packaging and using Gemini to package this AI overview at the top. With this conversational discovery ad, your ad would appear to answer a person's specific question. What we love about this is it's not just, ad in your face. When someone is at the point that they're looking for information, maybe how to, I'm trying to come up with an example, how to fix my toilet. Okay, and maybe you're in the business of selling toilet covers.
Chelsea: Well, I don't think that'll fix the toilet. So let's say you're a plumber, okay? Just saying.
Vivian: Maybe you just want a new toilet cover on.
Chelsea: Well, then you would have asked how to change the toilet cover. You wouldn't have said how to fix my toilet.
Vivian: Okay, I'll admit your plumbing example is much better. All right. So this conversational discovery ad, if I were running one as a small business, where would it appear?
Chelsea: Okay. They Googled how to fix my toilet. It's going to give you a response, a conversational response. It's going to take you through the steps like, here's what could be wrong with the toilet. Here's, you know, changes that you could try on your own. If that's not going to work, then you need to call a professional plumber. Then it's going to say here are some professional plumbers. Vivian's a great plumber.
Vivian: Yeah, so she just made a face, you guys, if you're not watching on YouTube. What it would then look like is Gemini is going to give that canned AI bot response. It's going to tell you, like you said, exactly what potentially could be the problem. Then it's probably going to say, we recommend that you reach out to a plumbing professional. As you scroll down, you'll see this little line and if you're running this ad, it'll say Chelsea's Plumbing Services is a local professional plumbing company in Summerville, South Carolina or whatever. So it's the idea that it's teeing up this ad, and it's integrating it into the conversation.
Chelsea: Yes. Want to point out, Vivian, and you might have been just about to say this and I cut you off. It's going to say sponsored. It's going to be very clear that that is an ad.
Vivian: Yeah. Don't think that, we're not to the point yet where Google is going to pitch your business without saying this is outright an ad.
Chelsea: Which they should never, if it's an ad, it should always say sponsored.
Vivian: Yes. If someone has paid for it and is in any way skewing the information on there, we want to know, right?
*S.O.B. Community Ad*
Vivian: This episode of the S.O.B. Marketing podcast is brought to you by the S.O.B. Community. If you are a small business owner that is neglecting your marketing and you feel like you've wasted time and money on marketing help that didn't deliver. Or if you're just craving support from people who actually get what it's like to run and promote a small business, then our membership community is for you. Visit skool.com/sob to sign up today to get instant access and weekly support. That's S-K-O-O-L dot com slash sob.
*End of S.O.B. Community Ad*
Vivian: The other ad opportunity is in highlighted answers. So where are we, where's this ad going to appear?
Chelsea: So your highlighted answers ad is going to appear within the AI mode's recommendation list. Let's say that they actually Googled best toilet covers near me. They want a new cool toilet cover. They want a carpeted one.
Vivian: Ugh, on your butt cheeks.
Chelsea: Look, man, I don't know. They want a new toilet cover.
Vivian: What about bedazzled, maybe?
Chelsea: I feel like that would be worse for your butt cheeks.
Vivian: Leave imprints. I mean, you'll be in and out of there real quick.
Chelsea: That's true. Okay, so you Google "best cool", I don't know, "best cool toilet covers near me". It's going to list different options, different people. Vivian does bedazzled, Chelsea does carpet.
Vivian: That's right.
Chelsea: Here are all your options. So if you get one of these highlighted answers ad, then that's where you're going to appear. Again, it's going to say sponsored.
Vivian: The key here is remember that Google is in the business of trying to give people information that they are looking for in a very quick manner, right? If the person is looking for information that requires Google to package up a list of recommendations or a list of products or services, then your ad could appear in that list. That is where it's going to be a little different than the conversational discovery ad, in the sense that the other one is using the Gemini AI response to package up information from different sources, but your ad can fit in under there as the conversational prompt or response. This one is very list oriented.
Chelsea: Another thing, Vivian, that I think we need to bring up, and this is very important, is in this blog post, because this is brand new, right? May 20th, Google dropped this blog post. In it, they don't mention an ad minimum spend. So we don't know if small business owners might be priced out of this. We don't know how pricey these ads are going to be quite just yet. It's not something that's been shared yet.
Vivian: There was no inclination as to whether you had to spend at least $250 or you had to spend $500, whatever. There was no talk of any of that. If anything, if you guys are interested in either one of these opportunities, if they seem like it would be a good fit to promote your small business and you guys are already on Google, or if you're not and this is I don't know, kind of getting you to consider actually running ads through Google. Just know that you'll have to probably look and see if there is a minimum ad spend. A lot of times there isn't. So I can't imagine they would apply that towards this, but we did want to mention that.
So why, Chelsea, should this even matter? These two new opportunities that we have coming down the pipeline from Google, why does it change anything we're doing or impact what we're doing as small business owners?
Chelsea: Well, let's consider the news that Google shared the other day, that they're switching over to only AI search.
Vivian: How many of you guys knew that? If you didn't know that, let us know in the comments.
Chelsea: So Google now, your only option is AI search. You're always going to get that AI overview.
Now that they're switching only to that, what does that mean for the ads? Well, this is their response to that.
Vivian: Yeah, that means, I mean, listen, you guys, we said it earlier in this episode. sometimes we just have to make okay with the fact that this is the way the world is moving now, right? This is the new normal, that Google search is going to have that AI component to it. As a small business owner, you get to decide: do I want to participate in that? Do I want to leverage what Google has created? The way that people are consuming this information, do I want to be a part of that? You get to pick and choose. The other thing though is I do want to say that most recent data shows 75% of people report making faster, more confident decisions using AI mode in search.
Chelsea: Really?
Vivian: Yeah. Chelsea, do you think that's bull?
Chelsea: Do you want to know my honest opinion? My honest opinion-
Vivian: No, I want you to lie to me. Yes, your honest opinion.
Chelsea: My honest opinion is I do think that's bull. I think, I hope that all of us understand that AI is still working out their kinks and it still can be wrong. So when it is offering you something, whether that be information or products, we should still be verifying them, looking if that is correct information, looking if these products are actually legit or not.
Vivian: Do you do you remember not too long ago in our SOB community, we had the discussion that there was another report? I can't remember who the reporting organization was, but they were stating that it showed people were making AI prompts, looking at the information, and it wasn't that they were making purchases based off of the AI information, but what it did do was they then continued their search.
Chelsea: It was specifically that people weren't purchasing the product straight off of AI, like straight off of that chat conversation, it was they were taking those results and then they were doing further investigation. That sounds more likely to me.
Vivian: Well here's the thing, this 75% statistic that I just shared, 75% of people report making faster, more confident decisions using AI mode in search, who do you think reported that.
Chelsea: Google.
Vivian: Yes. I mean, I'm with you. When I read statements like that, 75% of people report making faster, more confident decisions using AI mode in search.
Chelsea: That could mean anything.
Vivian: Right. It's such a generic statement that I'm like, well yeah, people probably are like, I feel better because it's giving me the ideas a lot quicker. It's giving me the information. Instead of where I used to have to input a query, scroll down maybe two, three pages in to make sure that I got all of the options that I want to look at. Now it's packaging it up a lot quicker, but it doesn't mean that necessarily, like you said, I'm buying it. It means that I got step one of my research done. Now let me move on to step two to actually narrowing down my options.
Chelsea: Yeah, it's a great discovery touch point is what it is.
Vivian: So maybe that's what it's talking about, is discovery.
Chelsea: That could be it.
Vivian: The reason I wanted to bring that up though is I do think that as a small business owner, we just want to remind you guys that consumer behavior is already shifting. The way that people are using ChatGPT, Gemini, all of this stuff to collect information to let it kinda do the quick and dirty discovery, like you said. It's already shifting. We have to meet people where they are, not cross our fingers and hope that people will change because we don't want to change the way that we're promoting stuff.
Chelsea: Promoting stuff. Yeah, no. That is why I'm not hating on this. This is why I'm not raging against the machines because this is where the mindset is shifting. We need to meet our consumers where they are. This is a great way to meet people where they are.
Vivian: Yeah. I think the other, because you already introduced the idea of a mindset shift, the other thing I want to say about that is-
I wonder if maybe the days where we do ads that are like click here now, right? If that's going to be less and less effective because people are going to, I don't know, want to see more of this packaged conversational perspective of ad placement. So it's weird because it is going to still have the word sponsored on it. So people are still going to know that it's an ad. But it's almost like you're giving them the answer to their question in the ad.
So I just want to say that the mindset shift may also apply to the way we use our creativity to develop these ads. So it may just not, what used to work for the other types of ads may not work for this.
Chelsea: I mean...That's just, I don't want to say growing up. That's just the passage of time. Things change, and we have to adapt to those changes.
Vivian: Absolutely. All right. So Chelsea, do you want to maybe help tell us about this new feature that we promised we would talk about that the blog post also mentioned. What we love about this is, this we think is actually going to be super helpful for small business owners.
Chelsea: Yes. Okay. So we have it's called business agent for leads. So how Google described it, and I'm going to verbatim, say what they said so we can be very clear. "When weighing important options, people want to feel confident before they commit. Business Agent for Leads, built with Gemini, puts a smart brand agent right inside your ad. Instead of filling out a static form, a student researching universities can click chat to get instant answers based on your website, turning a practical interaction into a valuable lead."
Vivian: What I love, love, love is I feel like this can be a really good extension of a small business and extension to where you don't have to hire someone else to do this. It's utilizing the AI technology to be able to package up information, make inferences. Why does that sound weird coming out of my mouth? Inferences.
Chelsea: In- well, now it sounds weird. Use a different word.
Vivian: To connect the dots to be able to answer the questions that someone may have.
Chelsea: Yes. I think this example is great. If someone's looking up university options, they see a university online that they want to consider instead of having to fill out a static form where someone will get back to you eventually. It's essentially a chat bot.
Vivian: Going back to our plumbing example though.
Chelsea: Let's talk about plumbing. Plumbing or toilet covers. What are we doing?
Vivian: Plumbing, not toilet covers. Actually fixing your toilet.
Chelsea: Fixing the toilet.
Vivian: Let's say, for example, I'm a plumber and I want to be able to have this business agent for leads communicate with people or answer questions over the weekend. So let's say that our business is open Monday through Friday, eight to five, but we don't want to miss the opportunity to get a lead from the weekend. I don't want to pay someone over the weekends just to sit there and answer phones, right? Especially if I don't know like what our phone, how many calls are coming in, all that. I don't have that information yet. So this business agent for leads can do that for you.
It would look like if someone is looking or searching on Google for, "my toilet's broken. I live in Summerville"-
Chelsea: The water's shooting up. I don't know how that's even possible. I don't have a bidet. It's just shooting straight out of the bowl.
Vivian: What is even going on? Can I get somebody out here on a weekend? Maybe what they do is when the options appear in Google search results, they're like, I see Chelsea's plumbing services. But is Chelsea open and available for Sunday calls? So I would go in there and say, does this person, you know, are there hours on Sunday? This business agent could answer that based off what you have on the website. We don't have enough information to know if maybe you have to preload it with other information. But it could answer those very basic questions to say, yes, Chelsea offers services on Sunday at this price point, maybe after hours rates or something. They would be able to do that. Idea being that you don't have to be the one answering the questions yourself and you could still capture that potential customer.
Chelsea: Yes. I am very interested in seeing how well this works. To what level does it go to? For example, would it be able to give a price point based off of what I say, you know? Could it schedule stuff? We don't have all the information yet. This is something, again, this information is brand new, right? Hot off the press.
Vivian: Hot off the press.
Chelsea: So we're not sure yet, but I'm very excited to see how far this goes.
Vivian: Yeah. So tell us in the comments. are any of these, do any of these pique your interest? So would you be a little more keen and open to using that business agent for leads? Or are you excited about these potential, these two new ad opportunities, the conversational discovery ads or the highlighted answers ads? We want to hear from you guys.
Chelsea: Yeah, and pretty, pretty please consider leaving us a review. It helps us get in front of other small business owners and we will probably shout out your review. We did that last week. So if you want a shoutout.
Vivian: Chelsea loves reading those.
Chelsea: I do. I try to use my nice professional voice.
Vivian: We love it.
Chelsea: Yeah. So consider leaving us a review. Make sure you're subscribed. All of the things and-
Vivian: Can I throw something in really quick? So I just I just want to remind you guys, being that today's episode was very, very new, it was something that Google had just released. You guys, we want to be the place that you come to for all this marketing information. We want you to know that we're going to keep you up to date with stuff. So that is just one more reason that you should be subscribed to this. Let us be the people that go out there and research this stuff and package it up and bring it to you. Yeah. so if you want to stay abreast on marketing stuff. Subscribe.
Chelsea: We are at all women podcasts.
Vivian: That's right.
Chelsea: You know what? Go be the best SOB you can be.