Google’s AI tool makes search advertising easier for African businesses

Business a.m

Businesses across Africa can now use Google’s Gemini AI-powered chat-like tool for Search Ads, marking a development from its initial announcement in January. According to Google, the intuitive tool is now fully operational and designed to help businesses in Africa and across the world boost their online visibility.

The growth of internet access in Sub-Saharan Africa has opened up new opportunities for businesses to reach a wider audience, but the complexity of online advertising can be a barrier to success. With Google’s conversational experience, businesses in the region can take advantage of the power of search without the need for in-depth expertise.

By simplifying the process of creating and managing ads, Google’s conversational experience makes it easier for businesses to reach their target audiences and drive results. It also allows businesses to tailor their ads to local markets, creating a more personal connection with customers. 

Shashi Thakur, VP & GM of Search Ads & Ads on Google Experiences,noted that creating effective ads can be time-consuming, especially for small businesses,” explains 

 “Our new conversational experience helps businesses of all sizes tap into the power of Google AI to create successful Search campaigns with remarkable ease,” Thakur said.

The conversational experience works in the following ways:

• Easy to Get Started: Simply provide a website address, and Google AI will automatically analyse the content.
• Tailored Suggestions: The AI generates relevant keywords, ad headlines, and descriptions, inspired by a business and its target region.
• Visual Inspiration: Need ad images? Google AI pulls visuals from a website or creates new ones.
• You’re Still in Control: Advertisers review and approve all AI-generated elements, ensuring ads reflect their brand.

The conversational experience has been shown to have a significant impact on the effectiveness of search campaigns, with businesses that use the tool 42 per cent more likely to publish ads with ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ Ad Strength. Ad Strength is a measure of how well an ad is expected to perform, and higher Ad Strength is associated with increased conversions.

This development is a key part of Google’s ongoing efforts to empower small businesses with the tools they need to succeed. By harnessing the power of AI to automatically generate ads based on existing website content, businesses can create ads that are highly relevant to the keywords and search terms used by their target audiences.

In addition,the innovative approach has the potential to significantly increase the visibility of small businesses in search results, giving them a level of exposure that would otherwise be out of reach. This is considered a significant development for small businesses, who can now compete on a more even playing field with larger brands.

Google’s conversational AI experience is currently available to English-speaking advertisers worldwide, but the company has plans to expand this support to additional languages in the near future.