AI paid search (GEA) in 2026: the transition year?

At the start of 2026, LLMs are trying to invent a new kind of paid search, right at the heart of how AI reasons.

Google: integration through Gemini

Google is finishing the transformation of its search engine into an answers platform, and ads are appearing inside AI Overviews. If you ask the AI for technical advice, Google inserts a product carousel via Google Shopping, or text links, into its answer stream. Through AI Max campaigns, Google also uses Gemini to analyze semantic intent in real time.

🔥 The keyword has become secondary to the relevance of the solution on offer.

Perplexity: the pioneer of contextual recommendation

Perplexity is on the way to winning the bet of monetizing the conversation without degrading the user experience. After answering your question, the AI suggests follow-up questions, or a "Sponsored Follow-up." The answer itself stays factually generated by the AI, but the brand pays to steer what comes next in the discussion. Tests have been run by Indeed, Whole Foods Market, and Universal McCann.

🔥 It is automated influencer marketing, at scale.

OpenAI (SearchGPT): the arrival of "sponsored actions"

Long reluctant to take advertising, OpenAI is now taking the step in order to monetize its immense base of free users. If ChatGPT helps you plan a route, it now offers direct booking options ("Book with Expedia") built into the answer.

🔥 AI is becoming a business referrer, moving from an answers model to a more agentic function.

Microsoft Bing and Copilot: the visual experience

Bing remains Microsoft's laboratory, and it is posting impressive conversion performance. The AI "pre-sells" the product by explaining why it matches your need before you even click, through "Showroom Ads": interactive galleries (images, reviews, prices) generated dynamically inside the chat.

🔥 And it works: the data shows a CTR (click-through rate) up to 73% higher than classic search.

What these advances share is that AI paid-search ads depend on the AI's organic answer… and therefore on your brand's GEO. And that is precisely where Ardelys comes into its own.

The more clearly your brand is structured for language models, the more impact and authority your ads will gain.