Technology company Google says it has unveiled new Artificial Intelligence-powered advertising features to assist Nigerian businesses in better tracking the performance of their online adverts and managing campaigns.
The Google Director for East and West Africa, Mr Olumide Balogun, made this statement on Friday in Lagos.
Balogun said that the features, introduced under its AI Max for Search platform, would give advertisers clearer information on customer interactions with Search ads.
He said that the updates comprised a new Google Ads reporting feature and
an expansion of AI Brief, a Gemini-powered tool that allowed advertisers to guide campaigns using plain language.
According to him, the reporting feature brings together information on what customers searched for, the adverts they see and the webpages they subsequently visit.
He said that the information, currently accessed from different sections of Google Ads accounts, would now appear in a single view.
“We are excited to give Nigerian businesses a clearer view of what their advertising delivers.
“Every naira matters, especially in the weeks before Black Friday.
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“With the new report, business owners will see on one screen the question a customer asked, the ad she saw, and the page she landed on.
“This makes it far easier to decide where their budget works best,” Balogun said.
He said that the reporting feature, unveiled at DMEXCO 2026 in Cologne, Germany, would be rolled out globally, including Nigeria, later in the year.
Balogun said that AI Brief would also allow businesses to specify, in everyday language, what their advertisements should or should not communicate.
He explained that an advertiser could instruct the system not to mention prices, prioritise particular searches or highlight specific offers to certain categories of customers.
According to him, advertisers can preview sample adverts and searches before campaigns go live and adjust their instructions where necessary.
He said that AI Brief was being expanded as a closed beta, with support for seven additional languages – Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French and Italian.
Google also announced that advertisements could now appear above and below AI Overviews in more than 200 countries, including Nigeria.
Balogun urged Nigerian businesses preparing for Black Friday and the festive shopping season to begin planning their campaigns early.
“With Black Friday on Nov. 27 and the festive season close behind, now is the time for businesses to set up their peak-season campaigns,” he said.
Google’s Vice-President of Global Ads, Mr Dan Taylor, said at DMEXCO that changing search habits were influencing how businesses reached potential customers online.
Taylor said that consumers increasingly used longer and more detailed questions, voice commands and images when searching for products and services.
He said that searches conducted through Google’s AI Mode were three times longer than traditional searches, while one in six searches was made through voice or images.
Taylor added that AI Max, introduced in 2025, had been adopted by about 500,000 advertisers globally.
He said that advertisers using the product recorded 27 per cent more conversions, including sales and enquiries, at a similar cost.
Taylor, however, noted that the performance figures were global data presented at DMEXCO 2026 and not figures specific to Nigeria.