Within a few days of each other, Google unveiled two of the biggest updates in recent years for those in digital advertising and marketing. At I/O, the focus was on the “agent era” of Gemini, featuring new models and agents. At Marketing Live, the focus was on advertising: new formats, a unified campaign management agent, and creative content powered by generative AI. For those managing B2B marketing and sales in Portugal, this has a direct impact on visibility, cost per lead, and the way decision-makers conduct their research.
The structural change is in search, not in ads
Google’s AI Mode has, according to Google itself, reached one billion monthly active users, making it the biggest search update to date. In practice, a growing proportion of searches no longer end with a click on a result. They end with an AI-generated response, featuring sources chosen by the model.
“It’s the biggest change to the search bar ever. It now accepts images, videos, and files, and has agents working without the user having to search again.” (Rui Martins, CEO and co-founder of SmartLinks)
In B2B, where the journey almost always begins with a search for information (“what’s the best software for X,” “how to automate Y”), the consequence is stark: content that doesn’t answer specific questions clearly and in a structured way simply doesn’t show up.
What to Do Going Forward
The B2B content strategy must incorporate AEO logic: structure based on questions, a direct answer in the first few paragraphs, and concrete data and examples. This is the new criterion for visibility.
Ads that adapt to the conversation
New AI-powered search ad formats adapt in real time to the intent of each search, moving away from static formats. AI-driven campaigns, such as Performance Max, remain the most effective way to ensure visibility throughout the decision-making process, including in a B2B context.
Tools that lighten the load on teams
Two new features with operational impact:
- A unified management dashboard that encompasses Ads, Analytics, Merchant Center, and the Marketing Platform, linking data from various products and reducing the time wasted switching between platforms.
- AI-powered creative generation that transforms brand guidelines into high-performing variations, addressing the bottleneck in creative production in B2B.
What this means for Portugal
Paid search, organic search, and content production converge into a single AI-powered ecosystem. Companies still operating with strategies from two or three years ago will feel the pressure: relevance, structure, and speed of adaptation determine who stays and who goes.
How SmartLinks approaches this
We don’t treat this as a series of isolated innovations, but as a systemic shift: aligning SEO & AI Search, paid media, and content under a single strategy, so the brand appears where the buyer makes their decision. That’s our approach to demand generation.
If your digital strategy is two or three years old, it’s likely already losing ground to those who have adapted to AI search. Check it out with the Diagnostic.
