# Google opens Search and Gemini to outside apps as AI Mode ads go global > Google launched a beta Connected Apps Platform for Search and Gemini and said it will take AI Mode ads international, as Search ad growth slowed to 12% in Alphabet's third quarter. > > OpenCheese AI · 2026.10.29 · Web page: https://opencheese.dev/blog/google-opens-search-and-gemini-to-outside-apps-as-ai-mode-ads-go-global Alphabet told investors on Wednesday that its Search advertising business grew more slowly again, and its shares fell 8%. In the same news cycle, Google invited any developer who cares to build an app for Search and Gemini. One story is about money, the other about plumbing, and both describe a company that wants the AI box to become the place where things happen. ## A good quarter with one awkward line The headline numbers were strong. Alphabet reported $127.6 billion in third-quarter revenue, up 25% year over year. Google Cloud revenue rose 103% to $30.7 billion. Google Services, the division that contains Search, brought in $96.3 billion, up 11%. Then there was the Search line. Google Search revenue grew 12% year over year, down from 17% in the second quarter and 19% in the first. That is three quarters of deceleration, in a business that pays for most of the rest. The market noticed. Hence the 8% drop, and hence the pressure on Google to show that its AI features can earn money and not just attention. ## Ads follow the AI to new countries Google's answer on the call was to take ads in its AI Search experiences abroad. Philipp Schindler, Google's chief business officer, said the company is "scaling high-quality ads within AI overviews in AI mode to more users and queries," and called the international move the first time its monetization footprint goes global. He also announced multi-turn ads alongside AI Mode in the U.S. The evidence offered so far is thin but friendly. Schindler said click-through rates for sponsored product listings in AI Mode are already comparable to those for organic listings. Google's own user research, he added, suggests people find the ads relevant. Both claims come from Google, and no figures were attached. This builds on May, when Google announced Gemini-powered ad formats. Those included conversational discovery ads that respond to a user's questions and sponsored recommendations placed inside AI-generated answers. ## Longer questions, more of them Sundar Pichai supplied the usage story that makes the ad pitch plausible. Search queries grew at their fastest year-over-year rate in five years, he said, though he did not give the rate. He credited AI features for changing how people search, including longer and more complex queries. The specifics he gave: - **Query length.** Queries in AI Mode are three times longer on average than traditional searches. - **Beyond typing.** One in five AI Mode searches globally involves voice, images, or documents. - **Visual search.** Google has passed 50 billion visual searches per month. Pichai summed it up for investors this way: "[Search] is bringing the benefits of AI to more people than any other product in the world." He added that queries are "longer, personalized, and multimodal." The quarter also included the release of Gemini 4 Argon, the Gemini app reaching 1 billion monthly users, and the launch of the Pixel 11 lineup. Quite a lot of product for a quarter that ended with a falling share price. ## The other announcement: a door for apps While the ad news went to analysts, the Connected Apps Platform went to developers. Connected apps arrived in Gemini and Google Search earlier this year. They let users securely link third-party services and then take specific actions through them. You could connect Canva to design a flyer, or YouTube Music to build a playlist, without opening either app. Google is not alone in this. ChatGPT and Meta's Muse have tried their own versions. The premise behind all of them is that people may stop launching individual apps and start reaching their favorite services through whichever AI provider they prefer. That only works if there is something to connect to. A directory of three apps is a demo. So Google is opening the process to any business or developer that wants to reach users through Search or Gemini, with the ability to submit an app and watch how it performs. The platform preview is in beta for developers in the U.S. Apps built through it can be used across Google's products. ## How a developer gets in The path Google describes has a few steps: 1. Integrate with a cloud-hosted MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, or with Android MCP using the AppFunctions APIs. 2. Use the Google Connected Console to register, test, and submit the app. 3. Choose where it appears: Search, the Gemini app, or both. After launch, the console shows traffic, latency, and error rates. Developers also keep control of their brand identity, including verified logos and authenticated accounts. That last part matters more than it sounds, since an app that speaks for your company inside someone else's chat window should at least carry your logo and not a lookalike. ## Who is already inside Google says more than 50 Connected Apps are available in Gemini. Search has fewer, but that gap is about to narrow, since the Gemini apps are coming to Search over the next few weeks. | Surface | Apps named | |---|---| | Gemini | Adobe, Experian, Localiza, Peloton, plus Google's own Photos, YouTube Music and Google Home | | Search (today) | Instacart, Canva, YouTube Music, Yahoo Fantasy Football | Meditation app Calm is a new partner and will launch on both Gemini and Search soon. ## Reading the two announcements together The connection between the ad news and the app news is my inference, not something Google said in so many words. But the logic is easy to see. If more users ask longer questions inside AI Mode, those answers become valuable real estate. Advertisers can pay for a place in them, and businesses can now build a way into them. The comparison to search engine optimization is hard to avoid. Companies once worked to show up in search rankings. Registering a connected app may be an early version of the same chore for what is being called the agentic web, where an assistant, not a person, picks the service. Some caveats apply. The platform is a U.S. beta. The ad performance claims are Google's, and the reports contain no numbers beyond "comparable." Pichai did not say how fast queries grew. And nothing in the coverage explains how a sponsored recommendation and a connected app will share an answer when both want the same user request. Still, the sequence is tidy. Search ad growth slows, so Google puts ads into the AI answers. Users start asking the AI to do things, so Google lets everyone else's apps sit inside it too. Whether advertisers and developers regard that as an opportunity or as a toll booth with good manners will depend on what happens after the beta label comes off. ## Related posts - 2026.10.29 · [Google brings personalized Gemini to Android Auto, with access to Gmail, Calendar and Photos](https://opencheese.dev/blog/google-brings-personalized-gemini-to-android-auto-gmail-calendar-photos.md): Google is rolling out a personalized Gemini mode in Android Auto that draws on Gmail, Calendar, Maps, Photos, YouTube and Search. It is opt-in and not available at launch in the EEA, UK, Switzerland or Nigeria. - 2026.10.05 · [Gemini 4 Argon Faces Coding Criticism and Claims of Cheating on Vending-Bench 2](https://opencheese.dev/blog/gemini-4-argon-faces-coding-criticism-and-vending-bench-2-claims.md): Anonymous Google employees reportedly said Gemini 4 Argon struggled with some coding tasks. Andon Labs also says the model used deceptive tactics in a simulated business benchmark, where it placed third. - 2026.10.29 · [Chrome's enhanced autofill can now pull order numbers and bookings from Gmail](https://opencheese.dev/blog/chrome-s-enhanced-autofill-can-now-pull-order-numbers-and-bookings-from-gmail.md): Google says Chrome's enhanced autofill will use Gemini with Personal Intelligence to suggest form entries from Gmail, such as order numbers and flight bookings. It starts in the US, with settings to limit or disable it.