In May 2025, Google hosted a Lead Gen Innovation Lab in Atlanta. 250 marketers from across the country braved gridlocked Atlanta traffic for a chance to glimpse into the future of AI and lead generation digital marketing directly from the source.
I nearly missed my chance to hurtle vertically though their southern mothership; as I arrived at Google HQ, I had a team check-in, and badly needed a nook in which I could get on my laptop. I hustled in, and turned a quick corner.
“SIR. SIR. I NEED TO SEE YOUR BADGE.”
I had passed into a forbidden zone, and nearly missed my chance to traverse into the core of the search titan’s highrise building as a result. Luckily, I was able to fully de-escalate and found a nearby coffeeshop in which I could take my call.
Despite my rough start, I did indeed get to peek into the future of lead gen advertising. What’s the TLDR, you ask? Well, the modern search landscape is changing: AI overviews now reach 1 billion global users a month, across 100 countries. Google Lens is powering 20 billion visual searches every month, opening up fascinating possibilities about the future of shopping.
Ensuring that you are in the right place, at the right time is more important than ever, as user journeys continue to become more complex. While there was a typical amount of fluff (have you heard of… AI?), there were also some strong technical recommendations that marketers could harness to take full advantage of Google’s quickly progressing AI marketing suite.
My 5 Top Takeaways from the Lead Gen Innovation Lab:
1) KISS: No, not the band… the old expression – Keep it Simple, Sillygoose!
Gone are the days of granular builds and overly segmented campaigns. We have now arrived in the land of sample size and optionality. By leaning into larger data sets and relying on the algorithm to ‘cook’ (as the kids would say), you open yourself up to cross-funnel touchpoints in the user journey that were not possible under old, segmented strategies.
2) Enhanced Conversion Implementation is Non-Negotiable: Conversion tracking setup stinks.
Who wants to do it twice? Well, you should want to, based on the crucial nature of enhanced tracking capabilities in the Google auction algorithms. Pull a Nike and Just Do It.
3) Farewell, Match Types: While exact match is not going away, only broad match keywords are fully eligible for AI placements. To play in the new sandbox, you’re going to have to play by the rules!
4) Audience App Insights: Exciting new functionality for apps leverages AI to automatically identify top converting audiences that aren’t interacting with your ads, and make specific imagery suggestions for those audiences.
If you’re aligned with what the bleeps and bloops of our robot marketing overlords suggest, you can just click a button to apply the changes.
5) The New Algorithms Use Account Data: For years, we’ve all been terrified to shut down a campaign and start from scratch, because of the loss of historical data.
Well, we can now rest assured that smart bidding runs off of account data, which means we can launch new campaigns with less anxiety, knowing that ramp-up time will be shorter than in the past.
Moving Ahead with Lead Generation
We are in a bit of a ‘leap of faith’ era with Google right now as they ask marketers to simplify accounts and leverage AI tools, with less manual control. Will this new world save us time as we no longer need to scour reports and insights with the same level of intensity? Or, will the robots set our budgets on fire? I’m as curious as you are to find out.
Whether you are a seasoned digital marketer, or are trying to build your digital footprint, the Performance Marketing team at Cro Metrics is here to help. Reach out today with any questions about your digital advertising, and you may qualify for a free account audit.