AD Tech Watch is our short, selected roundup of the AI, search and software news that matters to businesses in Nigeria, explained in plain English. In this issue: Google steps up its fight against mass-produced AI content, ChatGPT prepares ads that appear while it draws your images, Google Ads starts pulling promotions straight from your website on 12 October, and a UK-backed programme opens free-to-apply clinics for Nigerian businesses in six innovation clusters.
Issue #5 · 7 October 2026 · By AD Technologies Limited, an AI technology company in Lagos
1. Google Is Using AI to Hunt Down AI Spam, and Says More Updates Are Coming
What happened: Google announced its September 2026 spam update on 24 September, and SEO trackers saw a second wave of ranking drops on 30 September. At its Search Central Live Deep Dive event in Barcelona last week, Google explained why 2026 has had so many spam updates: far more new content is being published than before, much of it low-effort AI output, and Google is now using AI to catch more of it. Google’s Gary Illyes warned that scaled content, meaning large numbers of pages produced mainly to rank, is now a bigger problem than link spam. Google also repeated that it filters out about 40 billion spam pages every day, and that core updates judge content page by page, not site by site.
What this means for Nigerian businesses: Publishing dozens of near-identical AI pages, such as “best plumber in Ikeja”, “best plumber in Lekki” and so on with only the area name changed, is now one of the fastest ways to lose rankings. AI can still help you write, but every page needs something a competitor’s page does not have: your real prices, your photos, your own process, a client result or local detail only you know. Fewer, better pages beat many thin ones, and they are also what AI assistants prefer to quote. Learn how this works for AI answers in our guide to generative engine optimization in Nigeria.
- Check for spam penalties in Google Search Console Google; free. Then compare your clicks before and after 24 September in the Performance report
Sources: Search Engine Roundtable, Search Engine Roundtable (spam update), We Are Roast.
2. ChatGPT Will Show Ads While It Draws Your Images
What happened: On 5 October, OpenAI announced a new visual ad format for ChatGPT. When someone asks ChatGPT to create an image, a clearly labelled ad will appear below the image while it is being generated, showing products, how they are used or the experiences they offer. Testing starts later this month in the United States with a first group of advertisers, and OpenAI says ads do not influence ChatGPT’s answers. OpenAI also connected ChatGPT Ads to more measurement tools, including Hightouch, Tealium, LiveRamp, AppsFlyer and Adjust, and shared early results: WeightWatchers’ cost per customer from ChatGPT Ads was 15.3% lower than its paid-search average, and 93% of leather brand Portland Leather’s visitors from ChatGPT Ads were new customers.
What this means for Nigerian businesses: ChatGPT is turning into an advertising channel like Google and Instagram, and the early numbers show it can bring in new customers cheaply. These visual ads are US-only for now, but the direction is clear: good product images will sell inside AI tools. Start building a library of clean, well-lit photos of your products and services in use, and make sure your website already explains what you sell clearly, because the free route, being recommended in ChatGPT’s answers, is open to Nigerian businesses today.
- Read OpenAI’s announcement of the new ChatGPT ad format OpenAI; testing begins in the US this month
Sources: OpenAI, Search Engine Roundtable.
3. From 12 October, Google Ads Will Copy Promotions From Your Website Into Your Ads
What happened: Google Ads has emailed advertisers that, starting 12 October 2026, it will automatically find promotions on their websites, such as coupons, discounts and deals, and add them to their ads as promotion assets. It applies to Search and Performance Max campaigns that have linked location assets and no promotion assets of their own. The feature is on by default: to stop it, advertisers must go to the account-level automated assets settings, find Automated promotions and switch it off.
What this means for Nigerian businesses: If your website still shows an old “December sales” banner or a discount you no longer honour, Google may start advertising it next week, and customers will expect you to keep the offer. Before 12 October, check your website for expired promotions, wrong prices and outdated offers and remove them. Then decide: keep Automated promotions on if your site’s offers are current and accurate, or switch it off if you prefer to control every word in your ads.
- Open Google Ads and review Automated promotions before 12 October Google Ads; Assets, then account-level automated assets settings
Sources: Search Engine Roundtable.
4. UK-Backed Programme Opens Business Clinics in Six Nigerian Innovation Clusters
What happened: The Nigeria Innovation Cluster Exchange (NICE) has opened applications for its Pipeline Clinics, a sector-focused programme run by The Nest Innovation Technology Park with the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, under the UK Government’s Digital Access Programme, and in collaboration with the Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation. The six clusters are agro-processing in Kano, manufacturing in Abia and Ogun, health in Oyo, minerals in Akwa Ibom and cybersecurity in Abuja. The clinics cover innovation management, access to facilities and partners, prototyping and partnerships, with Experts-in-Residence from the UK. Applicants must be Nigerian-owned or Nigeria-based with an existing business, product, prototype or clear business model in one of the six clusters. Participants then move on to collaborative innovation sprints with Nigerian and UK partners.
What this means for Nigerian businesses: If you run or support a business in one of these sectors and states, this is a route to expert support, partners and visibility that usually costs money. Priority goes to businesses with growth potential, traction, investment readiness and job-creation potential, so prepare a short, honest answer to two questions before you apply: what problem is holding your business back, and what you would do with expert help.
- Apply for the NICE Pipeline Clinics Official application form; open to businesses in the six clusters
Sources: Nairametrics.
Also This Week: Lagos Is First in Line for 24-Hour Power Zones
On 5 October, the Federal Government and Lagos State agreed to work together on the 24/7 Energy Zones pilot, with the Lagos corridor going first, followed by the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano and Enugu-Port Harcourt corridors. A joint technical committee led by the Nigerian Independent System Operator will work through grid stabilisation, market liquidity, grid expansion and regulation, and the Minister of Power says distribution companies have committed to take and deliver more power along the corridor. No start date for steady supply has been announced yet, so keep your backup power plans in place for now. Source: Nairametrics.
This Week’s 2-Minute Action
Open your own website on your phone and look for anything out of date: an expired offer, an old price, a phone number that no longer works. Fix it this week, because Google Ads and AI assistants now read your website and repeat what they find. Then run our free AI Visibility Checker to see what AI can and cannot read on your site.
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