AI Max for Search Campaigns: What It Changes and How to Control It

The sources are Google's own: the Google Ads Help pages About AI Max for Search campaigns, How AI Max for Search campaigns works, Set up AI Max for Search campaigns and the AI Max FAQ, plus the Google blog posts linked where they are used.

What AI Max is, and what it is not

AI Max is not a separate campaign type. Google's setup page says it plainly: AI Max isn’t a new campaign type but an optimization layer within existing Search campaigns. You switch it on in a normal Search campaign, and it changes three things: which searches the campaign can match, what the ad text says, and which page of your site the click lands on.

Google introduced AI Max on 6 May 2025 as a beta, and on 15 April 2026 announced it was leaving beta. New Search campaigns now have it switched on by default; Google's setup page says The option to optimize your campaign with AI Max will be selected by default.

Google's help page quotes a figure of 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS, with the footnote Google internal data, 2025; for non-Retail advertisers. That is Google's average across its advertisers, not a forecast for your account. Treat it as a reason to test, not a result to expect.

Search term matching

This is the reach part. In Google's words it lets you expand upon your existing keywords using broad match and keywordless technology to find more relevant and high-performing search queries. Google says the system learns from your current keywords, ads and URLs to decide which extra searches to show on. Keywordless matches are searches that match because of your landing pages or assets rather than any keyword you added.

• Where you control it: it must be on at campaign level, and each ad group can then be switched on or off. Ad groups follow the campaign by default.
• Negative keywords still apply. The FAQ answers this directly: Negative keywords will be respected even with AI Max turned on. Our guide to search terms and negative keywords covers how to build that list.
• Bidding: The Search Term Matching feature in AI Max will not work with manual CPC bidding. Google says the features need conversion-based Smart Bidding to work well; see budgets and bidding.
• Budget: AI Max won’t be effective if campaigns are limited by budget. Google Ads shows an alert when that happens.
• Exact keywords: with AI Max (or after turning off the old broad match campaign setting), broad keywords are not treated as exact match when Google prioritizes keywords. Google suggests adding exact match copies if you relied on that.
• Performance Max in the same account: if a search could match both, the one with the highest Ad Rank will serve.

Text customization

Text customization is the new name for automatically created assets. When it is on, Google writes extra headlines and descriptions for your responsive search ads. The text customization help page says the new assets are based on your domain, landing page, existing ads, and keywords in your ad group, using snippets taken from your pages plus generative AI.

Points from that page worth knowing before you switch it on:

• Assets are reviewed and refreshed at least every 48 hours, so a change to your landing page reaches the ads within two days.
• Google's assets will only serve if they are predicted to perform better than the headlines and description lines you uploaded.
• You cannot edit them. Asked about this, the FAQ says these assets will fully be automated. You can remove any you dislike in the asset reports.
• Google asks you to make sure your site content is accurate and within policy, because that is what the ads are built from.
• A beta feature, text guidelines, lets you exclude terms and set messaging restrictions for the generated text.

If you turn text customization off, Google says the generated assets are reported as Removed and stop serving.

Final URL expansion

Final URL expansion lets Google send a click to a different page on your site than the final URL in the ad, when it predicts that page will do better. Google says it will only send traffic to URLs that are query relevant and themed to your ad group. Two rules come with it:

• It requires text customization, so the ad text matches the page. Turning text customization off switches Final URL expansion off too.
• Pinned headlines stop being guaranteed. When a more relevant URL is chosen, pinned RSA assets are not used. Google's advice: To always use pinned assets, turn off Final URL expansion. The same applies to URL inclusions.

Check your tracking template before you switch it on. Google warns that a tracking template can break expanded landing pages with a 404. The safe patterns it lists start with the {lpurl} tag, such as {lpurl}? followed by your parameters. A template with a fixed URL and no {lpurl} sends everyone to that fixed URL, and putting {lpurl} inside a parameter value can break the page. Our guide to tracking templates and the final URL suffix explains how templates work.

The controls: locations, brands and URLs

These settings are the part of AI Max that limits it. Each sits at a set level:

Locations of interest

Google's location targeting page explains the logic: the location in the search is considered first, and if the search names no place, the user's physical location is used. People must still meet the campaign's own location targeting. Google's example: a campaign targeting the US with an ad group interested in Spain can match someone in Chicago searching "hotels in Madrid", but not "hotels in Paris". Our location targeting guide covers the campaign-level settings.

Brand inclusions and exclusions

Both use brand lists built at account level. An ad group's brand inclusions override the campaign's for that ad group, and per Google's brand settings page, Brand exclusions will be prioritized over brand inclusions. The same page warns that brand settings limit the reach of a campaign and performance may decrease, and recommends using them only where a campaign really needs them, for example to keep a brand campaign on brand searches or a generic campaign off them.

URL exclusions

The URL exclusions page lists three ways to exclude pages: exact URLs, custom labels from page feeds, and "URL contains" rules. Those rules match whole words, not parts of words. An exclusion for auto will not block a URL containing automation, and Google's example shows FAQ blocking /FAQ/page but not /faqs. Hyphens, dots and slashes split words; underscores do not. Google advises against spaces in a rule, because a space acts as AND.

Turning it on and off

1. Open the Search campaign, go to its settings and choose AI Max.
2. Switch AI Max on. Text customization and Final URL expansion are on by default in the Asset optimization panel; switch off what you do not want.
3. Add brand lists and URL exclusions at campaign level, then go to each ad group for search term matching, locations of interest, brand inclusions and URL inclusions.
4. Save. For several campaigns at once, select them in the campaign list and use Edit, which offers the AI Max and asset optimization settings in bulk.

Switching AI Max off turns off every feature in it. The FAQ gives an example that is easy to miss: if the campaign uses brand exclusions and AI Max is turned off, the brand exclusions are disabled too. Existing URL inclusions and exclusions are also ignored while AI Max is off. Turning it back on restores the settings as they were.

Some older settings now live inside AI Max. Google's April 2026 post says campaigns using automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting are auto-upgraded starting September 2026: the first with search term matching and text customization on, the second with search term matching on. Dynamic Search Ads have their own timeline, covered in our Dynamic Search Ads guide.

Where to see what AI Max did

Google's AI Max reporting page advises waiting at least 2 weeks after switching it on before making changes such as adding negative keywords, so the system has time to learn. After that:

• Search terms report: filter the Match type column for "AI Max" and add the Source column to see whether a match came from broad match expansion or from your landing pages. Google notes that filtering on "AI Max" can show lower numbers because it leaves out "Other search terms". The "Search terms and ad combinations" view shows the search, the headline and the landing page together. You can add a bad search as a negative keyword or a bad page as a negative URL from here.
• Keywords report: two total rows at the bottom, "Total: AI Max expanded matches" and "Total: AI Max landing page matches".
• Landing pages report: the "Selected by" column shows which pages AI Max chose.
• Asset reports: generated text is marked "Google AI" in the "Added by" column. You remove assets one by one in Google Ads; Google says bulk removal is available in Google Ads Editor and the API.

Testing it with an AI Max experiment

Rather than switching it on for a whole campaign, you can test it. An AI Max experiment splits traffic inside the existing campaign: one share runs with AI Max off, the rest with it on, and you apply the winner afterwards. Google lists cases where this flow is not available: text customization already on, the campaign targets the Display Network, a portfolio bid strategy, a shared budget, bidding exploration, or another experiment already running. Brand inclusions or exclusions added during setup apply to both arms. Our Google Ads experiments guide explains how to read the results.

When it fits, and what to check first

AI Max is built for accounts that already give Google good signals: conversion tracking that records real leads or sales, a conversion-based bid strategy, and a budget that is not capped every day. Without those, Google's own pages say the matching will not work well or at all.

Because the ad text and landing pages come from your site, the site matters more than before. Before switching it on, we would check:

• Which pages could be chosen. Exclude pages that should never be a landing page, such as careers, login, legal or old offer pages, with URL exclusions.
• Whether the pages say what you want in an ad. Old prices or offers in page copy can end up in a generated headline.
• Whether any ad text must always show, such as required wording in a regulated field. If so, keep Final URL expansion and URL inclusions off so pinning holds.
• Your tracking template, for the {lpurl} issue above.

Clear, focused landing pages help here: each page Google might choose should be one you would happily pay to send people to.

Frequently asked questions

Is AI Max a new campaign type?

No. Google describes it as an optimization layer inside existing Search campaigns. You switch it on in the campaign settings, and new Search campaigns have it on by default.

Does AI Max respect negative keywords?

Yes. Google's FAQ says negative keywords are respected with AI Max turned on.

Can I use AI Max with manual CPC?

Only partly. Google says search term matching does not work with manual CPC bidding and recommends a conversion or conversion value-based bid strategy.

Will my pinned headlines still show?

Not always. With Final URL expansion or URL inclusions on, pinned assets are not used when a more relevant URL is chosen. To keep pinning, turn both off.

What happens if I turn AI Max off?

All AI Max features switch off, including brand exclusions set through AI Max, and URL inclusions and exclusions are ignored. Turning it back on restores the earlier settings.

AI Max writes ads from your pages, so the pages need to be right. See our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].