AI Max in Google Ads — what it is and how to set it up
Jakub Pytlik
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September 27, 2026
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8 min read
What AI Max is — three features behind one switch
AI Max isn't a separate campaign type. It's a set of features you turn on in a regular Search campaign. Google describes it as a combination of three things:
- Search term matching — your ad can show for queries that aren't on your keyword list. Google picks them based on your ads, your website content and broad match, which shows your ad for queries similar to your keywords, not just identical ones.
- Text customization — Google creates extra headlines and descriptions from what you already have: your ads, your landing page (the page people see after clicking) and your assets (for example, sitelinks — the extra links under your ad — and callouts, short benefit lines). Generative AI does the writing.
- Final URL expansion — Google can send a click to a different page on your website if it decides that page matches the query better.
Three rules worth knowing before you turn anything on:
- Final URL expansion only works together with text customization. Turn off text customization and page switching turns off too.
- When Google picks a different page, it skips pinned headlines (headlines fixed to a specific position in the ad) — they might not fit the new page. If you pin text for important reasons (legal ones, for example), keep that in mind.
- Negative keywords still apply. These are phrases your ad shouldn't show for (for example, "jobs" or "free") — AI Max doesn't bypass them.
If the same query matches both a campaign with AI Max and a Performance Max campaign, the ad from the campaign with the higher Ad Rank shows. Ad Rank is a score in which Google combines your bid, ad quality and the search context. Neither has permanent priority. I covered how Performance Max works in practice in my article Does Performance Max really work.
What changed in September 2026
For several months Google has been moving older features into AI Max. Since August 2026 you can no longer create new campaigns with two of the old options, and in September 2026 existing campaigns with those options are being switched automatically:
| What the campaign had before | What it has after the switch | When |
|---|---|---|
| Automatically created assets | AI Max with search term matching and text customization | September 2026 |
| Campaign-level broad match | AI Max with search term matching | September 2026 |
| Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) | AI Max with all three features, keeping the existing page URL settings | From February 2027 (as announced by Google) |
Google says that settings after the switch are meant to mirror the setup before it. Even so, the campaign now runs on a different mechanism — so check it yourself instead of assuming "nothing changed." This isn't the first time Google has changed account settings without your involvement — I described a similar situation in my article on auto-applied Google Ads recommendations.
Sources: Google Ads blog — DSA and older features upgrading to AI Max (April 15, 2026, updated June 11, 2026), Google Ads Developer Blog (August 12, 2026).
How to check whether your campaign has AI Max
You don't need to be technical. Look in three places in your Google Ads account:
- Campaign settings. Open each Search campaign and find the AI Max section. You'll see whether it's on and which of the three features are active. Labels may differ slightly depending on your interface language — look for "AI Max."
- Search terms report. Queries found by AI Max are marked "AI Max" in the match type column, with a note on where they came from: broad match expansion (a query similar to your keyword) or keywordless matching (Google chose it based on your ads and website). If you see rows like these, AI Max is working. More on the report itself in my article How to read the search terms report.
- Settings from before September. If the campaign had automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match turned on before September, the switch applies to it.
How to set up AI Max step by step
If you're turning AI Max on deliberately — or cleaning up a campaign after the automatic switch — go in this order:
Step 1. Make sure conversions are measured correctly
AI Max learns from conversions. If your account counts something that isn't a real customer inquiry or sale, the algorithm will look for more of that traffic. Before you turn anything on, check what your account treats as a conversion — I covered this in my article on conversions in Google Ads.
Step 2. Use a conversion-based bid strategy
Google notes that with manual bidding (manual CPC, meaning the maximum cost per click you set yourself), AI Max's capabilities are limited. These features are designed with automated strategies in mind, focused on the number or value of conversions.
Step 3. Decide on each of the three features separately
| Feature | When to keep it | When to consider turning it off |
|---|---|---|
| Search term matching | You want to reach queries you didn't anticipate | You have a refined keyword list and a small budget you want to keep focused on proven keywords |
| Text customization | You have a good, up-to-date website Google can draw content from | Ad copy has to be approved (for example, in industries with legal requirements), or the site has outdated prices and offers |
| Final URL expansion | You have many pages tailored to different needs (for example, a store with categories) | You want every click to land on one specific landing page |
Step 4. Set your controls before you turn AI Max on
Set up the brand, location and page URL controls, plus your negative keywords (all described below), before you switch it on — not after you see the first unwanted queries.
Step 5. Turn AI Max on in one campaign, not all of them
That way you can compare it against the rest of the account. If Google Ads lets you run AI Max as an experiment, that's the most reliable approach: part of the traffic goes through AI Max, part goes without it, and you compare results under the same conditions. If you only have one Search campaign, compare the same number of weeks before and after turning it on — cost, number of conversions and cost per conversion.
Step 6. Review new queries during the first weeks
Once a week, open the search terms report, filter it to show only the rows marked "AI Max," and add negatives wherever a query has nothing to do with what you sell.
How to limit AI Max — brand, locations, page URLs
AI Max has several settings that limit where it can look for traffic:
- Branded searches. These are queries containing a company name — yours or someone else's. Since June 2026, you have three options: show ads on all relevant searches, use brand lists to set which brands your ad should or should not show for, or show ads only on searches without brand names. Google recognizes brands using its own database. If the same campaign also picks up searches for your company name, decide deliberately whether AI Max should handle them — this is exactly what the setting is for.
- Locations of interest. These let you specify which place names typed into a query should count — for example, so a business in Gdańsk doesn't pick up searches for services in another city.
- URL inclusions and exclusions. You specify which pages Google may send traffic to and which it shouldn't use (for example, your terms and conditions, blog or careers page).
- Negative keywords. They work the same way as in a campaign without AI Max — your simplest control.
How to read AI Max results
Your main source is the search terms report — specifically the rows marked "AI Max." They show which queries the algorithm added and what they cost. Look first at the cost per conversion from those queries and compare it with the cost per conversion from your own keywords. The number of new terms or clicks on its own tells you little.
In September 2026 Google announced a new AI Max report. It's meant to show in one place which queries triggered your ad, which text was shown and which pages received the traffic. It's rolling out to accounts gradually. The same announcement covers a business description for the AI (known as AI Brief) — initially in a handful of languages, Polish not among them.
When not to turn on AI Max
Hold off or turn AI Max off when:
- your account doesn't measure conversions, or measures them badly — the algorithm has nothing to learn from, or learns from bad data.
- you set bids manually — AI Max can't reach its full potential.
- ad copy has to be approved (for example, in industries with legal requirements) — text customization creates copy you haven't seen before.
- your website has outdated prices or offers, or very little content — that's where Google pulls ad text from and picks pages.
When you turn AI Max off in a campaign, all three features stop at once. When you turn it back on, your previous settings return. For a broader, critical look at AI Max results — with research data and a list of things Google is reluctant to talk about — see my article AI Max in Google Ads — what Google doesn't say.
About the sources: This article is based on Google Ads documentation (how AI Max for Search campaigns works, frequently asked questions about AI Max, final URL expansion), Google's announcements about older features upgrading to AI Max and the new AI Max report (September 23, 2026), the Google Ads Developer Blog and the description of brand settings on ppc.land. Current as of September 2026 — Google changes AI Max often, so check what your own account shows before you decide.