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AI Max for Search campaigns is Google’s bundle of AI features for Search ads: search term matching beyond your keywords, AI-written ad text and automatic landing page selection. In September 2026 Google began moving older automation settings into it. If you run Search ads, check your search terms, final URLs, ad text and spend now, before Q4 traffic peaks.
The upgrade isn’t a disaster, and for many accounts it will help. But automated changes that land in the busiest quarter of the year deserve a proper look. This checklist walks through the 12 things we’d review in any account, in the order we’d review them.
What actually changed (and when)
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Google launched AI Max for Search campaigns in beta as a one-click setting on existing Search campaigns. |
| 15 April 2026 | AI Max left beta and became generally available. |
| 11 June 2026 | Google announced that Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) will be upgraded to AI Max, and gave advertisers until February 2027 before the automatic move. |
| 27 August 2026 | Microsoft Advertising launched its own AI Max for Search campaigns (more below). |
| September 2026 | Campaigns using automatically created assets (ACA) and campaign-level broad match began being upgraded to AI Max features automatically. |
Google says advertisers using the full set of AI Max features see around 7% more conversions at a similar cost per acquisition or return on ad spend. That’s Google’s own average, not a promise for your account, which is exactly why the checks below matter.
What AI Max does, in one table
| Feature | What it does | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Search term matching | Uses your keywords, ads and landing pages to match queries beyond your keyword list (including “keywordless” matching) | Irrelevant queries and wasted spend |
| Text customization | Writes headlines and descriptions from your site, ads and keywords | Off-brand or non-compliant claims |
| Final URL expansion | Sends users to the page on your site it thinks fits the query best | Traffic landing on blogs, careers or out-of-stock pages |
The 12-point account check
1. Confirm which campaigns were upgraded
Open each Search campaign’s settings and look for the AI Max section. Then check the change history for automated changes made by Google in September and October. Make a simple list: campaign name, AI Max on or off, and which of the three features are active. You can’t review what you haven’t found.
2. Watch spend and bids daily for two weeks
Broader matching often means more impressions, and more impressions can mean more spend. For the first 14 days after an upgrade, check daily cost, clicks, conversions and cost per conversion against the previous period. If you use Maximise Conversions without a target, consider adding a target CPA or ROAS so the extra reach is held to your efficiency goals.
3. Review search terms by AI Max match type
In the search terms report, filter by match type to see queries labelled as AI Max. Sort by cost. Look for:
- Queries unrelated to what you sell
- Job-seeker and “free” queries
- Competitor names you don’t want to bid on
- Informational queries that rarely convert
Add the bad ones as negative keywords. Do this weekly at first, then fortnightly once things settle.
4. Check where the matches come from
Google’s reporting shows the source of AI Max matches, such as broad match expansion or keywordless matching from your landing pages and assets. If most of your wasted spend comes from one source, that tells you whether to fix your keyword list, your landing pages or your assets.
5. Set brand inclusions and exclusions
If you only want to appear for your own brand in a brand campaign, use brand inclusions. If you don’t want non-brand campaigns to pick up brand queries (a common cause of inflated results), use brand exclusions. You can also exclude competitor brands you don’t want to target.
6. Review final URL expansion
Open the landing page report and look for the column that shows whether a URL was chosen by you or by Google. Check every page Google picked. Then add URL exclusions for pages that should never receive ad traffic, such as:
- Careers and job pages
- Blog posts and news
- Login, account and checkout pages
- Out-of-stock or discontinued products
- Legal, privacy and terms pages
If your site has thin or outdated pages, fix or no-index them. Final URL expansion can only choose from what exists.
7. Check AI-written ad text and set guidelines
Look at the assets report for text Google generated. Read it as a customer would. Does it make promises you can’t keep, use prices that change, or sound unlike your brand? Use Google’s text guidelines to exclude specific terms and describe messaging to avoid. In regulated industries (finance, health, legal), many advertisers switch text customization off entirely and keep human-written ads only.
8. Set locations at ad-group level where needed
AI Max lets you set locations of interest at ad-group level. This helps when queries mention places, for example “plumber in Pune” versus “plumber in Mumbai”. If you serve several cities with different offers, use this so the right ad group catches the right query.
9. Protect your priority keywords
If you have a handful of terms that drive most of your revenue, add exact-match versions of them. Exact-match keywords that match the query exactly keep priority, so you keep control over the ad and landing page for your most valuable searches.
10. Check conversion tracking before anything else changes
AI Max learns from your conversion data. If tracking is broken, doubled or counting low-value actions (like page views) as conversions, the system will optimise towards the wrong thing. Check that:
- Primary conversions are the actions that matter to the business
- Enhanced conversions are set up and show as active
- Conversion values are passed where you use value-based bidding
- Offline conversions (for lead-gen) are being imported
11. Run an on/off experiment
Google Ads offers experiments that split traffic between a campaign with AI Max and one without. Run one on a campaign with enough volume, for at least four weeks if you can. Judge it on cost per conversion or ROAS, not clicks. This gives you evidence from your own account instead of Google’s averages.
12. Plan your DSA migration now, not in February
If you still run Dynamic Search Ads, they’ll be moved to AI Max in February 2027. Doing it yourself first gives you control over settings and timing. Avoid switching in late November or December, when Black Friday and year-end sales make results hard to read. January is often a calmer window. Our Black Friday 2026 ad prep checklist covers what else to lock down before peak season.
A quick weekly routine after the check
| Task | How often | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| Search terms review and negatives | Weekly | 20–40 minutes |
| Landing page report (Google-selected URLs) | Fortnightly | 15 minutes |
| Generated text review | Fortnightly | 15 minutes |
| Spend and CPA vs target | Daily in Q4, weekly otherwise | 5 minutes |
| Conversion tracking health | Monthly | 15 minutes |
Time estimates depend on account size. A large retail account will need more.
Bonus: Microsoft Advertising has AI Max too
Microsoft Advertising launched AI Max for Search campaigns on 27 August 2026. Two points matter if you import campaigns from Google:
- Settings can carry over. If you use Google Import, AI Max settings from Google can come across into Microsoft campaigns. Check your import settings so you don’t switch features on by accident.
- It can be on by default for new campaigns. Review the settings when you create a new Search campaign.
Microsoft says advertisers see at least 8% more conversions with it. As with Google’s figure, treat it as a claim to test, not a result to expect.
When to switch AI Max off
AI Max isn’t right for every campaign. Consider turning some or all of it off when:
- You’re in a regulated industry and every ad claim needs legal sign-off
- Your conversion volume is very low (a few conversions a month gives the system little to learn from)
- Your site has many pages that shouldn’t receive ad traffic and you can’t exclude them easily
- You have a strict, small budget and can’t afford exploratory spend
You can also keep search term matching on but switch off text customization or final URL expansion. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI Max for Search campaigns?
It’s a set of AI features for Google Search campaigns that expands which queries your ads match, writes ad text from your site and assets, and chooses the most relevant landing page. You turn it on at campaign level.
Did Google turn on AI Max without asking?
For some campaigns, yes. From September 2026, Google began upgrading campaigns that used automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match to AI Max features. Check your change history to see what changed.
Can I turn AI Max off?
Yes. You can switch AI Max off at campaign level, or keep it on and disable text customization or final URL expansion separately.
What happens to Dynamic Search Ads?
Google plans to upgrade DSA campaigns to AI Max in February 2027. You can migrate earlier yourself to keep control of timing.
Does AI Max work with negative keywords?
Yes. Negative keywords apply to AI Max matches, and you can also use brand exclusions and URL exclusions.
Is AI Max good for small budgets?
It can be, but broader matching needs close watching when budgets are tight. Start with an experiment on one campaign rather than switching everything on at once.
The bottom line
AI Max is where Google Search ads are heading, and fighting it completely isn’t practical. The sensible move is to review what changed, put guardrails in place (negatives, brand controls, URL exclusions, text guidelines), test it against your old set-up and make decisions from your own data. Do it now, before Q4 makes every number harder to read.
Next, see how Google’s ads compare with OpenAI’s new ad platform in ChatGPT Ads vs Google Ads for small business, or grab ready-made prompts for ad copy and reporting in 30 AI prompt templates for performance marketers. Running festive campaigns in India? Our Navratri to Diwali AI marketing playbook has the seasonal angle.
Sources
- Google, Upgrading Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max (June 2026)
- Google Ads Help, About AI Max for Search campaigns
- Microsoft Advertising, AI Max for Search campaigns announcement (August 2026)
