Google AI Max For Search: What It Is And Whether To Opt In

Twelve days from now Google starts flipping Search campaigns over to AI Max whether anyone asked for it or not. If your account has automatically created assets switched on, or the campaign-level broad match setting, 1 September is your date. So the question has quietly changed from “should I try this” to “do I want to be the one setting it up, or do I want Google to do it for me”.

Here is my call. Opt in if you have conversion tracking you trust, a conversion-based Smart Bidding strategy already running, and the patience to set brand and URL controls first. Leave it off if any of those three are missing, because AI Max will spend into queries you never chose and you will not be able to separate new demand from traffic it took off your own exact match keywords. Below: what AI Max does, what happens on 1 September, what the data shows past Google’s headline number, and the test structure I would use.

What AI Max actually is

AI Max is not a new campaign type. That trips up nearly everyone I talk to about it. It is a settings layer you switch on inside the Search campaigns you already run, generally available since 15 April 2026, bundling three features:

• Search term matching. Broad match plus keywordless technology, matching queries your keyword list does not cover. Ad group level, on by default when you activate AI Max.
• Text customisation. Generates headlines and descriptions from your existing ads and landing page copy. Campaign level.
• Final URL expansion. Google picks whichever page on your site it judges most relevant to the query and sends the click there instead of the landing page you set. Campaign level, and it requires text customisation to be on.

All three need conversion-based Smart Bidding behind them. Google says so plainly in its setup documentation, and it is the part people skip.

The honest description is that AI Max is Dynamic Search Ads and broad match rebuilt on a better model, with the reporting Search advertisers have wanted since PMax landed. That is useful. The name promises more.

What happens on 1 September

Google’s migration timeline is specific about which legacy settings trigger an upgrade and what state your campaign lands in.

Your current setup	Upgrades	Search term matching	Text customisation	Final URL expansion
Automatically created assets on	1 Sept 2026	On	On	Off
Campaign-level broad match on	1 Sept 2026	On	Off	Off
Dynamic Search Ads	Feb 2027	On	On	On
Neither of the above	Not affected	n/a	n/a	n/a

Two things worth pulling out of that table.

First, the Dynamic Search Ads sunset moved. Google announced on 11 June 2026 that DSA migration slips to February 2027, but ACA and campaign-level broad match still flip on 1 September. Plenty of people read the extension headline and assumed the whole thing was delayed. It was not.

Second, campaigns upgrading from campaign-level broad match keep their pinned responsive search ad assets, because text customisation stays off. If you run pinned compliance language, that is the most important line in the table.

There is no opt-out from the migration itself. Your choices are to migrate on your own terms before 1 September, or to switch off ACA and campaign-level broad match beforehand so nothing is eligible. Once a campaign has upgraded you can still turn off individual features inside it.

What the performance data actually shows

Google’s number is that advertisers activating AI Max typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS, rising to 27% for campaigns where more than 70% of conversions come from exact or phrase match keywords. That is Google internal data from 2025, non-Retail advertisers.

Set it against an independent analysis of more than 250 campaigns, reported by Search Engine Land, which found a median revenue increase of roughly 13% alongside a median CPA increase of roughly 16%. ROAS swung from a 42% increase at one end to a 35% decrease at the other.

Both can be true at once, and the gap between them is the story. AI Max buys volume. Whether that volume pays depends on your margin and whether your CPA target has headroom. At break-even CPA, a 16% increase is not a growth lever, it is a loss.

The finding that should shape your test is cannibalisation. That same analysis found AI Max often recycling coverage the account already had rather than reaching net-new queries, and in one account it scaled so hard into competitor brand terms that those terms took the majority of Search impressions. That is why your test has to measure account-level results, not campaign-level results.

Who should switch it on, and who should not

Turn it on if you are keyword-heavy and have hit a volume ceiling, if your site has real page depth for final URL expansion to work with, if Smart Bidding has comfortable conversion volume, and if your CPA target has room to move. That profile is exactly where Google’s 27% figure comes from.

Leave it off if your conversion signal is weak. Lead-gen accounts optimising to raw form fills are the clearest example. Feed AI Max a signal that counts every enquiry equally and it will find you more enquiries, most of them worse. Same answer if your site is thin, if your copy is compliance-controlled, or if you are running brand defence.

If broad match has burned you before, keep that instinct. I wrote about when broad match and Smart Bidding genuinely work together and the same conditions apply here, because search term matching is broad match with a wider remit.

Set the guardrails before you flip the switch

Do these in order. Every one is harder to fix after the spend has gone out the door.

1. Fix conversion tracking first. If enhanced conversions, consent signals or counting settings are wrong, AI Max amplifies the error. Our correct conversion tracking setup for 2026 covers the whole chain.
2. Set brand controls. Brand exclusions are campaign level and stop the competitor-brand drift described above. Brand inclusions, available at campaign or ad group level, restrict serving to your own brand terms.
3. Set URL exclusions before enabling final URL expansion. Block your blog, careers pages, privacy policy and anything else that should never take a paid click.
4. Apply text guidelines if you are enabling text customisation. Now in beta for all advertisers globally, campaign level, and you write the rules in plain English:

Don’t imply our pricing is cheap. Never use the words “guaranteed” or “free trial”.

5. Load your negative keyword lists, and use locations of interest at ad group level if geographic intent matters. Search term matching does not exempt you from the weekly search terms report routine. It makes it more important.

How to test it so you can read the result

Lock a four-week baseline first, and write down account-level conversions, CPA, ROAS and impression share, not just the campaign you plan to change. Then change one thing: turn on search term matching alone and leave text customisation and final URL expansion off for the first cycle. Do not touch your tCPA or tROAS target and do not move budget in the same week, or you will never know which change did what.

The reporting is better than DSA ever gave you, so use it. The search terms report now carries an AI Max match type with a source column telling you whether a match came from broad match or keywordless matching. The landing pages report has a Selected by column showing where final URL expansion overrode you.

Give it four to six weeks, then judge it on account-level numbers. Ask one question: did total conversions rise, or did AI Max move volume off your exact match keywords and charge you more for it? If it is the second, turn search term matching off and keep the reporting.

What to do this week

Check two settings across your Search campaigns: automatically created assets, and campaign-level broad match. If either is on, you are in the 1 September batch, so decide now whether you migrate deliberately with guardrails set or switch those settings off to stay out of it. Doing nothing is also a decision, and it is the one where Google configures your account for you.

Get a second pair of eyes on it before it flips

Most accounts I look at are not ready for AI Max, and the targeting is rarely the problem. It is tracking that never got finished, a bid target with no headroom, or negatives nobody has touched in a year. Feed that into a system built to expand and it expands into the wrong places. For a straight read on your account before the deadline, take the free Google Ads audit and I will tell you what I would fix first. If you would rather hand it over, that is what our Google Ads management and paid search work covers.

FAQ

Is AI Max a new campaign type?

No. It is a set of features you switch on inside an existing Search campaign: search term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion. Your structure, keywords and bid strategy stay where they are.

Can I opt out of AI Max entirely?

You can opt out of the features, but not the September migration if you qualify for it. Campaigns using automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting upgrade on 1 September 2026. Disable those settings before the date to avoid it, or turn off individual AI Max features after a campaign has upgraded.

Does AI Max work with manual CPC?

Not properly. Google states that search term matching, final URL expansion and text customisation require conversion-based Smart Bidding strategies to function effectively. Sort your bidding and tracking out before you enable anything.

Will AI Max stop my pinned RSA assets from showing?

It can. When final URL expansion sends a click to a different landing page, pinned assets are not used, because they may not match the page or the query. Campaigns auto-upgraded from campaign-level broad match keep pinned assets, because text customisation stays off for them.