AI Max: Google’s ‘AI Max’ Aims to Supercharge Search Ads – Boosting Performance Amid Control Concerns

Google has unveiled AI Max, a new suite of AI-driven features for its Search advertising campaigns. Launched in beta in May 2025, AI Max for Search campaigns promises to boost ad performance through expanded query matching, dynamic ad creation, and improved landing page selection. 

Early tests show impressive gains – on average a +14% increase in conversions at similar cost, and up to +27% more conversions for campaigns previously limited to exact/phrase keywords blog.google. Big brands like L’Oréal even saw conversion rates double while cutting cost-per-conversion by 31% simply by enabling AI Max. 

But as enthusiasm builds, so do questions around advertiser control, brand safety, “keywordless” targeting, and transparency. This article breaks down what AI Max offers, how it fits into Google’s broader automation push, and what marketers should consider as they weigh the benefits versus the risks of this new feature.

What Is AI Max and How Does It Work?

AI Max is not a new campaign type but rather an optional setting (a one-click upgrade) within standard Google Search campaigns searchenginejournal.com. Once activated, it layers on three core enhancements to your existing search ads setup:

• Expanded Query Matching (Search Term Matching): Uses Google’s AI to extend your keyword targeting to relevant, high-performing search queries that your current keywords might miss. In practice, this builds on broad match and even “keywordless” targeting technology to predict user intent and match your ads to new searches. 
  • For example, if you only bid on “red midi dress”, AI Max could identify a related query like “colorful midi dresses for spring and summer” and trigger your ad for it blog.google. Google’s AI learns from your existing keywords, landing pages, and ads to decide when to enter your ad into an auction for these new queries. Notably, exact-match keywords still win if they exactly match a query – AI Max is meant to complement, not replace, traditional keywords. 
• Text Asset Customisation: An evolution of Google’s Automatically Created Assets, this feature dynamically generates new ad copy (headlines and descriptions) tailored to the user’s query and context. The system leverages your landing page content, existing ads, and keywords to create relevant messaging on the fly blog.google. The goal is to serve a more compelling ad for each query without you manually writing every variation. Google says its AI has improved at producing assets with clear calls-to-action and unique selling points. 
  • In essence, your responsive search ads can now automatically expand with AI-generated text that aligns more closely with each user’s intent. (For instance, if our hypothetical user searches “colorful midi dresses for spring and summer,” AI Max might insert a headline like “New Spring-Summer Midi Dresses” even if your original ad hadn’t specified that angle.) 
• Final URL Expansion: Similar to how Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) work, this allows Google to send users to the most relevant landing page on your site for their query – even if that page wasn’t explicitly set as your ad’s final URL blog.google. If enabled, Google’s AI can choose any page from your domain that best matches the search intent, rather than being locked to the URL you provided. This is especially useful for advertisers with large websites or product catalogs. 
  • For example, if a user’s search is highly specific and there’s a better sub-page on your site for it, AI Max can direct the click there automatically blog.googleadweek.com. You can set rules or exclusions on which pages are eligible (to prevent, say, out-of-stock items or irrelevant sections from being used).
    

These three features work in concert: wider reach into new queries, plus AI-crafted ad text and smarter landing page selection, all intended to capture additional customers you might otherwise miss. Google touts that combining all AI Max features yields the best results, as the system can precisely match emerging user intents with an optimal ad and destination. Importantly, AI Max lives within your existing campaign – you keep your current keywords and ads, and AI Max augments them. As one PPC expert summarised, “It’s definitely a rebranded version of what [Google] already do – DSA + RSA” (Dynamic Search Ads plus responsive ads), rather than an entirely new paradigm.

Part of Google’s Automation Push – Where Does AI Max Fit?

AI Max arrives as the latest step in Google’s years-long journey toward AI-driven advertising. Features like broad match keywords, responsive search ads, Smart Bidding, and the fully automated Performance Max campaigns have gradually shifted more optimisation from advertisers to Google’s algorithms. With AI Max, Google is effectively bringing some capabilities of Performance Max into Search campaigns – but in a more granular, optional way that doesn’t require abandoning keywords or campaign structure. “This is bringing the best of our AI for creative and query matching into our core Search campaigns,” explained Brian Burdick, Google’s Director of Search Ad Automation adweek.com.

In practice, AI Max overlaps with existing tools but also differs in key ways:

• Performance Max vs. AI Max: Performance Max (PMax) campaigns can also broaden into new search queries (among other channels), and indeed a PMax and an AI Max-augmented Search campaign could compete for the same search impression. However, if a query exactly matches one of your Search keywords, your Search ad will take priority over a PMax ad. AI Max’s advantage is it brings PMax-like reach without requiring a separate campaign type or budget. It keeps the “keyword campaign” framework intact – something many advertisers have been reluctant to give up. As one industry observer noted, AI Max delivers the adaptive reach of PMax “without sacrificing keyword control.” 
• Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) vs. AI Max: Google confirmed that classic DSAs remain available and AI Max is not a direct replacement. However, there is clear overlap: both use your site content to target queries and determine landing pages (the Final URL Expansion in AI Max is essentially a DSA capability). The difference is AI Max integrates that behavior into a normal search campaign alongside keyword-based ads, rather than in separate DSA ad groups. In other words, AI Max blurs the line – your campaign can simultaneously leverage keyword targeting and keywordless targeting. This convergence has led some in the community to joke that AI Max “just seems like a fancy wrapped-up version of PMax” or an enhanced DSA, underscoring that the components aren’t entirely new karooya.com. 
• Audience Optimised Targeting vs. Query Expansion: Google Ads already offers features like Optimised Targeting (expanding audiences beyond what you specify). AI Max is analogous but for search queries instead of audiences. It uses AI (likely Google’s large language models, such as their Gemini model mentioned in press briefings adweek.com) to understand the semantics of queries and predict intent. This reflects Google’s view of where search is heading: more conversational, multi-word queries and even visual or voice inputs, where rigid keyword lists might fall short. 

By introducing AI Max, Google is acknowledging both the opportunity and the tension in automation. Search behavior is evolving rapidly with AI-driven experiences like Search Generative Experience (AI overviews) and visual search via Google Lens. Google wants advertisers to still reach users in these new contexts, which requires more AI in how ads are targeted and created. At the same time, advertisers have “voiced concerns about losing transparency and control as campaign automation expands”, Google’s announcement admits. AI Max is presented as a response to those concerns: an attempt to give marketers “flexible automation, but with guardrails in place”. In other words, Google is trying to strike a balance between maximising performance through AI and maintaining the transparency and levers that advertisers demand.

Early Results: Strong Conversion Lifts in Beta Tests

Google is backing up the AI Max launch with some compelling early case studies. Advertisers in the beta program report significant improvements simply by toggling on AI Max in their search campaigns:

• L’Oréal (global beauty brand) saw a 2X higher conversion rate while spending 31% less per conversion by using AI Max blog.googleblog.google. Crucially, L’Oréal attributed this to capturing “net-new” searches that their campaigns hadn’t been reaching before. 
  • For example, people searching “what is the best cream for facial dark spots?” – a query L’Oréal wasn’t explicitly bidding on – were served relevant ads once AI Max’s search term matching kicked in. Those new queries translated into incremental conversions that traditional keyword targeting would have missed. 
• MyConnect (an Australian utility connection service) was already an advanced Google Ads user (employing broad match keywords and Target ROAS bidding). Even so, turning on AI Max yielded +16% more leads at a 13% lower CPA (cost per action) blog.google. They reported a 30% jump in conversions from completely new search queries that their campaign hadn’t matched previously. 
  • Off the back of these results, MyConnect decided to expand AI Max to more of their campaigns, indicating confidence in the feature’s scalability. 
• Aggregate data from Google’s trials suggests the typical advertiser can expect around +14% more conversions or conversion value at similar CPA/ROAS when using AI Max. Notably, campaigns that had been heavily constrained to exact and phrase match keywords see the biggest lift – up to +27% more conversions – by opening up to AI Max’s broader query matching. 
  • This implies that more conservative accounts have the most to gain from the added reach. (By contrast, if you were already using lots of broad match, AI Max might find fewer additional queries to grab.)
    

Google emphasises that these gains came “with a similar CPA” – meaning efficiency did not drop. In L’Oréal’s case, efficiency improved significantly (31% lower cost per conversion). During internal tests, Google also didn’t observe budget spikes; AI Max is more about redistributing impressions to new queries than simply spending more. 

Still, marketers should allow some ramp-up time – like any machine learning system, AI Max may require a learning period to optimise new matches and assets. During this phase, performance could fluctuate as Google experiments with different query matches and ad variations out-bloom.com. In accounts with very tight CPA targets or limited budgets, this learning curve might need careful monitoring to avoid short-term waste.

Advertiser Reactions: Optimism, Skepticism, and Key Concerns

The digital marketing community’s response to AI Max has been mixed – an intrigued but cautious reception. On one hand, there’s excitement about unlocking more reach and the convenience of automation. On the other, long-standing worries about loss of control and opaque algorithms are resurfacing. A Search Engine Land article tellingly dubbed the launch “automation with a side of anxiety.” 

Control & Transparency: Perhaps the biggest concern is how much control advertisers must cede. AI Max essentially lets Google decide which queries to target and what ad content to show – tasks that search marketers traditionally manage directly. Keywords have long been the levers of control in Search campaigns; giving Google more say in query matching can feel like losing the steering wheel. “First time seeing the word ‘keywordless’ in a Google Ads announcement and documentation is… unsettling,” admitted one veteran PPC consultant. 

This sentiment is common, especially among advertisers in sensitive industries (like B2B, legal, or healthcare) where every query and every ad message needs scrutiny. “AI Max just seems like a fancy wrapped-up version of PMax… Google’s new motto: AI First, Advertisers Last,” one Reddit commenter quipped, reflecting fears that Google’s automation may prioritise algorithms over advertiser input.

Transparency of search queries is a related concern. Google has a history of hiding some search term data (“other queries”) for privacy reasons, which frustrates advertisers. With AI Max casting a wider net, will marketers be able to see exactly what searches their ads appeared on? In the PPC community chat, experts immediately asked “how transparent they will be with actual search terms” and “what percentage will be bucketed into ‘other’.” Google’s answer is the enhanced reporting (discussed later), but skepticism remains until proven otherwise.

Brand Safety & Relevance: Advertisers are also laser-focused on brand safety – ensuring their ads don’t show against inappropriate or off-brand queries. With keywordless matching, a fashion retailer might worry about showing up on queries for unrelated or sensitive topics, for example. Similarly, the auto-generated ad copy raises eyebrows: brands with strict tone, legal compliance, or creative guidelines are nervous about AI writing their ads. “Advertisers with strict creative guidelines or sensitive content policies” may find AI Max “not ideal”, one industry expert cautioned searchenginejournal.com. If the AI-generated headline misrepresents the brand or makes an unsubstantiated claim, it could be a serious problem – especially since, at launch, AI-generated assets go live without pre-approval by the advertiser. “Makes me very nervous,” one marketer commented on the announcement, noting that Google seems to be “giving with one hand and taking away with the other” by pushing more automation even as they talk about adding controls elsewhere.

There’s also a learning curve in understanding when and why AI Max does what it does. Some advertisers fear campaign management will become a “black box,” making it harder to troubleshoot performance drops or explain results to clients. The term campaign clarity comes up – meaning clarity in how your ads are being targeted. AI Max’s naming has even caused a bit of confusion: because it sounds like “Performance Max,” some clients or team members might misunderstand what it does or assume it’s a whole new campaign type out-bloom.com. Agencies report needing to clarify that AI Max lives within Search campaigns and doesn’t automatically spend on other channels, for instance.

“As Co-Founder of PPC Geeks, I’m always looking at updates like AI Max through the lens of what’s best for advertisers—not what suits Google’s agenda. While there are legitimate concerns around control, brand safety and transparency, we’re also seeing signs that Google has at least acknowledged some of the backlash it received from previous automation launches like Performance Max.

This time around, the introduction of clearer opt-out options and improved reporting feels like a more measured approach. From our side, we’re advising clients to treat AI Max as an enhancement, not a replacement—more of a bolt-on to existing strategies than a wholesale shift in direction.

What we do like is that advertisers can test AI Max without committing to a full rebuild. You can switch it on, monitor performance, and switch it off again with minimal disruption if it’s not delivering. That’s the kind of control we fight for on behalf of our clients. Ultimately, any tool—AI Max included—has to prove its value at the bottom line. It’s our job to make sure it does just that” said Dan.

In summary, the community consensus is curiosity-tinged with caution. Yes, more reach and automation can mean more conversions, which everyone wants. But the trade-off is trusting Google’s AI to make good decisions on your behalf. As one marketer put it, “My hopes are not high and my expectations are even lower when it comes to Google” – a wry way of saying we’ll believe the results when we see them, and we’ll be watching closely.

Google’s Guardrails: Controls and Safeguards to Mitigate Risks

Acknowledging these concerns, Google has rolled out new controls and customisation options alongside AI Max, aiming to give advertisers tools to rein in the automation where needed. In fact, a major selling point of AI Max is that it purportedly offers the performance boost and the precision controls that advertisers “previously used keywords for.”blog.googlesupport.google.com Here’s how Google is attempting to balance the scales:

• Opt-Out Options: AI Max is entirely opt-in at launch, and even if you enable it, you don’t have to accept all of its components. Advertisers can disable Text Asset Customisation or Final URL Expansion at the campaign level, and they can opt out of Expanded Search Term Matching at the ad group level.
  •  In practice, this means you could use, say, the query expansion but keep tight control over your creative (by turning off AI-generated assets), or vice versa. Google’s recommendation is to use all three features together, but the opt-outs act as a safety net if certain aspects prove problematic for your business. It’s notable that such explicit opt-outs did not exist in earlier automation pushes (e.g., there was no official way to partially “opt out” of aspects of Performance Max initially), so this reflects Google trying to be more accommodating. 
• Brand Controls: To tackle brand safety, AI Max introduces brand constraints at both the campaign and ad group levels. You can specify which brand terms you want your ads associated with, and exclude specific brands to avoid appearing for them. 
  • For example, a retailer could tell Google Ads only show my ads if the query involves my own brand or neutral terms, and never show them on a competitor’s brand name. Or conversely, a company might list certain brands it does want to target (perhaps complementary brands or products frequently compared with theirs). This feature is aimed at preventing the AI from straying into irrelevant or unwanted brand contexts. It’s a direct response to advertisers’ fear of ads matching to something like “[competitor name] cheap alternative” or unrelated brand searches. Brand controls give back a degree of targeting specificity in an otherwise broad system. 
• Geographical “Location of Interest” Targeting: Exclusively within AI Max, Google has added ad group-level geo intent targeting blog.googlelearn.jyll.ca. This lets advertisers refine who sees their ads based on intent to be in a location, not just the user’s physical location. For instance, a hotel chain running a nationwide campaign can have an ad group targeting “Los Angeles interest” – so that anyone anywhere searching for “hotels in Los Angeles” could be reached, without needing “Los Angeles” as a keyword in every term learn.jyll.ca. Previously, advertisers often duplicated campaigns or keywords to capture geo-intent searches. AI Max’s location-of-interest setting aims to handle that automatically, using AI to recognise location intent in queries. This adds precision for multi-location businesses, ensuring broader query matching doesn’t ignore geographic nuances. 
• URL Controls: If you allow Final URL Expansion, you still can guide or restrict the URLs Google can choose. Advertisers can provide rules or exclusions – for example, only use URLs from these product categories, or do not send traffic to the blog section. Additionally, a new URL parameter (ValueTrack parameter) called {synthetic_keyword} has been introduced. When appended to your landing page URLs for tracking, this parameter will populate with a keyword-like phrase representing the AI-identified theme of the query. 
  • For instance, if the real user query was “find good hats for men with large heads,” the {synthetic_keyword} might return “extra large mens hats”. While not the actual query, it gives you a clue of what was matched. This is a clever workaround to help track and segment AI-generated query matches in analytics, so you can spot trends or problems and add negative keywords if needed. 
• Creative Controls (Asset Removals): Google is giving advertisers the ability to review and remove any AI-generated ad assets that they deem inappropriate or underperforming. In the updated Google Ads interface, if text customisation is on, you will be able to see the headlines/descriptions that Google’s AI added. If you see a generated headline that doesn’t align with your brand guidelines, you can delete it from the mix. You can also choose to completely opt out of AI text (as noted) if you prefer to supply all ad copy yourself. 
  • While it’s a relief that bad AI copy isn’t irrevocable, it does put the onus on advertisers to actively monitor. Since AI assets might go live without pre-review, brands will need to keep a close eye, especially in the early days, to catch any off-brand messaging quickly.
    

Taken together, these controls indicate Google’s awareness of advertiser unease. The company is effectively saying: “Trust the AI, but we’ll give you levers to pull if it misbehaves.” In a press briefing, Google executives emphasised that they want the barrier to trying AI Max to be low – you can “turn it on, turn it off, try it… with minimum disruption”. That implies if you don’t like what you see, you can revert your campaign to manual control easily.

Still, some in the community remain skeptical. One PPC expert commented that these updates are “giving with one hand, and taking away with the other” – referencing that Google simultaneously is reintroducing some controls (like these) while also pushing more automation. The true effectiveness of the guardrails will only be known once advertisers see how often they need to use them. Close monitoring is advised: if you enable AI Max, plan to check your search queries report and new asset suggestions frequently, especially at first. The good news is Google is providing more data in those reports (discussed next), which should help you exercise these controls in an informed way.

New Insights: Reporting Improvements for Transparency

To complement AI Max, Google is rolling out enhanced reporting features – a direct answer to calls for better transparency in automated campaigns. These improvements will be available for regular Search campaigns (with AI Max) and some also in Performance Max, helping advertisers get a clearer picture of what the AI is doing:

• Search Terms Report with Creative Details: Traditionally, the Search Terms report in Google Ads shows the user queries that triggered your ads and which keyword matched them. Going forward, when AI Max is in use, the search terms report will also display the headline and landing page URL that served for each query. 
  • This is a significant insight upgrade – it means if AI Max matched a query that wasn’t on your keyword list and generated part of the ad, you’ll be able to see exactly what ad copy showed up and where the user was sent. Marketers can use this to judge the relevance and quality of the AI’s choices. For example, if you find that for a certain query the AI chose a less-than-ideal landing page, you might refine your URL rules or add a negative keyword. Or if an auto-generated headline is not appropriate, you’ll catch it here. By surfacing the “customer ad journey” details, Google is trying to make the black box a bit more transparent support.google.com. 
• Asset Performance Reporting: Google Ads’ asset report (for responsive search ads) is getting more granular. Currently, Google rates assets (like headlines) by impressions (e.g., “Low”, “Good”, “Best”); now they will show performance metrics like conversions, conversion rates, and spend by asset searchenginejournal.comblog.google. 
  • This means you can see not just which AI-generated headlines showed often, but which ones actually drove results – a major upgrade for data-driven creatives. If an auto-written description accounted for a lot of conversion value, you might embrace it; if it spent a lot with few conversions, you’d remove it. This level of detail helps justify the use of text automation by proving its worth, or conversely allows precise pruning of bad AI content. 
• New Match Type Indicators & URL Parameter: As mentioned earlier, Google is introducing new labels and tracking parameters to delineate AI Max activity. In reports, there will be new match type designations or source columns that identify when a query was matched via AI Max’s expansion vs. a regular keyword. 
  • The {synthetic_keyword} ValueTrack parameter can be appended to landing page URLs to log the AI-generated “keyword” for each click. Marketers who use third-party analytics or who are data geeks will appreciate this, as it allows filtering and analysing AI-driven traffic separately. In effect, you could compare how the conversion rate of AI-discovered queries stacks up against your normal keywords, or see if certain themes of queries from AI Max are not profitable and should be negated. 

These reporting enhancements are rolling out in the Google Ads interface as AI Max goes live. Support in the Ads API, Google Ads Editor, and Report Editor is expected later in 2025 (meaning early adopters may need to rely on the web UI for detailed insights initially). The delay in API support is another reason to proceed gradually – large advertisers who depend on API scripts or automated reporting might not have full integration on day one.

From where I stand, these reporting updates are a welcome step forward—especially considering how long advertisers have been asking for more transparency from Google. At PPC Geeks, we’ve always pushed for clear visibility into how campaigns are running, and it’s encouraging to see Google finally starting to respond to that pressure, at least in part.

That said, transparency isn’t a nice-to-have – it’s essential. Without it, we can’t make informed decisions or protect our clients’ budgets. These new insights – like seeing which headlines and landing pages were served with each search query will be invaluable for identifying what’s working, what’s not, and where the AI might be taking some liberties.

We’re already building this into our client workflows: regular reviews of AI-driven search term matches, creative performance, and new asset suggestions. If AI Max is going to run with more of the campaign mechanics, then it’s our job to make sure we’re there reviewing the outcomes with a fine-tooth comb. Done right, this isn’t just about risk mitigation – it can also reveal opportunities: new keyword themes, sharper messaging angles, or even gaps in the customer journey we hadn’t spotted.

Strategic Advice: Should You Embrace AI Max Now or Wait?

With AI Max now available (in beta) to advertisers worldwide, the pressing question for marketers is: to opt in, or not to opt in? The answer will depend on your business context, risk tolerance, and strategic goals. Here’s a balanced take to help you decide:

Consider adopting AI Max if:

• You Rely Heavily on Exact/Phrase Match and Want More Volume: If your search campaigns are very constrained (exact match keywords, tight thematic ad groups) and you’re struggling to scale conversions, AI Max is almost tailor-made for you. Google’s data indicates that the biggest performance jumps – up to +27% conversions – come for campaigns that had mostly exact/phrase keywords. AI Max can act like opening a valve to let in a flow of new relevant traffic that you weren’t tapping. Crucially, it does this without requiring you to research and add hundreds of new keywords yourself. It’s an efficient way to expand reach. Many early adopters in this situation have seen “incremental reach and performance” gains from previously missed queries. Just be sure to monitor those new queries and add negatives for any that clearly don’t fit. 
• You’re Already Embracing Google’s AI (Broad Match, Smart Bidding): For advertisers who are already comfortable with broad match keywords, automated bidding (like Max Conversions or tROAS), and responsive ads, AI Max will feel like a natural next step. It’s essentially an enhancement to the strategy you’re already following. In this case, you may find AI Max doesn’t dramatically change performance (because broad match + smart bidding was likely finding many of the same queries), but it can still improve ad relevance via text customisation and landing page picks. Think of it as turbocharging your current setup rather than a risky overhaul. That said, even seasoned automation users should test incrementally – perhaps enable AI Max on one or two campaigns and compare results via Google’s Experiments tool (Google has confirmed you can A/B test AI Max vs. standard setup using campaign experiments). 
• You Have Large Websites or Many SKUs (E-commerce, etc.): If you’re an e-commerce retailer or have a deep product catalogue, Final URL Expansion can be a big win. It’s hard to anticipate every product query with keywords. AI Max will leverage your site content to match niche searches to the right product page. For example, if you sell hundreds of clothing items, AI Max could catch long-tail searches for specific styles or colours and serve an ad pointing directly to that item – something your generic ad group might not do. Google notes that AI Max “works well for sites with lots of product pages” to match users with the right SKU or category. Essentially, it brings DSA-like coverage with the added benefit of AI text. If your site is well-optimised (good content and SEO), AI Max can use that strength to your advantage. Just be careful to exclude any sections of your site that shouldn’t get traffic (e.g., outdated pages, support sections) using the URL controls. 
• You’re Resource-Strapped for Ad Copy Testing: AI Max can serve as an “always-on creative assistant” for smaller teams. If you have limited capacity to write and test multiple ad variants, letting Google’s AI generate and optimise some text can expand your creative output significantly. It might discover messaging angles that resonate with certain audiences, which you can learn from. Over time, you might even incorporate the best-performing AI text into your permanent ads. This doesn’t mean you should stop writing your own ads – but AI Max can handle the long tail of variations while you focus on core messaging. Lean marketing teams or solo entrepreneurs might find this particularly useful, as it provides copywriting support at no extra cost.
  

Exercise caution or hold off if:

• Brand Voice or Compliance is Critical: If you operate in a heavily regulated space (finance, health, legal) or your brand voice is sacrosanct, you may want to go slow with AI-generated assets. As noted, you can opt out of text customization and still use query expansion, which might be a middle ground. Or, if you do opt-in to text, plan to vigilantly use the asset removal tool for anything non-compliant. Advertisers with strict creative guidelines should likely test AI Max in a limited way or skip the creative piece. For example, a pharma company with legal-reviewed ad copy cannot risk unapproved phrasing – it might only use AI Max’s query matching but keep all ads manually written. 
• You Need Pinning or Structured Ads: Some brands rely on features like pinning certain headlines in RSAs (to fix their position) or very structured ad copy (e.g., specific price claims). Final URL Expansion does not support pinned assets, and AI-generated text by nature can’t be pre-structured to that degree. If your advertising requires these, AI Max might frustrate those needs. Similarly, if your website content is not well-aligned with your ad messaging (or is sparse), the automated expansion might not work as well. You may want to improve your site content first or hold off until you can test in a safe environment. 
• Your Website Changes Frequently or Lacks SEO Optimisation: One thing I’d flag straight away—especially for businesses eager to jump into AI Max—is the state of your website. From our experience at PPC Geeks, if your site isn’t well-optimised or changes frequently, you’re at serious risk of poor performance. AI Max leans heavily on your site content to understand relevance, match user queries, and even write ad copy. So if your metadata is weak, your landing pages are thin, or stock levels fluctuate constantly (as is often the case in e-commerce), the AI could easily send traffic to the wrong place—like a sold-out product page or irrelevant content. I can’t stress this enough: if your SEO is messy, AI Max will struggle. Automation can amplify strengths, but it’ll just as quickly amplify weaknesses. We always advise our clients to get their site structure and content in good shape before switching on any advanced automation. Otherwise, you’re handing over control to a system that might not have the right signals to make smart decisions – and that’s a fast track to wasted budget. 
• Absolutely Fixed Budget/CPA Requirements: While AI Max aims to maintain efficiency, any expansion of targeting introduces some risk of wasted clicks. If you operate on razor-thin margins or have no flexibility to experiment with budget, you might choose to wait until AI Max is more proven. Alternatively, test it with a small budget in an experiment. Some advertisers with very strict CPA targets might find the initial learning period of AI Max (where it tries different matches) unsettling. It’s okay to adopt a “wait and see” approach – keep an eye on industry case studies as more data comes out, and perhaps try AI Max in a low-stakes campaign first.
  

Best Practices if You Do Test AI Max: If you decide to give AI Max a shot, approach it strategically. Start with one campaign or a portion of your traffic – for example, run a Campaign Experiment splitting traffic 50/50 between AI Max on vs. off, to measure the impact in a controlled way. Set up your guardrails in advance: define brand exclusions, supply a list of negative keywords you know are off-limits, and restrict URL expansion away from any problematic pages. 

Essentially, teach the AI what not to do upfront. Once live, monitor the search terms report frequently, especially in the first few weeks. If you see irrelevant queries, add them as negatives promptly (AI Max doesn’t remove the need for negative keywords – you still should prune bad matches). Review the new asset report to identify any AI-created ads that you want to remove or edit. Think of it as a new member of your marketing team – one that’s talented but needs oversight and feedback.

And one thing we always stress to our clients: make sure you’re measuring what really matters. With broad AI tools like AI Max, it’s not enough to optimise for top-level metrics like form fills or clicks. That might just open the floodgates to low-quality leads that never convert. We’ve seen it time and again—volume goes up, but actual sales or revenue don’t follow unless you’re feeding the AI proper signals.

At PPC Geeks, we work closely with clients to track full-funnel performance. That means passing back offline conversion data—actual sales, qualified leads, pipeline revenue—so the system learns what ‘success’ really looks like for your business. AI can be powerful, but only if it’s aligned with your real KPIs. Otherwise, you risk optimising for noise, not value.

Conclusion: A New Era of Search Ads – Proceed with Eyes Open

Google’s AI Max for Search represents a significant moment in the evolution of pay-per-click advertising. It blends the power of large-scale AI – understanding language, predicting intent, generating creative – with the familiar structure of Search campaigns. For digital marketers, small business advertisers, and enterprises alike, it offers a tantalising promise: more customers reached with relevant ads, and less grunt work in campaign management. The early numbers (conversion lifts, cost savings) suggest it can indeed drive superior outcomes.

Yet, as with any new technology, especially one that automates decision-making, caution and diligence are warranted. Google has provided opt-outs and controls to appease skeptics, and improved reporting to shine light into the “black box.” These are welcome moves that indicate Google is listening to advertiser feedback about control, brand safety and clarity. Still, it will be the marketers’ responsibility to use those controls wisely and keep a close watch. In an industry where “Google gonna Google” (as one PPC expert wryly said), meaning the push toward automation is inevitable, the best approach is to test, verify, and adapt.

AI Max does not demand an all-or-nothing choice. You can experiment, gather data, and expand its use if it proves effective – or dial it back if it doesn’t. In fact, early adopters who approach it thoughtfully may gain an edge, learning faster than competitors who sit on the sidelines. As one commentator noted, marketers who balance automation with strategy – testing AI Max thoughtfully – are likely to gain a competitive edge as search grows more complex.

In the broader landscape, AI Max signals Google’s continued direction: more AI, more automation, but (hopefully) augmented with the necessary controls. It’s a delicate balancing act between letting the machine find new wins and keeping the marketer in the driver’s seat. For now, AI Max’s launch is a neutral invitation – not a mandate. Advertisers have the choice to opt in and potentially reap the rewards, or to wait for more evidence.

Bottom line: Google’s new AI Max can be a powerful ally for your Search campaigns, but like any ally, it works best when you understand its strengths and weaknesses. Leverage the tools Google provides, stay vigilant, and you might find that this “Max” AI truly lives up to its name – delivering maximum results for your search marketing efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions About AI Max (From the Team at PPC Geeks)

As AI Max rolls out, we’re getting a lot of questions from clients, advertisers and fellow marketers. Here are some of the most common ones—with honest, no-fluff answers from us here at PPC Geeks:

1. Is AI Max a new campaign type?

No. AI Max is not a separate campaign type like Performance Max. It’s an optional feature set that you can activate within your existing Search campaigns. Think of it as a bolt-on layer of AI enhancements—nothing breaks, and your keywords and structure stay intact.

2. Do I have to turn on all the AI Max features at once?

Not at all. You can choose to enable or disable each feature—Expanded Query Matching, Text Asset Customisation, and Final URL Expansion—individually. We often advise clients to test them one at a time so you can see what’s helping and what’s not.

3. Will this replace my existing keywords?

No, your existing keywords still take priority—especially exact matches. AI Max simply extends your reach to new, relevant queries that your current keyword list might not cover. It’s additive, not a replacement.

4. Can I still control my brand messaging and landing pages?

Yes—but only if you set the right boundaries. You can opt out of AI-generated text, exclude certain landing pages from being used, and apply brand safety rules. But if you leave everything open, the AI will take liberties—so it’s important to set things up properly from day one. We help clients put guardrails in place before testing AI Max.

5. How does this differ from Dynamic Search Ads (DSA)?

AI Max includes elements that overlap with DSA—like Final URL Expansion—but the key difference is that it runs inside your normal Search campaigns. You can combine AI Max features with keyword targeting in a single campaign, rather than running DSA in isolation.

6. What kind of performance uplift should I expect?

Google is claiming around a +14% average conversion lift, and even +27% for campaigns previously reliant on exact and phrase match. We’ve seen some encouraging early results, but as always, your mileage may vary. That’s why we recommend testing AI Max in a controlled environment and watching the data closely.

7. Will I still be able to see what search terms my ads are showing for?

Yes—Google has introduced new reporting that shows the actual queries, headlines served, and landing pages used. You’ll even get a synthetic “keyword” parameter to help track the AI’s logic. It’s better transparency than we’ve had in some previous automation features, but we still suggest monitoring it very closely.

8. Is AI Max right for every business?

Not necessarily. If you have a tightly regulated brand, compliance-heavy content, or a fast-changing product catalogue, you’ll want to tread carefully. AI Max works best when paired with a strong, SEO-friendly site and a clear measurement strategy tied to real outcomes—not just form fills or traffic.

9. Can I A/B test AI Max?

Yes. Google has confirmed that you can use Campaign Experiments to split-test a Search campaign with and without AI Max enabled. This is a great way to measure its true impact before rolling it out wider across your account.

10. How do I get started safely?

Start small. Choose one Search campaign, put solid conversion tracking in place, review your landing pages and site structure, and define clear rules for asset generation and brand safety. We’ve been helping clients implement AI Max with minimal disruption—and maximum learning. If you want a safe pair of hands in this new world of marketing reach out to us here at PPC Geeks today!