Google Ads AI Max for Search: Should You Use It?
Worth testing, with the guardrails on. Google Ads AI Max for Search is an AI optimisation layer you switch on inside an existing Search campaign. It can find extra converting searches and lift conversions, but it hands Google more control over matching, copy and landing pages. Test it on one campaign, keep brand and URL controls tight, and judge it on your own conversion data.
- Updated Nov 2026 first published June 2026
What is Google Ads AI Max for Search?
AI Max for Search is a set of AI features you switch on inside an existing Search campaign, not a new campaign type. It aims to reach more relevant searches and win more conversions at a similar cost.
You may see it called Google AI Max, AI Max in Google Ads, AI search ads or “Search Max”. They all mean the same thing: Google’s name is AI Max for Search campaigns.
Google Ads AI Max for Search is Google’s newest automation step for Search campaigns. It also replaces the long-running Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) format, so if you run Google Ads for a UK business, it will reach your account sooner or later.
Think of AI Max as an optimisation layer that sits on top of the keywords and settings you already have. When you switch it on, Google uses AI to match your ads to a wider set of relevant queries than your keywords alone would catch, to tailor your ad text to each search, and to send clicks to the most relevant page on your site. You stay in a Search campaign; you just give Google’s automation more room to work.
The three features of AI Max for Search campaigns
Used together, they give Google’s AI far more room to match, write and route.
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search term matching | Looks beyond your keywords, using your ads, your landing pages and any search themes you add (topics described in plain language), to match your ads to more relevant searches. It works alongside the keywords you already have. |
| Final URL expansion | Allows Google to send a click to the most relevant landing page on your site for that search, rather than your fixed final URL. |
| Text customisation | Generates and adapts headlines and descriptions dynamically, drawing on your existing assets, your landing page content and the search context. |
That flexibility is the source of both the upside (reaching converting searches you’d have missed) and the risk (less manual control over exactly what shows and where it lands).
AI Max is replacing Dynamic Search Ads
Google is moving Dynamic Search Ads into AI Max. If you run DSA today, your campaigns will change either way.
Since September 2026, Google has been upgrading Search campaigns that use automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match to AI Max. Dynamic Search Ads follow in February 2027. Google moved that date back from September 2026 to give advertisers more time, and any DSA campaigns still running then will be upgraded automatically (Google, updated June 2026).
In plain terms: if you’ve relied on Dynamic Search Ads to catch long-tail searches, that job is moving to AI Max. Get familiar with the controls now, on your own terms, rather than being migrated automatically and discovering the settings later.
What performance can you expect?
Google’s headline figure is useful context, not a promise.
Google reports that advertisers using the full AI Max feature set (search-term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion together) typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar cost per acquisition or return on ad spend, and about 27% more where campaigns rely mostly on exact and phrase match keywords. Those are Google’s own figures from its announcement (Google, 2025).
They are an average across many accounts. Your result depends on your site, your tracking, your margins and how tightly you set the controls. What counts is what AI Max does to your own conversions and cost, so test it before you rely on it.
Should you switch it on?
Yes, if your tracking and website are solid. The same automation that finds extra conversions can also spend loosely if the foundations are weak.
AI Max tends to suit
- Accounts with reliable conversion tracking, so the AI optimises towards real outcomes (leads or sales), not just clicks.
- Businesses with a content-rich website, where final URL expansion has good pages to choose from.
- Advertisers willing to test and review, rather than set and forget.
Be more cautious if
- You’re in a regulated or sensitive sector where ad wording and landing pages must be tightly controlled.
- Your margins are thin, so a small slip in match quality or wasted spend hurts.
- Your conversion tracking is shaky. Automation amplifies whatever you point it at, including bad signals.
How to use AI Max safely
Giving Google more control doesn’t mean giving up oversight. Use the guardrails.
- Test on one campaign first. Enable AI Max on a single campaign, keep the rest as they are, and compare results over a few weeks before rolling it out wider. You switch it on in that campaign’s settings, and parts of it, such as final URL expansion, can be turned off on their own.
- Add brand exclusions and negative keywords. Stop your ads showing for irrelevant or off-brand searches that broader matching can pull in.
- Use URL controls. If you don’t want final URL expansion sending traffic to certain pages (checkout, policies, low-converting pages), restrict it. The landing pages report has a “Selected by” column that shows which pages AI Max chose.
- Lock down locations and audiences. For a local business, keep targeting tight so budget isn’t spent outside your service area.
- Review search terms weekly. The search terms report shows what AI Max is actually matching to. Filter the Match type column to “AI Max” to see only the searches it added, and turn any that would never become an enquiry into negative keywords.
- Keep your assets strong. Good headlines, descriptions and landing pages give the AI better raw material to work with. Lines AI Max wrote show “Google AI” in the “Added by” column of the asset report, so you can read every one (Google Ads Help).
AI Max vs Performance Max: what’s the difference?
AI Max works inside a Search campaign. Performance Max is a separate campaign type that runs across Google’s channels.
| AI Max for Search | Performance Max | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A feature layer inside a Search campaign | A separate, fully automated campaign type |
| Where ads show | Google Search results | Across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and more |
| Control level | More; you keep your Search campaign structure | Less; Google manages most placement and targeting |
| Best for | Strengthening existing Search performance | Broad reach and goal-based automation, often for ecommerce |
Common mistakes to avoid
Each of these comes from switching AI Max on without the guardrails above.
- Turning everything on at once across the account, leaving you no clean comparison and nowhere to hide if results dip.
- Skipping negative keywords, then wondering why spend is leaking into irrelevant searches.
- Ignoring final URL expansion, and letting clicks land on pages that don’t convert.
- Optimising to clicks, not conversions. Without solid conversion tracking, automation simply buys you more of the wrong thing.
- Not reviewing search terms, which is where you spot and prune waste early.
AI Max for Search questions
Running Google Ads yourself and want a second pair of eyes? See our Google Ads management service.
What is AI Max for Search in Google Ads?
AI Max for Search is a set of AI features for Google Ads Search campaigns, launched by Google in 2025 and switched on with one setting. It combines search term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion. Together they show your ads on more relevant searches, adapt the ad text to each search and send each click to the most relevant page on your site.
Is Google Ads AI Max for Search a new campaign type?
No. It’s an optimisation layer you enable inside an existing Search campaign. You keep your campaign structure and settings; AI Max adds wider matching, ad text tailored to each search and landing-page selection on top.
Do I have to use AI Max?
Not for every campaign yet, but it’s becoming the default for Search. Since September 2026, Google has been upgrading Search campaigns that use automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match to AI Max, and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns follow in February 2027. It’s wise to learn the controls now rather than wait to be migrated automatically.
Will AI Max increase my costs?
It can, if you leave the guardrails off. AI Max aims for more conversions at a similar cost per acquisition, but broader matching wastes budget without negative keywords, URL controls and tight targeting. Watch your cost per conversion closely while you test.
What happens to my Dynamic Search Ads?
They’re being phased out. Google moved the date to February 2027, when any DSA campaigns still running are upgraded to AI Max automatically. Until then you can keep running them, so use the time to test AI Max side by side and plan the switch.
What do the “Total: AI Max” rows in my keywords report mean?
Once AI Max is on, Google adds two total rows at the bottom of the keywords report. “Total: AI Max expanded matches” is traffic from broad match keywords AI Max created from the keywords you added. “Total: AI Max landing page matches” is traffic from searches that matched because of your landing pages or assets, outside your keywords. To see the actual searches, open the search terms report and pick the “Search terms and ad combinations” view. If the landing page matches row spends without bringing enquiries, add negative keywords or tighten your URL controls.
Is AI Max good for small local businesses?
It can be, if your conversion tracking is solid and you keep location and audience targeting tight. The risk for local advertisers is broad matching spending budget outside your area, so guardrails matter even more.
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