Google Ads AI Max - What’s It Really All About?

In a world where AI is everywhere, Google has continued the trend by releasing its latest offering for Ad accounts - AI Max.

What is AI Max?

Google’s AI Max is a new Paid Search campaign setting that goes beyond keywords and uses advanced AI to expand reach, automatically customise ad text and select landing pages to find relevant customers for your business.

Basically, a smarter and upgraded version of Dynamic Search Ads.
It first appeared in open beta in Spring 2025, before later being rolled out globally in August that same year.

Why do we need AI Max in our Google Ads?

• The way people search is changing. Queries are becoming more complex and more conversational, making it difficult to rely solely on exact keyword matching. This “keyword-less technology” means you are less likely to miss out on customers who are searching for relevant queries outside of your keyword list.
• People want personalisation. By allowing Google to automatically generate and adjust headlines and descriptions based on user intent and information from your website, they can ensure relevant ads are served to the user making them more likely to click. 
• More time for strategy. By removing the need for keyword research, ad testing and bidding, us marketers now have more time to focus on strategy and perfecting the perfect cuppa. 

How does AI Max work?

It analyses user intent beyond keywords and uses advanced machine learning to decide who is relevant, what the best ad is for them and what landing page will be most relevant to serve. The website content and existing ads are used to create new headlines and descriptions personalised to the user. 

The ‘text customisation’ option is what controls the customisable ads. This can be switched on or off but it is recommended by Google to keep it on to improve campaign performance. This is the same for ‘final url expansion’ which sends users to the landing pages that they think will be the most likely to convert. If you choose to switch off text customisation then you will not be able to use final url expansion. However, you can use the first without the latter.

Should we be concerned that AI Max is less ‘controlled’?

AI max for search campaigns does come with some risks. We are handing more control over to Google and giving them the opportunity to serve pages from the website which may not be relevant to a conversion. This includes old blog posts, out of date information and whatever else may be lurking in the dark. Google can also use this information to make ads to serve to the user.

If you are thinking of using AI max for Search it is vital to make sure your SEO is up to date and none of these sneaky pages see the light of day. URL exclusions can be leveraged to prevent Google from sending people to specific pages that you don’t want customers to see.

What insights can we gain from AI Max?

Visibility has improved since the first release of Google’s Performance Max and the queries that Google has matched to your ads can be seen in the search query report. Select the dropdown to choose "Search terms and landing pages from AI Max" and it can all be found here. This allows us to check that the terms are relevant and also add any unwanted as negatives.

The ‘Assets Report’ shows what headlines and descriptions have been generated by AI Max. These are marked ‘Automatically Created’ in the source column. There is the ability to remove any of these that you do not like.

Lastly, navigate to the ‘Expanded Final URL Assets’ tab to view the specific landing pages that AI Max has selected.

How to set up AI Max

Google has made this bit easy. AI Max is a simple switch on feature within the Search campaign settings followed by the option to keep text customisation and final URL expansion on or switch it off.

Is AI Max really worth it?

Google’s AI Max won’t be for every brand. Some companies have limitations on what can be said in ad copy or what keywords can be bid on, and so this may not work for them. 

If copy limitations aren't a problem, then AI Max should cautiously be tested with results closely monitored. It may work for some campaigns but not for others. Testing is key.

But in a world where AI is on the rise, without it we risk being left behind.