We’re fresh off Google Marketing Live 2025, which honestly had one of the best question-and-answer portions we’ve seen in the last three years. The transparency was refreshing, and the technical depth was exactly what we PPC folks have been craving.
As you may know, Google just released AI Max for Search campaigns (which was previously in beta under the name “Search Max” and I still accidentally call it that sometimes). Early testers are seeing 14% more conversions at similar costs, with some campaigns jumping as high as 27% when moving away from exact and phrase match strategies.
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just another feature you can casually ignore and hope it goes away. AI Max represents Google’s clearest signal yet that traditional keyword-focused PPC is becoming obsolete. They’re not killing Search campaigns, but they’re definitely evolving them into something that looks a lot more like Performance Max
What Is AI Max for Search?
Let’s be clear, AI Max isn’t a new campaign type; it’s a suite of three AI-powered features you can toggle on within existing Search campaigns:
1. Search Term Matching (The Big One)
This is where things get interesting. According to Google, AI Max uses “keywordless technology” to match searches based on your landing page content and existing ad assets (just like Dynamic Search Ads, but smarter).
Your existing keywords still work exactly as they always have, but now Google’s AI analyzes your landing pages, ad copy, and keyword themes to find relevant queries you never would have thought to target. This means your landing pages just became way more important because their AI is literally analyzing your content, layout, and messaging to determine which searches you’re relevant for, so sloppy or outdated pages will directly hurt your ad eligibility.
2. Text Customization (Formerly Automatically Created Assets)
Google’s AI generates new headlines and descriptions on the fly, pulling from your landing pages, existing ads, and keywords. The difference? Gemini now powers it, so the copy quality should be significantly better than the old automatically created assets. For example, If you’re a plumber and your landing page mentions ‘emergency repairs’ and ‘licensed professionals,’ Google might generate ads like ‘Licensed Emergency Plumber Available 24/7’ by combining your credentials with the urgency signals it found on your page, creating more compelling copy than most of us would write manually.
Don’t worry: You maintain complete control, so you can remove any generated assets you don’t like and opt out entirely at the campaign level if needed.
3. Final URL Expansion
Instead of sending everyone to your homepage or a generic product page, Google’s AI determines the most relevant page on your site for each specific query. This could dramatically improve your conversion rates by delivering users to exactly what they’re looking for. You maintain control through URL exclusions; you can block specific pages like “About Us” or support pages, or create bulk exclusion rules for entire sections of your site you don’t want users landing on.
The Current Performance Data
Here’s what Google’s internal testing revealed:
- Average lift: 14% increase in conversions or conversion value at similar CPA/ROAS
- Exact/phrase match advertisers: Up to 27% improvement (these advertisers see the biggest impact)
- Broad match users: Smaller but still meaningful improvements
- DSA users: Minimal impact since they’re already using similar technology
The sweet spot appears to be advertisers who’ve been conservative with match types and haven’t embraced Google’s automation features yet.
What Google Isn’t Telling You About AI Max
Based on conversations with beta testers and analyzing Google’s messaging, here are the realities they’re not emphasizing:
It’s Performance Max for Search Campaigns
Google admits that “AI Max for Search campaigns is built to have parity with Search on PMax.” The main difference? AI Max only serves on Search, while Performance Max spreads across all Google properties.
This is Google’s way of giving advertisers the power of Performance Max targeting without forcing them into Display, YouTube, and Discovery placements they might not want.
You’ll Need to Rethink Campaign Structure
The old model of tightly themed ad groups with exact match keywords becomes less important when Google’s AI is analyzing your entire landing page and generating traffic from related queries.
Ginny Marvin specifically mentioned that advertisers should “look at opportunities to streamline and consolidate your campaign structures” when using AI Max.
Negative Keywords Become Critical
With broader query matching comes the risk of irrelevant traffic. As Browser Media notes, “you’ll want to be checking search term reports and adding exclusions regularly if you do decide to test AI Max for Search to prevent budget being wasted on irrelevant queries.”
The Technical Details You Actually Need to Know
Here’s what you absolutely need to understand before testing AI Max:
You Can’t Use Manual Bidding
First things first, if you’re still manually setting bids, AI Max isn’t for you. It requires Smart Bidding strategies like max conversions or max conversion value. Google needs that conversion data to train the AI, so manual bidding is completely off the table.
It’s Good at Reading Seasonal Intent
Let’s say you run a flower shop and add a Mother’s Day promotion to your landing page. AI Max will automatically start matching you to “Mother’s Day gift” searches, even if you never added those keywords. It’s literally reading your website content and connecting the dots to relevant seasonal searches.
Your Existing Keywords Still Matter
Before you panic about losing control, remember this: if someone searches for something that exactly matches one of your keywords, your regular Search campaign always beats AI Max. The auction rules haven’t changed that much; the exact match still wins the search.
Geographic Targeting Gets A Bit More Sophisticated
This is where things get really clever. You can now target both the campaign level AND ad group level. So you might target “United States” in your campaign settings, but then add “Austin” as a location of interest at the ad group level. Now you’ll show it to people anywhere in the US who are searching for Austin-related stuff.
This is huge for travel companies. You can finally target people in New York who are researching hotels in Miami—something that was nearly impossible before.
A/B Testing Is Built Right In
You can test AI Max against your regular campaigns using Google’s drafts and experiments feature from day one. More testing options are coming, but at least you can run proper split tests immediately.
The Setup Details That’ll Trip You Up
Here’s the stuff that’ll bite you if you don’t know it upfront:
- Existing campaigns require you to opt in manually
- New campaigns will probably have it turned on by default (with opt-out options, so you must pay attention)
- If you use asset pinning, it won’t work when final URL expansion is enabled
- Page feeds work fine, so your existing URL management carries over
- You need text customization turned on for final URL expansion to work
It Analyzes Everything in Your Ad Groups
AI Max doesn’t just look at your high-volume keywords. It analyzes every single keyword in your ad group, even the ones that barely get any traffic, to understand what you’re really trying to sell.
Example: You have keywords for “pink socks,” “red socks,” and “blue socks.” The AI figures out you’re selling colored socks and might start showing your ads for “salmon socks” or “coral socks”, understanding these are color variations, not socks with fish on them.
The Reporting Actually Gives You Transparency
The new reporting tells you exactly what happened with each search:
- Which source drove the traffic (your keywords vs AI expansion)
- The exact headline that was shown
- Which landing page did the user actually see
- Performance data for individual ad assets
Plus, this enhanced reporting is coming to regular responsive search ads too, not just AI Max campaigns.
Brand Controls
You can now specify which brands your ads appear alongside, or exclude specific competitors. This works at both campaign and ad group levels, giving you granular control over brand association.
Geographic Intent Targeting
Something that local businesses should definitely try out. You can target users based on their expressed location intent (searching for “Austin hotels”) OR their physical location, even if they don’t mention a location in their search.
For example, a travel company can target people physically in the US who are searching for “Spain hotels”, a use case that was difficult to execute before.
New Features That Make AI Max Worth Considering
Beyond the core functionality, AI Max introduces several controls that address advertiser concerns about automation:
Who Should (and Shouldn’t) Use AI Max
Perfect Use Cases:
- Exact/phrase match heavy accounts: These see the biggest lifts according to Google’s data
- Advertisers with comprehensive websites: AI Max works best when there’s rich content for the system to analyze
- Businesses struggling to scale Search campaigns: AI Max can unlock new query opportunities
- Companies with strong landing page optimization: Final URL expansion rewards well-organized site architecture
Proceed with Caution:
- Strict brand guidelines: Text customization might generate copy that doesn’t match your voice
- Rapidly changing websites: The AI needs stable, accurate content to work from
- Highly regulated industries: Generated assets might not comply with industry requirements
- Limited budgets with tight controls: Broader matching could quickly exhaust small budgets
How to Test AI Max (The Smart Way)
Don’t just flip the switch on your best-performing campaigns. Here’s a strategic testing approach:
1. Start with a Campaign Clone
Create a duplicate of an existing Search campaign and enable AI Max on the copy. This gives you a clean control group for comparison.
2. Set Conservative Budgets Initially
Start with 20-30% of your original campaign budget to control costs while the AI learns.
3. Monitor These Key Metrics:
- Conversion quality, not just volume, makes sure AI Max isn’t driving low-value conversions
- Search term reports add negative keywords aggressively in the first few weeks
- Asset performance removes any generated headlines or descriptions that don’t match your brand
- Landing page match quality ensures final URL expansion is sending users to relevant pages
4. Give It Time
According to Ginny Marvin, you should expect a learning period as the AI optimizes based on your conversion data and business goals. I’d imagine this would be similar to the traditional 5-day learning period of search campaigns.
The Bigger Picture: What This Means for PPC
AI Max represents Google’s continued push toward intent-based advertising rather than keyword-based targeting. We’re moving toward a world where Google’s AI understands what you sell and automatically finds people who need it.
This shift will reward advertisers who:
- Invest in website optimization and clear product/service descriptions
- Embrace broader targeting while maintaining strong negative keyword hygiene
- Focus on conversion quality rather than just traffic volume
- Stay on top of new Google features rather than clinging to legacy strategies
The advertisers who resist this evolution will find themselves competing for an increasingly small pool of traditional keyword-based traffic while their competitors tap into broader, AI-driven audiences.
Timeline and Availability
- Beta launch: May 27, 2025 (rolling out globally)
- Full availability: Early Q3 2025
- API support: Coming soon (currently UI-only)
- Google Ads Editor: Not supported yet
Conclusion
AI Max for Search is most likely a preview of what PPC campaigns are evolving into over the next year or so. The combination of intent-based targeting, dynamic creative optimization, and enhanced reporting creates a more sophisticated advertising system that can adapt to user behavior in real-time.
The question isn’t whether you’ll eventually use these features; it’s whether you’ll be an early adopter who gains a competitive advantage or a late adopter playing catch-up.
For advertisers willing to embrace the change and invest in proper testing, AI Max represents an opportunity to unlock significant performance improvements while maintaining more control than Performance Max offers.
The choice is yours, but the window for testing is open now. By the time everyone else catches on, the early advantages will be gone.
