Google AI Max Campaigns: What Changed and How to Set Your Controls
AI Max is Google’s campaign type that applies machine-driven query matching, ad customisation, and URL selection across Search inventory. From September 2026 Dynamic Search Ads and campaign-level broad match are being auto-upgraded into it. Below, we explain what AI Max does, what controls advertisers have, and what to do before the upgrade.
- AI Max auto-upgrades DSA and broad match campaigns from September 2026; preparation before then matters.
- Configure URL allowlists, brand settings, and negative keywords before the upgrade, not after.
- AI Max expands beyond keyword lists; negative categories, not just keywords, are needed as guardrails.
- Conversion signal quality matters as much in AI Max as in PMax; verify tracking before the upgrade.
Why this matters
The September 2026 auto-upgrade of Dynamic Search Ads and campaign-level broad match into AI Max is not optional. Accounts that reach the upgrade without understanding what changes and which controls to configure may find their impression share, query mix, and conversion behaviour shift significantly with no single obvious cause. The accounts that handle this well will be the ones that set the controls before the upgrade, not after.
What AI Max is
AI Max is Google’s most capable automated campaign type within the Search channel. It uses machine learning to match queries without requiring explicit keyword lists, generates ad copy variants dynamically from your landing pages and asset inputs, and selects the most relevant URL from your domain for each query. The result is broader query coverage than keyword-based campaigns, including queries that contain no exact match to any keyword in your account.
The trade-off is reduced direct control over which queries trigger your ads. AI Max compensates by providing search term reporting, brand controls, and URL allowlists that give advertisers guardrails over where the automation operates. Understanding those controls is where preparation time is best spent.
The auto-upgrade timeline
Google announced at Google Marketing Live 2025 that Dynamic Search Ads campaigns would be auto-upgraded to AI Max beginning September 2026. Campaign-level broad match keywords are included in this transition. Standard Search campaigns with only exact or phrase match keywords are not affected by the initial upgrade wave.
The practical deadline is August 2026 for accounts to review their controls, update negatives, and configure brand and URL settings so the upgrade moves into a prepared account rather than an unreviewed one.
Available controls
| Control | What It Governs |
|---|---|
| URL allowlist | Restricts which pages AI Max can send traffic to; prevents the system from selecting checkout pages or internal forms as landing pages for cold traffic |
| URL exclusions | Blocks specific pages from receiving AI Max traffic |
| Brand settings | Separates your own brand queries from non-brand prospecting, preventing AI Max from claiming branded search volume in its prospecting results |
| Search theme inputs | Signals to the algorithm which topics are relevant to your business; functions similarly to audience signals in Performance Max |
| Campaign-level negatives | Prevents specific queries or query patterns from triggering ads; the same negatives logic as standard Search, now available in AI Max |
| Search term reporting | Shows which queries triggered your ads; the transparency mechanism for evaluating where AI expansion went |
Preparing your account
- 01
Audit your DSA targets
Review which page sets and category targets your DSA campaigns use. These inform AI Max’s initial URL and topic understanding, so outdated or over-broad targets will produce broader-than-intended expansion.
- 02
Build a comprehensive negative list
AI Max reaches query types that keyword lists never would. Apply negatives not just for irrelevant keywords but for categories: competitor product names, geographic areas you do not serve, job-seeker intent, and irrelevant service adjacencies.
- 03
Configure brand exclusions
Use brand settings to exclude your own brand queries from AI Max prospecting. Run a separate brand campaign with exact match where you want those queries to go.
- 04
Set URL allowlists
Define which landing pages are appropriate for cold acquisition traffic. Prevent checkout flows, thank-you pages, and account-locked pages from appearing in allowlists.
- 05
Verify conversion tracking before upgrade
AI Max optimises to your conversion data the same way Performance Max does. Any corruption in that data, phantom conversions, missing calls, consent gaps, will be amplified. The tracking audit checklist covers the pre-campaign verification steps.
AI Max sits alongside Performance Max in the broader account picture covered in PMax controls. Together they represent Google’s automated future for most inventory types. The budget allocation guide covers how to weight spend across campaign types as automation expands. Our paid media management includes this as part of account preparation for clients ahead of the September timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
AI Max is a Google Ads campaign type announced at Google Marketing Live 2025 that uses AI to expand query matching beyond traditional keywords, customise ad copy dynamically, and select final URLs from a specified domain. It differs from Performance Max in that it operates within the Search channel specifically.
Dynamic Search Ads used a crawl of your website to match queries and generate headlines. AI Max uses the same crawl but layers in broader query understanding, more ad customisation, and new controls including URL allowlists and brand settings. DSA campaigns will be auto-upgraded into AI Max from September 2026.
Google has indicated the upgrade will be automatic for eligible campaigns. The recommended approach is to configure your controls proactively before the upgrade date rather than attempting to prevent it, since the underlying technology is the same inventory and refusing the upgrade means losing access to the newer controls.
Existing campaign-level negatives should carry through the upgrade, but account-level negatives need to be reviewed. The query expansion AI Max applies can surface categories of traffic that a keyword list would never have reached, so your negative keyword base needs to cover those categories, not just the queries you saw under keyword targeting.
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