This post is both a recap of the live PPC Chat session with Ginny Marvin on May 13, 2025 where she answered questions about AI Max for Search Campaigns, as well as answers to questions that were submitted but not answered during the chat as we ran out of time.
There were a ton of questions, so I set up this post in sections, including:
- General Questions
- Keywordless Targeting
- Set up & Defaults
- Geographic Targeting
- AI Max & Other Campaign Types
- Reporting
General Questions
Q: Will regular search be deprecated eventually and have to use AI Max?
A. There are no plans to deprecate Search campaigns. AI Max is intentionally designed as an optional suite of features you can enable rather than as a new campaign type or migration.
Q: When is it going to be available to all advertisers?
A. It will begin rolling out globally later this month and should be complete by early Q3.
Q: Will there be brand inclusions/exclusions?
A. Yes, brand controls are available at the campaign level AND at the ad group level so you can specify the brands you want your ads to be associated with or that you want to prevent your ads from appearing alongside.
And if you are using brand names in your keywords, we recommend adding the brand at the ad group level so that keywordless targeting will respect the branded nature of the ad group.
Q: Will more people entering a broader range of auctions inflate the annual price rise, compared to previous years?
A. The aim of AI Max for Search campaigns is to help advertisers generate more conversions/conversion value from net new search queries at a similar CPA/ROAS.
Reminder that AI Max for Search campaigns must be used with Smart Bidding which optimizes for conversions or conversion value – it does not optimize for the lowest bid.
And this is where you come in – when you give the system information about what a valuable conversion looks like for your business and use the controls available to further inform the system about your business and customers, the faster and more effective it will be in finding high quality conversions and more conversion value.
So far we’ve seen greater impact for campaigns that are mostly using exact or phrase match and not using DSA. Many advertisers who’ve tested AI Max in Search campaigns have seen higher conversion rates, lower CPA and more conversions from new queries.
Q: How does AI Max adapt to seasonal or trend based searches?
A. Being able to respond to search changes driven by seasonal events and trends is an ideal use case for AI Max for Search campaigns. It’s designed to help you stay on top of shifting user behavior and capture more queries predicted to perform against your goals – without having to build out complex campaign structures.
For example, if you have a Mother’s Day promotion on your landing page, that context could be used to match to relevant queries like “Mother’s Day gift” even if you don’t have “mother’s day” in your keywords or ads.
Q: Will AI Max bidding will pursue incremental impressions/conversions or will it work the same as the existing automated bidding strategies and does not go after incremental reach?
A. AI Max doesn’t change your bidding strategy, but expands your reach to drive incremental performance – based on your goals. You must be using Smart Bidding strategies (max conversions / max conversion value with optional targets) in order to use it and your other bidding settings, such as new customer acquisition goals, will continue to be applied.
So far we’ve seen that advertisers that activate AI Max in Search campaigns will typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS. For campaigns that are still mostly using exact and phrase keywords, the typical uplift is even higher at 27%. (Source: Google internal data, 2025; based on campaigns with more than 70% of conversions or conversion value from exact or phrase match keywords for non-Retail advertisers.).
Q: If the AI happens to generate a better combination for one advertiser versus another, it could result in an unfair advantage in terms of expected CTR (and so CPC)…
For instance, one advertiser might get an above-average expected CTR while another gets only an average one, solely due to the AI’s output and not because of any effort on the part of the advertiser. So one advertiser will have lower CPC and the other will have increased CPC just cause of AI and not of their fault/effort
How will this dynamic play out, and what implications will it have for advertisers who have invested time and effort into optimizing their ad copy?
A. Text customization (formerly known as automatically created assets) is based on your own unique landing pages, creative assets, etc. and the assets are generated based on their relevance and predicted performance. The system will serve the combination of assets (a mix of both your assets and customized text assets) that are predicted to perform best based on your stated campaign goals.
You are in control of the assets you provide to inform text customization (your website content, assets, etc.) and can remove any assets you no longer want to show. More details here.
Keywordless Targeting
Q: Could you provide some more explanation on the role of keywordless versus our keywords?
A; The keywordless technology in AI Max for Search campaigns enables targeting based on the information on your landing page – similar to Dynamic Search Ads – as well as targeting based on the assets in the ad group. The keywords in your campaign will continue to match as usual, plus they’ll also expand to broad match versions in the backend.
Q: What could be examples of “keywordless matches”? How is it different from broad match, which I already considered “keywordless”?
A. Broad match is not considered “keywordless” because the keyword is what’s used for matching to the query (along with other signals). Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) and PMax are examples of using keywordless technology – where you don’t explicitly enter keywords for targeting. AI Max for Search uses 2 types of info for keywordless targeting: landing page info (like DSA) as well as targeting based on the content in the ad group including your assets & keywords.
Q. How will these keywordless matches appear in the search term report?
A. A new source column will indicate if the match was from a keyword, or keywordless or broad match expansion. And a new “AI Max for Search campaigns” view will show the queries plus the headlines & landing page combinations served for keywordless & broad match expansion traffic.
Q: Will advertisers be able to opt out of keywordless matching, while keeping other features of AI Max?
A. Yes, there’s flexibility here. The opt-in turns all three features on at once and then you can make adjustments. You can opt out of Search term matching at the ad group level — that means opting out of both broad match and keywordless expansion.
Keywordless technology matches to queries based on the content on your landing page as well as the content in your ad group assets and keywords. (And you can opt out of text customization and final URL expansion, or both, at the campaign level if you want.)
Q: Should we still be grouping our campaigns and ad groups strategically, grouping our keywords in themes, or does this mean with a ‘keywordless strategy’ we should think differently? And does quality rank and the auction change with AI Max?
A. Yes you should continue to think strategically about ad group theming because search term matching uses the keywords, assets & landing pages in your ad group to find new queries that are predicted to perform (based on your goals). You should also consider new opportunities for campaign consolidation & simplifying your account structure.
To answer the second part of this question, enabling AI Max does not change the auction dynamics and keyword prioritization remains the same (e.g. if you have a keyword that exactly matches the query, that will be prioritized first).
Q: Do negative keywords behave the same way for AI Max as they do for search?
A. Yes they do.
Q: So is this a new campaign type in and of itself or a set of expansion options to your search campaigns?
A. It’s not a new campaign type but a suite of optional AI-powered features.
Q: How does AI Max interact with PMax auctions/other automated auctions?
A. Search and Performance Max campaigns may be eligible for the same auctions today and this dynamic is not changing. The way your keywords and keywordless matches are prioritized in serving works the same as it does currently.
Q: What is the best way to maintain a semblance of control over creative/copy?
A. There are guardrails on how this works. Text customization combines your existing assets with additional optimizations based on your own content from your landing pages, existing ads and keywords in your ad group.
Here tips for getting the benefits of text customization when it’s enabled:
- Ensure your landing pages are up to date and accurate
- Group your keywords into ad group focused on a creative theme. This makes it easier for advertisers to write highly relevant assets and for Google to better understand the keywords. It then also helps ensure text customizations are relevant based on your content.
- You can continue to remove any assets you no longer want to show.
The text customization feature is not recommended for advertisers that have strict content brand guidelines, operate in sensitive categories, or have websites that change rapidly or are not updated with accurate information.
I’ll also note that there are ongoing model improvements as we learn from broad and specific use cases.
Q: When will this be rolled out to all accounts?
It’ll start rolling out globally at the end of the month.
Set Up & Defaults
Q: During campaign setup, is AI Max on by default or must you turn it on?
A. For existing campaigns, this is opt-in. When this becomes available for new campaigns it’s likely to be on by default with the ability to opt out and tailor what features you want enabled.
Q: If AI Max gets toggled on, can it easily be toggled off? Can it just be toggled off and the rest of the campaign and its history remain intact?
A. Yes! It’s just a campaign setting toggle that can be turned on and off. You can also adjust the features you want enabled. We’ll typically recommend keeping them all enabled, but you can opt out of text customization & final URL expansion, or both, at the campaign level, and out of Search term matching at the ad group level.
Q: Will current controls (geo, negatives, etc…) function as they historically have with AI Max enabled?
A. Your existing campaign settings don’t change, including geo, budget, language, etc. Negative keywords will continue to be supported, and there are additional exclusions such as brand exclusions and ad group level controls (including for geo) that will be available only in AI Max for Search campaigns.
Q: Will the final url expansion be required or is that optional?
A. The opt-in turns all three features on at once, but you can opt out of text customization and final URL expansion, or both, at the campaign level, and out of Search term matching at the ad group level. You can use URL inclusion rules in AI Max for Search campaigns when final URL expansion is turned on.
We recommend you use all three together but recognize there are business cases where that is not practical. For example, if you need pinning, you shouldn’t use final URL expansion or text expansion. But it’s important to note that final URL expansion in AI Max for Search campaigns only expands to the theme of the ad group and *not* to the whole domain.
Q: It was mentioned that there would be the ability to remove specific AI-generated assets/extensions. How does that differ from the settings we have today where we can turn off all auto generated assets?
A. Just to clarify first, AI Max doesn’t automatically generate extensions.
Text customization is the new name for automatically created assets (ACA). It combines your existing assets with additional optimizations based on content from your landing pages and existing ads.
You’ll continue to have the option to remove any generated assets. You can also opt out of text customization in AI Max for Search campaigns at the campaign level.
Lastly, note: If you’re currently using ACA in your Search campaigns, you can continue to use it or migrate to AI Max for Search campaigns. Learn more about text customization.
Q: When the algorithm looks at other keywords in the same ad group to judge intent is it only eligible to serve keywords or will it also look at not eligible low volume keywords?
A. It will look at all keywords in the ad group to better understand the meaning of a keyword. But that doesn’t mean you need extensive lists of keywords that are rarely searched. For example, if you have the keyword “pink socks” along with “red socks,” “blue socks,” “green socks,” the system understands you’re targeting certain colors of socks and “pink socks” could match for queries such as “salmon socks” or “coral socks” where the intent is understood as the color and not socks with salmon fish or pieces of coral on them.
Q: Will we be able to enable AI Max through experiment campaigns?
A. Yes, drafts & experiments are available for AI Max! And more backend improvement for A/B testing capability is on the roadmap.
Q: Where can you add exclusions/negative controls? (i.e pages that shouldn’t be used, negative keywords, negative ad copy, etc.)
A. Controls:
- Negative keywords continue to work the same.
- Final URL expansion supports URL inclusions and exclusions.
- You can remove any generated assets you don’t want to serve anymore.
Q: Can we opt out of locations of interest?
A. Yes (are you sensing a theme?). It’s optional at the ad group level with AI Max for Search campaigns, but I also just want to confirm that campaign level location targeting options aren’t changing. You’ll continue to select either “Presence” or “Presence or interest”.
This means if there’s an expressed location in the user’s search (e.g. ‘car rental Boston’) it takes precedence, otherwise we will use our understanding of the user’s physical location (e.g. ‘car rental’ + user is in Boston).
If you are using location in your keywords, we recommend adding it as a location of interest at the ad group level so that keywordless targeting will respect it too.
Q: Will page feeds be supported?
A.Yes page feeds are already supported (as are URL rules) for final URL expansion
Q: Will we be able to turn text customization off and use RSAs?
A. Yes, you can opt out at the campaign level if needed.
Q: What will be needed to setup AI Max campaigns that weren’t previously needed for search campaigns? What won’t be needed anymore?
You must be using Smart Bidding (max conv/max conv value with an optional target) to use AI Max for Search campaigns.
Beyond that, there aren’t specific requirements. You should continue to look at opportunities to streamline and consolidate your campaign structures, theme your ad groups for keyword and creative relevance, and make sure your landing pages are up to date and accurate when text customization is enabled.
Q: Any chance of ad previews for auto-gen assets turned on? I have a feeling doing this will help cautious clients see how good they are and relax a little.
A. This is not a feature today within AI Max for Search campaigns but I’ll pass along the feedback.
Q: Curious about how AI Max will handle audience targeting differently from current campaigns?
A. AI Max does not change how audience segments work in Search campaigns. You can continue to use audience segments in targeting and observation mode.
Geographic Targeting
Q: Will geographic targeting settings be impacted? The section in the documentation about geographic interests is unclear… it implied that somehow geo targets would do the work keyword targeting had done in the past?
A. Your existing campaign settings don’t change, including location, budget, language, etc. However, AI Max introduces new optional location controls at the ad group level.
The ad group level controls enables new use cases to reach users based on their expressed geo intent if present in the search, otherwise if they don’t express geo intent in their query targeting is based on their physical location.
A couple of use case examples:
- show ads to people interested in a local business location – either they’ve expressed location intent in their search, or they don’t use a location in the query but they’re physically in the area
- reach users who are physically in one location (defined at the campaign level) but are searching for another location (defined at the ad group level). Both campaign level and ad group level location requirements need to be met for the query to match
For example, you might be targeting ‘Texas’ at the campaign level but set an ad group level location of ‘Austin’. For use cases that only depend on the user’s location intent (e.g. ‘Austin’), you can choose to rely entirely on ad group location of interest.
If you are using location in your keywords, we recommend adding it as a location of interest at the ad group level so that keywordless targeting will respect it too.
Q: Do my campaign location exclusions overrule ad group signals? Do I need to apply location exclusions in two places?
A. The new ad group geo control is for positive targeting. No need to add exclusions there.
Q: What is the value add if you are already geo targeting with bid modifiers? They are using target ROAS and/or CPA so there is that element in place already.
A. Yes it can help cover keywordless and broad expansion and also reduce the need to build out location terms in your keywords.
Q: So is this the setting that would work for tourism/travel companies who want to target people looking for their location but aren’t necessarily in it, which wasn’t necessarily an option before?
A. Yes, that’s one of the ideal use cases for using locations of interest. An example from the Help Center: If you want to promote your business in ‘Spain’ to users in the ‘US’, you can create an ad group with Spain set as your locations of interest in a campaign with the US set as the campaign-level location targeting.
Note that users matching an ad group using the locations of interest feature must still meet campaign-level geo-targeting criteria. If the ad group-level and campaign-level locations are different, the user must meet both. If you are using location in your keywords, we recommend adding it as a location of interest at the ad group level so that keywordless targeting will respect it too.
Q: Are we able to control which GBP (Google business profile) locations are shown per ad group?
A. This does not change how GBP-based location groups are applied at the campaign/ad group level or how location assets surface in your ads. But with AI Max for Search campaign enabled, adding locations of interest at the ad group can work well for a local business who wants to show ads to people interested in their business location – either via expressed geo intent in their search or with no geo in the query but are physically in the area.
You can add “locations of interest” at the ad group level, when using broad and phrase match keywords, to reach users based on their expressed geo intent (when they have the location in their search query) or based on their physical location (when a location is not expressed in the search query). If you are using location in your keywords, we recommend adding it as a location of interest at the ad group level so that keywordless targeting will respect it too.
Q: How does this differ from “located in” vs. “interested in” geographic targeting settings today?
A. The Presence and Presence or interest settings at the campaign level aren’t changing. Just the addition of locations of interest option at the ad groups level is new.
Q: What all can be used as a “location of interest”? Zip codes? counties? DMAs? Street Names?
A. Some examples include country, city, region or postal code.
AI Max and PMax or Other Campaign Types
Q: How does AI Max interact with, or not compete with, traditional text-based search campaigns? Your typical exact, phrase, broad match campaigns?
A. Important to note that keyword prioritization rules will work the same. So if the user’s search query is identical to an eligible Search keyword — of any match type — in your account, the Search campaign will be prioritized over AI Max for Search campaigns keywordless and broad match expansions, and PMax.
Q: How would this work alongside Performance Max campaigns? Would you use both?
A. Very good question. For advertisers who are already running Search and Performance Max campaigns together, continue to use both.
Advertisers using Search campaigns can (we’d say should) activate & test how AI Max boosts results — and take advantage of the additional controls and reporting features. What we’ve seen is that advertisers who are mostly using exact & phrase match keywords, and not already all in on PMax, see the most impact.
Search and PMax campaigns may be eligible for the same auctions today — and this dynamic is not changing. The way your keywords and keywordless matches are prioritized in serving works the same as it does currently.
Q: What is the priority of the different campaigns – I am assuming it still goes exact > phrase > Pmax, then broad/AI max, but would want to make sure?
A. Prioritization still works the same: If the user’s search query is identical to an eligible Search keyword of any match type in your account, the Search campaign will be prioritized over PMax. If the query isn’t identical to an eligible Search keyword, the campaign or ad with the highest Ad Rank will be selected.
Q: How does AI Max compare to Search Max or does it replace it?
A. This replaces it. During the pilot phase we were referring to this as Search Max. However, this is now called AI Max for Search campaigns.
Q: I’d love a chart on AI Max, Search Max and Performance Max compared!
AI Max is just the new name for Search Max which was the name during the pilot phase.
AI Max for Search campaigns is built to have parity with Search on PMax. Both AI Max for Search campaigns and PMax use the latest Google AI and the main difference is that PMax serves ads across Search and non-Search channels, while AI Max for Search campaigns only serves on Search text inventory.
There are also additional features that are new to Search campaigns and will be available with AI Max for Search campaigns such as new ad group level controls (search term matching, text customization, URL expansion, location targeting, brand controls and search category tracking parameter) and reporting options.
Q: Is AI Max basically just the Search part of a PMax campaign? If not, how is it different?
A. AI Max for Search campaigns is built to have parity with Search on PMax. Both AI Max for Search campaigns and PMax use the latest Google AI and the main difference is that PMax serves ads across Search and non-Search channels, while AI Max for Search campaigns only serves on Search text inventory.
And as we’ve touched on — there are also additional features available with AI Max for Search campaigns such as new ad group level controls (search term matching, text customization, URL expansion, location targeting, brand controls and search category tracking parameter) and reporting options.
Reporting
Q: The reporting link in the help page documentation goes to the page about Performance Max reporting – will reporting be the same or different from PMax?
That links to the blog post because it also mentions the expansion of new metrics in asset reporting for PMax, Search and Display campaigns. So you’ll see asset-level reporting for clicks, cost, impressions, avg CPC etc. for RSAs too.
Q: What are the enhancements that will be provided to the search terms report?
A. In the search terms report, you now can add the column for ‘Source’ which will show queries served on because of “AI Max for Search campaigns” keywordless targeting.
And a new “AI Max for Search campaigns” view will show the queries plus the headlines and landing page combinations served for keywordless traffic and broad expansion traffic.
Q: How much of a feedback loop on the data are we getting immediately at launch? Sampled/obfuscated data similar to how the PMax rollout was?
A. If you’re referring to reporting, there are several new reporting features to provide visibility into AI Max performance, including in the Keywords, Search Terms, Assets and Landing Pages reports. Check out more info about AI Max for Search campaigns.