AI Max for Search is a set of AI features you can add to Search campaigns. Google says it is not a new campaign type, so it changes how an existing campaign finds searches and builds ads.
What does AI Max for Search do?
Google describes two main parts:
- Search term matching. It looks for relevant searches beyond the keywords you list, using broad match and other AI technology.
- Asset optimisation. It can customise your ad text, and it can choose which page on your site a searcher lands on.
In other words, you set the goal and the budget, and the system decides more of the detail: which searches to show for, what the ad says and where the click goes.
What controls do you still have?
Google lists controls so you can steer it. They cover which brands the ads can and cannot appear for, the locations of interest, and which pages of your site may be used or excluded. You can also switch the landing page choice off.
Google also adds reporting that shows which searches AI Max matched, so you can see where it found them instead of guessing.
What should you check before turning it on?
- Your conversion tracking. AI Max works toward the goal you give it. If the tracking counts the wrong action, it will pursue the wrong result.
- Your budget. A campaign limited by budget leaves it little room to work, and Google's guidance says so.
- Your landing pages. If it can pick the page, check that every page it may choose is one you want visitors to reach, and exclude the rest.
- Your brand settings. Decide whether the campaign should show for your own brand name, and set the controls to match.
- Your review routine. Look at the search terms it matches after you switch it on, and keep blocking the ones that do not fit your business.
How is AI Max different from Performance Max?
AI Max adds features to a Search campaign. Performance Max is its own campaign type: it combines Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Maps in one automated campaign. Google treats them as separate things.
Where does a specialist fit?
AI Max follows the goal it is given. It does not know your margins, which leads are worth chasing or how your sales team follows up. With AI PPC management, a specialist sets the goal with you, checks the tracking, sets the brand and URL controls, and reviews what the automation matched before more budget goes into it.
That is not a guarantee of results. Google decides which ads appear and what clicks cost. What a specialist does is keep the account pointed at what your business needs.
Start with an audit
If you are not sure whether AI Max suits your account, start by looking at the account. ENH Marketing, a Google Ads agency, reviews your account structure, search terms, bidding, conversion tracking and landing pages, and shows you what we would change.