Some Google Ads accounts changed this month without anyone logging in. If a Search campaign relied on Google’s automatically written headlines, Google AI Max now also lets that campaign show ads on searches its keywords never covered.
It’s easy for those changes to go unnoticed, especially for small businesses spending only a few hundred dollars every month. Take a dog grooming shop, for example. If they’re bidding on grooming searches right now, they might surface via searches for boarding or daycare, even though they don’t offer either service.
None of this is set in stone, which is the good news. It only takes a few minutes to check which changes were made on each campaign.
Which Campaigns Google Moved to AI Max in September
Google began upgrading two groups of Search campaigns on September 1, and the rollout continues through September 30. The first group used the campaign-level broad match setting. Campaigns in the second group used automatically created assets on their own.
Search is one of several Google Ads campaign types a small business might run, and this upgrade applies to Search campaigns only. A campaign that used neither older setting will remain the same.
Since August 3, Google has also blocked anyone from building new campaigns with either older setting. So the list of affected campaigns in an account is already fixed, and it won’t grow before the month ends.
What Google AI Max Turned On, Campaign by Campaign
Google’s developer announcement lists the default settings each group received:
- Broad match campaigns: search term matching is on. Text customization and final URL expansion stay off, and existing brand inclusion and exclusion lists move over unchanged.
- Automatically created assets campaigns: search term matching and text customization are both on. Final URL expansion stays off.
For the broad match group, the new setting does a similar job to the one it replaced.
The Headline Setting That Came With New Search Reach
The biggest, most important change for automatically created assets is which searches can trigger the ad in question.
Automatically created assets only wrote ad text. An owner who switched that setting on agreed to let Google draft headlines and descriptions, but the setting itself didn’t affect which searches triggered those ads.
Search term matching does change that. Google says the feature draws on the account’s keywords, ads, and site pages to find related searches not covered by the existing keyword list.
Returning to the dog groomer example, some of those new searches might convert into customers. But other searches waste the budget on services the business doesn’t offer.
Text customization still works the way the old setting did. It builds headlines from the ads and site content already in the account, so the basics of writing a PPC text ad still decide what material the system has to draw from.
Where Google AI Max Could Send Your Clicks
If you’re checking one of the migrated campaigns, final URL expansion should still be off. In a new Search campaign, final URL expansion is part of the AI Max settings toggled on by default.
With final URL expansion on, Google can send a click to a different page than the one in the ad. Google’s system picks a page it judges relevant to the search and the ad group’s theme.
A blog post, an FAQ page, or an old seasonal promotion can then start receiving paid clicks.
An article written to inform a reader rarely asks for the call or booking that a well-built landing page does. Google reports that advertisers using all three features average 7 percent more conversions at a similar cost per acquisition than those using search term matching by itself.
Since that figure is an average across many accounts, each business still has to check its own results.
Controls to Set Before Launching a New Campaign
If a business already runs a separate brand campaign, brand exclusions are one of the first things they should check. These exclusions work at the campaign level and stop ads from appearing on searches for listed brands.
URL exclusions keep final URL expansion away from specific pages or folders, such as a blog directory. Google requires text customization and final URL expansion to be on before URL exclusions can be added.
Each feature can also be switched off separately. Google’s AI Max experiments let an advertiser test the features against a control inside the same campaign before committing to them.
Negative keywords still apply, too, and remain the quickest fix for a search the business will never want.
Reading the Search Terms Report After the Switch
Give the migration a few weeks to build up data, then compare the searches AI Max found with the searches that came from the advertiser’s own keywords. Google’s reporting now separates the two groups, and two to four weeks of data gives the comparison more to work with than the first few days.
An advertiser reading this report should lean on conversions, cost per acquisition, and return on ad spend, the PPC performance metrics that show whether a new search earned its click. Clicks alone can’t tell the whole story, especially on a small account.
When AI Max searches get clicks but few conversions, check the page those clicks reached before blaming the query. A clearer call to action or a shorter form, the usual conversion rate optimization fixes, can improve results for the whole campaign.
What Happens to Dynamic Search Ads in February
Dynamic Search Ads were left out of September’s upgrade and keep running as normal for now. Google moved their turn to February 2027.
This month, Google started showing banners inside accounts that invite advertisers to upgrade DSA campaigns early. A reminder goes out January 15, 2027.
Between February 1 and 28, Google will stop allowing new DSA ad groups. It will then convert the remaining DSA campaigns into standard Search ad groups with AI Max turned on.
Anyone running both channels already sees the overlap between PPC and SEO here. The pages a DSA campaign pulls from are the same pages that earn organic rankings. A service page with outdated pricing hurts the organic listing and any ad Google builds from it.
Common Questions About Google AI Max
Is Google AI Max a new campaign type?
No. Google describes AI Max as a set of features inside existing Search campaigns rather than a separate campaign type. Its settings appear in the AI Max section of a Search campaign’s settings page.
Can I turn Google AI Max off after the migration?
Yes. Advertisers can switch Google AI Max off for a campaign or turn off single features like search term matching or text customization.
Before changing anything, export a few weeks of search terms data so there’s a record of what AI Max found.
Did the migration change my daily budget?
No. Google’s migration notes cover search, ad text, final URL, and brand list settings. Budgets and bid strategies aren’t among them.
The expanded search reach can spread that same budget across more queries, so check where the spend goes.
Write Down the Settings Before They Change Again
A groomer who checks this week will know which campaigns started showing up on boarding searches and which ones didn’t. Saving a dated note of each campaign’s AI Max settings before anyone edits them makes the February DSA switch easier to trace.
Agencies and freelancers should also review any Google Ads scripts or outside tools that build campaigns, since new API versions released after September 1 drop the older broad match and asset settings entirely.
Sources
Google Ads Help: Set Up AI Max for Search Campaigns
