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Google is moving Search campaigns to AI Max this month. Here's what to check

Google is upgrading Search campaigns that use campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets to AI Max this month. What changes and what to check.

By Digital Advisors 4 min read

Seen over a person's shoulder, hands type on a laptop showing a marketing performance dashboard, with glasses and a phone on the desk.
Illustrative photograph: Campaign Creators / Unsplash

If you run Google Search ads, some of your campaigns may have changed this month without you touching them. Throughout September 2026, Google is automatically upgrading Search campaigns that use two older settings, campaign-level broad match and standalone automatically created assets, to its AI Max feature set.

Google announced the timeline on its Ads developer blog on 12 August. Since 3 August, advertisers haven’t been able to switch on either legacy setting in new configurations, in the Google Ads interface, Google Ads Editor or the API.

What AI Max is

AI Max for Search is a bundle of three features Google describes as using its AI to optimise ads in real time:

  • Search term matching uses broad match plus your assets and landing pages to decide which searches your ads appear for. It is set at ad group level.
  • Text customisation writes ad copy using generative AI, drawing on your existing ads, landing pages and assets.
  • Final URL expansion sends people to other pages on your site when Google predicts they’ll perform better.

Google says advertisers who turn on AI Max typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar cost per acquisition or return on ad spend. That figure is from Google’s own 2025 data for non-retail advertisers and hasn’t been independently verified.

What happens to your campaigns

What gets switched on depends on what the campaign used before:

Campaign used… Search term matching Text customisation Final URL expansion
Campaign-level broad match On Off Off
Standalone automatically created assets On On Off

For campaigns that used campaign-level broad match, Google says existing brand lists are kept. Google also notes that, whether you move to AI Max or turn off campaign-level broad match, broad keywords are not treated as exact match when Google chooses which of your keywords to use for a search.

Google’s announcements don’t mention any country-specific exceptions, including for Australia.

Dynamic Search Ads are next

Advertisers using Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) have longer, after Google pushed the deadline back from September 2026:

  • September 2026: banners in Google Ads accounts encourage advertisers to upgrade DSA campaigns themselves.
  • 15 January 2027: Google sends an official reminder notice to affected accounts.
  • 1 to 28 February 2027: automatic upgrades begin. Google’s June developer post said the ability to create new Dynamic Search Ads would go in January 2027. Its August post says new DSA ad groups will be permanently removed from February.

When DSA campaigns move, dynamic ad groups become standard ad groups, and Dynamic Search Ads become Responsive Search Ads. Google generates the required assets using text customisation. In the automatic upgrade, all three AI Max features are switched on, with legacy URL controls preserved. DSA targets that AI Max doesn’t support, such as “page title contains” rules, become read-only.

Google has added guidance on using experiments to compare AI Max with DSA before the automatic upgrade. Campaigns that are 100% DSA can’t use templated experiments.

The controls you keep

  • Brand inclusions and exclusions, locations of interest, and URL inclusions and exclusions.
  • Negative keywords, which Google says are still respected with AI Max on.
  • Feature switches. Search term matching can be turned off at ad group level. Text customisation and final URL expansion can each be turned off at campaign level. Final URL expansion only works while text customisation is on.

One catch: turning AI Max off entirely also disables its features, including brand exclusions.

One more change this month: language targeting

Separately, from late September 2026, Search campaigns lose the campaign-level language setting. Google says ads will match searches based on the language of the ad itself. Make sure each ad’s copy and landing page are clearly in the language you intend.

What to check in your account

  1. Find out which campaigns were upgraded. Any campaign that used campaign-level broad match or standalone automatically created assets should show AI Max by the end of September. Check which features are on against the table above.
  2. Open the search terms report and filter the “Match type” column to AI Max. Look for irrelevant searches and add negative keywords.
  3. Check the Landing pages report if final URL expansion is on, to see which pages Google is sending people to.
  4. Review Google-written ad text. Assets Google created appear as “Google AI” in the “Added by” column.
  5. Confirm brand exclusions, URL exclusions and negatives are still set the way you want.
  6. If you use Dynamic Search Ads, run an experiment comparing AI Max before the February 2027 upgrade, and note any URL rules that will become read-only.
Sources 13 sources
  1. Google Ads Developer Blog: Migrate campaign-level broad match and automatically created assets to AI Max (12 August 2026)
  2. Google Ads Help: About AI Max for Search campaigns
  3. Google Ads Help: AI Max for Search campaigns
  4. Google Ads Help: Upgrading Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max
  5. Google Ads Help: About Dynamic Search Ads
  6. Google Ads Help: AI Max and negative keywords
  7. Google Ads Help: AI Max reporting
  8. Google Ads Help: About campaign-level broad match
  9. Google Ads Help: About automatically created assets
  10. Google blog: Dynamic Search Ads upgrade to AI Max (updated 11 June 2026)
  11. Google Ads Developer Blog: Dynamic Search Ads automigration (June 2026)
  12. Google Ads Developer Blog: Language targeting changes (13 August 2026)
  13. Search Engine Land: Google sets AI Max migration timeline for Search campaigns

How this story was made. Researched from the primary sources listed above (open Sources to see them), drafted with AI assistance and checked against those sources before publication. Details can change after publication; check the original source before acting. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will check it.

General information only, not legal, tax or financial advice.

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