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Google Switched Some Search Campaigns to AI Max. Here’s What to Check
By Rahul Bhole · · 3 min read
The short version
- Since September 1, 2026, Google has been converting some Search campaigns to AI Max automatically.
- AI Max can match more searches, rewrite ad text, and pick landing pages. That can help, but small budgets feel wasted clicks fast.
- Read your search terms weekly for a month and judge results by qualified leads, not Google’s conversion count.
If you run Google Search ads for your own business, one of your campaigns may have changed in September without you touching it.
Google took AI Max for Search out of beta in April 2026. Then, in an email to advertisers in early August, it said that starting September 1 it would convert campaigns using two older settings: automatically created assets, and the campaign-level broad match setting. Dynamic Search Ads are moving to AI Max too, but Google pushed that part back to early 2027.
What AI Max actually does
AI Max is not a new campaign type. It’s a bundle of features you can switch on inside a normal Search campaign. The upgrade turned on one or two of them, depending on which old setting you had:
Who decides what, before and after AI Max
Before
- Your keywords decide which searches you show up for
- You write the headlines and descriptions
- You choose the landing page
With AI Max turned on
- Google can match searches beyond your keywords
- Google can adapt your ad text using your site and existing ads
- Google can pick a different page from your site (only if you turn on final URL expansion)
Why this matters more on a small budget
Broader matching can find customers you would have missed. It can also find people who were never going to buy. A large advertiser can absorb a few hundred dollars of off-target clicks while the system learns. A local business spending $3,000 a month often can’t.
Picture a plumbing company in Bothell. Searches for “water heater repair near me” are gold. Searches for “plumbing apprenticeship” or “how to fix a leaky faucet” are not. Your keywords used to keep those out. Broader matching may let some of them in.
There’s a second, quieter risk. If your Google Ads conversion is “someone submitted a form,” the system will happily find more form-fillers, whether or not they become customers. Google’s report can show more conversions while your phone rings with worse leads.
Five things to check
- See whether you were converted. Open each Search campaign’s settings and look for AI Max. Note the date it changed so you can compare before and after.
- Read your search terms every week for a month. The search terms report now labels AI Max matches and can show the search next to the headlines and landing page that served. Look for searches that don’t match what you sell or where you work.
- Add negative keywords. Block irrelevant searches as you find them. If you later turn on landing page selection, exclude pages like your careers page or old blog posts.
- Read the ad text Google writes. Make sure it doesn’t promise services, prices, or service areas you don’t offer.
- Judge it by qualified leads. Compare cost per qualified lead or cost per sale, not just Google’s conversion count.
Should you turn it off?
Not automatically. AI Max works best when Google knows which leads turned into real business. If your tracking only counts form fills, fix that first. Then give AI Max a fair test with your own numbers. I wrote more about that in Cheap leads can cost you more.
If after a month the search terms are mostly junk and cost per qualified lead is up, it’s reasonable to switch features off and go back to tighter keyword control. The point is to decide with evidence, not to accept or reject the default on instinct.