If your Google Ads account runs Search campaigns with Automatically Created Assets or campaign-level broad match, Google has already upgraded them to AI Max. The rollout began on 1 September 2026 and Google expected it complete by the end of the month. Google says the full AI Max suite delivers 7% more conversions at a similar cost. Independent testing says that average hides two opposite outcomes, and which one you get depends almost entirely on whether you run ecommerce or lead generation.

What is Google Ads AI Max?

AI Max is not a new campaign type. It is a framework that bundles three previously separate features and turns them on together.

Search term matching expands your reach beyond your keyword list, including to queries with no keyword behind them at all. Text customization generates new ad copy variants from your landing pages and existing assets. Final URL expansion lets Google send traffic to a page it considers more relevant than the one you specified.

Keywords still matter. They now contribute to the structure of a campaign rather than defining its boundaries.

What happened, and when

The upgrade was automatic for eligible campaigns rather than something you were asked to approve.

Two settings made a campaign eligible: having Automatically Created Assets enabled, now renamed Text Customization, or using campaign-level broad match. Standard Search campaigns using keyword-level match types were not affected. Neither were Performance Max, Shopping, Display or Video campaigns.

If you run Dynamic Search Ads, you have until February.

How to check whether it happened to you

Do this before anything else, because a surprising number of accounts were upgraded without anyone noticing.

1. Open each Search campaign and look at the settings for Text Customization and Final URL Expansion. If they are on and you did not turn them on, you were upgraded.
2. Go to your search terms report. AI Max adds a column distinguishing queries that arrived through broad match expansion from those that arrived through keywordless matching. Any volume in the keywordless column is new inventory you did not previously buy.
3. Compare the last four weeks against the four before. Look at cost per conversion, conversion rate and average order value — not just total conversions. The most common pattern is more conversions at a worse cost.

What Google says versus what the tests say

Google reports that campaigns using the full AI Max suite see on average 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS.

Independent results are far more divided, and the division is the useful part.

Those figures come from a four-month comparison test. In the same reporting, Smarter Ecommerce analysed more than 250 campaigns across 600-plus accounts and found AI Max delivered 35% lower ROAS than traditional match types.

Coalition Technologies ran a 30-day test and found something different. Their ecommerce accounts saw revenue rise 70.15% and ROAS rise 72.01%. Their lead generation accounts went the other way: impression share fell to 58% and leads dropped 15 to 20%.

One caveat on the sceptical numbers. The Smarter Ecommerce and four-month test results were published in November 2025, on an earlier and less mature version of AI Max. They are real evidence and they are not current evidence. Treat them as a reason to test rather than a verdict.

The pattern underneath the noise

Read those results together and a consistent shape appears.

AI Max rewards accounts with deep, clean conversion data and a large, well-described inventory of pages. That is why mature ecommerce does well: hundreds of product pages, thousands of conversions, and a clear signal about what a good outcome looks like.

It punishes accounts where conversions are sparse, expensive and qualitative. Lead generation is the obvious case. A form fill worth $4,000 and a form fill worth nothing look identical to the system unless you have fed it values. Final URL expansion is also more dangerous here, because a service business usually has a handful of pages that each need to say something specific.

So the honest summary is that Google’s 7% average is probably real and almost useless, because it averages two populations moving in opposite directions.

What should you do now?

Five things, in order.

1. Feed the system better conversion signals. If you run lead generation, get offline conversion imports or lead values in place. This is the single highest-value action, because it converts AI Max from guessing to optimizing.
2. Use the controls you still have. Brand inclusions and exclusions, URL inclusions and exclusions, Location of Interest, and negative keywords all still work. URL exclusions matter most: they stop Final URL Expansion sending traffic to pages that should never receive it, such as careers pages and blog posts.
3. Review search terms weekly, not monthly. Keywordless matching is where the waste appears, and it appears fast.
4. Restructure rather than fight. If a campaign genuinely performs worse under AI Max, rebuilding it with keyword-level match types and no Automatically Created Assets takes it out of the eligible pool. Reports on whether this reliably prevents re-upgrading conflict, so verify it in your own account rather than trusting any article on it, including this one.
5. Give it four weeks before judging. Automated systems need a learning period, and pulling the plug at day ten tells you nothing.

The part nobody at Google will say plainly

This change moves control from you to the system, and the trade is only worth it if the system has better information than you do.

For a large ecommerce account with clean revenue data, it usually does. For a plumbing company with eleven form fills a month and no lead values, it does not, and no amount of automation compensates for a missing signal.

Your job is not to be for or against automation. It is to work out which of those two accounts you are running, and then to either feed the system properly or take your campaigns out of its reach.

We will tell you which one you are

We will look at your account, check what was upgraded, pull the keywordless matching data, and tell you whether AI Max is helping or quietly costing you money.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Google Ads AI Max?

AI Max is a framework, not a campaign type. It bundles three features and enables them together: search term matching that expands beyond your keyword list, text customization that generates new ad copy from your pages, and final URL expansion that can send traffic to a page Google considers more relevant than the one you chose.

Can I opt out of AI Max?

There is no single “AI Max off” switch. Eligibility was determined by two settings you control — Automatically Created Assets, now called Text Customization, and campaign-level broad match. Rebuilding a campaign with keyword-level match types and neither setting takes it out of the eligible pool, though reports on whether this reliably prevents re-upgrading conflict. Verify in your own account.

Which campaigns were affected by the September 2026 AI Max upgrade?

Search campaigns with Automatically Created Assets enabled or campaign-level broad match in use. Standard Search campaigns using keyword-level match types were not affected, and neither were Performance Max, Shopping, Display or Video campaigns. Dynamic Search Ads migration was delayed to February 2027.

Does AI Max actually improve performance?

It depends heavily on account type. Google reports 7% more conversions at similar cost. Independent testing found mature ecommerce accounts gaining substantially — one 30-day test saw ROAS rise 72% — while lead generation accounts lost 15 to 20% of leads. A separate four-month test recorded an AI Max cost per conversion of $100.37 against $43.97 for phrase match.

How do I check if my campaigns were upgraded to AI Max?

Open each Search campaign and check whether Text Customization and Final URL Expansion are enabled. If they are on and you did not enable them, you were upgraded. Then check your search terms report for a keywordless matching column — any volume there is inventory you did not previously buy.

Why is AI Max worse for lead generation?

Because it optimizes toward the conversion signals you give it, and lead generation signals are usually sparse and unweighted. A form fill worth $4,000 and one worth nothing look identical unless you import lead values. Fixing the signal matters more than fighting the automation.