Google has officially rolled out AI Max for Search campaigns, a long-anticipated leap in paid search automation. Framed as an optional upgrade, AI Max is designed to usher advertisers into a new era of AI-powered performance gains. But with greater automation comes greater responsibility — especially when it comes to compliance and brand safety.
What is AI Max?
AI Max isn’t a new campaign type. Instead, it’s a toggle upgrade within existing Search campaigns that activates three powerful AI features:
- Search term matching expansion: Broadens your keyword coverage by letting Google’s AI match to new, relevant queries beyond your list. (Exact-match terms still take priority.)
- Text customization (formerly known as “automatically created assets”): Automatically generates ad headlines and descriptions using your site, existing ads and keywords.
- Final URL expansion: Dynamically directs users to the most relevant landing page on your site, rather than a fixed URL.
Advertisers can choose to turn any of these off, keeping some level of manual control. (The one exception is Final URL expansion, which requires that text customization is also enabled to ensure ad copy matches the landing page.)
How does AI Max work?
When activated, AI Max analyzes campaign inputs — your website, creative assets, keywords and goals — to dynamically optimize performance. Based on early testing, Google says advertisers that activate AI Max in Search campaigns “will typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS” and that “for campaigns that are still mostly using exact and phrase keywords, the typical uplift is even higher at 27%.”
AI Max offers detailed reporting, showing which queries triggered ads, which assets performed best and how different landing pages contributed to conversions. Advertisers can also see gains specifically attributable to AI Max within landing page, search term and keyword reports, as well as review the performance of AI Max assets.
What are the compliance and brand safety concerns?
While AI Max unlocks scale and efficiency, it raises important compliance questions:
- Creative oversight: AI-generated assets launch automatically — you can remove them afterward, but you don’t get pre-approval. As seen in the past with automatically created assets, Google can sometimes create dozens of new pieces of copy every single day, making it difficult to react in a timely fashion.
- Regulated industries: Legal, healthcare and financial advertisers must be cautious, as AI may generate language that drifts outside compliance boundaries.
- Landing page control: Final URL expansion could send users to pages that aren’t reviewed or cleared by compliance teams.
- Budget waste: Expanded keyword matching can lead to irrelevant clicks if it’s not monitored closely.
Google has added new brand controls (such as the ability to include/exclude brand terms) and location of interest settings at the ad group level. But human oversight is still essential. Do the pros of additional volume outweigh the cons of having to spend additional time reviewing creative and completing search term reports?
Who should use AI Max?
Best fit:
- E‑commerce brands with large inventories
- Small teams wanting automation with reporting transparency
- Marketers looking to scale search efficiently
Proceed with caution:
- Highly regulated industries (healthcare, finance, legal)
- Brands requiring strict creative or landing page control
- Advertisers on very tight budgets
The bottom line:
AI Max represents Google’s boldest step toward an AI-driven future in search advertising. It promises performance gains and streamlined management, but advertisers must weigh those benefits against compliance and brand safety risks.
At Rise, we recommend starting small, testing individual features, monitoring reporting and collaborating closely with compliance teams to ensure that the launch of AI Max is successful.
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