AI Max for Search Campaigns: A Guide to Smart Implementation
by Roy Dovaston
After 15+ years managing Google Ads campaigns and seeing countless "revolutionary" features come and go, our team at Heavyweight Digital approaches AI Max with both excitement and healthy scepticism. Having spent the last few months testing this new capability with select clients, here's our honest assessment of when AI Max delivers real value, and when it doesn't.
What AI Max Actually Does (Beyond the Marketing Hype)
AI Max isn't magic. It's Google's latest attempt to bridge the gap between Performance Max automation and traditional Search campaign control. In practical terms, it adds three core functions to your existing Search campaigns:
Search Term Matching: Expands your keyword reach using both broad match enhancement and "keywordless" targeting—essentially Performance Max's query expansion technology applied to Search campaigns.
Text Customisation: The rebrand of Automatically Created Assets (ACA), now with improved relevance based on landing page content and user intent.
Final URL Expansion: Dynamically routes users to the most relevant page on your site based on their search query, not just your designated landing page.
The key insight: this isn't a new campaign type. It's a feature set you can toggle on existing campaigns.How AI Max Differs from Dynamic Search Ads
Many advertisers ask whether AI Max is simply an evolution of Dynamic Search Ads (DSA). While both use keywordless targeting, the similarities end there. DSA crawls your website content and matches search queries to existing pages, essentially showing your "running shoes" page for searches like "athletic footwear" or "jogging sneakers." It's website-focused and limited by your existing site structure.
AI Max operates at a fundamentally different level. Rather than just matching website content to search terms, it uses Google's latest AI to understand user intent and predict what searchers might need next. This means AI Max could show your running shoes ad for queries like "what to wear for morning jogs" or "comfortable shoes for fitness beginners"—searches that indicate strong purchase intent but don't directly mention your products. While DSA remains available and useful for certain scenarios, AI Max represents a more sophisticated approach to keywordless targeting that can discover higher-quality traffic patterns that traditional DSA might miss entirely.
When AI Max Delivers Real Value
After extensive testing across diverse client accounts, AI Max consistently outperforms in specific scenarios:
High-Intent, Exact Match Heavy Accounts
Our biggest wins come from clients who've been conservative with match types. One legal services client saw a 31% increase in qualified leads after AI Max uncovered long-tail variations like "lawyer for car accident injury claim" when they were only bidding on "car accident lawyer."
The data backs this up: Google reports 27% higher performance for campaigns predominantly using exact and phrase match keywords.
Seasonal or Trending Products
AI Max excels at capturing emerging search patterns. A Heavyweight Digital client selling home fitness equipment benefited when AI Max automatically picked up pandemic-related search queries we hadn't anticipated, like "home gym for small flat" and "quiet exercise equipment for upstairs."
Time-Constrained Account Management
For clients with limited budgets for ongoing optimisation, AI Max reduces the manual work required to maintain competitive performance. It's particularly valuable when you're managing dozens of campaigns and can't manually expand keyword lists frequently.
When to Avoid AI Max (Yes, There Are Times)
Highly Regulated Industries
If you're in finance, healthcare, or legal services with strict compliance requirements, the automated text generation can create liability issues. We've seen AI Max generate technically accurate but legally problematic ad copy variations that required immediate intervention.
Brand-Sensitive Accounts
Luxury brands or companies with precise messaging requirements often struggle with AI Max's dynamic text customization. The automation prioritises performance over brand consistency, which isn't always acceptable.
Campaign-Specific Goals
When running tightly controlled campaigns for new product launches or market testing, AI Max's automatic query expansion can dilute your results and make it challenging to draw clear conclusions about campaign performance. Traditional campaigns with tight keyword control provide cleaner attribution for these scenarios.
Accounts with Limited Conversion Data
AI Max needs substantial conversion history to make intelligent decisions. New accounts or those with fewer than 50 conversions per month often see inconsistent results.
Implementation Strategy: Test, Measure, Decide
Here's how the Heavyweight Digital team approaches AI Max rollouts for clients:
Phase 1: Strategic Selection (Week 1)
Audit existing campaigns for AI Max suitability
Identify 1-2 best-performing campaigns with 3+ months of stable data
Document current performance baselines
Set up enhanced conversion tracking if needed
Phase 2: Controlled Testing (Weeks 2-7)
Enable AI Max on test campaigns with 70% budget allocation
Keep control campaigns running with 30% budget
Weekly monitoring of search term reports for relevance
Bi-weekly performance comparison analysis
Phase 3: Scale or Retreat (Week 8+)
Expand successful implementations gradually
Document lessons learned for future rollouts
Maintain control campaigns for data comparison
Establish ongoing monitoring protocols
The Data That Matters
Beyond Google's headline statistics, here's what Heavyweight Digital tracks:
Search Term Quality: Not just volume, but relevance. AI Max can increase impressions 40%+ while maintaining or improving conversion rates.
Creative Performance: The team monitors which AI-generated headlines perform best and incorporates those insights into manual ad copy for other campaigns, sharing this information with our SEO and social media marketing team members.
Landing Page Effectiveness: URL expansion should improve page relevance. If bounce rates increase despite better targeting, it indicates landing page optimisation needs.
What AI Max Will Do:
Discover high-intent search queries you're missing
Reduce time spent on keyword expansion and ad copy variants
Improve campaign performance when properly implemented
Provide more granular reporting on search term sources
What AI Max Won't Do:
Replace a human PPC executive
Replace strategic campaign planning
Automatically fix poor landing page experiences
Overcome fundamental business model issues
Work miracles with insufficient budgets or conversion data
Do I still need a PPC management agency?
Here's why clients need an experienced PPC management agency more than ever with AI Max:
Strategic Implementation: Knowing which campaigns benefit from AI Max requires understanding business goals, seasonal patterns, and competitive landscapes, not just clicking "enable”, like Google would encourage you to do!
Performance Interpretation: AI Max generates more data, not necessarily better insights. Distinguishing between temporary fluctuations and meaningful trends requires experience.
Integration Management: Coordinating AI Max with existing Performance Max, Display, and Shopping campaigns requires understanding how Google's auction systems interact.
Optimisation Beyond Automation: AI Max handles query expansion, but successful campaigns still require budget allocation, bid strategy selection, and landing page optimisation.
Looking Forward:
AI Max represents Google's continued push toward automation, but it's not the end of strategic PPC management. If anything, it raises the bar for what constitutes professional ad campaign management.
The agencies that thrive will be those who master when and how to implement these tools, not those who simply enable every new feature. Heavyweight Digital's role is evolving from tactical execution to strategic guidance, helping clients navigate an increasingly complex advertising ecosystem.
AI Max is a powerful tool when used appropriately. Like any tool, its value depends entirely on the skill and judgment of the person wielding it. The question isn't whether AI Max will replace PPC managers, it's whether PPC professionals will evolve to leverage AI Max effectively.
In Summary
AI Max deserves a place in most advertiser's toolkit, but implementation requires careful planning and ongoing management. The businesses seeing the best results are those combining AI Max automation with strategic oversight, proper testing methodology, and continuous optimisation.
For small to medium businesses, this means working with digital marketing agencies who understand both the capabilities and limitations of these tools. The future belongs to those who can blend artificial intelligence with human insight, not those who believe one replaces the other.
