Last checked against Google’s documentation on 29 September 2026.
The Google Ads AI Max auto upgrade in short
The Google Ads AI Max auto upgrade moves some older Search campaigns onto AI Max without you pressing anything. Google’s announcement (published 15 April 2026, updated 11 June 2026) says campaigns using automatically created assets and campaigns using the campaign-level broad match setting are auto-upgraded starting in September 2026. Dynamic Search Ads were originally on the same timeline, but Google moved their sunset and auto-upgrade to begin in February 2027.
If one of your campaigns was upgraded, it can now match to searches your keywords didn’t cover, and in some setups write extra ad text and pick the landing page. You can turn each part off, or keep it and add limits. Either way, read the search terms and landing pages for the weeks since the upgrade and compare them with the weeks before.
What is AI Max for Search?
AI Max is a set of targeting and creative features that sit on top of a normal Search campaign. Google’s help page How AI Max for Search campaigns works describes three features:
- Search term matching (ad group level). Uses broad match and keywordless technology to show your ads on searches beyond your keyword list.
- Text customization (campaign level, under “Asset optimization”). Generates extra headlines and descriptions from your landing page, ads, and keywords. This is the feature that used to be called automatically created assets.
- Final URL expansion (campaign level, under “Asset optimization”). Lets Google send a click to a different page on your site than the final URL you set, when it judges that page a better fit.
It also brings controls: brand inclusions and exclusions, locations of interest at ad group level, and URL inclusions and exclusions. The campaign keeps its structure, budget, and bid strategy.
Which campaigns are upgraded, and when
What each group gets turned on depends on the setting it used before. From Google’s announcement:
| Campaign used | Upgrade timing | AI Max features turned on |
|---|---|---|
| Automatically created assets | Starting September 2026 | Search term matching and text customization |
| Campaign-level broad match setting | Starting September 2026 | Search term matching |
| Dynamic Search Ads | Beginning February 2027 | All three, with legacy URL controls preserved |
Google’s wording is “starting in September 2026”, not a single switch-over day, so upgrades can arrive on different days in different accounts. The broad match campaign setting and text customization help pages carry the same September 2026 notice.
A campaign that only used the broad match setting was already matching broadly, so the practical change is smaller. A campaign that used automatically created assets on phrase or exact keywords can see a much larger change, because search term matching now reaches beyond those match types.
DSA to AI Max: the February 2027 date
In the 11 June 2026 update to its post, Google said it is extending the timeline for the Dynamic Search Ads sunset and auto-upgrade, which will begin in February 2027. That is an announced date, not something that has happened yet. When it does, Google says all three AI Max features will be turned on and your legacy URL controls will be kept.
Google recommends moving DSA campaigns to AI Max yourself before then, and offers upgrade tools and experiments to test the switch. The advantage of doing it early is that you choose which features start on, and you get a clean before-and-after comparison on a date you control.
Check whether your campaign was upgraded
- In Google Ads, go to Campaigns and open the Settings tab.
- Select the campaign and open the AI Max section.
- Note whether “Optimize your campaigns with AI Max” is on, and which boxes are ticked under Asset optimization (text customization, final URL expansion).
- Open each ad group’s Search term matching setting to see whether it is on.
- Check the change history for the upgrade date, and write it down. Every comparison below starts from that date.
Turn off AI Max search term matching and other parts
You don’t have to choose between everything and nothing. The steps below follow Google’s Set up AI Max for Search campaigns page.
Turn off search term matching for one ad group
- Go to Ad groups and select the ad group.
- Open Search term matching and toggle it off.
This is the most common partial opt-out: keep AI Max in the campaign but stop expanded matching in ad groups where the query must stay tight, such as brand or very specific offer ad groups.
Turn off text customization or final URL expansion
- Go to Campaigns, then the Settings tab, and select the campaign.
- Select AI Max and scroll to Asset optimization.
- Untick the feature you don’t want, then select Save.
Google notes that turning off text customization can affect other AI Max settings, including turning off final URL expansion if it was on.
Turn AI Max off for the whole campaign
- Go to Campaigns, then the Settings tab, and tick the campaigns.
- Select AI Max, toggle AI Max off, then select Save.
Google’s AI Max FAQ says turning it off disables all AI Max features and may affect performance. The pre-upgrade settings do not come back as they were, so decide on evidence from your own search terms, not on principle.
Keep AI Max on, but with limits
If the upgrade is working in some places and not others, add limits instead of switching it off:
- Brand exclusions (campaign level) keep a non-brand campaign off brand searches, yours or a competitor’s. Brand inclusions (campaign or ad group level) do the opposite for a brand campaign. Find them under the campaign’s AI Max settings, in the Brands section.
- URL exclusions (campaign level) stop final URL expansion from sending clicks to pages like careers, blog posts, or support. Under AI Max, in the final URL expansion section, select Add URL exclusions.
- URL inclusions (ad group level) limit expansion to the pages you list for that ad group.
- Locations of interest (ad group level) target people by the location they search about, which matters if your campaign’s location settings were doing that job before.
- Negative keywords still apply. They are the fastest way to stop an irrelevant theme.
What to monitor after the upgrade
Google’s AI Max reporting guide recommends waiting at least two weeks after AI Max is turned on before judging it. Then check:
- Search terms. In the search terms report, filter Match type to “AI Max”. Read the terms with spend and no conversions first. Add irrelevant ones as negatives.
- Keywords report totals. Look for the rows “Total: AI Max expanded matches” and “Total: AI Max landing page matches” to see how much spend the expansion took.
- Final URLs. The landing pages report has a “Selected by” column that shows which pages AI Max chose. Check each one has a clear next step and matches the offer in the ad.
- Generated text. In the asset report, text customization assets are marked “Google AI” in the “Added by” column. Read them for claims you can’t honour.
- Brand and location. Check whether brand terms or out-of-area place names now appear in a campaign that didn’t serve them before.
- The outcome numbers. Compare conversions, cost per conversion, and conversion rate for equal periods before and after the upgrade date. A rise in clicks with flat conversions is the pattern to catch early.
Common mistakes
- Judging the upgrade on the first few days, before the learning period Google describes has passed.
- Turning AI Max off everywhere because one ad group went wrong, instead of turning off search term matching in that ad group.
- Forgetting URL exclusions, so clicks land on pages that can’t convert.
- Comparing periods of different lengths, or periods with different budgets and bid targets.
- Letting a non-brand campaign absorb brand searches, which flatters its numbers without adding demand.
Boxoo’s search terms and keywords agent reads your search terms every day, including the ones AI Max matched, and files irrelevant themes as a case with the terms and their cost. It prepares the negative keywords, and they are added only when you press Apply. The performance and structure agent watches settings changes like this upgrade and compares the numbers before and after the change date.
To see it on your own account, run a free Google Ads audit. For the wider picture of this year’s changes, read Google Ads updates in 2026, and for cleaning up expanded matching, how to find negative keywords.
