Google launches AI Max for Search. Changes in tools
AI Max for Search is Google’s response to increasingly complex queries and new forms of presenting information in search results.
Google announced on the company blog that it is moving out of the beta phase with the AI Max for Search solution and will conduct an automatic conversion of older advertising formats, including Dynamic Search Ads, to new AI Max campaigns in the fall. The company encourages advertisers to voluntarily migrate. Planned automatic migrations are expected to be completed by the end of September.
Why the change?
With the increasing complexity of search queries driven by AI-based features (e.g., AI Overviews), the previous approach based solely on landing page data has become insufficient. Dynamic Search Ads, available since 2011, relied mainly on the content of advertisers’ pages for targeting and automatically generated headlines and matches to website content. AI Max for Search, on the other hand, combines information from pages with targeting based on advertising resources and real-time user intent, which is intended to better reflect users’ nonlinear search habits.
What does AI Max for Search promise?
AI Max promises more detailed campaign targeting and better alignment of ad creatives with user queries. They will not rely solely on static resources. AI Max also introduces expanded campaign controls, including brand, location, and content rules. Meanwhile, new reporting goes beyond standard metrics and simplified flows.
Google claims that using the full set of AI Max for Search features, campaigns achieve 7% higher conversions (both quantitatively and in value) compared to campaigns based solely on keyword matching and landing page data.
How to enable AI Max
Advertisers can switch to AI Max on their own. Google announces that during the automatic migration (planned for September), it will try to reflect the account settings that previously made manual changes to maintain result stability. In addition to Dynamic Search Ads, changes will also include automatically created ad resources and campaign settings at the broad match level.
Advertisers may consider voluntarily migrating to AI Max now to have time for optimization before the automatic conversion. It will be necessary to prepare the necessary creative resources that AI Max will be able to use.
The overhaul of advertising tools is part of Google’s broader move towards AI-based solutions, responding to changing user behaviors. Google is focusing on more automated and intelligent advertising mechanisms in the face of growing competition in the digital advertising market. Analysts predict that in 2026, Meta may surpass Google for the first time in terms of digital advertising revenue, further motivating Google to accelerate innovation.
