Last updated: April 2026
When AI Max for Search launched in beta in mid-2025, the question was whether it was worth testing before Q4. That question is now settled.
On April 15, 2026, Google announced that AI Max is officially out of beta and will automatically replace Dynamic Search Ads starting in September 2026. If you are running DSA campaigns, this transition is happening to your account whether you act on it or not. The advertisers who prepare now will have a smoother transition and better results. Those who wait will find themselves scrambling in September with no baseline data and no control over how their campaigns get migrated.
This post covers what AI Max actually is, what the real-world performance data shows after months of testing, and the practical steps to take before the automatic migration kicks in.
What AI Max for Search Actually Does
AI Max is not a new campaign type. It is a suite of three features you activate inside an existing Search campaign.
Search term matching expands your reach beyond exact keyword matches using intent signals from your landing pages, ad copy, and real-time query context. Think of it as Dynamic Search Ads with broader signals and more transparency.
Text customisation generates ad headlines and descriptions dynamically based on your landing page content, keywords, and existing assets. It replaces what was previously called Automatically Created Assets.
Final URL expansion automatically routes traffic to the most relevant page on your site rather than the single landing page you assigned to the campaign.
The most common misconception about AI Max is that it replaces Performance Max. It does not. Performance Max runs across all Google properties including Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. AI Max is Search-only, maintaining full search terms reporting with source attribution and keyword-level control. Google currently recommends using both together as part of what it calls the Power Pack approach: Performance Max, Demand Gen, and AI Max covering the full spectrum of Google Ads inventory.
What the Data Actually Shows
Google claims AI Max delivers strong results, but the independent data is more nuanced and more useful.
Google’s own data shows that AI Max campaigns using the full feature suite — search term matching, text customisation, and final URL expansion — see an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS compared to using search term matching alone.
Third-party testing paints a more complete picture. Independent analysis found that 84% of advertisers report neutral or negative results. But there is a clear pattern in who succeeds and who does not.
A Brainlabs analysis across 23 individual tests found that campaigns enabling all three AI Max features simultaneously saw a 40% higher success rate than those using only the baseline search term matching feature.
L’Oreal saw a 2X higher conversion rate at a 31% lower cost-per-conversion. MyConnect, an Australian utility connection service, drove 16% more leads at a 13% lower cost-per-action, with a 30% increase in conversions from entirely new search queries.
The pattern across successful implementations is consistent: clean conversion tracking, well-structured campaigns with room in the budget, all three features enabled together, and active monitoring in the first few weeks.
Why This Is Happening Now
The shift to AI Max is not just a product update. It reflects something more fundamental happening in search behaviour.
Today, 37% of consumers begin their searches with AI tools rather than traditional search engines. As queries grow longer, more nuanced, and more conversational, the challenges of nailing keyword variations and mastering user intent only deepen. In that environment, DSA — which relied on scraping landing page text to match queries — does not do what it used to.
AI Max brings in real-time intent signals that go beyond your website content. It can match a query like “what is the best solution for tracking leads from paid search without cookies” to your conversion tracking service page, even if you have never included that phrasing in a keyword list.
Coby’s Approach to AI Max: Three Conditions Before You Enable It
At Coby Agency, we do not recommend enabling AI Max on any campaign until three conditions are met.
First: conversion tracking must be clean. AI Max learns from your conversion data. If your tracking is broken, misconfigured, or counting micro-conversions as primary goals, the feature will optimise towards the wrong outcomes and spend your budget accordingly. Fix tracking before you touch AI Max.
Second: the campaign must not be budget-constrained. Expanding query matching while capping budget tightly creates contradictions in the system. Either give the campaign room to grow, or tighten your bid strategy targets so it operates within real boundaries.
Third: use all three features together. The data on partial adoption is clear. Enabling search term matching without text customisation or final URL expansion consistently underperforms. If you are going to test AI Max, go in fully.
How to Prepare Before the September Migration
Never enable AI Max across your entire account simultaneously. Use the built-in one-click experiment feature to run a 50/50 split test on your highest-performing campaign. Run the experiment for a minimum of four weeks, ideally six weeks, to allow the learning period to complete and reach statistical significance. Only scale to additional campaigns after the experiment shows clear positive results.
Here is the preparation plan for advertisers with DSA campaigns:
Step 1 — Audit your DSA campaigns now. Note your current performance baselines: average CPC, conversion rate, cost per lead, and top-performing search terms. You need this data to evaluate the migration outcome.
Step 2 — Run an AI Max experiment on your best Search campaign. Do this before September so you have real data on how AI Max performs in your specific account, rather than relying on Google’s averages.
Step 3 — Build your negative keyword list. During the first two to four weeks after enabling AI Max, check your search terms report daily to identify new patterns that need negative keywords. This front-loaded monitoring pays for itself by catching waste before it accumulates.
Step 4 — Configure text guidelines. Text guidelines let you exclude terms that do not align with your brand positioning and provide natural language instructions about your brand voice and messaging priorities that steer the AI’s creative output. Set these up before the migration, not after.
Step 5 — Set brand controls. AI Max allows brand restrictions at both campaign and ad group level. Use these to prevent your ads appearing alongside competitor brands or in contexts that do not fit your positioning.
What This Means for B2B Advertisers Specifically
B2B accounts tend to have lower conversion volumes than e-commerce, which means AI Max takes longer to exit its learning period and has less data to work with. This makes preparation more important, not less.
For B2B lead generation, the most useful AI Max feature is search term matching — it surfaces intent signals that keyword lists miss, particularly for long, conversational queries from buyers doing research. Final URL expansion is higher risk in B2B, where landing page specificity matters and sending a senior prospect to a generic homepage loses the conversion.
Our recommendation for B2B: enable search term matching and text customisation together, test final URL expansion separately once you have baseline data from the first two features.
The September migration is coming regardless. The question is whether you arrive at it with six weeks of test data and a configured setup, or with an account that Google migrates automatically with default settings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to my DSA campaigns in September if I do nothing? All three AI Max features — search term matching, text customisation, and final URL expansion — will be enabled with your legacy URL controls preserved. Google expects all upgrades to conclude by the end of September. The risk of doing nothing is that the automatic migration uses default settings rather than settings configured for your account. You lose the chance to control how the transition happens.
Is AI Max the same as Performance Max? No. AI Max runs only on Google Search and maintains full keyword control, search terms reporting, and campaign-level negative keywords. Performance Max runs across all Google properties with less transparency. Google recommends using both together, not choosing between them.
Should I enable all three AI Max features at once? Yes, based on the available data. Campaigns using all three features see a 40% higher success rate than those using only search term matching. Partial adoption consistently underperforms full adoption.
How long does AI Max take to exit its learning period? Typically four to six weeks in accounts with sufficient conversion volume. Google recommends running experiments for at least four weeks before drawing conclusions. B2B accounts with lower monthly conversion volumes may need longer.
What is the biggest risk when enabling AI Max? Wasted spend on irrelevant queries in the first few weeks, particularly if negative keyword lists are not in place before launch. Run the search terms report daily for the first two weeks and add exclusions aggressively. The upside of AI Max compounds over time; the downside is concentrated in the learning period.