If you run Google Search ads, there is a good chance your campaigns changed this month without anyone asking you.
From 1 September 2026, Google began automatically upgrading Search campaigns that use automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match to AI Max, rolling out through the month. You did not need to click anything. Your campaigns now let Google decide more of what your ads say, which searches they appear on, and which page a click lands on.
That might be good for your business. It might not. Google’s own reports are not the right place to find out, and this post explains why, and what to check instead.
What actually changed on 1 September
AI Max is not a new campaign type. It is a bundle of AI features switched on inside an existing Search campaign. Google announced the automatic upgrade in April 2026, and the timing depends on how your campaigns were set up.
Upgraded from 1 September 2026: campaigns using automatically created assets (ad copy variations Google already wrote for you) or campaign-level broad match (a setting that shows your ad on searches Google judges related to your keywords, not just close matches). Google also stopped allowing new campaigns to be created with those older settings from 3 August.
Not yet: campaigns using Dynamic Search Ads, the older format where Google chose the landing page and wrote the headline. Google delayed that migration in June, citing a need to protect campaign performance during the transition. The remaining Dynamic Search Ads campaigns move to AI Max from February 2027, with the ability to create new ones ending in the weeks beforehand.
So if you only run Dynamic Search Ads, nothing has changed yet, but it will. If you use broad match or let Google write ad variations, it probably already has.
What AI Max does to a campaign
Three features do most of the work, and all three hand a decision from you to Google.
Search term matching. Google shows your ad on searches it predicts are relevant, including searches that do not resemble any keyword you chose. Once it is on, the match type you set on your keywords no longer governs where the campaign appears.
Text customisation. Google writes headlines and descriptions using your existing ads, your landing pages and generative AI. It is on by default, and Google’s own help pages confirm these generated assets cannot be edited by hand.
Final URL expansion. Google sends a click to whichever page on your site it predicts will perform best, even if that is not the page you chose for the ad. It is also on by default, and it depends on text customisation being switched on.
You keep some controls. You can include or exclude brands, exclude specific pages from being used as landing pages, restrict ad groups to certain pages, and set locations of interest. In April 2026 Google added a feature called AI Brief for giving the system written guidelines on what your ads should and should not say, rolling out in English over the following months, along with a way to make sure required legal disclaimers still appear when Google changes the landing page.
What Google’s performance claims do and do not prove
Google has published two headline numbers for AI Max, and they measure different things.
When it launched AI Max in May 2025, Google said advertisers who activate it “will typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS,” rising to 27% for campaigns still mostly using exact and phrase match keywords. CPA means cost per acquisition and ROAS means return on ad spend, so the claim is more conversions at the same efficiency. That compares AI Max switched on against switched off, based on Google’s internal data.
In its April 2026 upgrade announcement, Google cited a smaller figure: an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value. That compares using the full AI Max feature set against using search term matching alone, which is a narrower comparison.
Both are Google’s own figures about Google’s own product, with no independent audit and only a one-line description of method. That does not make them false. It does mean they are not evidence about your account.
There is a deeper problem, and it applies even if the numbers are exactly right for you.
”More conversions” means more of whatever you told Google to count
A conversion in Google Ads is whatever you marked as one. For many small businesses that is a contact form submission, a click on a phone number, or a visit to a thank-you page. Google’s automated bidding optimises toward the conversion actions you set as primary. It has no way to know that one form fill became a $40,000 contract and another was a student asking for free advice.
Google makes the same point in its own guidance on value-based bidding, a mode that bids on how much a conversion is worth rather than how many you get. It exists precisely because some conversions are worth more to a business than others. If AI Max finds you 14% more form fills and most of the extra ones never buy, your report shows a win and your revenue does not move.
That is the question AI Max makes urgent. Search term matching and landing page expansion both widen the net. A wider net catches more of whatever you are measuring. If what you are measuring is a shallow signal, you will get more of the shallow signal.
What to check in your first 30 to 60 days
Everything below is documented in Google’s own help pages. It takes an afternoon to work through once, then a short check each week.
- See what is switched on. In each campaign’s settings, the AI Max section shows whether search term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion are active.
- Read the search terms report, twice. Filter by the “AI Max” match type to see searches the expansion found, then check “Other search terms” as well. Google’s own reporting documentation warns that filtering for AI Max alone may show lower numbers than reality.
- Check where clicks landed. The landing pages report shows which pages final URL expansion actually used. Exclude any page that should never receive paid traffic, such as an outdated service page or a careers page.
- Read what Google wrote for you. In the asset report, headlines and descriptions marked “Added by: Google AI” are the generated ones. Check them for accuracy, especially prices, service areas and claims.
- Fix budget and bidding first. Google states AI Max will not be effective if a campaign is limited by budget, and that its benefits are limited under Manual CPC (cost-per-click) bidding.
- Give it two weeks before judging. Google recommends waiting at least two weeks after enabling AI Max before evaluating results or making changes.
- Test rather than trust. Google offers AI Max experiments, which split traffic within a campaign so you can compare with and without, instead of judging a full rollout with nothing to compare it against.
How to know whether it is really working
The honest test is not whether Google reports more conversions. It is whether AI Max produced more customers and more revenue than your campaigns did before.
Point Google at a better signal. If your sales close offline, set up Google’s qualified lead and converted lead conversion actions and send back which leads actually became customers. Google describes these as letting you “optimize towards deeper lead-to-sale funnel events.” Choose one stage to bid toward: Google warns that bidding to more than one stage at once “can be duplicative and lead to suboptimal performance.”
Count the calls. Many AI Max clicks will land on a page, then turn into a phone call. If calls are not tracked back to the campaign, the campaign gets no credit and the algorithm learns nothing from them. Our call tracking guide explains how a call gets tied back to the ad that produced it.
Compare against revenue, not reported conversions. Put the months before the upgrade next to the months after, and look at new customers and revenue by source, not conversions inside Google Ads. Platform-reported numbers are built on the platform’s own counting rules, which is why they rarely match what lands in your bank account. Our guide to reported versus incremental return goes into why.
How Attriqs helps
AI Max widens where your ads run and what they say. What it cannot tell you is which of those new clicks became paying customers, because Google only sees what you send it.
Attriqs connects your Google Ads spend to actual revenue, including sales that close by phone or in person. Call tracking and multi-touch attribution mean an AI Max click that turned into a phone call three days later is still credited to the campaign that earned it. The UTM manager keeps campaign tagging consistent, so AI Max traffic stays identifiable in your reporting rather than disappearing into a general bucket. And because it reports revenue by campaign rather than conversions by campaign, you can see whether the upgrade made your search budget work harder or simply made your conversion count bigger.
If you are unsure what to ask of any measurement tool, start with our five questions to ask before buying attribution software.
Frequently asked questions
Did Google change my Search campaigns on 1 September 2026?
If your campaigns used automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match, Google began upgrading them to AI Max from 1 September 2026, rolling out through the month. Campaigns using Dynamic Search Ads were not included: Google delayed that migration to February 2027. Check the AI Max section of each campaign’s settings to see what is switched on.
Can I turn AI Max off?
You can turn off its individual features after an upgrade, including text customisation, final URL expansion and, at the ad group level, search term matching. Google’s help documentation notes that turning AI Max off disables all of its features and that campaign performance may be affected.
Is AI Max good for small businesses?
It depends on what your campaigns are optimising toward. AI Max widens the searches and pages your ads use, so it tends to find more of whatever you count as a conversion. If that is a form fill that rarely becomes a sale, you may see more reported conversions without more customers. Feeding back which leads actually bought makes it far more likely to help.
What is the difference between AI Max and Performance Max?
AI Max is a set of AI features switched on inside a Search campaign, which still runs on Google Search. Performance Max is a separate campaign type that runs across Google’s channels, including Search, YouTube, Display and Gmail, from a single campaign.
How do I know if AI Max is actually working?
Compare new customers and revenue by source before and after the upgrade, rather than conversions inside Google Ads. Use Google’s AI Max experiments to split traffic, wait at least two weeks, and make sure phone calls and offline sales are tracked back to the campaign.
See AI Max in revenue terms
If Google changed your campaigns this month and you cannot yet tell whether it helped, that is the right question to be asking. Book a 20-minute walkthrough and we will show you how Attriqs connects your Google Ads campaigns, calls and forms to the revenue they actually produced.