If you run Google Ads on campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets, Google is upgrading those campaigns to AI Max during September 2026 — automatically, whether you asked for it or not. Your budget, brand exclusions and negative keywords carry over. What changes is which searches you show up for, and which page those clicks land on.
What exactly is Google changing in September 2026?
Two specific campaign setups are being flipped to AI Max this month, and a third was given a reprieve until next year.
According to Search Engine Land’s 14 August 2026 report, Google stopped letting anyone create new campaign-level broad match or legacy automatically created asset campaigns on 3 August 2026, then began migrating existing ones automatically between 1 and 30 September 2026. Campaigns are migrated in place using equivalent AI Max settings, with brand inclusions and exclusions carried over.
The detail that matters is that the two campaign types are not treated the same. PPC Land reported on 6 August 2026 that campaigns running automatically created assets get both search term matching and text customization switched on by default, while campaign-level broad match campaigns get search term matching only.
Dynamic Search Ads are the reprieve: that migration was pushed back to February 2027, per Google’s own Ads & Commerce blog. If DSA is the only thing you run, nothing happens this month.
| What you run today | What happens | When |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign-level broad match | Search term matching turned on | 1–30 September 2026 |
| Automatically created assets | Search term matching and text customization turned on | 1–30 September 2026 |
| Dynamic Search Ads | Upgraded to AI Max | February 2027 |
| Standard keyword campaigns (exact/phrase) | No automatic change | — |
What does AI Max actually do to my ads?
It widens the net on three fronts: which queries you match, what your headlines say, and which URL the click lands on.
Search term matching finds queries beyond your keyword list. Text customization rewrites or generates headlines and descriptions to fit the query. Final URL expansion sends the click to whichever page on your site Google judges most relevant, which is not necessarily the landing page you set.
For a five-page home services site, that last one is usually harmless. For a shop with sixty product pages or a dozen service-area pages, it is the setting most likely to cost you money quietly.
Does AI Max perform better than what I had?
Google’s own claim is modest, and independent testing has been considerably less flattering.
In the 15 April 2026 post announcing general availability, Google stated that AI Max Search campaigns see an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS when the full feature suite is used, compared with search term matching alone. Google’s Ads Help documentation still carries a higher 14% figure; PPC Land reported that the 7% number was a revision downward from that earlier claim.
The counter-evidence is worth knowing before you assume the upgrade is free money. PPC Land’s May 2026 coverage of advertiser pushback cited independent testing from November 2025 in which AI Max delivered roughly 35% lower ROAS than traditional match types, with cost per conversion at $100.37 against $43.97 for phrase match. That is US and international practitioner testing, not Canadian data, and it predates a year of Google’s refinements — but it is the reason to watch your account rather than trust the default.
Practitioners quoted in that same piece were specific about where it breaks. Freelance Google Ads manager Joey Bidner and performance marketing manager Rameez Ramzan both flagged URL matching: specific product queries landing on generic pages, and URL exclusions behaving less reliably than under Dynamic Search Ads.
What controls do I still have?
More than the word "automatic" suggests — but you have to go and use them.
Search term matching can be switched off at the ad group level. Text customization can be constrained with text guidelines, which include an exclusion list capped at 25 terms — enough to keep a regulated claim, a competitor’s name or a discontinued product out of your headlines. Final URL expansion is a campaign-level toggle you can simply turn off.
The reporting is the genuinely useful part of this release. Google’s Ads API now exposes a search term match source segment labelling every query as advertiser-provided keyword, AI Max broad match or AI Max keywordless, so you can see how much of your spend the AI is choosing. There is also an expanded landing page view showing the URL actually served. One warning from the API documentation: the AI Max search term view overlaps the classic search terms report, so never add metrics from the two together.
What to do this week
- Check whether you were migrated. Open each Search campaign’s settings and look for the AI Max section. If search term matching is on and you did not turn it on, September happened to you.
- Pull the search terms report and segment by match source. Look at the keywordless and AI Max broad match rows. If those queries are irrelevant to what you sell, add negatives now — your existing negative keyword lists still apply.
- Decide on final URL expansion deliberately. If you have more than a handful of landing pages, check the expanded landing page view for a week. If clicks are landing on your homepage instead of the specific page, turn expansion off.
- Set text guidelines if your wording is regulated. Mortgage, legal, medical and trades advertisers especially: put the claims you cannot make into the exclusion list before Google writes a headline for you.
If you would rather someone else did this pass across your account, that is the kind of work our Google Ads management team does every week.
Frequently asked questions
Can I opt out of the AI Max migration entirely?
Not the migration itself — Google moved the campaigns regardless. But you can effectively return to your old behaviour by switching search term matching off at the ad group level and turning final URL expansion off at the campaign level. That leaves you with your keyword list and your chosen landing pages, roughly where you were before September. What you cannot do is create new campaign-level broad match or legacy automatically created asset campaigns; Google closed that door on 3 August 2026.
Do my negative keywords still work in AI Max?
Yes. Negative keywords and negative keyword lists continue to apply, and Google confirmed that brand inclusions and exclusions carry over through the migration in place. They matter more than they used to, because search term matching brings in queries you never added. Review the search terms report weekly for the first month rather than monthly, and build negatives from what you actually see rather than from what you expect.
Will my cost per lead go up after the upgrade?
It can go either way, depending on how tightly your account was already structured. Accounts running loose broad match with thin negatives often see little difference. Accounts with disciplined exact and phrase match structures are where practitioner testing has shown costs rising — the November 2025 independent test reported cost per conversion of $100.37 under AI Max versus $43.97 on phrase match. Watch your own numbers for two to three weeks before judging.
Does this affect Performance Max campaigns?
No. AI Max is a set of features for Search campaigns, not a change to Performance Max, which already has its own automated matching and asset generation. If your account is mostly Performance Max, this September migration does not touch it. Only standard Search campaigns running campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets were flipped.
Not sure what changed in your account this month? We will tell you in two days, free — book a free 48-hour ad account audit.
Sources: Search Engine Land, 14 August 2026; Google Ads & Commerce blog, 15 April 2026; PPC Land, 6 August 2026; PPC Land, 20 May 2026; Google Ads Help: About AI Max for Search campaigns.