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AI Max for Search campaigns: should UAE advertisers turn it on?
AI Max for Search campaigns is a set of settings inside a Search campaign, not a new campaign type. It matches searches beyond your keywords, writes ad text from your site and can pick another landing page. For UAE lead generation, turn it on only when you bid on qualified leads, and test it in an experiment first.
If you run Google Ads in the UAE, AI Max for Search campaigns may already be on in some of your campaigns, whether or not anyone chose it. Google switches it on by default in new Search campaigns, and said it would move many older campaigns across automatically.
That is no reason to switch it off everywhere. It is a reason to know what it does, check where it is on, and set the guardrails a lead-gen account needs.
What AI Max for Search campaigns changes
Google's help page on how AI Max for Search campaigns works describes it as an optimisation layer with two main features: search term matching and asset optimisation. Your campaign, ad groups and keywords stay where they are.
- Search term matching. Uses broad match and what Google calls keywordless technology to show your ads on searches your keywords would miss. It learns from your keywords, ads and landing pages. It comes on with AI Max, and you can turn it off per ad group. For how broad match differs from exact match, and how Google chooses between your keywords, see my match types guide.
- Text customization. The new name for automatically created assets. Google writes extra headlines and descriptions from your landing pages, ads and keywords, set per campaign.
- Final URL expansion. Sends people to the page on your site that Google predicts will perform best, instead of the final URL you chose. Google says it only uses pages that are relevant to the search and themed to your ad group. It needs text customization on, and when it is on, pinned RSA assets are not respected if Google picks a different URL.
To steer the wider reach, it adds controls: locations of interest, brand settings and URL inclusions and exclusions. Negative keywords still apply, as Google confirms in its AI Max FAQ.
Check whether it is already on in your account
Google's AI Max set-up page says plainly that new Search campaigns have AI Max turned on by default. If anyone built a Search campaign in your account recently, look at its settings before you assume it runs on keywords only.
Older campaigns can be on it too. In April 2026 Google announced that AI Max was out of beta and that campaigns using older settings would be upgraded automatically from September (Google's upgrade announcement). It listed what each group would get:
- Campaigns that used automatically created assets: search term matching and text customization on by default.
- Campaigns that used the campaign-level broad match setting: search term matching on by default.
- Dynamic Search Ads campaigns: all three features on, with existing URL controls kept. Google later delayed this group: its AI Max reporting page now says DSA campaigns will be upgraded automatically starting in February 2027.
To check, open Campaigns, then Settings, pick a Search campaign and open its AI Max section. With several campaigns, add the AI Max settings as columns in the campaign list, which Google's set-up page says you can.
What Google promises, and what it means for lead gen
Google's April 2026 announcement says campaigns using all three AI Max features see an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS, compared with search term matching alone. The footnote says this is Google internal data from 2026, for non-retail advertisers.
It is Google's average, and "conversions" means whatever your account counts as one. If your primary conversion is a form-fill, AI Max will look for more form-fills, and a form-fill from someone who never picks up the phone counts the same as a buyer.
Wider matching makes the quality of that signal matter more, not less: the same trap I describe in my guide to Performance Max lead generation.
Should you turn it on? A rule for UAE lead-gen accounts
Google states two conditions in its own pages. Search term matching, Final URL expansion and text customization require conversion-based Smart Bidding to work effectively, and search term matching does not work at all with Manual CPC (AI Max FAQ). Google also says AI Max will not be effective if a campaign is limited by budget.
On top of those, I use this rule (mine, not Google's):
- Test it if the campaign bids with Maximize conversions or Target CPA on a qualified lead or booked consultation, and that stage comes back from your CRM. My guide to Google Ads offline conversion import covers how.
- Turn on search term matching only if your site has one or two landing pages, or your ads carry wording that must always show in a fixed position. You keep your own pages and pins, and still test wider matching.
- Keep it off for now if the campaign runs on Manual CPC, is limited by budget, or counts every form-fill as a conversion. Fix those first.
Set the guardrails before you switch it on
Most AI Max controls only work while AI Max is on: Google's set-up page notes that URL exclusions and inclusions are ignored if AI Max is turned off. So set them when you turn it on.
- URL exclusions. A campaign-level list of pages Final URL expansion must never use: single URLs, or rules for whole sections.
- Brand settings. Brand lists live under Tools, then Shared library, then Brand lists, and are applied in the AI Max settings. Exclusions are campaign-level; inclusions work per campaign or ad group. With a separate brand campaign, I exclude the brand from non-brand AI Max campaigns, so they cannot claim people already searching for you.
- Tracking templates. Google warns that Final URL expansion plus a tracking template can land people on a 404 page. Its recommended forms start with {lpurl}: {lpurl}?, {lpurl}&, {lpurl}#, or {lpurl} alone. A fixed URL with no {lpurl} sends everyone to that one page. Test one expanded page before going live.
- Locations of interest. Google says this ad group control reaches people based on their geographical intent, even on keywordless matches. Useful when each ad group sells one area, such as one community or branch.
Text guidelines, a beta feature, steer the text Google writes. Google's text guidelines page allows up to 25 term exclusions and 40 messaging restrictions per campaign. They need care in the UAE, where many advertisers run ads in English and Arabic. Google says term exclusions are language-specific: an English word you exclude will not block its Arabic equivalent. Messaging restrictions apply in every language. So anything that must hold in both languages, such as "never promise results" for a clinic or "don't mention prices", belongs in a messaging restriction. This matters more since Google's language targeting change.
New guidelines also apply to existing generated assets, and any that break a rule stop serving. Google warns that badly written guidelines can remove many good assets, so keep them short and specific.
What I check first in UAE lead-gen accounts: the landing page, not the search term. Final URL expansion sends paid clicks to the page Google picks, and on many business sites the candidates include pages that sell nothing. So I build the URL exclusion list first: careers, blog, privacy and any page for a project or offer that has ended. Then I look at the search terms.
Test it with an experiment, then read the right reports
Google's AI Max FAQ describes a 1-click AI Max experiment: if your account is eligible, a recommendation on the Recommendations page sets up a 50/50 split between your campaign as it is and an AI Max version. If you build the experiment yourself under the Experiments tab, you can choose which AI Max features the trial uses.
Then give it time. Google's AI Max reporting page says to wait at least 2 weeks after switching AI Max on before making changes such as adding negative keywords. In a low-volume lead-gen account I judge it over a full sales cycle, on qualified leads from the CRM, not on the conversion column. These are the reports Google points to:
- Keywords report: two rows at the bottom, "Total: AI Max expanded matches" and "Total: AI Max landing page matches", show what AI Max added.
- Search terms report: filter Match type for "AI Max", add the "Source" column, and open the "Search terms and ad combinations" view to see the headline and landing page each search got.
- Landing pages report: the "Selected by" column shows pages AI Max chose. Exclude weak ones straight from the report.
- Asset report: text written by Google is marked "Google AI" in the "Added by" column. Remove anything off-brand or wrong.
Switching AI Max off disables every AI Max feature in that campaign, brand exclusions included, Google's FAQ says. Switching it back on restores them as they were.
What to do this week
- Open every Search campaign and note which AI Max features are on.
- Check the bid strategy and budget. Manual CPC or "Limited by budget" means AI Max cannot do its job.
- Check the primary conversion. Move it to a qualified lead or booked consultation if you can count one.
- Build URL exclusions and brand lists, then write messaging restrictions that work in English and Arabic.
- Test one expanded landing page with your tracking template.
- Run a 50/50 experiment on one campaign, wait at least 2 weeks, and judge it on CRM outcomes.
If you would rather hand the test over, this checklist is where our Google Ads management starts.
Frequently asked questions
Is AI Max a new campaign type?+
Does AI Max respect negative keywords?+
Does AI Max work with Manual CPC?+
What is the difference between AI Max and Performance Max?+
Will my Dynamic Search Ads campaigns be moved to AI Max?+
Related
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