One Step Further Toward Automated Campaigns
With the presentation of the Power Pack in 2025, Google Ads continues its mission of incorporating and boosting Artificial Intelligence across all campaigns.
In this post, we’re going to talk about a new feature for search campaigns: AI Max for Search.
A solution that, in just one click, enhances targeting, ads and final urls. It allows you to run search campaigns without manually adding keywords or ads. The AI takes on the task of detecting user intent, generating ads, optimizing bids, and selecting landing pages in real time for each search.
It can be understood as the evolution of DSA, with new functionalities based on machine learning. Its goal is to ease the workload of account managers while broadening search reach.
Foundations of AI Max for Search
Here’s a summary of the main points that define Google’s bold move:
- Cover more search terms: Going one step beyond broad match. As in DSA, there are no keywords—it’s called “Keywordless.” The AI learns from existing keywords, ads, and URLs. It even promises to predict user needs and adapt elements accordingly to improve conversion rates.
- Dynamic ad texts: Under the “asset optimization” section, titles and descriptions are generated and adapted in real time for each search. Each user is promised a personalized ad tailored to their intent, increasing the probability of clicks and conversions.
- Final URL expansion (dynamic landing pages): The AI directs users to the most relevant landing page according to their search.
- More advanced automated bidding: Bids are further personalized using Google’s user data. Manual bidding strategies can still be maintained.
- Advanced controls and greater transparency: Brands can be excluded or included at the campaign or ad group level. Google also introduces “interest location” targeting at the ad group level.
AI Max will provide detailed reporting of this campaign type, offering more control and visibility than Performance Max campaigns—likely as a response to frequent complaints about lack of transparency in PMax.
Key Considerations
- It relies on automated assets, similar to PMax. These usually aren’t high quality, so monitoring performance is crucial. Keep in mind that Google still creates automatic assets in PMax even when they’re disabled. Quality should improve over time as Google better understands what works in each account. For now, there are many cases where assets are inaccurate or misleading.
👉 Check with Dolnai if Google is overriding your assets with low-quality ones. - Risk of traffic getting out of control: It promises to capture new searches, especially longer-tail queries. The risk is paying for traffic with no purchase intent—similar to broad match issues, which often attract irrelevant or cross-industry searches. This is a key concern.
- Language targeting ending in 2025: Google has announced that by the end of 2025, you won’t be able to choose the language of search campaigns. This could amplify the lack of control with AI Max. Negative keywords will become more important than ever, and support tools like Dolnai’s N-Gram will be essential to qualify traffic and guide Google.
- It’s new and still learning: While it has the potential to be powerful, it’s not mature yet.
- Reduced control for SEM Managers: As Google keeps removing levers, we fear that in the future bid strategies might not be customizable, or that negative keywords will increasingly be ignored—a concern we already hear from many clients.
- Unclear intent of new searches: Will these new queries really have transactional intent, or are they just informational? We’ll see if Google can adjust bids accordingly.
- Landing page exclusions are key: Pages that don’t drive conversions or historically underperform must be excluded. Algorithm oversight and analysis will be critical.
- Google recommends not restricting AI too much so it can learn. At least 1–2 weeks should pass before making drastic changes. The problem, as always, is that it learns with your budget in the meantime 😉.
Early Results
Google estimates a 14% increase in conversions (or conversion value) while maintaining a similar CPA/ROAS.
Of course, success will also depend on the account manager’s work, the scalability of the business, and more.
Some showcased success stories include:
- L’Oréal – achieved a 2X increase in conversion rate along with a 31% drop in cost per conversion, thanks to capturing queries competitors weren’t targeting. This suggests big opportunities in each sector if competitors haven’t yet adopted AI Max. What remains unclear is whether such strong results will last over time.
- MyConnect – achieved 16% more leads while reducing cost per conversion by 13%.
Conclusions & Recommendations
Although AI Max can boost account performance and expand traffic capture, close account management is essential. Monitoring what works and what doesn’t will determine success. Google is offering a powerful new vehicle to explore additional traffic, but it’s up to account managers to drive it wisely.
Key advantages include ease of setup—especially for complex websites with many products. Running A/B tests with AI Max is a smart way to measure its real impact on your account.
At Dolnai, our conclusion is that we should embrace new tools, not reject them out of fear. But we must adopt them with control, using the best tools available to optimize both money and—our most valuable resource—time.
