Starting September 1, Google Ads will begin forcibly activating AI Max for Search features in Search campaigns. The update will not affect all campaigns, but only those with the campaign-level broad match option enabled or automatically created assets running.
When switching to AI Max, the algorithms gain the ability to generate headlines independently, select search queries based on the landing page content, and use other URLs from your website. If the funnel is built strictly around a specific landing page and offer, AI intervention may dilute targeted traffic, distort the message in ads, and drive up the cost per click.
Final URL Expansion should be checked especially carefully. If there are several landing pages on the domain, Google will be able to choose which page to send the user to based on their query. For regular e-commerce, this may be an advantage, but in a tightly structured traffic arbitrage combo, such automatic selection may send traffic to the wrong preland or offer.
How to maintain manual control over campaigns:
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Disable broad match at the campaign level and switch keywords to phrase or exact match within ad groups;
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Disable the «Automatically created assets» setting in the campaign settings;
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Disable Final URL Expansion if traffic should lead only to a specific landing page;
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Add negative keywords and brand exclusion lists to avoid wasting budget on untargeted searches.
Those who do not plan to test Google's generative features with their main budgets should check their settings before the end of August. For experiments with AI Max, it is safer to launch separate campaigns with limited daily budgets.
