If you manage Google Ads campaigns then make sure the 1st September is marked in your calendar because from September 2026, Google is automatically upgrading eligible Search campaigns that are using Automatically Created Assets (ACA) and/or the campaign-level broad match setting to AI Max for Search campaigns.
If you’re wondering what on earth that means, you’re probably not alone. Google has been steadily moving more of the work involved in Search campaigns towards AI, and this is another step in that direction. Rather than leaving some of its older automation features sitting separately within campaigns, Google is bringing them under the AI Max umbrella.
The important bit? If you have either of these legacy settings running, you don’t necessarily need to do anything on the 1st September. But you should understand what is changing, check which campaigns are affected and decide whether you want to make the move yourself before Google does it for you.
First things first: what is AI Max?
Despite the slightly ominous name, AI Max isn’t a completely new type of Google Ads campaign. It’s a suite of AI-powered targeting and creative features that sits within existing Search campaigns.
AI Max can help Google find additional relevant searches using a combination of broad match, landing page and asset signals, while also using AI to customise ad copy and when enabled, expand landing page selection.
Google describes AI Max as an optimisation layer for Search campaigns rather than a new campaign type. The idea is fairly simple: instead of advertisers having to predict every possible search someone might make, Google wants its systems to use more signals to work out which searches are relevant and which ads and landing pages are most likely to perform.
And, whether you love that idea or hate handing Google more control, it is very clearly where Search is heading.
So, what’s changing?
There are two legacy settings you need to know about: Automatically Created Assets (ACA) and the campaign-level broad match setting.
Both are being moved into AI Max for eligible Search campaigns from September 2026. Google says the automatic upgrades are expected to be completed by the end of September.
1. Automatically Created Assets are becoming Text Customisation within AI Max
If you’ve used Automatically Created Assets, you may already have seen the terminology changing. Google now calls this feature Text Customisation.
It allows Google to generate additional headlines and descriptions for Responsive Search Ads using information such as your existing ads, keywords, landing pages and website content. The idea is that Google can create ad copy that is more closely aligned with an individual search query rather than relying solely on the assets you’ve manually provided.
From September, eligible campaigns using ACA will be upgraded to AI Max, with search term matching and text customisation enabled by default to mirror the legacy setup. So, if you’ve been using ACA, this isn’t Google suddenly deciding to rewrite your entire advertising strategy overnight. It is essentially moving that functionality into its newer AI Max framework.
2. Campaign-level broad match is also moving into AI Max
This one is perhaps more interesting for PPC teams. The campaign-level broad match setting allows a Search campaign to use broad match exclusively. When enabled, existing phrase and exact match keywords are converted to broad match, and new keywords added to the campaign also use broad match. Google says this setting is available for campaigns using conversion-based Smart Bidding.
From September, campaigns using this setting will be upgraded to AI Max, with search term matching enabled by default.
What is search term matching?
Search term matching is one of the main parts of AI Max. It allows Google to go beyond simply looking at the keywords you’ve added to a campaign. AI Max can use broad match, keywordless technology, your existing keywords, creative assets and URLs to identify additional searches that it believes are relevant to your business.
In other words, Google is increasingly asking advertisers to tell it what the business is about and what a valuable customer looks like, rather than trying to manually build a keyword list that accounts for every possible way someone could search.
Search behaviour isn’t predictable. People don’t necessarily search for the exact product name you’ve put into your keyword list. They might use different language, describe a problem rather than a product or make a much more specific search than you anticipated. AI Max is designed to pick up some of those additional opportunities.
But there’s an obvious flip side. More reach doesn’t automatically mean more revenue. For eCommerce brands, particularly those with large product ranges and tight margins, letting Google find more searches needs to be approached with some thought.
Should you be worried about losing control?
This is probably the biggest concern we hear whenever Google introduces another layer of automation.
Broad match has historically had a reputation for bringing in searches that are technically related to a keyword but aren’t necessarily valuable to the business. AI Max is designed to give advertisers more controls alongside that broader matching.
For example, AI Max includes brand controls, location-of-interest controls, URL inclusions and exclusions, as well as reporting that provides more information about why a search matched.
The Search Terms Report also introduces an AI Max match type and source information to help advertisers understand whether incremental traffic came through broad match expansion or keywordless matching.
Instead of controlling every possible search through a huge list of keywords, Google increasingly wants advertisers to use signals, exclusions, brand controls, landing-page controls and conversion data to guide the machine.
What does this mean for eCommerce brands?
This is where we think the change gets particularly interesting. For an eCommerce brand, there are thousands of ways a potential customer could search for the same product.
Take something as simple as a pair of women’s waterproof walking boots.
You could build a huge keyword list around:
“Women’s waterproof walking boots”
But customers could also search for: “waterproof boots for hiking women”, “best boots for wet weather walking”, “women’s boots for muddy walks”, “waterproof boots for dog walking”, “comfortable waterproof walking boots women” and plenty more.
The challenge has always been deciding where to draw the line between useful additional reach and irrelevant traffic that costs you money. AI Max is designed to let Google do more of that interpretation.
For brands with strong conversion tracking, good product data, sensible campaign structures and plenty of historical performance data, that could create opportunities to capture searches you weren’t explicitly targeting.
But it also makes the foundations underneath your PPC campaigns even more important. If Google is using your keywords, ads, website content, landing pages and conversion signals to understand what you sell and who it should show your ads to, those signals need to be good.
AI doesn’t magically fix a messy account. It can just make decisions within that messy account faster.
What should you actually do before September 1st?
The first thing is don’t wait until 1st September to find out whether you’re affected. Google is recommending that advertisers make the move to AI Max themselves ahead of the automatic upgrades. That gives you more control over when the change happens and allows you to familiarise yourself with the new settings.
Audit your campaigns
Take a look through your Search campaigns and identify any using:
- Automatically Created Assets / Text Customisation
- The campaign-level broad match setting
- AI Max already
- Conversion-based Smart Bidding
You want to understand exactly which campaigns are going to be affected rather than treating the account as one big experiment.
Review your negative keywords
If you’re going to give Google more freedom to identify relevant searches, make sure you’ve got strong protections against the searches you don’t want. Your negative keyword strategy becomes even more important when you’re deliberately expanding reach.
Check your conversion tracking
This one is non-negotiable. AI-driven bidding and targeting are only as useful as the signals you’re giving Google. If you’re optimising towards the wrong conversion, counting poor-quality leads or missing purchases, giving Google more freedom isn’t going to solve the problem, it’s going to make it bigger.
Look at your landing pages
AI Max can use landing page and URL signals when matching searches and Final URL Expansion is one of the features available within AI Max. If your website contains outdated pages, thin category pages, irrelevant content or pages that aren’t designed to convert, now is a good time to take a closer look at them.
Don’t judge performance overnight
Any significant change to targeting deserves monitoring. Look at the things that actually matter to the business: conversions, conversion value, CPA, ROAS, new customer acquisition and ultimately revenue and profit.
Don’t make a decision based purely on impressions or clicks increasing. More traffic is easy. More profitable traffic is the goal.
Do you need to switch to AI Max now?
Not necessarily. But if you’re using ACA or the campaign-level broad match setting, it is worth getting familiar with AI Max before Google makes the change for you on the 1st September.
Google has already made AI Max available for existing Search campaigns, and advertisers can activate or edit its settings from the campaign interface. There is also the option to test AI Max through Google’s experiment tools rather than making a blanket change across an account.
For larger eCommerce accounts, we’d always favour understanding what you’re changing and testing where appropriate rather than flicking a switch across every campaign and hoping the algorithm knows best.
One important thing: DSA is different
If you’ve seen headlines saying “Google is migrating everything to AI Max on 1st September”, there’s an important distinction. Google originally announced that Dynamic Search Ads (DSA), Automatically Created Assets and campaign-level broad match would all move to AI Max in September.
However, Google subsequently delayed the DSA migration until February 2027 to give advertisers more time to transition. The September 2026 automatic upgrade still applies to campaigns using ACA and the campaign-level broad match setting.
So, if you’re running DSA, don’t assume 1st September is suddenly the end of the road for those campaigns. You’ve got a little longer.
The bigger picture: Google wants Search to become more predictive
This change is bigger than a setting disappearing from the Google Ads interface. It’s another example of the direction PPC is moving in.
For years, a huge part of Search management was about building keyword lists, deciding match types and telling Google exactly which searches you wanted to target and while that’s not disappearing completely, the balance is changing, Google increasingly wants its systems to understand intent, rather than simply matching words.
AI Max is built around that idea. It uses more signals, more automation and more AI to decide which searches, messages and landing pages could be most valuable. For advertisers, that means the role of the PPC manager is changing too.
It’s becoming less about trying to predict every single search a customer might make and more about giving Google the right data, the right boundaries and the right commercial objective to work with.
The better your tracking, website, product data, campaign structure, creative, negative keywords and understanding of your customer, the better position you are in to take advantage of what AI Max can actually do.
If you need any help with your PPC or understanding this new change, get in touch with our expert team at eComOne who will be more than happy to help you.
