AI Max is a comprehensive suite of targeting and creative features. Two main features, search term matching and asset optimisation, leverage Google AI to optimise your ads in real time and tailor your creative message to reach your customers and drive more value for your business.
This article explains how search term matching and asset optimisation works and lists all available features in AI Max.
For subtitles in your language, turn on YouTube captions. Select the Settings icon at the bottom of the video player, then select Subtitles/CC and choose your language.
Search term matching
Turning on AI Max will turn on search term matching for your campaign. You can toggle it off in the ad group settings.
Benefits
| Incremental reach and performance: With search term matching, you can expand upon your existing keywords using broad match and keywordless technology to find more relevant and high-performing search queries – queries and conversions that you’d otherwise miss. Google AI will learn from your current keywords, creatives and URLs to help you show up on more relevant searches. | |
| More control: AI Max comes with new controls that give you the precision that you previously used keywords for. Exclusively in AI Max for Search campaigns, locations of interest helps you reach specific customers based on their geographical intent at the ad group level. And with brand controls at both the campaign and ad group level, you can specify the exact brands that you want your ads to be associated with, or prevent your ads from appearing alongside specific brands. | |
| More transparency: Headlines and URLs in the search terms report give you a clearer view into customer ad journeys. And the improved asset reports show you how your assets are performing against KPIs like spend and conversions, not just impressions. You’ll have the option to remove any generated assets or specify where you'd like to send your customers with URL controls. New match type values for AI Max and 'source' columns provide insights into why your ads matched. |
Asset optimisation
Asset optimisation is a panel of campaign-level settings that delivers more tailored creative messaging at scale. It includes text customisation (formerly known as automatically created assets) and Final URL expansion settings. Turning on AI Max will turn on text customisation and Final URL expansions for the campaign. You can toggle them off individually in campaign settings.
Text customisation
Final URL expansion
Benefits
| Improved performance: Google automatically sends users to the landing page from your domain that is predicted to perform best and serves relevant ad copy customised to user intent. This unlocks new user journeys that can drive incremental performance. | |
| More relevant ads: Asset optimisation helps optimise your ad to better tailor your creative message to the user and drive more value for your business. | |
| Drive efficiency: Improve your efficiency with automatically created ads with just a few clicks. Enabling these settings can drive better results with less time and less manual effort. | |
| More transparency: Gain deeper insights into performance metrics with improved performance and contextual reporting for your assets. |
Features available in AI Max
With AI Max, you’ll be able to balance driving better performance and improving flexibility with AI, all while gaining new, precise controls for your campaigns. The following features and settings are included in AI Max:
| Search term matching |
Search term matching uses broad match, asset-based and landing page-based technology to improve campaign reach. Ad group level control (on by default when AI Max is turned on for the campaign) |
|
Text customisation (formerly known as automatically created assets) |
Uses text from your existing ads, landing page copy and assets along with generative AI to create customised ad copy that’s more relevant to specific user searches. Campaign-level control |
|
Send traffic to the most relevant URLs on your website when it's likely to result in better performance. Final URL expansion will only send traffic to URLs that are query-relevant and themed to your ad group. Requires text customisation to be turned on to ensure that ad copy matches landing page. When Final URL expansion is turned on for your campaign, pinned assets aren’t used if a more relevant URL is chosen, because they may not match the customer’s intent. Learn more About asset optimisation. Campaign-level control |
|
| Locations of interest |
Reach specific customers based on their geographical intent even in keywordless matches. Ad group level control |
| Brand settings |
Specify the exact brands that you want your ads to be associated with (brand inclusions), or prevent your ads from appearing alongside specific brands (brand exclusions). Brand inclusions: Campaign and ad group level control Brand exclusions: Campaign-level control |
| URL inclusions |
Utilise URL inclusions to include URLs that were not captured by Final URL expansion. Learn more about how to use URL inclusions. When URL inclusions is turned on for your campaign, pinned assets won't be used if a more relevant URL is chosen. Learn more About asset optimisation. Ad group level control |
| URL exclusions |
Exclude specific URLs from serving as landing pages in your campaign Campaign-level control |
| Updates to reporting |
AI Max includes reporting improvements to help track your campaign’s performance.
|
Upgrading existing campaign settings to AI Max
Campaigns that have enabled the following features prior to adopting AI Max will notice a change in how these settings can be managed. To learn more, navigate to the dedicated feature page linked below:
- Text customisation (formerly known as automatically created assets): Upgraded into AI Max
- Brand settings: Upgraded into AI Max
- Broad match campaign setting: Upgraded into AI Max
After AI Max is activated for a campaign, these settings will be fully upgraded.
Tracking parameters and AI Max: Best practices
For advertisers
AI Max helps you improve how your ads match search terms, optimising ad content and Final URL expansion (FUE), which includes using dynamic landing pages that are more relevant to search queries. However, when combined with existing tracking templates, these dynamic URLs can sometimes lead to broken expanded landing pages with a 404 error if the tracking templates aren’t configured in a compatible way.
Best practices for LPURL tags
Tracking templates define how tracking information is appended to your landing page URLs, enabling you to get additional tracking data. AI Max introduces landing page automation, which substitutes advertiser-provided URLs with dynamic landing pages.
If your campaign currently uses a tracking template, verify that a dynamic landing page from AI Max’s Final URL expansion (FUE) works on your landing page before enabling AI Max.
To avoid landing page errors, ensure that tracking parameters are correctly set from the dynamic landing page. This is particularly important when LPURL tags follow specific common patterns if there are tracking parameters following the landing page:
- {lpurl}?
- {lpurl}&
- {lpurl}#
- {lpurl} (Used if there are no tracking parameters. Using the LPURL tag will ensure that AI Max can use the dynamic landing page)
When dynamic landing pages may not work as expected
In some cases, when dynamic landing pages from AI Max's FUE may not function correctly with tracking templates, these may be the reason:
- Static tracking URLs: If your tracking template specifies a static URL without any {lpurl} tag (e.g. https://www.domain.com/), users may be directed to this static URL instead of a dynamic landing page.
- Non-standard LPURL tag usage: Some less common forms of LPURL tags, other than the recommended ones, could cause 404 errors. For example, if the LPURL tag is only a portion of a URL parameter (like foo={lpurl}value)), dynamic landing pages may not work as intended.
