AI Max sits inside Search
AI Max adds a set of AI-powered capabilities to an existing Search campaign. Google describes two main areas: search term matching and asset optimization. Turning it on does not create a new campaign alongside Search. As of September 2026, Google also says campaigns using text customization, formerly automatically created assets, will begin automatically upgrading into AI Max, so check the campaign settings rather than assuming AI Max is still off.
For Ad Grants, that matters because reach is often the constraint. A small keyword list can miss useful mission-related searches, but expansion only helps if the website, goals and campaign promise are accurate enough for Google to work from.
Search term matching expands beyond your keyword list
AI Max search term matching combines broad-match and keywordless technology. Google can use the campaign’s existing keywords, ads and URLs to identify relevant queries that were not explicitly listed.
That gives you a way to discover demand beyond the keyword list. Review the search terms and related reporting after launch; when a repeated pattern is wrong, control that pattern rather than immediately narrow the whole campaign.
Related guide: Dynamic Search Ads in Google Ad Grants: prepare for the 2027 AI Max upgrade
Text customization can change the message
With text customization enabled, Google can generate or adapt text using the website and existing ads. That can improve relevance, but it also means the website becomes part of the creative input.
Review pages for outdated claims, old campaigns and promises that should not be generalized. If wording must always appear exactly as written, understand that some AI Max combinations can bypass the protection you expected from RSA pinning.
Final URL expansion can change the landing page
Final URL expansion is enabled by default when you opt in to AI Max. When Google predicts another page on the same domain is more relevant to the query, it can use that destination and create text around it.
A nonprofit with useful service, volunteering and information pages can benefit from that extra coverage, while a site with expired appeals or staff-only and legal pages needs careful exclusions before those URLs become ad destinations.
- Keep genuinely useful public pages available.
- Exclude account, login, legal, expired and otherwise unsuitable destinations.
- Check the actual landing-page report after traffic arrives rather than relying only on the setup screen.
Use URL and brand controls deliberately
AI Max includes controls for where matching and destination expansion can go. Google also supports URL inclusions and exclusions. The right amount of control depends on the promise of the campaign: a broad information campaign can tolerate more discovery than a tightly worded emergency or seasonal appeal.
Avoid exclusions that remove every useful path from the campaign. In Grants, the cost of over-control is often lost reach, so each restriction should solve a specific observed problem.
AI Max is also the direction of travel for DSA
Google now describes AI Max as an evolution of Dynamic Search Ads and has announced that DSA campaigns will begin automatically upgrading to AI Max from February 2027. That makes it worth understanding AI Max even if your account still uses Dynamic Ad Groups today.
Do not treat the migration as a reason to change everything at once. Existing DSA targeting can be reviewed separately, and some legacy URL-rule types become read-only after upgrade.
Judge it with search terms, destinations and outcomes
The right review is broader than “did spend increase?” Check which queries appeared, which pages received the clicks, which text combinations were used and whether the resulting visitors completed meaningful actions.
If AI Max finds additional relevant demand, keep the expansion. If it repeatedly finds the wrong meaning or wrong pages, add the narrowest useful control. If measurement is unreliable, fix that before deciding whether the automation works.