AI Max Turns 1 with new ways to steer performance and expansion to more advertisers

The way people find information, shop and get things done has changed fundamentally, making it difficult to manually meet every search with the right ad. Last year, we introduced AI Max for Search campaigns to help you capture these opportunities in an expanding Search universe. Since launch, AI Max has become the fastest-growing AI-powered Search ads product. ¹ Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re bringing AI Max to Shopping campaigns and travel-specific formats, while introducing new features that make it easier to guide AI with your specific brand tone, messaging and matching requirements.

Reaching more customers in Shopping and Travel

AI Max for Shopping campaigns lets retailers meet shoppers’ intent before they even search for specific product details. It uses your Merchant Center feeds to transform product data into dynamic Shopping ads that answer conversational queries — a feature also coming to Performance Max. Ultimately, AI Max for Shopping campaigns capture the complex, long-tail searches that standard Shopping campaigns miss, providing an easy, one-click upgrade for immediate incremental reach.

For Travel advertisers, you previously had to manage fragmented campaign types across different interfaces. Search campaigns for Travel bring your feeds and formats into one place via AI Max — simplifying your workflow while giving you a cohesive view of performance.

Guiding AI with your expertise using AI Brief

Powered by Gemini, AI Brief offers a new way to use your own words to steer AI Max. You can provide rich context by informing AI on your business, what you want your messages to say and who you want to reach.

• Messaging Guidelines: Tell AI Brief exactly what your ads should — and shouldn't — say, e.g., “never mention prices.”
• Matching Guidelines: Set boundaries for the searches you want to capture or avoid, e.g., “prioritize searches for healthy pantry staples.”
• Audience Guidelines: Reach your desired audience and serve them tailored messages, e.g., “for people who are health conscious, highlight our clean products.”

AI Brief keeps you in the driver’s seat by sharing previews of sample assets and searches so you can provide feedback and iterate before you commit.

AI Brief will roll out in English for AI Max for Search campaigns over the coming months, followed by Performance Max and AI Max for Shopping campaigns. When you start using AI Brief, your existing text guidelines will automatically move to messaging guidelines within AI Brief.

Connecting searches to the right pages on your site

Landing pages are critical for conversions, but as searches become more conversational and unique, it's become impossible to manually choose the right page for every query. Final URL expansion (FUE) uses Google AI to identify the best destination for each search, ensuring your customers find exactly what they need when they need it.

If you’re an advertiser in a regulated industry that needs to have mandatory text in your ads, you could do that with text customization as long as you weren’t using FUE — until now. We’re launching text disclaimers, which guarantee that required text always appears in your ads — even when using final URL expansion. Rolling out in the coming weeks, this helps you maintain ad compliance while leveraging AI to direct customers to the most relevant landing page.

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