AI Max: what RTN thinks about Google's biggest Search update in years

If you're running Google Search campaigns, AI Max is a name you'll hear a lot more of. Google is pushing a new layer of automation into Search, and it could be the biggest shift since Broad Match or RSAs.

At Run The Numbers®, we've tested and pushed Google Ads automation since day one. AI Max looks like it matters. The question worth asking is whether it improves performance or just hands more control to the machine.

What AI Max actually is

AI Max is Google's PMax-style automation, built for Search. It pushes machine learning deeper into your existing Search campaigns, but with more transparency and control than PMax had when it launched.

The headline features:

• Expanded query matching. Your keywords become signals rather than hard limits. AI Max goes broader to catch high-intent searches you'd otherwise miss, using machine learning to read intent. Think Broad Match and dynamic search ads pulled into one, with tighter targeting.
• Final URL expansion. Google can pick the most relevant landing page for a query rather than the one you assigned. You stay in control: whitelist or exclude URLs as needed.
• Dynamic text customisation. Headlines and descriptions get generated from your website and the user's query. It's not set-and-forget though. You review and edit before anything goes live.
• Brand and location controls at ad group level. More precise geo-targeting and brand safety, which matters for multi-location and franchise businesses. This one's been a long time coming.
• Synthetic keywords. A reporting signal that shows what the user actually meant, even when the typed query was vague or conversational. Useful for reading intent.

Where RTN lands on it

Cautiously optimistic. AI Max reads like Google has listened to the PPC community for once. The balance between automation and control is better than PMax ever managed. You can still steer the campaign, set your guardrails, and make the strategic calls while the automation does the heavy lifting underneath.

The parts worth being positive about: smarter intent capture without losing the wheel, more flexibility on creative and landing page mapping, real visibility into how Google reads queries, and the fact you don't have to use it if it doesn't suit the account.

The catch

New doesn't mean better. Switch to AI Max with no guardrails and you can watch costs climb and ROAS fall.

It rewards accounts that have the basics right: clean, well-structured websites, solid conversion tracking, clear goals, and proper negative keyword lists. Without those, the extra reach just buys you more of the wrong traffic. In the right hands it's powerful. In the wrong ones it's an expensive way to lose control.

What we're doing about it

RTN will test AI Max in controlled conditions with selected clients as the features land. We're building the SOPs, the asset review process, and the guardrails up front, so it sharpens campaign management rather than replacing it.

The accounts that win with AI Max won't be the ones with the biggest budgets. They'll be the ones set up properly and watched closely.

When can you expect it? It's in closed beta now, with open beta expected at the end of May. Keep an eye on your Google Ads interface.