Google Ads AI Max Upgrade: What Merchants Must Do

If you run Google Search ads for your store, the Google Ads AI Max upgrade is arriving in your account this month whether you asked for it or not. Starting in September 2026, Google is automatically moving eligible Search campaigns that use the campaign-level broad match setting or automatically created assets into AI Max, and the old versions of those settings are not coming back. This guide covers what actually changes, which controls you still hold, and the checks worth running before the rollout reaches your campaigns.

What changed in Google Ads this month

AI Max is not a new campaign type, which is the first thing to get straight. Google describes it as a suite of targeting and creative features that sits on top of your existing Search campaigns and optimises them in real time, according to the official Google Ads documentation. It arrived as an opt-in beta and has now moved out of beta.

The part that matters right now is the migration. In its announcement about Dynamic Search Ads, Google confirmed that campaigns using automatically created assets and the campaign-level broad match setting continue to be auto-upgraded starting in September 2026, while the Dynamic Search Ads sunset and auto-upgrade was pushed back to February 2027. Google’s own advice is to move first rather than wait, so you can, in its words, “maintain full control over your campaign setup”.

Google also cites an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS for campaigns running the full AI Max feature suite — search term matching, text customization and final URL expansion — compared with running search term matching alone. Read that as a vendor benchmark, not a promise for your account.

Which Search campaigns are being upgraded, and which are not

This is the most misread part of the change. According to PPC Land’s reporting on the 1 September start, the trigger is the campaign-level broad match setting, not broad match keywords. If you use broad match at the keyword level inside an otherwise standard Search campaign, that on its own does not put you into the automatic migration.

• In scope: Search campaigns with the campaign-level broad match setting switched on.
• In scope: Search campaigns with automatically created assets, now referred to as text customization.
• Not automatically in scope: standard keyword-based Search campaigns that use neither of those two legacy settings.
• Not this month: Dynamic Search Ads, which Google has placed on a February 2027 timeline.

There is also no middle path. PPC Land notes that you can either turn the legacy features off yourself or turn AI Max on manually; no third option keeps those legacy settings working as they do today.

What gets switched on by default, and the controls you keep

The defaults differ depending on which legacy setting you were using, and that difference decides how much your account changes overnight.

What you have today	What it becomes	Switched on by default
Campaign-level broad match setting	AI Max	Search term matching only
Automatically created assets	AI Max	Search term matching and text customization
Keyword-level broad match, standard campaign	Unchanged by the automatic move	Nothing
Dynamic Search Ads	Unchanged this month	Nothing until February 2027

Controls worth setting before matching widens

AI Max is more configurable than the automated campaign types that came before it. Google’s documentation lists several controls that used to require keywords:

• Brand settings. Brand exclusions are set at campaign level, and brand inclusions can be set at campaign or ad group level.
• Locations of interest. Reach people by the geographic intent in their query, set at ad group level.
• URL inclusions and exclusions. URL inclusions are set at ad group level and URL exclusions at campaign level. Final URL expansion can send traffic to other pages on your site, so decide in advance which pages are allowed to receive it.

What changes in your reports

Reporting shifts too, which matters if you have dashboards or monthly reports built on the old shapes. PPC Land describes three changes: the search terms report gains AI Max as a match type alongside a source column that separates broad match expansion from keywordless matching, the keywords report shows AI Max summary rows, and the landing pages report adds a selected by column.

Your checklist before the upgrade reaches your account

Work through this in order. It takes an afternoon for a small account and it is far cheaper than reverse-engineering a bad month later.

1. Open every Search campaign and write down which ones have campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets enabled. That list is your exposure.
2. Export the last 30 days of cost, conversions, CPA, ROAS and search terms for those campaigns. Without a baseline you cannot judge the change.
3. Decide per campaign: migrate manually now and choose your own settings, or accept the defaults the automatic move applies.
4. Set brand inclusions and exclusions before matching widens, especially if competitors or resellers use names close to yours.
5. Add URL exclusions for pages that should never take paid traffic: policy pages, blog posts, cart and checkout, and anything out of stock.
6. Review the product pages that ads point to. Text customization writes ad copy from your ads and your landing page content, so weak page copy now produces weak ads.
7. Set locations of interest at ad group level if you serve specific markets rather than a whole region.
8. Refresh your negative keyword lists. Wider matching finds queries your keyword list never contained, and some of them will be the wrong intent.
9. Confirm conversion tracking is firing correctly, including on mobile checkout. Broader matching plus broken tracking is the expensive combination.
10. Book a review two to four weeks after the change and compare against the baseline from step two.

What the Google Ads AI Max upgrade means for Gulf merchants

Merchants selling into Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf have extra things to weigh, mostly around language and catalogue depth rather than anything region-specific in the product.

• Arabic and mixed-script queries. Shoppers switch between Arabic, transliterated Arabic and English within the same session. Keywordless matching will surface query variations your keyword list never had, which can be a genuine gain or a quiet budget leak. Watch the new source column closely.
• Brand controls carry more weight. Store names in the region often share common Arabic words, so brand inclusions and exclusions are worth configuring rather than leaving open.
• Your Arabic product pages now write your ads. If descriptions are thin or machine-translated word for word, text customization has poor material to work from.
• Final URL expansion raises the floor for every page. Any page can become a landing page, so category pages and secondary product pages need to be sellable, not just indexable.

The underlying pattern is the same one behind AI-driven discovery generally: machines increasingly read your catalogue and decide how to present it. Paid search is now following that logic, and clean, current product data is the common requirement.

How MaXab.ai helps you keep the catalogue side ready

If AI is writing your ad copy from your product pages, the quality and freshness of those pages stops being a content chore and becomes a performance input. That is the part MaXab.ai is built around. It is an AI-powered dropshipping app that connects directly to Salla (get a 10% discount with the code F-GTFFU30M) stores, so you can browse the catalogue and import a product into your store with one click, with no inventory and no upfront stock cost.

MaXab is a real intermediary rather than a connector script. It buys the product from the supplier and follows the order through to the end customer, carrying the operational and financial risk inside the Salla system, and it complies with Salla’s Holding Management System. Orders sync instantly and product data updates automatically.

• More than 10,000 products, with the catalogue updated continuously and new products added as the market moves.
• Two supply routes. Some sections are stocked inside Saudi Arabia, such as women’s bags and men’s wallets and leather bags, while other sections ship directly from China to your customer.
• AI product content. Titles, descriptions and SEO articles written in your brand voice, which is exactly the raw material text customization draws on.
• Coming soon. A 24/7 WhatsApp AI sales agent and one-click product ad videos are both on the roadmap, not live yet.

If the store itself needs work before you push more paid traffic at it, MaXab also offers Salla store design, migration and design for Shopify, custom websites, and automation systems including ZATCA phase two e-invoicing. If you are not sure which piece you need first, you can ask before committing to anything.

Frequently asked questions

Does using broad match keywords put my campaign in the upgrade?

No. The trigger is the campaign-level broad match setting, not broad match as a keyword match type. A standard Search campaign using broad match keywords, without that campaign setting and without automatically created assets, is not swept up automatically.

Can I turn features off after my campaign is upgraded?

Yes, the AI Max features can be switched off afterwards. For broad match specifically, PPC Land reports that turning the setting off restores keyword match types, but keywords converted during the enabled period appear under a removed status and must be reinstated manually at their original match types.

Are Dynamic Search Ads part of this September move?

No. Google’s own post states the Dynamic Search Ads sunset and auto-upgrade begins in February 2027. That gives you time, but the direction of travel is identical, so the preparation work described above applies to DSA campaigns too.

The honest summary of the Google Ads AI Max upgrade is that matching and creative decisions are moving further into Google’s systems, and the levers left to you are brand controls, URL controls, negative keywords and the quality of your product pages. Three of those four you can fix this week. If the fourth, your product content, is where you keep losing time, have a look at what MaXab.ai covers and see whether it fits how you want to grow.