Historically, search advertising revolved around keywords. You’d input the keywords that mattered to your campaign, and your ads would show based on how strictly or broadly you wanted to adhere to those keywords.

Building a Google Ads campaign involved advertisers researching terms, creating ad groups, inputting negative terms, and refining as they saw campaign performance.

But today’s search behavior is different, requiring new tactics for how advertisers reach their customers.

Search activity is no longer predictable as it has become more conversational. And the results are more based on intent than exact phrasing.

Because of this, many advertisers find they reach a point when their keyword strategy has been maxed out as they’ve already targeted the obvious terms and optimized their existing campaigns as much as possible.

That’s where Google AI Max is modernizing Google Ad targeting to be intent-focused. Explore what AI Max is, how advertisers can use it, and ways to still control your ad creative to protect your brand in the AI age.

What Is Google AI Max?

Google AI Max uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve targeting, ad customization, and landing page selection. The tool does not replace traditional search campaigns, but instead enhances them through search term matching, text customization, and final URL expansion to improve reach and conversions.

In its simplest form, Google AI Max exposes advertisers to searchers they might never have been able to identify on their own. That’s because the tool uses a wide range of signals, including: 

• Existing keywords
• Landing page content
• Ad copy
• Search intent
• Historical conversion data
• User behavior patterns
• Website themes

Google’s machine learning system then takes that data and uses it to predict which searches are most likely to convert for the advertiser, even if the advertiser has not set keywords used within the customer’s query.

Why Traditional Keyword Strategies Eventually Plateau

When advertisers launch a new campaign, they generally see initial growth, and optimization opportunities are apparent to improve ROI.

But with time, campaigns reach a plateau because they include every keyword known to the advertiser. Yet, consumers don’t all search the same way. 

Think about how a customer might search for CRM software. Someone far enough in the customer buying journey might specifically search CRM-related terms because they know what they are looking for.

However, potential customers in the initial research phases of trying to solve a problem might instead search terms like: software to organize sales contacts or software for customer follow-up.

While those searches early on in the customer buying journey don’t specifically reflect the name of the product you might be selling, it does describe it, and those customers are highly valuable.

AI Max can help advertisers connect with these customers who are in the early phases of product exploration without manually predicting every relevant search variation, thanks to keywordless technology that follows intent patterns.

How AI Max Learns

Understandably, advertisers are often skittish about leaving their marketing budgets up to AI. But AI Max learns by using existing campaign data, which means its ability to learn is only as good as the data you put into it.

AI Max uses existing campaign structure, ads, landing pages, URLs, and keyword data to improve results with searches that include a related intent to those that have performed for an advertiser.

Therefore, layering on AI Max helps turn a strong campaign into one that is even better positioned for effective results.

Campaigns that have the following elements tend to work well with AI Max.

• Clear messaging
• Accurate conversion tracking
• Optimized landing pages
• Organized campaign structure

You can’t just input a little information and hope that AI will do the rest. You need clear signals to start with to help AI Max understand who your ideal customer is and where the search-related opportunities lie.

AI Max Benefits

Layering AI Max onto a successful Google Ads campaign can produce several impactful benefits.

1. Expanded reach: Find untapped queries related to your product or service.
2. Greater ad relevance: AI-generative creative can customize headlines and descriptions so they speak directly to the customer’s query (though you can disable this if you prefer).
3. Better landing page matching: Final URL expansion can improve conversion by taking the customer to the best landing page based on their search query.
4. Increased conversion performance: Google cites a 14% increase in conversions or conversion value for non-retail advertisers.
5. Improved efficiency: Reduce manual campaign management by automating search term expansion, creative generation, landing page selection, and optimization workflows.

Advertisers Remain in Control of Copy and Landing Pages

While AI Max can customize your ad copy and landing pages to match specifically with a user’s search query, advertisers remain in control of their messaging.

At the campaign level, an advertiser can turn on or off text customization. This will prevent the system from generating dynamic headlines and descriptions based on the advertiser’s inputs, along with the customer’s inputs.

Although the goal of this tool is to create the most relevant messaging possible based on individual searches, it also removes some of the advertiser’s control, which companies with tight branding and messaging don’t appreciate.

The ability to control text customization is also helpful in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare or legal. That way, the language stays compliant exactly how your team has written it.

AI Tools Don’t Replace Strategic Expertise

While tools like AI Max have made it possible to automate elements of a campaign, they do not replace strategic expertise.

AI aids in building efficiency, not replacing judgment and building customer-focused campaigns.

AI Max meets the needs of modern searches. But it’s only as good as the data and inputs you give it. If your inputs are flawed or incomplete, you might end up wasting your advertising budget on the whims of an algorithm because it will scale the wrong strategy fast.

Experienced Google Ads marketers know how to structure winning campaigns while defining conversion goals and metrics that will produce greater ROI with the customer segments you’re seeking.

Additionally, working with experts is important because Google Ads operates on a highly competitive auction format, requiring deep know-how in strategic decision-making around targeting and account structure.

Whether you’re ready to get started with Google Ads or your once successful campaigns have plateaued, the team at Two Wheels Marketing can assess where you are and determine whether AI Max is the right next move for you.

Schedule a free consultation to discuss your marketing needs with our team today.