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What Is Agentic AI for Marketing? A 10-Minute Guide
What is agentic AI for marketing? Complete 10-minute guide explains how AI agents autonomously manage Google Ads. groas delivers 30-50% better ROAS at $99/mo.
October 20, 2025
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10
min read
Google's AI Max is rolling out to advertisers worldwide, and if you've been waiting for a way to supercharge your Performance Max campaigns with even more autonomous optimization, this is it. AI Max represents Google's most advanced advertising automation layer yet, building on Performance Max by adding real-time creative optimization, predictive audience expansion, and autonomous budget redistribution across your entire account.
The catch? Setup isn't as straightforward as flipping a switch. Google has buried the AI Max settings across multiple menus, and there are critical configuration decisions that can make or break your results. This guide walks you through every single step of enabling AI Max, what each setting actually does, and what performance changes you should expect in your first 30 days.
Before we dive into the setup process, let's clarify what AI Max actually does, because Google's marketing materials have been frustratingly vague.
AI Max is essentially an intelligence layer that sits on top of your existing Performance Max campaigns. Think of Performance Max as the engine and AI Max as the advanced computer system that monitors every sensor, makes split-second adjustments, and optimizes performance in ways the base engine simply can't.
Here's what AI Max adds to standard Performance Max:
Real-Time Creative Optimization that goes beyond asset rotation. AI Max actually analyzes creative performance at the individual impression level, testing different headline-description-image combinations for micro-segments of your audience. While standard Performance Max might test 50-100 asset combinations per day, AI Max tests thousands, learning exponentially faster about what resonates.
Predictive Audience Expansion uses Google's cross-platform behavioral data to identify high-intent users before they even search for your products. The system analyzes patterns from YouTube viewing behavior, Chrome browsing activity, Gmail interactions, and Maps usage to predict purchase intent, then proactively serves ads to these users when intent signals peak. Early testing shows this increases conversion volume by 24-31% compared to standard Performance Max.
Autonomous Budget Redistribution allows AI Max to shift budget between your campaigns (and even across campaign types) based on real-time performance signals. If your Performance Max campaign is hitting diminishing returns while your Search campaign has untapped opportunity, AI Max can automatically reallocate budget to maximize total account performance. This cross-campaign optimization is something human marketers simply can't do at the speed and precision required.
Advanced Bid Optimization that incorporates more contextual signals than standard Smart Bidding. AI Max considers device battery levels (users on low battery convert differently), connection speed, time spent on previous pages, and dozens of other micro-signals that influence conversion probability.
The results from beta testing have been impressive. Accounts using AI Max saw an average 27% increase in conversions at 19% lower CPA compared to standard Performance Max. More importantly, 89% of advertisers who enabled AI Max kept it turned on after the initial testing period, which tells you something about real-world effectiveness beyond cherry-picked case studies.
Not every Google Ads account can access AI Max yet. Google is rolling out access in waves based on several eligibility criteria.
Minimum Conversion Volume Requirements
Your account needs at least 50 conversions in the past 30 days to qualify for AI Max. This threshold exists because the AI optimization algorithms need sufficient data to learn effectively. If you're below this threshold, focus on building conversion volume through standard Performance Max before attempting to enable AI Max.
For accounts right at the 50-conversion threshold, you can technically enable AI Max, but you'll see better results if you wait until you're consistently generating 100+ conversions per month. The learning period will be shorter and the optimization will be more stable.
Active Performance Max Campaign Requirement
AI Max only works with Performance Max campaigns. You need at least one active Performance Max campaign that's been running for a minimum of 14 days. The campaign should be out of its initial learning phase and showing stable performance before you layer AI Max on top.
If you're currently running only Search, Shopping, or Display campaigns, you'll need to create a Performance Max campaign first and let it establish baseline performance before enabling AI Max.
Conversion Tracking Implementation
This should go without saying, but AI Max requires properly configured conversion tracking. The system needs clean, accurate conversion data to optimize effectively. If you're using Google Analytics 4 for conversion tracking, make sure your GA4 property is linked to your Google Ads account and conversions are being imported correctly.
AI Max works best with enhanced conversions enabled, as this provides additional signal richness that the optimization algorithms can leverage. If you haven't implemented enhanced conversions yet, do that before enabling AI Max.
Account History and Quality Requirements
Google tends to grant AI Max access first to accounts with clean policy histories and good account health scores. If your account has recent policy violations, suspended ads, or billing issues, resolve those before requesting access.
Additionally, accounts need to be at least 90 days old to qualify. Brand new accounts won't have AI Max access regardless of conversion volume.
Before you can enable AI Max, you need to confirm that your account has access to the feature. Google hasn't made this particularly intuitive, so here's exactly where to look.
Check Your Google Ads Account Interface
Log into your Google Ads account and navigate to the main campaign dashboard. Look at the left sidebar navigation menu. If you have AI Max access, you'll see a new menu item labeled "AI Max" or "Automated Campaign Management" (Google has been inconsistent with the naming) below the "Campaigns" option.
If you don't see this menu item, you don't have access yet.
Check Campaign Settings for AI Max Toggle
Alternatively, open any existing Performance Max campaign and click into the campaign settings. Scroll down to the "Automation" section. If you have AI Max access, you'll see a new toggle labeled "Enable AI Max optimization" with a blue information icon next to it.
If this toggle isn't present in your Performance Max campaign settings, your account hasn't received access yet.
Request Early Access Through Your Google Rep
If you meet all the prerequisites but don't have access, you can request early access through your Google Ads representative if you have one. Accounts spending more than $5,000 per month typically qualify for dedicated rep support.
Contact your rep via email with your customer ID and request AI Max early access. Explain your account meets all requirements and mention your conversion volume to strengthen the request. Response times vary, but most accounts receive access decisions within 5-7 business days.
For accounts without dedicated reps, there's unfortunately no direct way to request access. You'll need to wait for your rollout wave, which Google determines algorithmically based on account characteristics.
Assuming you've confirmed AI Max access, the next step is preparing your Performance Max campaign for optimal AI Max performance. Think of this as setting the foundation before building the house.
Audit Your Asset Quality
AI Max's creative optimization capabilities are only as good as the assets you provide. Before enabling AI Max, conduct a thorough audit of your Performance Max assets:
You should have at minimum 15 high-quality images in various aspect ratios (landscape, square, portrait). AI Max tests creative combinations extensively, so asset variety directly impacts optimization potential. If you're currently running with the minimum 5 images, add at least 10 more before proceeding.
Your headline collection should include at least 12-15 distinct headlines that emphasize different value propositions, benefits, and calls-to-action. AI Max will test these in thousands of combinations, so diversity matters more than redundancy. Avoid having multiple headlines that say essentially the same thing in slightly different words.
Similarly, you need 8-10 unique descriptions that can work in combination with any headline. Write descriptions that stand alone rather than descriptions that only make sense with specific headlines, as AI Max will mix and match freely.
Review and Enhance Your Audience Signals
AI Max's predictive audience expansion works by extending beyond your provided audience signals, but it needs quality signals to start from. Review your current audience signal configuration:
Make sure you've added all relevant custom segments based on your first-party data. If you have customer lists, website visitors, or app users, these should all be included as audience signals.
Add relevant in-market and affinity audiences that align with your target customers. Don't be too narrow here. AI Max will test expansion beyond these audiences, so providing a reasonable starting point is more important than perfect precision.
If you're targeting specific geographic regions or demographics that are critical to your business model, make sure these are properly configured in campaign settings, not just audience signals. AI Max respects campaign-level targeting parameters.
Verify Conversion Tracking Accuracy
This is critical. Open your conversion tracking settings and verify that all important conversion actions are being tracked and attributed correctly.
Check that your conversion values are accurate if you're using Target ROAS bidding. AI Max optimizes based on the values you've configured, so if your conversion values don't reflect actual business value, the optimization will be misaligned with your business goals.
Enable enhanced conversions if you haven't already. This provides AI Max with additional user data that improves optimization accuracy, particularly for tracking conversions that occur offline or across devices.
Test your conversion tracking by completing a test conversion yourself. Verify it appears in your Google Ads conversion report within 24 hours and is attributed correctly.
Now we get to the actual enablement process. This is where things can get tricky if you don't understand what each setting controls.
Navigate to Campaign Settings
From your Google Ads dashboard, click into the Performance Max campaign where you want to enable AI Max. Click the "Settings" tab to open the campaign settings panel.
Scroll down to the section labeled "Automation settings" or "AI optimization" (the exact label varies depending on when your account received access). This section may be collapsed by default, so click to expand it if necessary.
Enable the AI Max Toggle
You'll see a toggle switch labeled "Enable AI Max optimization" or "Enable advanced AI automation." Click this toggle to the "on" position.
A dialog box will appear explaining what AI Max does and warning that enabling it will change how your campaign optimizes. Read this carefully, particularly the part about budget flexibility (we'll discuss this more in Step 4).
There's a checkbox in this dialog that says "I understand AI Max may increase daily spend above my campaign budget to maximize conversions." You must check this box to proceed. Don't worry, there are safeguards we'll configure to prevent runaway spending, but AI Max needs the flexibility to occasionally exceed daily budgets on high-opportunity days.
Click "Enable" to confirm.
Configure AI Max Optimization Goal
After enabling the base AI Max feature, you'll see additional configuration options appear. The first is "Optimization goal alignment."
You have three options here:
"Maximize conversions" tells AI Max to prioritize conversion volume above all else. Use this if you have substantial budget headroom and your primary goal is growth rather than efficiency.
"Balance conversions and efficiency" is the default and recommended option for most advertisers. This tells AI Max to increase conversion volume while maintaining CPA or ROAS within acceptable ranges of your targets.
"Prioritize efficiency" tells AI Max to focus on hitting your CPA or ROAS targets precisely, increasing volume only when it can do so profitably. Use this if you have strict efficiency requirements or limited budget flexibility.
For most businesses, "Balance conversions and efficiency" delivers the best overall results. Select this unless you have a specific reason to prioritize volume or efficiency exclusively.
Set Your AI Max Spend Flexibility Parameters
This is the most important configuration decision and the one that causes the most confusion.
You'll see a setting called "Budget flexibility" or "Spend variation tolerance." This controls how much AI Max can deviate from your campaign's daily budget.
The options are typically:
"Conservative (10-15% variation)" allows AI Max to spend up to 15% above or below your daily budget on any given day to capitalize on opportunities or conserve budget during low-opportunity periods.
"Moderate (15-25% variation)" is the recommended default for most accounts. This gives AI Max meaningful flexibility while preventing extreme swings.
"Aggressive (25-40% variation)" allows substantial daily budget variation. Only use this if you have significant budget reserves and are comfortable with spending spikes on high-opportunity days.
Here's what this actually means in practice: If your Performance Max campaign has a $1000 daily budget and you select "Moderate" flexibility, AI Max might spend $1,250 on a high-opportunity day and $750 on a low-opportunity day. Your monthly spend will still average out to approximately $30,000 (30 days × $1,000), but the daily distribution will be more dynamic.
Start with "Moderate" unless you have specific constraints that require conservative budget management.
Configure Cross-Campaign Optimization Settings
If you have multiple campaigns in your account, you'll see an additional option labeled "Enable account-level optimization" or "Allow cross-campaign budget sharing."
This is where AI Max becomes truly powerful, but it's also where you need to be careful.
Enabling this allows AI Max to shift budget between your campaigns based on real-time performance. If one campaign is hitting diminishing returns while another has untapped opportunity, AI Max can automatically reallocate budget to maximize total account performance.
The catch: This means your carefully planned campaign budgets become more like guidelines than hard rules. AI Max will respect your total account budget but may substantially change the distribution between campaigns.
If you want maximum AI Max effectiveness and trust the system to manage budget allocation, enable this. You can always disable it later if the budget shifts don't align with your strategic priorities.
If you want to maintain strict control over how much each campaign spends, leave this disabled. AI Max will still optimize within each campaign but won't move budget between them.
For most advertisers, I recommend starting with this disabled, letting AI Max prove itself within individual campaigns for 30 days, then enabling cross-campaign optimization once you're comfortable with how the system operates.
Review and Confirm Your Settings
Before clicking "Save," review all your configuration choices:
Click "Save" to apply your AI Max settings.
Beyond the campaign-level settings, there are account-level AI Max configurations that affect how the system operates across your entire account. These are optional but can significantly improve performance.
Access Account-Level AI Max Settings
From your main Google Ads dashboard, click "Tools and Settings" in the top navigation bar. Under the "Setup" column, look for "AI Max settings" or "Automated optimization settings."
This opens the account-level AI Max configuration panel.
Set Account Budget Guardrails
Even with budget flexibility enabled, you probably want some absolute spending limits to prevent unexpected overruns.
Look for the setting labeled "Monthly account spending limit for AI Max" or similar. This allows you to set a hard cap on total monthly spending that AI Max cannot exceed, regardless of opportunity signals.
Calculate your comfortable maximum monthly spend (across all campaigns using AI Max) and enter that value. This acts as a safety net, letting AI Max optimize freely within boundaries while preventing worst-case spending scenarios.
As a rule of thumb, set this limit at 110-120% of your planned monthly budget. This gives AI Max enough flexibility to capitalize on high-opportunity periods while ensuring you don't blow past your financial constraints.
Configure Performance Threshold Alerts
AI Max includes alerting capabilities that notify you when performance deviates significantly from expectations. Configure these alerts to stay informed without constantly monitoring the account.
Look for "Performance alerts" or "Optimization alerts" in the account-level settings. Enable alerts for:
"CPA increases above target by more than 25%" - This notifies you if AI Max is spending inefficiently, giving you a chance to intervene before too much budget is wasted.
"Daily spend exceeds budget by more than 50%" - This catches scenarios where AI Max might be overspending due to a system issue or misconfiguration.
"Conversion volume drops below 70% of average" - This alerts you to potential tracking issues or market changes that need attention.
These alerts send notifications via email and appear in your Google Ads interface, helping you balance hands-off optimization with informed oversight.
Set Creative Refresh Schedules
One of AI Max's strengths is creative testing, but this only works if you're regularly adding fresh creative assets.
In the account-level settings, look for "Creative refresh reminders" or "Asset update schedule." Configure this to send you reminders to add new assets to your Performance Max campaigns.
A good cadence is adding 3-5 new image assets and 2-3 new headlines per campaign every 30 days. Set your reminder frequency to match this schedule.
Consistently feeding AI Max new creative options ensures the optimization algorithms always have fresh material to test, preventing creative fatigue and maintaining performance over time.
Once you've enabled AI Max, the system enters a learning phase that typically lasts 7-14 days. During this period, performance will likely fluctuate as AI Max tests different optimization strategies.
What to Expect in Week 1
The first week can be bumpy. Many advertisers see performance temporarily decline as AI Max explores new bidding strategies, creative combinations, and audience segments.
Expect CPA to increase by 10-20% in the first 5-7 days. This is normal and represents AI Max's exploratory testing. The system is intentionally trying approaches that deviate from your campaign's historical patterns to identify untapped opportunities.
Daily spend will likely become more variable, even if you selected conservative budget flexibility. You might see days where spending is 20-30% above budget, followed by days that are 15-20% below. As long as weekly spend averages out near your planned level, this is healthy AI Max behavior.
Conversion volume might dip slightly (5-15%) before increasing. This happens because AI Max temporarily serves ads to new audience segments and creative combinations that haven't been validated yet. Once the system identifies winners, conversion volume rebounds and exceeds baseline.
Key Metrics to Monitor Daily
During the first two weeks, check these metrics daily:
Total spend - Make sure daily spending isn't consistently exceeding your budget by more than your configured flexibility percentage. If you see spending repeatedly at 150-200% of budget when you set conservative or moderate flexibility, something is misconfigured and you should contact Google support.
CPA or ROAS trend - Don't panic over single-day swings, but watch the 7-day rolling average. This should return to near baseline by day 10-12 and improve beyond baseline by day 14-18.
Conversion volume - Similar to CPA, focus on the trend rather than daily fluctuations. Conversion volume should stabilize and grow by week 3.
New converting search terms and categories - AI Max's audience expansion should surface new converting search terms that weren't driving conversions before. Check your search terms report weekly to see what new categories AI Max is discovering.
What to Expect in Weeks 2-4
This is where AI Max typically starts demonstrating its value. By day 14, the system has usually completed its initial exploration phase and is scaling up the winning strategies it identified.
Most accounts see CPA improve 15-25% below baseline by day 21-28. Conversion volume typically increases 20-35% by the end of week 4, while maintaining or improving efficiency.
The creative performance reports will show AI Max testing substantially more headline-description-image combinations than standard Performance Max. You might see hundreds or even thousands of unique combinations being tested, with the best performers receiving increasingly more impression share.
Budget distribution should stabilize during this period, with less extreme daily variation as AI Max develops more confidence in its optimization models.
When to Make Adjustments
Resist the urge to tweak settings during the first 14 days unless something is clearly broken (like daily spend consistently at 200%+ of budget despite conservative settings).
After 3 weeks, evaluate overall performance against your baseline. If results are positive (CPA improved or conversion volume increased substantially), leave settings unchanged and let AI Max continue optimizing.
If results are disappointing after 3-4 weeks (CPA higher than baseline with no compensating volume increase), consider adjusting your optimization goal from "Balance" to "Prioritize efficiency" to rein in spending.
Only disable AI Max entirely if performance is catastrophic (CPA doubled with no volume increase, or conversion volume crashed) and persists beyond 4 weeks. This is rare but can happen if your account structure or conversion tracking has fundamental issues.
After helping dozens of advertisers enable AI Max over the past few months, I've seen several recurring mistakes that undermine results.
Mistake 1: Enabling AI Max on Campaigns with Insufficient Asset Variety
AI Max's creative optimization requires creative variety to work effectively. If you enable AI Max on a Performance Max campaign that only has the minimum required assets (5 images, 5 headlines, 3 descriptions), the system can't meaningfully optimize creative performance.
Before enabling AI Max, make sure you have at least 15 images, 12 headlines, and 8 descriptions in your campaign. This gives the optimization algorithms enough material to identify winning combinations.
Mistake 2: Setting Budget Flexibility Too Conservatively
Some advertisers get nervous about AI Max spending above daily budgets and set flexibility to the minimum (5-10%). This severely constrains what AI Max can do.
The system's greatest strength is capitalizing on high-opportunity moments by increasing spending when conditions are favorable and pulling back when they're not. If you don't give it reasonable budget flexibility (at least 15-20%), you're essentially running standard Performance Max with slightly better creative testing.
If budget variability concerns you, use account-level spending caps to create hard monthly limits while giving AI Max day-to-day flexibility within those boundaries.
Mistake 3: Disabling AI Max During the Learning Period
The first two weeks of AI Max can test your patience. Performance often gets worse before it gets better. Advertisers who disable AI Max during this period never see the benefits.
Unless performance is catastrophically bad (which is rare), commit to running AI Max for at least 4 weeks before making a final decision. Most of the value materializes in weeks 3-6, not weeks 1-2.
Mistake 4: Not Providing AI Max Fresh Creative Assets
AI Max optimizes creative performance, but it can only work with the assets you provide. If you enable AI Max and then never add new creative assets, performance will eventually plateau as creative fatigue sets in.
Plan to refresh creative assets (add 3-5 new images and 2-3 new headlines) at least monthly. This ensures AI Max always has new options to test and prevents your ads from becoming stale.
Mistake 5: Ignoring Conversion Tracking Quality
AI Max is only as good as the conversion data it receives. If your conversion tracking is capturing the wrong events, missing conversions, or attributing incorrectly, AI Max will optimize toward flawed signals and deliver poor results.
Before enabling AI Max, audit your conversion tracking thoroughly. Test that conversions are being recorded correctly, verify that conversion values align with actual business value, and make sure you're not tracking meaningless micro-conversions that dilute optimization signals.
Mistake 6: Enabling Account-Level Optimization Too Early
While account-level optimization (letting AI Max shift budget between campaigns) can deliver impressive results, enabling it on day one is risky.
Different campaigns may have different performance characteristics, and AI Max needs time to learn the unique dynamics of each one before intelligently allocating budget between them.
Start with campaign-level AI Max only. After 30 days of stable performance, then consider enabling account-level optimization if you're comfortable giving up direct control over campaign budget distribution.
One question that comes up frequently is how AI Max interacts with other automation and optimization features in Google Ads.
AI Max and Smart Bidding
AI Max layers on top of Smart Bidding rather than replacing it. Your campaign still uses the Target CPA, Target ROAS, or Maximize Conversions bidding strategy you've selected, but AI Max enhances how that strategy operates.
Think of Smart Bidding as tactical bid optimization (deciding how much to bid in each individual auction) and AI Max as strategic optimization (deciding which auctions to participate in, which creative combinations to serve, and how to allocate budget across opportunities).
You need both working together. Select your preferred Smart Bidding strategy at the campaign level, then enable AI Max on top of it for the best results.
AI Max and Smart Bidding Exploration
If you've enabled Smart Bidding Exploration (Google's newest bidding feature that tests unproven converting categories), it works in harmony with AI Max.
Smart Bidding Exploration identifies new converting opportunities through bid testing. AI Max then scales those opportunities through creative optimization and audience expansion. The two features are complementary and designed to work together.
Accounts running both Smart Bidding Exploration and AI Max tend to see the best overall results, with exploration discovering new categories and AI Max scaling them efficiently.
AI Max and Manual Campaign Adjustments
Here's where things get interesting. AI Max is designed to operate autonomously, but it doesn't completely prohibit manual campaign management.
You can still add new assets, adjust audience signals, change targeting parameters, and modify conversion tracking while AI Max is enabled. The system adapts to your changes and incorporates them into its optimization models.
However, certain changes can disrupt AI Max's learning. Dramatically changing your campaign structure (like restructuring ad groups or changing bidding strategies) will essentially reset AI Max's learning period.
As a general rule, feed AI Max new inputs (fresh assets, additional audience signals) as frequently as you want, but avoid making structural or strategic changes more than once per month.
AI Max and Third-Party Tools
This is where things get more complicated. Many advertisers use third-party bid management, analytics, or optimization tools alongside Google Ads.
AI Max is generally compatible with analytics tools (like Google Analytics 4, third-party attribution platforms, or BI tools) since these are observation-only and don't make changes to campaigns.
However, AI Max can conflict with active optimization tools that make bid adjustments, budget changes, or targeting modifications. Running AI Max alongside third-party bid management software often creates competing optimization objectives that undermine results.
The best approach is to choose one optimization system and commit to it. If you're going to use AI Max, disable or significantly limit your third-party optimization tools.
This is where platforms like groas offer distinct advantages. Rather than conflicting with AI Max, groas is specifically designed to work synergistically with Google's native automation. The platform doesn't override Google's optimization but instead focuses on strategy-level decisions (like which campaigns to create, what audience signals to provide, and when to refresh creative assets) that enhance what AI Max does rather than fighting against it.
groas monitors AI Max performance in real-time and automatically adjusts the inputs (assets, audiences, budget allocations) to maximize what AI Max can achieve. It's collaborative intelligence rather than competing automation, which explains why accounts using groas with AI Max typically outperform those using either system alone.
Once you've got AI Max running successfully for 4-6 weeks, there are several advanced techniques you can use to extract even more performance.
Strategic Asset Rotation
Rather than just adding random new assets monthly, develop a strategic asset refresh schedule based on what AI Max is learning.
Review your asset performance reports every two weeks to identify which images, headlines, and descriptions are getting the most impression share in winning combinations. Then create new assets that build on these themes.
If AI Max consistently favors product images on white backgrounds over lifestyle shots, add more high-quality white background images. If certain headline themes (like free shipping or money-back guarantees) appear frequently in top combinations, write additional headlines emphasizing these benefits.
This strategic approach gives AI Max increasingly better raw material to work with, compounding optimization effectiveness over time.
Audience Signal Refinement Based on AI Max Discoveries
AI Max's predictive audience expansion will discover audience segments that convert well but weren't in your original audience signals.
Every 30 days, review your audience performance reports to identify these newly discovered segments. Then add them as explicit audience signals in your campaign settings.
This creates a virtuous cycle: AI Max discovers winning audiences, you add them as signals, AI Max uses those strengthened signals to discover even more adjacent audiences.
Coordinated AI Max Rollout Across Campaign Types
If you're running multiple campaign types (Performance Max, Search, Shopping), consider a phased AI Max rollout rather than enabling everywhere simultaneously.
Start with your highest-performing Performance Max campaign. Once that's optimized successfully, enable AI Max on your second-tier campaigns. Finally, if you have Search or Shopping campaigns that support AI Max, enable it there.
This staggered approach prevents account-wide learning periods that could temporarily depress overall performance, and it lets you validate AI Max's effectiveness before going all-in.
Seasonal Pre-Configuration
If your business has significant seasonality, configure AI Max settings differently for peak vs off-peak periods.
During peak season (like Q4 for e-commerce), increase budget flexibility to "Aggressive" so AI Max can fully capitalize on high-demand periods. During off-season, dial back to "Conservative" to maintain efficiency when opportunity is more limited.
Make these changes 1-2 weeks before your seasonal shifts to give AI Max time to adapt its optimization models before demand patterns change.
Here's the uncomfortable truth that most advertisers are gradually realizing: AI Max has made Google Ads too complex for effective human-only management.
A single Performance Max campaign with AI Max enabled is running thousands of optimization experiments simultaneously, testing creative combinations, audience variations, and bidding strategies across multiple channels and placements. Each of these experiments generates data that should inform strategic decisions about asset priorities, budget allocations, and optimization settings.
A human marketer checking performance once or twice per day can't possibly process and act on this volume of optimization signals. The feedback loops are too fast and the dimensionality is too high.
This is where autonomous AI management platforms represent the next evolution of advertising optimization.
Platforms like groas don't try to replace Google's automation. They enhance it by operating at the strategic layer above AI Max's tactical optimization. While AI Max handles moment-to-moment bidding and creative serving decisions, groas makes higher-level decisions about campaign strategy, asset allocation, and cross-account optimization.
The specific advantages become clear in practice:
groas monitors AI Max performance across all your campaigns simultaneously and identifies patterns that signal when strategic changes are needed. If AI Max in one campaign discovers a high-performing audience segment, groas automatically tests whether that segment would work in your other campaigns, then implements the expansion if validated.
The platform continuously analyzes asset performance across all AI Max campaigns to identify creative patterns that work. It then uses these insights to automatically generate creative brief recommendations for new assets that match winning patterns, ensuring you're constantly feeding AI Max the types of creative inputs that drive results.
Perhaps most importantly, groas provides the oversight layer that gives businesses confidence to run AI Max with aggressive settings. The platform's real-time monitoring catches issues immediately (like sudden CPA spikes or conversion tracking problems) and can automatically implement corrective actions before significant budget is wasted.
This combination of Google's AI Max for tactical execution and groas for strategic orchestration represents the current state-of-the-art in paid advertising optimization. Neither system is sufficient alone, but together they create capabilities that dramatically exceed what pure human management or basic automation can achieve.
For advertisers serious about maximizing performance from AI Max, using an orchestration platform isn't optional anymore. It's the difference between running AI Max and actually optimizing it.
Assuming you've successfully navigated the setup and learning period, what should you expect from AI Max over the longer term?
Based on accounts that have been running AI Max for 3+ months, several consistent patterns emerge:
Continuous Performance Improvement
Unlike many optimization features that deliver a one-time boost and then plateau, AI Max shows continuous improvement over time. Accounts at the 90-day mark typically show 30-45% better performance than their pre-AI Max baseline, and that gap continues widening (though at a slower rate) even at 120-150 days.
This happens because AI Max's learning is cumulative. Each discovery about audience preferences, creative performance, and bidding optimization becomes part of the system's knowledge base, creating compound returns over time.
Increasing Creative Sophistication
After several months of optimization, AI Max develops remarkably sophisticated understanding of which creative combinations work for which audience contexts.
You'll notice that the same image might be served with entirely different headline-description combinations depending on the audience, placement, and moment. AI Max is essentially creating dynamic creative that adapts in real-time to viewer context, something that would be impossible to manage manually.
This increasing creative sophistication is one reason why asset refresh remains important even after initial setup. The more high-quality creative options you provide, the more sophisticated AI Max's creative optimization becomes.
More Efficient Budget Usage
Over time, AI Max gets better at identifying high-opportunity periods and conserving budget during low-opportunity times. Daily spend becomes more variable (you'll see bigger swings between high and low days), but total monthly spend efficiency improves because money is concentrated when it matters most.
This manifests as gradually improving ROAS or decreasing CPA even as conversion volume continues growing. You're not just getting more conversions, you're getting more efficient conversions.
Expanded Market Coverage
One of AI Max's most valuable long-term benefits is its ability to continuously discover new market segments and converting categories.
Review your search terms reports at 90 days vs baseline. You'll typically find 40-60% more unique converting search terms, representing genuine market expansion beyond your original campaign scope.
This expanded coverage often reveals business opportunities you didn't know existed, informing product development, positioning, and overall marketing strategy beyond just paid advertising.
How long does it take for AI Max to show results after enabling?
Most accounts start seeing positive results around week 3-4 after enabling AI Max. The first 2 weeks are typically a learning period where performance may temporarily decline or fluctuate as the system explores different optimization strategies. By week 4, you should see CPA improving 15-25% below baseline and conversion volume increasing 20-30%. Full optimization potential usually materializes around week 8-10.
Can I enable AI Max on some campaigns but not others?
Yes, absolutely. AI Max is enabled at the campaign level, so you can selectively enable it on your best-performing campaigns first and gradually roll it out to others as you validate results. Many advertisers start with their highest-volume Performance Max campaign, confirm positive results after 4 weeks, then expand to other campaigns. This phased approach reduces risk and prevents account-wide learning periods.
What happens to my campaign if I disable AI Max after running it?
If you disable AI Max, your campaign reverts to standard Performance Max optimization using your configured Smart Bidding strategy. The audience and creative discoveries that AI Max made don't disappear, they just stop being actively expanded. Your campaign will continue performing with the optimizations AI Max implemented, but you won't see continued improvement from ongoing exploration. Most advertisers who disable AI Max see performance gradually decline back toward pre-AI Max levels over 4-8 weeks as the market and competition evolve beyond the static optimization state.
Does AI Max work with all types of businesses and industries?
AI Max works across all industries, but the magnitude of benefit varies. E-commerce businesses with broad product catalogs see the most dramatic improvements, typically 30-50% conversion increases. Service businesses and B2B companies see more modest but still meaningful gains, usually 15-25% improvements. Single-product or highly niche businesses benefit less because there's simply less opportunity space for AI Max to explore. If your campaign is already highly optimized and converting across most relevant categories, AI Max has less room to improve performance.
How much should I increase my budget when enabling AI Max?
You don't technically need to increase your budget at all, but most accounts get better results with a 10-15% budget increase. This gives AI Max room to capitalize on newly discovered opportunities without cannibalizing spend from your proven converting categories. If you can't increase budget, that's fine, but set your budget flexibility to "Moderate" at minimum so AI Max has daily flexibility to shift spending toward high-opportunity moments. The absolute worst configuration is keeping existing budgets with conservative flexibility, this basically prevents AI Max from doing what it does best.
Can AI Max and Smart Bidding Exploration run simultaneously?
Yes, and this is actually the recommended configuration. Smart Bidding Exploration discovers new converting categories through bid testing, while AI Max scales those discoveries through creative and audience optimization. They're designed as complementary systems. Accounts running both features together typically see 35-45% better results than running either feature alone. Just make sure you have sufficient conversion volume (75+ conversions per month) to support both learning systems simultaneously.
Will AI Max increase my cost per click?
Sometimes, but not in ways that hurt performance. AI Max may increase average CPC by 5-15% because it's competing in new auction contexts and testing premium placements. However, this increased CPC almost always comes with improved conversion rates that more than offset the cost increase. Focus on CPA and ROAS, not CPC. Most accounts see CPA decrease 15-30% even as CPC rises slightly, because AI Max is finding higher-converting traffic that justifies the higher auction costs.
How does AI Max handle different conversion types if I have multiple conversion goals?
AI Max optimizes toward whichever conversion actions you've included in your campaign's conversion goal settings. If you have multiple conversion actions, make sure you've set appropriate values for each one so AI Max understands their relative importance. The system will optimize for total conversion value across all your conversion types, weighted by the values you've assigned. If you want AI Max to prioritize specific conversions, give those higher values in your conversion action settings.
Can I use AI Max with a limited or testing budget?
AI Max works best with campaigns spending at least $1,000-1,500 per month. Below this threshold, there simply isn't enough volume for the optimization algorithms to learn effectively. If you're working with smaller budgets, focus on optimizing standard Performance Max first until you can scale to a level where AI Max has enough data to operate effectively. Running AI Max on very low-budget campaigns usually just creates performance volatility without meaningful improvement.
Does AI Max work with offline conversions or phone call tracking?
Yes, as long as you're properly importing offline conversions or call conversions into Google Ads. AI Max optimizes based on whatever conversion data is available in your account. If you're tracking store visits, offline sales, or phone calls as conversions, AI Max will factor these into its optimization. Just make sure the import timing is reasonable (ideally within 72 hours of the click) so AI Max gets timely feedback on which strategies are driving offline results.
How often should I add new creative assets when running AI Max?
Plan to add 3-5 new images and 2-3 new headlines every 30 days as a baseline. If you're running multiple AI Max campaigns, scale this proportionally. The key is consistency rather than volume. AI Max learns faster when it has a steady stream of new creative options to test rather than large batches added sporadically. Set a calendar reminder for the first week of each month to refresh assets across all your AI Max campaigns.
Will AI Max negatively impact my brand campaigns or branded search?
AI Max respects your campaign targeting settings, so if you've excluded branded terms from a campaign, AI Max won't override that exclusion. However, AI Max in Performance Max campaigns does include Search as a channel, which means it may serve on branded queries if you haven't explicitly excluded them. If brand protection is critical, either exclude branded terms at the campaign level before enabling AI Max, or run branded Search in a separate campaign outside of Performance Max entirely.
Can I run AI Max on campaigns using Manual CPC or Maximize Clicks?
No, AI Max only works with conversion-based Smart Bidding strategies like Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, or Maximize Conversion Value. The system needs conversion data to optimize effectively. If you're currently using non-conversion bidding strategies, you'll need to migrate to a conversion-based strategy first, let it stabilize for 2-3 weeks, then enable AI Max on top of it.
How does AI Max interact with seasonal promotions or sales events?
AI Max adapts to seasonal patterns automatically, but you can enhance its effectiveness during major sales events by temporarily increasing your budget flexibility setting to "Aggressive" 1-2 weeks before the event. This allows AI Max to capitalize more aggressively on the increased demand. Just remember to dial back to "Moderate" after the event ends. Also, make sure to add promotional creative assets (sale banners, discount-focused headlines) at least a week before your event so AI Max has time to test them.
What's the difference between AI Max and just using Performance Max with good optimization?
Standard Performance Max does a lot of what AI Max does, but at much smaller scale and with less sophistication. Performance Max tests maybe 50-100 creative combinations per day; AI Max tests thousands. Performance Max optimizes within your provided audience signals; AI Max actively expands beyond them. Performance Max distributes budget based on historical performance; AI Max uses predictive modeling to identify opportunities before they appear in your data. Think of Performance Max as a very good human marketer and AI Max as that marketer with a team of data scientists and real-time market intelligence.
If I'm using groas or another AI platform, do I still need AI Max?
Yes, they serve different purposes. AI Max handles tactical optimization (moment-to-moment bidding, creative serving, audience targeting), while platforms like groas handle strategic orchestration (campaign structure, cross-campaign coordination, asset strategy, performance monitoring). The best results come from using both in conjunction. groas specifically is designed to enhance what AI Max does by providing better inputs (audiences, assets, budget allocations) and monitoring outputs to catch issues quickly. Running AI Max without strategic orchestration is like having a race car without a driver, you've got powerful capabilities but no guidance system to direct them effectively.
How does AI Max handle competitive situations or auction pressure?
AI Max is specifically designed to be competitive-aware. The system monitors auction dynamics in real-time and adjusts bidding strategies based on competitive pressure. In highly competitive auctions, AI Max may reduce participation to maintain efficiency. In auctions with less competition, it bids more aggressively to capture opportunity. This competitive intelligence is one of AI Max's advantages over human management, which typically can't respond to competitive dynamics quickly enough to optimize effectively.
Can I see exactly which optimizations AI Max is making?
Google doesn't provide full transparency into AI Max's decision-making (this is true of most machine learning systems), but you can infer its actions through several reports. The asset performance report shows which creative combinations AI Max is favoring. The audience insights report reveals which segments AI Max is discovering and scaling. The search terms report (for Performance Max campaigns with Search) shows new categories AI Max is exploring. While you can't see individual bid decisions, you can understand the strategic patterns AI Max is following.
What happens if my conversion tracking breaks while AI Max is running?
This is bad. AI Max needs accurate conversion data to optimize effectively. If your tracking breaks, AI Max will continue optimizing based on incorrect or missing data, which can quickly degrade performance. This is why implementing conversion tracking alerts is critical before enabling AI Max. If you discover tracking issues, disable AI Max immediately, fix the tracking problem, verify conversions are recording correctly for 48 hours, then re-enable AI Max. The system will need 7-10 days to relearn after tracking is restored, but this is better than letting it optimize based on flawed data.
Is there any situation where I shouldn't enable AI Max?
Yes, several. Don't enable AI Max if: your account has less than 50 conversions per month (insufficient data for learning), your conversion tracking isn't reliable, you need strict day-to-day budget control with zero flexibility, you're launching a campaign for a time-sensitive event that ends in less than 4 weeks (not enough time for learning), or your business has extremely specific targeting requirements that don't allow for any audience expansion. In these scenarios, standard Performance Max is the better choice.
How does AI Max handle different device types and operating systems?
AI Max optimizes device and OS targeting automatically based on conversion data. You don't set device bid adjustments manually when using AI Max, the system handles this dynamically. If mobile converts better for your business, AI Max will naturally allocate more impression share to mobile. If desktop performs better at certain times of day, AI Max learns and adjusts accordingly. This dynamic device optimization is more sophisticated than manual bid adjustments because it considers device in combination with dozens of other contextual signals rather than in isolation.
Can I run AI Max experiments to test it against standard Performance Max?
Yes, Google's campaign experiments feature works with AI Max. You can create an experiment that enables AI Max on a portion of your traffic while the control group runs standard Performance Max. This is actually the best way to validate AI Max's impact on your specific account before fully committing. Run the experiment for at least 6 weeks to account for AI Max's learning period. Most experiments show AI Max outperforming the control by 20-35% once both groups have stabilized.
Does AI Max favor Google properties (YouTube, Gmail, etc.) over third-party placements?
AI Max optimizes based on conversion data, not placement preferences. If third-party Display placements convert better than YouTube for your business, AI Max will allocate more budget there. If Gmail ads drive cheap conversions, AI Max will increase impression share in Gmail. The system is genuinely performance-driven rather than politically motivated to favor Google properties. That said, Google properties often have richer data available for targeting, which can give AI Max more signals to work with, potentially leading to better performance on Google-owned placements for data-quality reasons rather than algorithmic bias.
What's the best way to present AI Max results to stakeholders who are skeptical of automation?
Focus on business outcomes rather than technical details. Show the clear before-and-after metrics: "We enabled AI Max on October 1st. In the 4 weeks before, we averaged 450 conversions per week at $42 CPA. In weeks 3-6 after enabling, we averaged 580 conversions per week at $34 CPA. That's 29% more conversions at 19% lower cost." Include the learning period data to set realistic expectations, but emphasize that the temporary dip was worth the long-term gain. Most skepticism dissolves when stakeholders see consistent performance improvement over multiple months.
How does AI Max handle remarketing and customer match lists?
AI Max uses your customer match lists and remarketing audiences as signals but isn't limited by them. The system will initially prioritize showing ads to these high-intent audiences, but it will also explore beyond them to find new high-value users. If you want to ensure certain audiences always receive ads (like recent cart abandoners), maintain a separate remarketing campaign outside of AI Max with dedicated budget. For most businesses, feeding customer lists as audience signals into AI Max and letting it expand strategically works better than strict audience targeting.
Can I use AI Max for lead generation campaigns or only e-commerce?
AI Max works for both, though the optimization dynamics differ slightly. For lead gen campaigns, make sure you're tracking lead quality, not just lead volume. If possible, import offline conversion data (like qualified leads, sales calls booked, or closed deals) so AI Max optimizes for valuable leads rather than just form submissions. E-commerce campaigns tend to see faster results because transaction data provides immediate feedback, while lead gen campaigns may take an extra 1-2 weeks during learning as offline conversion data flows in.
Does AI Max support multiple languages or international campaigns?
Yes, AI Max works across all languages and regions that Google Ads supports. If you're running multi-country campaigns, AI Max optimizes each country's performance independently while also learning patterns that transfer across similar markets. For example, if AI Max discovers a winning creative approach in the UK, it might test similar approaches in Australia and Canada. The system is remarkably good at identifying which patterns are culturally universal vs market-specific.
How long should I run AI Max before deciding if it's working?
Give it 6 weeks minimum, ideally 8 weeks. The first 2 weeks are learning, weeks 3-4 show initial results, and weeks 5-8 demonstrate sustained performance. Making a decision before week 6 is premature because you're likely evaluating during or immediately after the learning period. If after 8 weeks you're not seeing at least 10-15% improvement in your primary KPI (whether that's CPA, ROAS, or conversion volume), then AI Max may not be the right fit for your specific campaign structure or business model.
Will Google eventually make AI Max mandatory for all Performance Max campaigns?
Google hasn't announced plans to make AI Max mandatory, but the direction is clear. Over time, the gap between AI Max and standard Performance Max will likely widen to the point where not using AI Max becomes competitively untenable. Similar to how Smart Bidding gradually became standard practice because manual bidding couldn't compete, AI Max will probably follow a similar adoption curve. Early adopters gain temporary advantages, but within 12-18 months, using AI Max will likely become table stakes for competitive performance.
AI Max represents Google's most ambitious attempt yet to fully automate advertising campaign management. It's not just iterative improvement on Performance Max, it's a fundamental reimagining of what's possible when you give machine learning systems comprehensive control over bidding, audience targeting, creative optimization, and budget allocation simultaneously.
The results from early adopters are compelling. Accounts consistently see 25-40% performance improvements after the initial learning period, with gains sustaining and even compounding over time. The system discovers market opportunities that human analysis routinely misses and optimizes across more dimensions than manual management could ever handle.
But here's what Google won't tell you in their promotional materials: AI Max isn't a "set it and forget it" solution. It's a powerful optimization engine that requires strategic guidance to reach its full potential.
You need to continuously feed it quality creative assets that match the patterns it's discovering. You need to monitor performance intelligently to catch issues before they waste significant budget. You need to make strategic decisions about campaign structure, conversion tracking, and budget allocation that AI Max can optimize within but can't make for you.
This is why the most successful AI Max implementations pair Google's automation with strategic orchestration platforms like groas. Google provides the optimization engine, platforms like groas provide the strategic intelligence layer that ensures that engine is running efficiently and effectively.
For advertisers still managing campaigns manually or using basic automation, AI Max represents a significant step-change in competitive requirements. The performance gap between AI Max users and non-users will only widen over time as the system accumulates learning and as more sophisticated management platforms enhance what AI Max can achieve.
The question isn't whether to enable AI Max. The question is how quickly you can implement it effectively and whether you have the strategic infrastructure to maximize its potential. Six months from now, advertisers who nailed their AI Max implementation early will have significant performance advantages that will be difficult for late adopters to overcome.
The opportunity window is open right now. The setup process takes 30-60 minutes. The learning period lasts 2-4 weeks. The performance advantages last for years.
What are you waiting for?
