AI Max Ad Group Settings with Search Term Matching - Google Ads Betas

News! I just saw for the first time this Google Ads Update "𝐀𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐈 𝐌𝐚𝐱" 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐚. Here is why this is interesting:

AI Max settings on Ad Group Level are showing up in some accounts.

At first, it seems like just another beta.
In reality, it shows Google’s continues shift from manual keyword targeting to AI-driven intent prediction. The keywordless future.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠
1️⃣ Search Term Matching expands your keywords to broad match automatically.
2️⃣ Google AI uses landing page and asset content to find additional search term eligibility.
3️⃣ Turning it off reverts the ad group to strict keyword + match type usage, and disabling the algorithmic expansion.

𝐌𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞:
This is less about convenience and more about training advertisers to trust AI-driven expansion as the default state of paid search.

"Manual control” may be the exception, not the rule in PPC. And Google will try to make run only "automated" keywords.

𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝟒 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥
-> Search Term Matching
-> Brand Inclusions
-> Location of Interest
-> URL Inclusion
on Ad Group Level.

Advertisers gain incremental reach but risk irrelevant terms serving on queries only somehow related to intent.