The best way to achieve better business outcomes is to work in strong partnership with AI. Google Ads is built to help you reach your business goals. To do that, we recommend using a combination of AI Max for Search campaigns and Smart Bidding. |
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1. Align your Search ads strategy with your biddingChoose the right bidding strategy for your business goals, then decide your targeting strategies. Why: Your bidding objective will determine which targeting strategies will work best for you. If you can accurately measure your conversions and use a conversion-based Smart Bidding strategy like Maximize conversions with a target CPA or Maximize conversion value with a target ROAS, AI Max for Search campaigns can give you the most reach and conversions within your goals. This is achieved by expanding your keywords using broad match and keywordless technology to find more relevant queries. If your bidding goals are focused on other metrics, like Target impression share, you might find traditional match types like phrase match or exact match to be more suitable for your business. Case StudyL'Oréal, a global leader in beauty, saw incremental performance by using AI Max to find new search opportunities and boost ad relevance in their Search campaigns. Using AI Max and Maximize conversions value together, they saw a 2X higher conversion rate at a 31% lower cost-per-conversion. Nicolás Moya, CMO at L'Oréal Groupe Chile, says “AI Max propelled us into new markets, reaching untapped audiences with lower costs, higher conversions, and more relevant ad experiences that significantly boosted engagement.”
Implement value-based bid strategies to increase performance. Why: You can optimize the true business impact of your ad campaigns more accurately by measuring the value of conversions that are important to you (e.g., lifetime value, revenue, or profit), and not just the volume of these conversions. This enables Smart Bidding to maximize your conversion value and reach your target ROAS. On average, advertisers that switch their bid strategy from having a target CPA to a target ROAS can see 14% more conversion value at a similar return on ad spend.1 |
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2. Adopt AI-powered Search campaigns for the best reach and performance for your adsIn one click, turn on AI Max for Search campaigns to bring the best of Google AI to maximize your Search performance with expanded reach and more relevant ads. Why: In one simple click, you can enable all the features in AI Max to power up your performance and be ready for the next era of Search without changing your current setup. AI Max offers a suite of targeting and creative enhancements—search term matching, text customization and final URL expansion—all while giving you the controls and reporting transparency you need. Our data shows that advertisers that activate AI Max in Search campaigns will typically see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS. For campaigns that are still mostly using exact and phrase keywords, the typical uplift is even higher at 27%.2 Run a test to see how this combination improves your campaign performance, then review the Recommendations page in your account for more opportunities on optimization.
Use search term matching in AI Max with Smart Bidding to reach more relevant searches for your business that are expected to perform within your goals. Why: Search term matching in AI Max expands your keywords using broad match and keywordless technology to find more relevant queries. It uses all of the signals available in Google Ads to understand the intent of both the user’s search and your keyword, while having the flexibility to find the most relevant match that is expected to perform for you. Smart Bidding ensures that, for all of the relevant searches you could reach with search term matching, you’re only competing in the right auctions, at the right bid, for the right user.
Use text customization and final URL expansion to adapt to shifts in consumer behavior and stay relevant. Why: Showing up in new, relevant searches means that your creative needs to adapt to match emerging intent in real time. Text customization helps you easily generate new text assets, like headlines and descriptions, based on your landing page, ads, and keywords. And use final URL expansion to send users to the most relevant pages on your website. Case StudyMyConnect, an Australia-based utility connection service company, drove 16% more leads at a 13% lower cost-per-action by turning on all the features in AI Max in their Search campaigns. With search term matching, they were able to expand their keywords and find new intent using keywordless technology. Notably, they saw a 30% increase in conversions specifically from net-new queries. And with text customization and final URL expansions, they were able to tailor their ad copies and landing page content to match their customers’ intent, creating relevant, helpful ad experience. |
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3. Simplify your account structureUse Smart Bidding with AI Max for Search campaigns to help simplify your accounts. Why: Smart Bidding works best when it can optimize against your goals with as much flexibility as possible. And because the Google Ads bidding algorithms learn at the query level rather than the keyword level, if a search query has already been matching to keywords in other parts of your campaigns, we simply apply what we’ve learned across your account. This means you can simplify your accounts by using AI Max for Search campaigns.
Group your keywords into ad groups and campaigns with similar themes. Why: This makes it easier for Google to understand your keywords, select the best one, and determine which ad should serve for each search query.
Use location and brand controls for more precise targeting without having to add extra keywords. Why: Exclusively available in AI Max, locations of interest helps you reach specific customers based on their geographical intent at the ad group level. And with brand controls at both the campaign and ad group level, you can specify the exact brands you want your ads to be associated with, or prevent your ads from appearing alongside specific brands. Learn more on how you can get your Search campaigns ready for AI by watching this video, featuring tips from leading agency experts. Are your Search campaigns AI-ready? Get tips from top agency experts |
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4. Optimize your website content for AI-powered adsEnsure your website content is clear and accurate Why: AI Max works best for websites with well-written HTML page titles and clearly-written content. Page content is used to produce headlines for your creatives, and decide which queries are good matches for the page. Advertisers, especially of sensitive industries, must ensure that they have the right certifications and the right audience set.
Optimize your website experience for easy navigation Why: AI Max works best with well-optimized pages where AI Max can easily identify themes and terms on the webpage. AI Max doesn’t work well with websites that are in a format that Google Ads can’t do this for. For example, sites that contain mostly Flash content or images, or sites that require users to sign in to access the majority of the site's content. |
1. Google Internal Data, Global, Feb 2023.
2. Google internal data, 2025; based on campaigns with more than 70% of conversions or conversion value from exact or phrase match keywords for non-Retail advertisers.