Performance Max or AI Max for Search:
which one does what

Performance Max is a campaign type, with access to “all Google Ads inventory, including YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps, from a single campaign” (About Performance Max). AI Max for Search is not. Google calls it “an optimization layer within existing Search campaigns” (AI Max setup), made of search term matching and asset optimization, which covers text customization and final URL expansion (how AI Max works).

Google’s own comparison calls AI Max “an evolution of DSA and Performance Max with Final URL expansion, while including the convenience and control of Search campaigns” (AI Max FAQ). AI Max changes which searches a Search campaign matches, what its ads say and where they land, all inside Search. Performance Max can do the same across Google’s channels, and it also decides how the budget splits among them.

A US business can use both today. AI Max has been open to all advertisers globally since September 10, 2025 (announcement), new Search campaigns start with it on (AI Max setup), and on April 15, 2026 Google said it was moving out of beta (upgrade announcement).

Both can run in one account and reach for the same search, and Google publishes the order that decides between them. Digital Traction’s view is yes to both, with guardrails: each runs as a test with a set review date and is judged on the account’s qualified leads or sales, not on the campaign’s own report.

Which one serves when both could

Google’s rule for the pair: “if a query is eligible to match to candidates in both AI Max for Search campaigns and Performance Max, then the one with the highest Ad Rank will serve” (AI Max FAQ). Before that, Search and Performance Max candidates across the account pass through an order of preference (prioritization):

1. Exact match keywords identical to the search term
2. Phrase and broad match keywords, AI Max included, and Performance Max search themes identical to the search term
3. AI-based relevance, choosing among ad groups and asset groups
4. Ad Rank, among the candidates still tied

“Identical” includes spell-corrected searches but not plurals or synonyms. Search themes behave like phrase or broad match keywords, and AI Max ad groups without keywords and Performance Max asset groups without search themes compete on Ad Rank against the other ads in the account (prioritization).

Google lists six exceptions to the order, among them low search volume, disapproved ads and targeting differences. Three bear most on this pair:

• Budget. “If your Search campaign is budget-limited, Performance Max may occasionally serve on exact match terms” (About Performance Max)
• Advanced search experiences. For some searches on Lens, AI Mode, AI Overviews or auto-complete, keywords “may not automatically be prioritized,” and the page does not say how often (prioritization). The future of search is arriving in pieces covers how ads reach those surfaces
• Shopping. The order does not apply “to any Shopping campaign or other parts of the Google inventory” (prioritization). Google said on October 23, 2024 that Ad Rank, rather than automatic priority, now decides between Performance Max and Standard Shopping on the same products, while “Search keyword and match type prioritization remains in effect” (Performance Max update)

No Google page checked for this piece describes a report showing which of an account’s campaigns could have served a search and lost it, so check the order against each campaign’s settings.

What the AI Max upgrade changes in that order

Google says campaigns using automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting “will continue to be auto-upgraded starting in September 2026,” and that the Dynamic Search Ads upgrade begins in February 2027 (upgrade announcement). It has not said the September upgrade is finished. What the upgrade switches on is covered in Your website now writes part of your Google ads.

For campaigns that used the campaign-level broad match setting, the upgrade also moves keywords in the order above: “When disabling the broad match campaign setting or moving to AI Max, broad keywords are not treated as exact match keywords in prioritization.” To keep that priority, Google’s advice is to add exact match copies to the AI Max campaign (how AI Max works). It does not say the upgrade adds them, so check each upgraded campaign whose broad keywords used to win like exact ones.

What each one controls

Two AI Max details are easy to miss. Switching AI Max off switches off its brand exclusions: “if your campaign is running brand exclusions and AI Max is turned off, brand exclusions will be disabled” (AI Max FAQ). And Google says AI Max is not effective in a campaign limited by budget (how AI Max works).

In Performance Max, Google says budget per channel cannot be directly controlled, only influenced through assets, audience signals, conversion tracking, search themes and exclusions. For Search with more manual control, it suggests “a standard Search campaign alongside Performance Max” (channel report FAQ). A retailer with a product feed can apply Performance Max brand exclusions to Search text ads only and keep branded Shopping ads running (Performance Max questions).

How Google writes that text and picks the page is covered in Your website now writes part of your Google ads.

What each one reports

Both now show search terms. Google made search terms reporting available “for all Performance Max campaigns and through the API” on August 7, 2025 (Performance Max update). The report holds data from March 2023 but leaves out store visits and store sales conversions (Performance Max search terms).

AI Max labels its own traffic with an AI Max match type and a source column showing whether a match came from broad match expansion or keywordless matching (how AI Max works). Filtering on that match type can undercount, since it leaves out “Other search terms,” and a Total: AI Max expanded matches row in the keywords report counts traffic from the broad match keywords AI Max built. Google asks advertisers to wait “at least 2 weeks after enabling AI Max” before changes such as new negatives (AI Max reporting).

Performance Max adds a channel performance report, in every campaign since November 6, 2025 (Performance Max update), covering Search, Maps, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and the Display Network (Performance Max channels). Google says placement reports “should be used as a brand safety tool,” not to judge performance (placement reports), and assets served through final URL expansion can be viewed and removed (Performance Max update).

Which one fits a lead-generation or store account

Google publishes no rule for choosing between the two by type of business. Its Performance Max page lists the cases where Performance Max is the recommended option, starting with “Your business has specific conversion goals such as to increase online sales or to generate leads” and including “You want to maximize the performance of your campaign without restricting where your ads appear” (About Performance Max). AI Max is the other side of that trade: broader matching, kept inside Search.

Lead generation

Google’s lead generation guidance does not name AI Max. It recommends broad match with Smart Bidding in Search campaigns, which is part of the matching AI Max uses, and Performance Max to “Drive more leads across all of Google’s channels.” It says lead goals such as “qualified lead” or “request quote” switch on invalid traffic protections built for lead generation, and asks for at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days, at account level, on the action bidding uses (lead-gen best practices).

AI Max features need conversion-based Smart Bidding to work well (AI Max setup), and both bid toward whatever the account counts as a conversion. Google Ads conversion tracking covers getting qualified leads back from the CRM, and Smart Bidding for lead generation covers moving bidding onto them. Digital Traction’s view is that Performance Max, which spends across channels toward that count, is best added once the account counts qualified leads rather than every form fill.

Online store

A retailer’s third option, next to Standard Shopping and Performance Max, is AI Max for Shopping, which Google’s Help page calls a beta (AI Max for Shopping). Its product page, modified September 16, 2026, still says the toggle “is coming” (product page), and none of the Google pages checked gives a US date or market list. A US retailer should confirm it is in the account before planning around it.

Where it runs, retailers keep “existing product targeting controls and bidding flexibility” and can switch off final URL expansion to keep delivery to Shopping ads (product page). Text customization is limited to English feeds, final URL expansion needs Target ROAS, and campaign priority affects text customization but not final URL expansion (AI Max for Shopping). For reach across channels, Google’s line is that “Performance Max remains your go-to” (AI Max for Shopping announcement).

Physical store

Performance Max for store goals optimizes for store visits, store sales or directions, and US advertisers using it can serve on Waze (Performance Max update). None of the Google pages checked for this piece describes an AI Max option for store goals.

How to test either one

An AI Max experiment splits one Search campaign into a control share with AI Max off and a trial share with it on. It cannot be set up through that flow if the campaign already has text customization on, targets the Display Network, uses a portfolio bid strategy, a shared budget or bidding exploration, or already has an active experiment (AI Max experiments). Google announced on August 20, 2026 that AI Max experiments can run with brand and location controls on (testing announcement). A test of budgets and targets across several campaigns was announced in the same post as “Rolling out in September,” and Google has not said it reached every account.

Google’s experiments FAQ for Shopping and Performance Max says auto-apply is on by default when an experiment is created: “If your results are favorable, the experiment changes will be applied to the control campaign,” unless the advertiser opts out before the end. Once a Standard Shopping versus Performance Max test is applied, the Performance Max campaign “captures 100% of the traffic” and the original pauses automatically (experiments FAQ). Decide before launch whether a win should go live without a review.

Both tests measure a campaign. A trial that wins searches another campaign was already converting can show lift at campaign level and none across the account, as Campaign-level lift is not account-level lift explains. Read the whole account’s qualified leads or sales before keeping either.

What to check in the account

The list is Digital Traction’s, and each check rests on the documentation above.

1. Which Search campaigns run AI Max, upgraded ones included, and which features each has on
2. Exact match copies of broad keywords that used to win like exact ones
3. Search budgets, since Performance Max may occasionally serve on exact match terms when a Search campaign is budget-limited, and AI Max is not effective in a campaign limited by budget
4. Brand exclusions in AI Max campaigns, which stop if AI Max is switched off
5. Performance Max negative keywords, and excluded content keywords for Display and Video
6. The conversion action each campaign bids toward
7. Whether a Performance Max experiment will apply itself
8. The account’s qualified leads or sales before and after any change

Deciding which campaign should own which searches, and reading the result across the account, is part of Digital Traction’s Search & acquisition work.