Your website now writes
part of your Google ads

When AI Max for Search is on, Google can write part of the ad from the advertiser’s own website. Text customization generates headlines and descriptions from the ad’s domain, landing page, existing ads and ad group keywords (text customization). Final URL expansion can send the click to a different page on the site, with text written to match that page (final URL expansion).

A US advertiser gets both by default in new campaigns today. New Search campaigns start with AI Max on, and with it both settings (AI Max setup). Performance Max has both on by default too (Performance Max text customization; Performance Max expansion). Older Search campaigns are moving too: Google said it would start upgrading campaigns that use automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match to AI Max in September 2026 (upgrade announcement).

So the website is now an input to the ads. A page can supply an ad’s words, and with expansion on, a page other than the one the advertiser chose can receive the paid click unless it is excluded. Google documents URL exclusions, or switching expansion off, as the ways to keep a page out. It does not document robots.txt, noindex or Google-Extended as a way to keep a page out of text customization or final URL expansion.

What Google reads from your site

Text customization pairs “light-touch” extractive techniques, such as snippets from landing page titles, descriptions and meta tags, with generative AI grounded in the landing page. Google AI “relies heavily on this content as its source material,” so Google asks advertisers to keep those titles, descriptions and meta tags up to date (text customization).

Google reviews generated assets at least every 48 hours, refreshing them as needed, including within 48 hours of a landing page change. It serves them only when it predicts they will beat the headlines and descriptions the advertiser wrote (text customization). Performance Max also reviews its generated text at least every 48 hours and serves it only when predicted to perform better, writing from “your landing page content, domain, and current ads” (Performance Max; Performance Max text customization).

The site is read even where AI Max is off. Account-level automated assets are set for the whole account, apart from campaign-level text customization (FAQ). Google’s example for dynamic callouts is a landing page that mentions “25 years of experience,” “Book online” and “Certified technicians.” Dynamic images come from the ad’s landing page, and automated promotions from the website and other sources. Each type can be switched off in the account’s settings (automated assets).

The site also shapes matching. AI Max’s search term matching uses “broad match, asset-based, and landing page-based technology” (how AI Max works), and the keywords report’s Total: AI Max landing page matches row shows traffic that matched through pages or assets, outside the advertiser’s keywords (AI Max reporting).

Google’s text customization pages do not say whether it also reads reviews, PDFs or text in images.

Which page receives the click

With text customization and final URL expansion on, Google “may replace your Final URL with a more relevant landing page based on the user’s search query,” and generate a headline, description and other assets to match. It sends traffic only to URLs that are “query relevant and themed to your ad group.” Expansion needs text customization, so switching text customization off switches expansion off (final URL expansion).

In Performance Max, expansion is on by default and “can serve and receive traffic on any page that hasn’t been excluded” (Performance Max expansion).

URL inclusions do not close the choice while expansion is on. With both on, “the URLs you choose as well as the URLs that Google thinks will provide the best performance can be used” (AI Max setup).

Expanded pages can also break. Google warns of “broken expanded landing pages with a 404 error” when tracking templates are not set up for them, and recommends templates built on the {lpurl} tag (how AI Max works).

Because Google can write ad text from a website and choose which page receives the click when AI Max or Performance Max features are on, Digital Traction treats a vague website as a paid search problem as well as a content problem.

What the AI Max upgrade switches on

Google says that “starting in September 2026, campaigns using text customization, formerly known as automatically created assets, will automatically be upgraded to AI Max” (text customization). Google’s announcement of April 15, 2026 says those campaigns move “with search term matching and text customization enabled by default,” and that campaigns using the campaign-level broad match setting move with search term matching on. Search term matching draws on landing pages as well as keywords (how AI Max works). A June 11 update keeps the September timing for both groups and moves the Dynamic Search Ads upgrade to February 2027 (upgrade announcement).

Google has not said whether the upgrade also switches on final URL expansion, and its June 11 update gives no end date. Check the AI Max settings of every campaign that used automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match.

How to keep a page out of your ads

Google’s examples of pages an advertiser may not want to send ad traffic to are non-commercial pages such as an About page (Performance Max expansion guide) and a careers page (Performance Max exclusions). Digital Traction adds an expired offer to the same list.

Search campaigns

In Search, text customization and final URL expansion sit in AI Max’s Asset optimization panel, apart from search term matching, and switching text customization off stops its generated assets serving (AI Max setup). URL exclusions take single URLs or rules, and need both settings on (final URL expansion). A landing page in the search terms report can be excluded from there, with Add as negative URL (AI Max reporting).

Performance Max

Performance Max takes exclusions by URL or by rule (Performance Max expansion guide), with limits. The campaign’s own final URL “can’t be excluded” this way, and in campaigns with a Merchant Center feed the homepage “may still serve on some inventory even if excluded” (Performance Max exclusions). And while expansion is on, a page feed “doesn’t restrict ads to serve only URLs from the provided feed.” With expansion off, the campaign uses only the URLs in its page feed and asset groups (Performance Max expansion).

Where one page is the only path to a conversion, Google’s advice is to switch off final URL expansion (Performance Max expansion guide).

Where robots.txt fits

Google does not document robots.txt as a way to keep a page out of ads. AdsBot ignores the global user agent (*) “with the ad publisher’s permission,” and rules aimed at AdsBot-Google affect Google’s ability to check ad quality (special-case crawlers). For “Destination not working” disapprovals, Google’s checks include making sure robots.txt is not blocking AdsBot (Performance Max expansion).

Google-Extended covers Gemini training and grounding, and its description does not mention ads (common crawlers). Google has not published whether any robots.txt rule or noindex tag keeps a page out of text customization or final URL expansion.

How to control what the ad says

Required wording and pinned text

Pinned wording is fragile: pinned assets “aren’t used if a more relevant URL is chosen,” nor when URL inclusions are on. To always use pinned assets, Google says to switch off both final URL expansion and URL inclusions (final URL expansion).

Text disclaimers are the other route: up to 90 characters, “fully compatible with AI Max features, including the Final URL Expansion setting,” and they override anything pinned to description line 1. Google announced them on April 30, 2026 (AI Max announcement), and its Help page says they “will be available to all advertisers globally” (text disclaimers), so a US advertiser should confirm the option is in the account first.

Steering the generated text

The asset preview shows up to 10 sample headlines and descriptions Google would write from a final URL, with no need to opt in to text customization first (asset previews).

Text guidelines, which Google calls “an experimental beta,” then limit what it writes: up to 25 term exclusions and 40 messaging restrictions per campaign. Existing generated assets that break new guidelines stop serving (text guidelines). The beta has been open to all advertisers since February 26, 2026, so a US advertiser can use it today (beta announcement). AI Brief, for describing the business to AI Max in plain words, is still a closed beta as of September 23, 2026, so a US advertiser cannot count on it (September 23 announcement).

Who answers for what the ad says

The advertiser does. Google says “you remain responsible for reviewing and ensuring compliance and accuracy of landing page content, and all dynamically generated assets” (Performance Max). For Search, it asks advertisers to “ensure your website content is accurate, not misleading, and not in violation of Google Ads policies or applicable laws” (text customization).

In AI Max for Search, Google’s reports show what it wrote and where it sent people (AI Max reporting):

• Generated assets are marked Google AI in the asset report’s Added by column
• The landing pages report’s Selected by column shows which URLs AI Max chose
• The Search terms and ad combinations view pairs each search with its headline and landing page
• The landing page matches row counts traffic matched through pages or assets

A generated asset can be removed on its own, and Google warns that removal is permanent (asset removal). On September 23, 2026, Google announced a single view of search terms, the assets people saw and where they landed, and said it will “share additional details and availability later this year,” so a US advertiser cannot use it yet (September 23 announcement).

Digital Traction’s view is that a claim on a page can now reach a buyer through a generated ad or an agent’s answer, so each claim needs an owner, a source and a review date.

Who else reads the landing page

OpenAI does, for ads in ChatGPT. OAI-AdsBot “only visits pages submitted as ads,” and OpenAI says it may use landing page content to decide when an ad is most relevant to show (OpenAI crawlers). A US-based business can buy these ads today through the self-serve Ads Manager, where OpenAI lists the United States as available (Ads Manager availability). ChatGPT ads: what a US business can buy today covers how those ads are matched, billed and measured. OpenAI does not say whether OAI-AdsBot follows robots.txt.

Google’s product page for Business Agent for Leads says the agent is grounded “in your specific website content.” Google announced it in May 2026 and has published no US availability (Business Agent for Leads). Separate notes cover how Business Agent for Leads changes what a lead is and what the business answers for when an ad opens an agent.

What to check on your pages

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

1. Which campaigns run AI Max, text customization and final URL expansion, including any upgraded since September 2026 from automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match
2. Which account-level automated assets show, and whether each claim they pull still holds
3. Titles, meta descriptions and page copy, with every claim current, since a changed page can reach the ads within 48 hours
4. Pages that should not take a paid click, such as About, careers and expired offers, excluded in every campaign where final URL expansion is on, and not used as a Performance Max final URL
5. Campaigns that need exact wording: final URL expansion and URL inclusions off, or text disclaimers once the account has them
6. The asset preview for each important landing page, then text guidelines for what Google should not write
7. The reports: Added by, Selected by, Search terms and ad combinations, and the landing page matches row
8. Tracking templates that pass the expanded page through {lpurl}, so no click lands on a 404
9. A robots.txt file that does not block AdsBot-Google on pages that take ads
10. For ads in ChatGPT, the submitted landing page, which OpenAI reads too

Digital Traction keeps each business fact with its date and source in the foundation behind its content, paid search and advertising in AI work, and updates it when the business changes.