Google Ads Wants You to Use New AI Features: But What’s What, and How Do You Drive Results Instead of Burning Through Your Budget?

When AI is the Driver, Are You Still Holding the Wheel?

Google’s newest AI-powered features promise more reach, more conversions, better efficiency… and sometimes even all at once. The pitch is alluring: hand over the keys and let the machine do the driving.

But here’s the truth: AI doesn’t know your profit margins, your customer lifetime value, or the nuances of your brand. Without your direction, it’s just as happy driving you in circles as it is taking you to your destination.

That’s why the real question isn’t, “Should I use Google’s new AI tools?” It’s “Do I know enough about how they work to make sure they’re taking me somewhere worth going?”

Meet the Players:

AI Max

Think of AI Max as a supercharge toggle within your existing search campaigns.  With this feature, you move beyond simply matching keywords and ads to users’ search queries, to actually predicting their intent and what they might need.

There are three elements to this feature:

• Expand your keywords’ reach - Already using broad match? AI Max will still find long-tail intent-based searches you didn’t think to target. This element is activated when AI Max is toggled on within your campaign.

• Text customization (optional) - Spins up ad copy based on your landing pages, ads, and keywords, so your message is relevant and personalized.

• Final URL expansion (optional) - Automatically sends users to the most relevant page on your site. Don’t worry, you can control with exclusions to avoid sending traffic where it doesn’t belong!

Add in reporting transparency and you’ve got automation with visibility and a smarter, more adaptive search experience without giving up all your levers.

Smart Bidding Exploration (SBE)

Imagine your traditional smart bidding strategy (ROAS or CPA) fighting its way through each auction to hit the exact target you’ve set. Now imagine giving it a little room to breathe. SBE allows it to test audiences and opportunities it couldn’t previously reach without missing your goal. By loosening efficiency constraints, the algorithm can bid more aggressively on untapped audiences and, ideally, boost conversion volume.

You control the “wiggle room” by setting a target tolerance threshold. But keep in mind that this feature is best for campaigns that are mature, stable, and ready to scale beyond their current comfort zone.

Performance Max (PMAX)

Here’s your self-driving car. Put in some gas, set the destination, and let the car handle all the twists and turns along the way. Performance Max is Google’s fully automated campaign type. Give it copy, creative, business objectives, and maybe some audience signals for guidance, then let Google steer across all of its inventory. It works best as a supplement to search, not a replacement.

It’s streamlined, it’s wide-reaching, but it’s also a black box. You won’t see the keyword-level detail you’re used to, and fine control is limited, but Google is continuing to roll out updates to improve visibility, so be on the lookout!

Curious how this has worked for our clients? Check out our case studies on how PMAX has been used to Drive Revenue in Non-eCommerce Settings, and Unlock eCommerce Growth.

Demand Gen

If PMAX is a self-driving car, Demand Gen is the convertible cruising down Main Street: turning heads and sparking interest rather than racing straight to the destination. This campaign type is Google’s answer to building awareness and interest at the top of the funnel across placements on YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Display. Instead of focusing solely on direct conversions, Demand Gen’s goal is to charm and warm prospects before your lower-funnel campaigns bring them home.

Like PMAX, you provide creative assets, but instead of simply guiding the AI with audience signals, you can provide direct audience targeting such as lists, website visitors, or custom segments. It’s a great complement to your lower-funnel campaigns – just make sure you’re able to measure its impact.

Why It’s Smart to Test Google Ads AI Features, Carefully and Intentionally

There’s no denying it; Google Ads’ AI-powered features are unlocking opportunities that human-only campaign management simply can’t match at scale.

These tools can:

• Find queries you’d never think to target

• Adjust bids and creative faster than any human can

• Test thousands of ad and placement combos in days

The catch? AI’s goal isn’t your goal. Without guardrails, it will optimize toward the easiest signal (like clicks or cheap conversions that don’t actually make you money).

What to do before you turn anything on:

• Feed it good inputs - Diverse creative, strong messaging, accurate and frequent data

• Watch early results closely - Exploration can get expensive

• Continuously optimize - Use exclusions, audience signals, and conversion tracking to keep it pointed in the right direction

Done right, you can achieve profitable growth at a scale that manual optimization could never deliver. Done wrong, you risk paying for a lot of “learning” that teaches the AI more than it earns you back.

Final Thought

Each tool has its place in a smart, AI-driven marketing mix. The opportunity is huge, but the magic happens when you combine the speed and reach of automation with human strategy and supervision.

Automation without understanding is gambling. Automation with understanding? That’s where you find scalable, predictable, profitable growth.