About AI Max experiments

AI Max for Search (or "AI Max") makes your Search ads better. It uses Google AI to reach more customers in real time. It has 2 main features: search term matching and asset optimization. An AI Max experiment acts as a test run. It lets you try these AI tools on your ads before you apply them to your whole campaign. Learn more About AI Max for Search campaigns.

AI Max experiments deliver faster results and reduce some of the common experimentation errors. It diverts traffic and budget within an existing campaign instead of creating a copy of the campaign to experiment on. This article explains how these tests work.

On this page

• Benefits
• How it works
• Steps to implement
• Setup limitations
• Reporting
• Applying the feature
• Differences between new AI Max experiments and AI Max experiments through custom experiments

Benefits

Unlike custom experiments, AI Max experiments offer the following benefits:

• Faster results: By using a single campaign, you can likely get results and insights more quickly.
• Minimal setup errors: Updating both control and treatment arms in the same campaign prevents setup errors and sync issues.
• Shorter learning period: This approach is likely to have a reduced learning period, since the traffic remains in the same campaign.

How it works

AI Max for Search experiments enable you to easily test key Search ads features like Broad Match keywords and AI Max settings.

• Control: A % of your existing Search campaign with AI Max toggle turned off.
• Trial: The remaining % of your existing Search campaign with AI Max toggle on.

After completing an experiment, you can evaluate performance and choose if you want to “apply the experiment”, which turns on the AI Max setting for the campaign.

Steps to implement

1. Go to Experiments within the Campaigns menu .
2. Select the plus button , and select Campaign features and settings.
3. Select AI Max for Search campaigns.
4. (Optional) Configure the granular AI Max controls such as “Text customization” and “Final URL expansion” housed in “Asset optimization” settings.
5. (Optional) Configure Brand settings such as “Brand inclusions” and “Brand exclusions”.

By default, the experiment setup automatically activates AI Max features including Text Customization, Final URL Expansion, and Search Term Matching in your treatment campaign.

However, you have the flexibility to customize your experiment at the campaign level using granular AI Max controls and brand settings:

• Granular AI Max controls: In the Asset optimization section, you can deselect campaign-level settings like Text customization and Final URL expansion. The experiment manages the treatment arm to run AI Max while ensuring the control arm runs your base Search campaign. Any features you deselect here will only be disabled in AI Max, the treatment arm of your experiment.
  Note: Ad group-level changes (such as disabling Search Term Matching or adding URL inclusions) aren't supported during the initial experiment setup. You can adjust these settings later by editing the newly created campaign directly.
• Brand settings: You can add brand settings to better manage your branded traffic according to your advertising goals. These can be configured for your experiment even if your original base campaign uses legacy brand controls or has no brand controls enabled.
  Important: If you add brand inclusions or brand exclusions during setup, these settings will automatically apply to both your control and treatment arms for the duration of the experiment.

The experiment, by default, activates both AI Max features, Search Term Matching and Asset Optimization, at the campaign level. However, you have the flexibility to disable Search Term Matching at the ad group level and disable Asset Optimization at the campaign level, if you prefer. Your chosen settings will only apply to the treatment arm of the experiment.

Similarly, you'll have the flexibility of using other features that are available with AI Max, like adding URL exclusions at the campaign level and URL inclusions at the ad group level.

Setup limitations

You cannot create an AI Max experiment through this flow if:

• The campaign has text customization (formerly known as automatically created assets) enabled
• The campaign targets Display network
• The campaign is a part of a Portfolio Bidding Strategy
• The campaign uses Shared Budgets
• The campaign uses Bidding exploration
• The campaign has any active experiments

These limitations, with the exception of "targeting Display Network," also apply to AI Max experiments you create using the Custom experiments flow.

Reporting

You can find Experiment results under the “Experiments” tab, with an expanded view of the “Experiment summary” page when you select the experiment campaign.

Applying the feature

You have a few different options of how to apply results:

• When creating the experiment, there's an option to “Apply your experiment changes if results are favorable”. You can select this during setup if you want the experiment to automatically apply if the results are favorable at the end of the experiment.
• After the experiment ends, you can select Apply from the Experiments table.
• After the experiment ends, you can enable AI Max from the Campaign settings page.

Ending an experiment without applying it to your base campaign

If your experiment ends without being applied to your base campaign, all AI Max settings will automatically revert to the original, pre-experiment state.

If you configure brand inclusions or exclusions during setup, those apply to both the control and treatment arms for the duration of the experiment. Then, at the end of the experiment:

• If you used legacy brand controls before the experiment: Your campaign will revert to its original state with those legacy brand controls applied.
• If you didn't use brand controls before the experiment: Any brand controls added during the experiment will be removed, returning your campaign to its original state.

Differences between new AI Max experiments and AI Max experiments through Custom experiments

You can choose between the new AI Max experiments or a custom experiment. Custom experiments require you to copy your campaign. This creates a separate "trial" campaign and a "control" campaign. The new AI Max experiments keep everything in one place.

Related links

• How AI Max for Search campaigns works
• Frequently asked questions about AI Max for Search campaigns
• About the "Experiments" page (formerly drafts and experiments)
• About custom experiments
• Set up a custom experiment