Microsoft Advertising has made AI Max for Search publicly available: What changed in August 2026
On August 27, 2026, Microsoft Advertising announced the global availability of AI Max for Search. After several months of testing, advertisers gained the ability to use a set of AI features in standard search campaigns.
The company had announced the launch of AI Max back in the spring. In June, we already covered its capabilities, including expanding search query reach, automatically adapting ads, and selecting landing pages: AI Max for Search in Microsoft Ads: 2026 Update.
The August update marked the next stage of the product's development. Microsoft opened broad access to AI Max, clarified how the feature works in new and existing campaigns, introduced additional control tools, and expanded reporting. The company also published the first results of A/B testing.
What Is AI Max for Search?
AI Max is a set of artificial intelligence tools within standard Microsoft Advertising Search campaigns. It is not a separate campaign type and does not replace search advertising with Performance Max.
Search Term Matching expands reach beyond the specified keyword list by analyzing search intent, advertising materials, and website content.
Text Customization creates and selects variations of advertising messages based on the context of the search query.
Final URL Expansion makes it possible to direct users to the most appropriate pages on a website, even if the advertiser originally specified a different URL.
For example, an online store selling gas grills may receive traffic from long search queries describing specific product characteristics. AI Max can find matching products, adapt advertising messages, and direct users to relevant catalog pages.
These capabilities had been announced previously. The main August news concerns their availability, integration into the Microsoft Advertising interface, and additional management tools.
AI Max Became Available to All Advertisers
Initially, AI Max was tested in a limited pilot. Microsoft then gradually expanded access to selected advertising accounts. In August, the company officially announced the product's global availability.
AI Max can now be enabled in standard Search campaigns directly through Microsoft Advertising. The feature set remains optional, but AI Max is enabled by default when creating new Search campaigns.
This means that specialists must check the toggle themselves when creating a campaign. If additional automation is not required, it can be disabled during setup or later.
The situation is different for existing campaigns. Microsoft did not announce mandatory activation of the full AI Max feature set in all previously created Search campaigns.
How the Display of Automatically Created Ads Has Changed
Microsoft Advertising already had a feature for automatically creating advertising materials for Responsive Search Ads. After the August update, it was integrated into AI Max and is displayed under the name Text Customization.
For advertisers who previously used automatic headline and description generation, this is primarily a change in the structure of settings. Microsoft clarified that existing settings will continue to work.
At the same time, active Text Customization does not mean that Search Term Matching and Final URL Expansion are automatically enabled. Therefore, when auditing campaigns, it is important to distinguish between individual AI features and the full AI Max feature set.
Google Import Now Transfers AI Max Settings
Microsoft Advertising supports importing campaigns from Google Ads, including regular automatic synchronization. Since August, AI Max settings can be transferred along with imported search campaigns.
If AI Max is enabled in Google Ads, the corresponding setting may be imported into Microsoft Advertising during subsequent imports.
For example, an agency may test AI Max in Google Ads but intentionally keep standard Search settings in Microsoft Advertising. Regular Google Import may change the campaign's original configuration.
Therefore, advertisers should check whether AI Max is used in the source Google Ads campaigns, how regular synchronization is configured, and which features are active in the imported Microsoft Advertising campaigns.
For agencies managing a large number of accounts, this check is especially important.
New AI Max Control Tools
The expansion of automation raises questions about control over search queries, ads, and landing pages. In its August release, Microsoft paid particular attention to these capabilities.
Brand Inclusions and Brand Exclusions
Brand Inclusions allow advertisers to manage campaign participation in queries related to specific brands. Brand Exclusions help restrict unwanted branded traffic, such as queries containing competitors' names.
These settings complement negative keywords but do not completely replace them.
Term Exclusions for Automatically Created Ads
Microsoft added the ability to prohibit specific words and phrases in Text Customization materials.
For example, a company can exclude phrases such as "discount," "buy now," or certain medical claims if they conflict with brand requirements or advertising policies.
This is especially useful for financial, medical, and other regulated industries. Microsoft separately announced additional tools for managing generation through text instructions, but they were not generally available at the time of the August release.
Existing Search Restrictions Continue to Apply
AI Max respects standard search campaign settings, including negative keywords, budgets, bidding strategies, conversion goals, and available targeting options.
However, preserving these restrictions does not mean preserving the previous set of search queries and landing pages. The algorithm can expand these elements.
Additional AI Max Reporting
One of the most important additions in August concerns algorithm transparency. Microsoft introduced tools that help analyze not only overall campaign performance but also specific actions taken by AI Max.
AI Optimized Match Type. In keyword and search term reports, it identifies traffic obtained through expanded AI matching.
Asset Reports. These allow advertisers to analyze automatically created advertising materials and compare them with advertiser-provided assets.
Search Term Landing Page Report. This shows the relationship between search queries and landing pages selected through Final URL Expansion.
The last report is particularly useful. AI Max may direct a user not to the main service page but to a blog article or a less commercially relevant section of the website. Even if the page matches the topic of the query, it will not necessarily provide optimal conversion performance.
The new reporting makes it possible to identify such paths, evaluate the quality of additional traffic, and adjust the use of AI Max.
Microsoft Continues to Support Dynamic Search Ads
An important clarification in the August announcement concerns Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).
Google Ads had previously announced the transition of existing DSA campaigns to AI Max. Microsoft chose a different approach and confirmed that Dynamic Search Ads would continue to be supported until further notice.
If Google Import transfers DSA campaigns that have been converted in Google Ads, Microsoft may convert them back into standard Dynamic Search Ads.
Therefore, advertisers do not need to urgently migrate all existing Microsoft Advertising DSA campaigns to AI Max.
Initial A/B Testing Results
In August, Microsoft presented more detailed results from AI Max testing. The published analysis covers 44 A/B experiments conducted from June through August 2026.
The spend-weighted increase in conversions across the sample was approximately 13.6%. At the same time, statistically significant positive results for conversions or conversion value were recorded in only 10 experiments. Microsoft's materials also mention a figure of 8.2% for the lower bound of the confidence interval in the corresponding comparison.
These figures require careful interpretation. The data were published by the platform itself and do not represent an independent study. A significant positive effect was not observed in every experiment, and an increase in conversion volume does not always mean a comparable improvement in CPA or ROAS.
Microsoft notes that campaigns that previously relied primarily on Exact and Phrase Match may potentially benefit more from expanded search reach. However, the actual effect for a specific business must be confirmed through its own experiment.
What Will Change for Advertisers?
The August launch is important not so much because of the introduction of completely new search advertising mechanisms, but because AI Max has moved toward widespread use.
First and foremost, it is necessary to check the settings of new Search campaigns because AI Max is enabled by default. Agencies should audit regular Google Import to prevent unintended activation of automation.
The new Brand Controls and Term Exclusions allow advertisers to manage the risks of unwanted queries and advertising wording. Expanded reports help evaluate which search queries the algorithm finds, which materials it creates, and which landing pages it selects.
The key question for an advertiser is the incremental result. Increases in traffic and conversions should be compared with spending, lead quality, CPA, and ROAS.
For online stores with large product catalogs and B2B companies with diverse search intent, AI Max may become an additional source of commercial demand. For advertisers with small budgets and strict lead quality requirements, controlled testing is especially important.
The August update made AI Max a fully developed tool for managing search advertising in Microsoft Advertising. Advertisers must now evaluate its actual effectiveness using their own data.
Sources
- Microsoft Advertising: Reimagining Search Campaigns for the AI Era with AI Max, August 27, 2026. Microsoft Advertising Blog
- Microsoft Advertising: AI Max for Search and Other Product News for August 2026. Microsoft Advertising Blog
- Affect: AI Max for Search in Microsoft Ads: 2026 Update, June 2026. Affect Blog
