Advertisers may soon gain greater control over how AI Max campaigns participate in branded searches — addressing one of the biggest concerns marketers have had since this campaign type debuted. What’s new: Some advertisers are now seeing a “Branded Searches” control within AI Max campaigns that allows them to decide how the campaign treats brand-related queries. The setting appears to include three choices:
- Show ads on all relevant searches (the current default)
- Manage branded searches via brand inclusions and exclusions
- Show ads only on unbranded searches
Why it matters: A frequent complaint about AI Max is that it can capture branded traffic that advertisers are already covering with dedicated brand campaigns. This can lead to several issues:
- Higher costs for traffic that was already highly likely to convert
- More complex attribution across different campaign types
- Less clarity into true incremental performance
- Fears that AI Max may cannibalize branded search efforts
The newly observed “unbranded only” option could give advertisers a more precise way to keep AI Max focused on incremental demand and prospecting, rather than existing brand traffic.
Context: Up to now, advertisers trying to stop AI Max from serving on branded queries have mostly depended on brand exclusion lists. A built-in, campaign-level control would be a simpler solution and could improve transparency into how AI Max interprets and responds to brand intent.
The broader trend: Google has been gradually introducing more levers and safeguards for automated campaign types as advertisers demand stronger oversight and insight into AI-driven systems. If this feature rolls out widely, it would be another sign that Google is actively responding to those requests.