Microsoft Advertising is rolling AI Max for Search out to every account worldwide, folding three previously separate capabilities into one suite: wider match expansion beyond a set keyword list, AI-generated ad copy variations, and landing page selection that lets the system pick the page it judges closest to what a searcher wants. Microsoft frames the whole package as opt-in, and it ships with brand controls, term exclusions and ad group-level settings so advertisers keep some override. Accounts that already had autogenerated text assets or Predictive matching turned on will find those specific settings flipped on automatically, since Microsoft is reclassifying them under the AI Max name; the newer pieces still need a manual switch. Search campaigns brought in from Google Ads keep their AI Max setup, except that any built on an upgraded Dynamic Search Ads foundation reverts to a plain DSA campaign until Microsoft adds further support. Google begins auto-upgrading eligible Search campaigns to its own AI Max on September 1, so the industry’s two largest search ad platforms land on the same expanded-matching default within weeks of each other, squeezing how much keyword-level control survives on either system.
Per Search Engine Land, reported by Anu Adegbola on August 19, 2026.
