Google’s AI Max Unlocks Search Ads for All—No Conversion Minimums Needed

Some updates land with a thud. This one feels like a door quietly opening. Google has confirmed that AI Max for Search runs without conversion minimums, and for scrappy advertisers—startups, niche products, local heroes—that’s a big, breathable sigh. No more staring at an empty conversions column and wondering if you’re locked out of the smarter stuff. You’re in.

What “no minimums” actually changes

AI Max, rolled out earlier in 2025, automates the gritty bits—keyword matching, bid adjustments, creative pairing—so your Search campaigns can adapt to signals in real time. The twist? It doesn’t demand a fat historical dataset to begin optimizing. That levels the field for low-volume accounts that historically got nudged to the sidelines while bigger spenders taught the algorithms what “good” looks like.

But there’s a catch—more of a gate code than a gate. You need to use Smart Bidding to unlock the juicy parts, like AI-driven search-term matching. Honestly, I’m fine with it. Smart Bidding gives Google the scaffolding it needs to learn fast and move confidently, not limp along on rigid, fixed rules. Just don’t fling it live and hope; set it up like you mean it.

Who stands to win (and who needs to brace)

Small and medium-sized businesses finally get a fairer swing. I’ve felt that pinch for years—under-resourced advertisers trying to justify paid search with thin data and even thinner patience from CFOs. This shift lowers the barrier. You can launch more exploratory campaigns and chase edge-case queries.

Do results magically spike? Not by default. Early adopters have seen mixed outcomes—some lovely conversion lifts, some “lots of impressions, not much to show.” That variability doesn’t scare me; it’s normal when you hand a system new levers and say, “Go.” The real tell is how quickly you feed it good signals.

Ground rules I’d follow (and do)

• Smart Bidding first: Give AI Max the structure it needs. Pick the right strategy for your goal—Target CPA or Target ROAS—and resist the urge to change it every other day.
• Clean tracking or bust: If your conversions are fuzzy, your results will be fuzzier. Make sure you’re passing meaningful, deduped signals. Add micro-conversions that matter, not vanity taps.
• Creative matters more now: Let AI pair headlines and descriptions, but give it a rich palette. Think crisp value props, clear offers, and decisive CTAs—not just “We’re great.”
• Start controlled, iterate often: Begin with a smaller, bounded budget and allow a proper learning window. Expand once you see clear trends—search terms tightening, CPAs stabilizing, match quality improving.
• Guardrails, not handcuffs: Use negatives, location trims, and scheduling to focus spend without suffocating discovery.

The honest bits marketers whisper about

You’ll trade some control for velocity. That can feel itchy. You may not love every match type moment or the occasional “why on earth did we show there?” hiccup. There’s also a reporting gap—AI decisions can feel opaque when you want a tidy narrative for a stakeholder. I’d like more transparency too. Until then, lean on trend lines and incrementality testing over forensic, click-by-click storytelling.

There’s also the temptation to scale fast the second you see a good week. Resist. Early wins can be a statistical anomaly. Let patterns harden; then grow.

So, is this a net positive?

I think so—cautiously, and with two hands on the wheel. Removing conversion minimums democratizes a powerful tool. It invites experimentation from brands that were stuck peering through the glass. And the requirement to run Smart Bidding isn’t some trapdoor—it’s the price of admission to a system built for live optimization instead of dusty lookbacks.

Will AI Max solve everything? Of course not. But it pushes Search further toward agility over brute-force scale.

If you’ve tried AI Max already—love it, hate it, somewhere in the messy middle—drop your story in the comments. I’m especially curious how low-volume campaigns fared after week two.

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Sources:

• www.blog.google/products/ads-commerce/google-ai-max-for-search-campaigns/