- AI Max is not a campaign type of its own but an extension of Search campaigns. Performance Max is a separate campaign type that runs across all Google channels.
- Performance Max needs a full set of copy, images, a logo and ideally videos. AI Max builds on your existing search ads, keywords and landing pages.
- Both now offer search terms reports. Since 2025, Performance Max also shows how results break down by channel.
- If both compete for the same query, an exact match keyword in the Search campaign wins. Otherwise, Ad Rank decides.
With AI Max for Search campaigns and Performance Max, Google offers two highly automated solutions, both powered by Google's AI. They are often treated as alternatives, but they operate at different levels: Performance Max is a separate campaign type spanning all Google channels, while AI Max extends existing Search campaigns.
In this comparison, we show how they differ in reach, assets, control and reporting, which solution suits which starting point, and how the two work together in the same account.
Performance Max serves your ads across all Google channels
Performance Max combines your assets, meaning copy, images and videos, with Google's audience and intent signals. The system decides which combination to serve on which channel and optimizes toward your conversion goal:
- Google Search with text and Shopping ads
- Display Network on websites and in apps
- YouTube including Shorts
- Gmail
- Discover
- Google Maps
Several automations work together behind the scenes: Smart Bidding adjusts bids in real time based on conversion likelihood, assets are combined and varied automatically, audiences are found across channels, and budget shifts to the channels with the best results.
AI Max adds AI features to your Search campaigns
AI Max is not a new campaign type. You switch the features on in an existing Search campaign. Your keywords, ads and bid strategy stay in place and give the AI its starting point. AI Max has three features:
- Search term matching: reaches relevant queries beyond your keywords through broad match and keywordless matching.
- Text customization: generates headlines and descriptions from your existing ads, assets and landing page content, tailored to each query.
- Final URL expansion: sends users to the page that best matches their search.
The difference from a classic Search campaign: the AI understands which content on your website matches which search intent, even without the exact keyword. Your website becomes the most important source for ads and landing pages. We explain how AI Max works in detail in our article on AI Max.
Five key differences between the two
Performance Max delivers reach; AI Max focuses on search
The choice depends on where your customers are and at which stage of the buying journey you want to reach them. Performance Max covers every channel; AI Max stays within Google Search, where users are actively looking for a solution.
| Aspect | Performance Max | AI Max for Search campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps | Google Search |
| Placement | Broad coverage across all touchpoints | Search results |
| Reach | Users at every stage of the buying journey | Users actively searching |
| Best if | you need reach across all channels | you want to focus on searchers ready to buy |
Performance Max needs a full asset set; AI Max needs your website
Performance Max requires ready-made creatives for every channel:
- Copy: headlines of up to 30 characters (3 to 15), long headlines of up to 90 characters (1 to 5) and descriptions of up to 90 characters (2 to 5), plus business name and call to action.
- Images: landscape (1.91:1) and square (1:1) are required, portrait (4:5) is optional. Plus a square logo.
- Videos: recommended in landscape, square and portrait. Without them, Google generates videos from your assets. Your own videos give you more control over message and impact.
AI Max builds on what a Search campaign already has: keywords, responsive search ads and landing pages. What makes the difference is the quality of your website. Well-structured pages with precise statements about products, services and benefits give text customization and URL expansion their material. That reduces production work, but shifts it to your page content.
Both run on Google's AI, from different starting points
Both solutions use Smart Bidding and generative AI for ad copy. The difference is where they start:
- Performance Max: combines your assets with optional search themes and audience signals. The system decides which queries and placements to serve.
- AI Max: starts from your keywords and landing pages and expands on them. Exact match keywords keep working as before, and your ad group structure stays intact.
AI Max gives you more control over individual queries
Both systems are highly automated, but they now offer far more ways to intervene than at launch.
| Aspect | Performance Max | AI Max for Search campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| Keywords | Search themes as signals; negative keywords at the campaign level | Your keywords stay; AI Max expands them |
| Ads | Asset groups with multiple variations | Responsive search ads plus customized copy |
| Budget | Campaign level | Campaign level |
| Audiences | Audience signals as a starting point | Audiences as in any Search campaign |
| Placement | All channels automatically; brand and URL exclusions | Search only; brand, location and URL controls |
Both now show which queries drive results
How well you can steer a campaign depends on its reporting and on clean conversion tracking.
- Performance Max: Since 2025, the channel performance report shows how clicks, conversions and costs break down across Search, YouTube, Display and the other channels, with diagnostics per channel. There is also a full search terms report and expanded asset reporting with costs and conversion values.
- AI Max: In the search terms report, “AI Max” appears as its own keyword type, showing whether a search came through a broad match keyword or without a keyword. One view combines search term, headline and landing page; the landing page report shows which pages AI Max selected.
Your starting point determines which solution to use
Performance Max is a fit if:
- you have, or can produce, high-quality images, videos and multiple copy variations.
- you want a presence across all Google channels.
- you want to combine brand building and sales: Display and YouTube for awareness, Search and Shopping for conversions.
- you run an online store with a product feed and want to serve Shopping ads.
- your brand comes across strongly in images and video.
AI Max is a fit if:
- your website has many substantive pages: detailed product descriptions, service pages, guides.
- you want inquiries from users with clear purchase intent.
- your products or services are complex and are found through many specific queries.
- you lack the resources for large-scale video and image production.
- you want to keep control of keywords and ad groups.
Four examples of how we decide
Sporting goods online store: Performance Max
The range sells through images and video, a product feed is in place, and the audience can be reached on many channels. We build asset groups around the key product categories, use lifestyle imagery and product videos, and pass back purchase values that reflect margin.
Software company with extensive expert content: Search campaign with AI Max
The solution is complex, the sales cycle is long, and demand is spread across many specific queries. We make sure all important pages are crawlable and well structured, and we count demo requests and qualified leads as conversions.
Roofing contractor with a local service area: Performance Max
Local presence on Google Maps matters, before-and-after photos make strong visuals, and phone calls are the main contact channel. We target the campaign to the service area, build asset groups with project photos and track calls as conversions. For the most important service terms, we add a Search campaign with exact match keywords.
Online education platform: both in parallel
A Search campaign with AI Max reaches users looking for specific courses, while Performance Max builds awareness through YouTube and Discover. We start with Search because it captures demand close to purchase, then add Performance Max once Search delivers reliable data. Each campaign gets its own conversion goals.
Principles for getting more out of both
Performance Max
- Assets: Use copy and images that have proven themselves in other campaigns, and test different messages. Videos need to win attention in the first few seconds.
- Conversions: Track all relevant conversions, but optimize only for those that represent revenue and profit. Assign different values to purchases, leads and micro-conversions, and use Enhanced Conversions.
- Asset groups: Start with a small number of clearly separated asset groups, for example by product category.
- Exclusions: Maintain campaign-level negative keywords and brand exclusions based on the search terms report.
AI Max for Search campaigns
- Content: Structure key pages with clear headings and answer the questions your customers actually ask, in their own words.
- Crawlability: Make sure Google can access every relevant page.
- Landing pages: Every important product or service page should work as a landing page: a clear call to action, visible contact options and a good mobile experience.
- Controls: Use URL exclusions for pages that should never be landing pages, and set text guidelines.
Mistakes that waste budget in both
Performance Max:
- Judging too early: The system needs a learning phase with enough conversions. Don't evaluate it after a few days.
- Too many asset groups at launch: Start focused, then expand.
- Weak creative: Weak images and videos produce weak results.
- Messy tracking: Without reliable conversion data, the system optimizes for the wrong signals.
- No signals: Point the system in the right direction with your own customer data and search themes.
AI Max:
- Thin pages: Pages with little content give the AI almost nothing to build ads from or match against.
- Blocked pages: If Google can't crawl it, AI Max can't use it.
- Contradictory content: Generated ads are based on your content. If it is contradictory or outdated, so are the ads.
- Weak landing pages: AI Max brings visitors with clear intent. Your pages have to turn them into inquiries and purchases.
- No search term review: Check regularly which queries come in through AI Max and exclude anything that doesn't fit.
The two work best together
For many companies, combining both is the right answer. The key is how Google decides when both campaigns match the same query: if the query matches an exact match keyword in a Search campaign, the Search campaign takes priority. In all other cases, the campaign with the higher Ad Rank wins.
That leads to our three-step approach:
- Build the foundation with Search: Your most important high-intent queries sit as exact match keywords in Search campaigns, and AI Max extends their reach. You collect reliable data and keep control of bids, ads and landing pages.
- Expand with Performance Max: Once Search delivers stable results, we add Performance Max for reach across all channels and feed the Search insights into the assets.
- Evaluate separately: Each campaign runs with clear goals, and we use the search terms reports to see where they overlap.
This also matters for AI search: for ads inside AI Overviews, Google relies on AI-powered targeting, meaning broad match, AI Max, Performance Max or Shopping. Read more in our article on AI Mode for advertisers.
Conclusion: let your content, assets and goals drive the choice
Both are powerful tools. Which one you use depends on your content, your creative assets and your business goals:
- Reach across all channels and strong visuals: Performance Max.
- Substantive website, complex offering, high-intent queries: Search campaign with AI Max.
- Ambitious growth targets: both, with a clear division of roles.
In either case, the AI optimizes for what you report as success. Conversion values tied to margin help align the bidding strategy more closely with profitable results. That alone does not prove additional profit.
