That's How You Run Google Search Ads in 2026 in the AI Max World

Google put two of its own people on a podcast to explain how Search campaigns should be run in 2026, and the short version is: fewer campaigns, keywords as themes, and more trust in AI Max.

That advice comes from the company that sells the system, so it deserves a decode, not a copy-paste. Below is what was said, what it means for an ecom Search account, and where we keep doing the opposite on purpose.

What Google Said and What We Do With It

Consolidation Does Not Mean Merge Everything

According to PPC Land's write-up, the Google guest said structure should start from conversion goals and budget. He gave real reasons to split: distinct budgets and goals, separate regions and seasonal efforts.

Those exceptions are the whole game for an ecom account. We keep three splits no matter how much Google pushes consolidation:

• ▶Brand and non-brand: brand converts far above average, and mixing it hides what prospecting really does.
• ▶Countries: a US campaign and a CA campaign have different budgets, targets and prices.
• ▶Feeder and converter: one finds terms on Maximize Clicks, the other scales them on a ROAS target.

What we do consolidate: non-brand ad groups with the same goal, creatives and landing page that look identical side by side. If you cannot tell two ad groups apart in five seconds, they are one ad group. The full spend-by-spend map is in our Google Ads scaling structure.

Keywords Are Theme Signals Now

The episode framed keywords as a way to tell Google what an ad group is about, so it can route queries to the right place. With AI Max and broad match, you no longer enumerate every long-tail phrase.

• ▶Write one clear theme per ad group, with a handful of strong keywords.
• ▶Run the side-by-side test: two ad groups should look like distinct concepts.
• ▶Do not pad ad groups with near-duplicate phrases to cover every wording.
• ▶Remember that separate ad groups can undo theming on purpose.

That last point comes from Ginny Marvin in 2024: putting similar keywords in separate ad groups can make both eligible for the auction and essentially remove AI theming. She did not recommend it. It is an option when you truly do not want two similar phrases matched together.

The 15-Conversion Threshold

Google's number for Smart Bidding to work well is roughly 15 conversions in 30 days. The useful detail is that Google can pool learning across campaigns on the same conversion tracking ID, so the data does not have to come from one campaign.

For accounts below it, PPC Land reports Marvin suggested an earlier funnel conversion that still signals intent. Our view: keep purchase value as the goal for any campaign that clears the threshold, and use an earlier event only as a temporary bridge, because switching the bidding goal restarts learning.

What Restarts Learning and What Does Not

The guest's point was that Google's models weigh semantic features, not campaign or ad group IDs. So moving creatives or merging ad groups with the same goal should not wipe what was learned.

• ▶Should not restart: moving creatives, merging ad groups or campaigns with the same goal and creatives.
• ▶Does restart: turning on AI Max features, changing the bidding goal, adding very different traffic.
• ▶Our rule: change one of the big three at a time, and judge it on ROAS by conversion time.

Why AI Max Matches Half-Typed Queries

The search term report oddities have an explanation. In December 2025, Marvin said one match came from an autocomplete suggestion in Maps search: a user typed "dayca", saw "daycare near me" suggested, and an ad showed.

Standard keyword matching would not connect that partial query to an exact match keyword. AI Max can, because Google is increasingly judging relevance by inferred intent, not just raw text. She also said Google planned to improve transparency on these matches within about a quarter.

• ▶Read the search term report weekly after turning on AI Max.
• ▶Exclude brand from every non-brand campaign, AI Max included.
• ▶Only give AI Max a theme with at least 5 converted terms behind it.
• ▶Expect conversions that exact match keywords would have caught to be credited to AI Max.

AI Overviews Eligibility: Exact Match Is Out

Marvin confirmed in December 2025 that exact match keywords do not serve ads inside AI Overviews, even if the same keyword exists as broad match. Google also said exact no longer blocks broad from showing there, because exact is not competing in that auction.

Exact match can still serve above or below the AI Overview. So this is a surface, not a switch. We do not flip the feeder to broad to chase it. The feeder's job is cheap, clean discovery of converting terms. The AI Max converter, which is eligible, carries the AI Overview surface for themes that already proved themselves.

Where We Disagree With the Consolidation Pitch

Fewer, bigger campaigns means more spend flowing through Google's automation, which is the product these guests are paid to explain. That does not make the advice wrong. It means test it, do not convert a working account in one move.

• ▶Consolidate non-brand ad groups that look identical, one change at a time.
• ▶Keep brand, countries and feeder versus converter apart, per Google's own exceptions.
• ▶Judge every change on ROAS by conversion time over 7, 14 and 30 days.
• ▶Never let a keyword spend past $50 without hitting its ROAS goal.

Two Beta Controls Mentioned, Not Verified

A summary of the episode on X also lists two betas: term exclusions that work like negative keywords for assets, and matching restrictions that use natural language to limit ad copy. We could not confirm either in the coverage we found, and your account may not have them, so check before relying on them.

What to Do in Your Account This Week

1. 1.List your non-brand Search ad groups and merge pairs that share a goal, creatives and landing page.
2. 2.Check each campaign's conversions over the last 30 days against the 15 minimum.
3. 3.Confirm brand is excluded from every non-brand campaign, AI Max included.
4. 4.Pull the search term report for AI Max and flag partial or odd matches.
5. 5.Leave the feeder on exact match and Maximize Clicks.
6. 6.Read results on ROAS by conversion time before the next change.

Sources

• ▶PPC Land: why your hyper granular campaigns might be killing performance in 2026, February 15, 2026
• ▶Google: Ads Decoded season 1, episode 2
• ▶PPC News Feed: exact match no longer blocks broad match in AI Overviews, December 2025
• ▶Search Engine Roundtable: Google on AI Max inferred intent versus raw text, December 12, 2025
• ▶Search Engine Roundtable: separate ad group can remove AI theming, August 2, 2024