AI Max Lifts Revenue 13% But Inflates CPA by 16%, Study Finds
The Development
Smarter Ecommerce (SMEC) analyst Mike Ryan published findings from 250+ Google Ads campaigns running AI Max, revealing a median revenue lift of 13% alongside a median CPA increase of 16% and a ROAS range spanning +42% to -35%. AI Max brings Performance Max-style automation into classic Search campaigns via three features: Search Term Matching with keywordless targeting, dynamic Text Customization, and Final URL Expansion. SMEC identified four operational risks: broad match cannibalization (recycling existing query coverage up to 63% of the time), aggressive competitor brand term infiltration (one account saw AI Max consume 69% of total Search impressions on competitor terms), reporting volumes reaching tens of thousands of rows, and Search Partner Network blowouts with conversion rates as low as 0.07%. Google's own 14% uplift benchmark notably excludes retail. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin separately confirmed Dynamic Search Ads will be deprecated and folded into AI Max, with no firm timeline announced. As of now, only 16% of advertisers are actively testing AI Max.
Our Take
The 13% revenue lift is real, but it's a volume metric masking an efficiency problem. Google's framing—citing 14% more conversions at similar CPA—quietly excludes retail, which is the segment most likely to be evaluating AI Max right now. That's not an oversight; it's selective benchmarking. The deeper issue is structural: AI Max is most appealing to advertisers already running Broad Match, DSA, and PMax, yet those are precisely the accounts SMEC identifies as having the least incremental upside. Google is essentially offering automation to users who've already automated, then taking credit for the baseline. The DSA deprecation confirmation is the real forcing function here. Advertisers running DSA don't have the luxury of waiting for AI Max to mature—migration is coming regardless. The question isn't whether to engage with AI Max; it's whether you control that transition or let Google manage it for you.
The Exploit
Action Item
If your Search campaigns rely on Dynamic Search Ads, activate AI Max's keywordless targeting inside your existing Search campaigns now and begin winding down DSA before Google forces a less controlled migration path on its own timeline.