Advertisers may soon have more control over how AI Max campaigns participate in branded searches — addressing a main concern marketers have raised since the campaign type launched.
What’s happening. Some advertisers are reporting a new “Branded Searches” control inside AI Max campaigns that lets them choose how the campaign handles brand-related queries.
The setting appears to offer three options:
- Show ads on all relevant searches (default behavior)
- Control branded searches using brand inclusions and exclusions
- Show ads only on unbranded searches
Why we care. One of the most common criticisms of AI Max is the potential for campaigns to capture branded traffic that advertisers are already targeting through dedicated brand campaigns.
That can create several challenges:
- Higher costs for traffic that was already likely to convert
- Attribution complications across campaign types
- Reduced visibility into incremental performance
- Concerns about AI Max cannibalizing branded search activity
The newly spotted “unbranded only” option could give advertisers a more direct way to keep AI Max focused on net-new demand and prospecting opportunities.
Between the lines. Until now, advertisers looking to prevent AI Max from serving on branded queries largely relied on brand exclusion lists.
A native campaign-level setting would represent a more straightforward approach and potentially provide greater transparency over how AI Max handles brand intent.
The big picture. Google has steadily added more controls to automated campaign types as advertisers push for greater visibility and governance over AI-driven systems.
If rolled out broadly, this feature would signal that Google is responding to advertiser concerns around brand traffic management while continuing to expand AI-powered campaign automation.
What to watch. It’s unclear whether this is an official launch, a limited beta, or an experiment being tested in select accounts.
Advertisers should monitor their AI Max campaign settings and watch for announcements from Google about expanded branded search controls.
Bottom line. A new branded search setting spotted in AI Max could give advertisers one of their most requested controls — the ability to separate branded and non-branded traffic more cleanly. For now, however, it appears to be an early sighting rather than a confirmed global rollout.
First spotted. This update was spotted by Paid Search specialist Thomas Eccel, who shared spotting it on LinkedIn.
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