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Pre-GML AI Max preview: Shopping, text disclaimers, and AI Brief
Ahead of Google Marketing Live on 21 May, Ginny Marvin has previewed three AI Max updates.
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What changed
AI Max is coming to standard Shopping campaigns, with Merchant Centre data powering more relevant ads in complex, conversational searches and extending Shopping campaigns into text ad formats when relevant to shopper intent. Like the Search rollout, AI Max for Shopping is a one-click opt-in. Text customisation generates ad copy with specific details pulled from Merchant Centre data, and with final URL expansion (FUE) enabled, the system chooses the relevant landing page based on searcher intent and tailors copy accordingly: also unlocking text ad serving from the Shopping campaign when that's the best experience. Importantly, text customisation for Shopping ads is also coming to Performance Max, creating feature parity with AI Max for Shopping on Search inventory while maintaining PMax's reach across all Google inventory.Text disclaimers for Search ads are the second announcement: and the one Ginny flagged as particularly notable. Advertisers in regulated industries (finance, pharma, legal, healthcare) who currently rely on asset pinning to ensure compliance with required language are now offered a sanctioned alternative. Text disclaimer assets automatically appear in the first description line of RSAs, and unlike pinning, text disclaimers are supported by final URL expansion in AI Max: meaning FUE can choose the most relevant landing page for each search, and the disclaimer still shows. Rolling out in the coming weeks.AI Brief is the third: building on text guidelines to give advertisers more ways to steer AI Max text customisation, search-term matching, and audience targeting in their own words. The interface previews sample assets and searches; if they don't match expectations, advertisers iterate the brief with feedback until they do. Available over the coming months in English, starting in AI Max for Search before extending to PMax and AI Max for Shopping. Existing text guidelines will automatically migrate as messaging guidelines once AI Brief lands in the account. Alongside Ginny's announcement, Thomas Eccel has published an updated AI Max vs all comparison matrix mapping AI Max against Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Search across a dozen-plus dimensions: useful as the team's decision framework as the surface area expands.
Why it matters for advertisers
For you, this means AI Max strategy decisions made before GML need to factor in three distinct moves: Shopping migration becomes the obvious next pilot, regulated-vertical advertisers gain a real escape from the pinning workflow, and AI Brief reshapes how guidelines get written across AI Max and PMax over the next quarter. Worth pulling Thomas Eccel's matrix as the team decision framework, then identifying (1) which Shopping campaigns are the natural AI Max candidates, (2) which compliance-driven accounts have been blocked by pinning constraints, and (3) which existing text guidelines need re-drafting in anticipation of AI Brief. Tuesday's GML keynote will confirm rollout sequencing and access tiers.
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Pre-GML AI Max preview: Shopping, text disclaimers, and AI Brief
Ahead of Google Marketing Live on 21 May, Ginny Marvin has previewed three AI Max updates.
AI Max is coming to standard Shopping campaigns, with Merchant Centre data powering more relevant ads in complex, conversational searches and extending Shopping campaigns into text ad formats when relevant to shopper intent. Like the Search rollout, AI Max for Shopping is a one-click opt-in. Text customisation generates ad copy with specific details pulled from Merchant Centre data, and with final URL expansion (FUE) enabled, the system chooses the relevant landing page based on searcher intent and tailors copy accordingly: also unlocking text ad serving from the Shopping campaign when that's the best experience. Importantly, text customisation for Shopping ads is also coming to Performance Max, creating feature parity with AI Max for Shopping on Search inventory while maintaining PMax's reach across all Google inventory.Text disclaimers for Search ads are the second announcement: and the one Ginny flagged as particularly notable. Advertisers in regulated industries (finance, pharma, legal, healthcare) who currently rely on asset pinning to ensure compliance with required language are now offered a sanctioned alternative. Text disclaimer assets automatically appear in the first description line of RSAs, and unlike pinning, text disclaimers are supported by final URL expansion in AI Max: meaning FUE can choose the most relevant landing page for each search, and the disclaimer still shows. Rolling out in the coming weeks.AI Brief is the third: building on text guidelines to give advertisers more ways to steer AI Max text customisation, search-term matching, and audience targeting in their own words. The interface previews sample assets and searches; if they don't match expectations, advertisers iterate the brief with feedback until they do. Available over the coming months in English, starting in AI Max for Search before extending to PMax and AI Max for Shopping. Existing text guidelines will automatically migrate as messaging guidelines once AI Brief lands in the account. Alongside Ginny's announcement, Thomas Eccel has published an updated AI Max vs all comparison matrix mapping AI Max against Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Search across a dozen-plus dimensions: useful as the team's decision framework as the surface area expands.
For you, this means AI Max strategy decisions made before GML need to factor in three distinct moves: Shopping migration becomes the obvious next pilot, regulated-vertical advertisers gain a real escape from the pinning workflow, and AI Brief reshapes how guidelines get written across AI Max and PMax over the next quarter. Worth pulling Thomas Eccel's matrix as the team decision framework, then identifying (1) which Shopping campaigns are the natural AI Max candidates, (2) which compliance-driven accounts have been blocked by pinning constraints, and (3) which existing text guidelines need re-drafting in anticipation of AI Brief. Tuesday's GML keynote will confirm rollout sequencing and access tiers.
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