PMax vs AI Max: Which Should You Use? (If Any?)

Which Max is the best Max? And how do you even know when either is right for your company?

If you’ve spent any time in Google Ads lately, you’ve probably seen the new campaign type called AI Max. It’s being positioned as the next evolution of Search, powered by Gemini, loaded with automation, and (in Google’s words) “smarter than ever.”

Seasoned Google Ads professionals (ahem) know how this goes: every new layer of automation tends to come with a little less control on our end.

So before we rolled it out to clients, we did what we always do at Granular, we tested it on ourselves.

What is a Performance Max (PMax) Campaign

Performance Max is Google’s “do it all” campaign type. It runs across Search, YouTube, Display, Discovery, Gmail, and Maps, all from one campaign. You feed it your creative, audience signals, and conversion goals, and it uses automation to find people most likely to convert.

When it works, it works really well. It’s efficient, scalable, and great for advertisers with strong conversion tracking and clear goals.

But it’s also a black box. You get very little visibility (although recently getting better) into where your ads show or which keywords trigger them. You’re trusting Google’s automation to make smart decisions (and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t).

What is an AI Max Campaign

AI Max is Google’s newest campaign type, basically a Search campaign with even more automation baked in. It combines broad match, dynamic search ads, and automatically created assets into one “AI-first” campaign type.

The pitch: Let Gemini decide when your ad should show, even if the user didn’t type your exact keyword.

In practice, it feels like a mix of potential and chaos. It can surface some interesting new queries, but it also takes creative liberties that can make any control-loving marketer sweat.

Our Test

When AI Max launched, we were curious but skeptical. So we ran our own money through it.

We set up a PMax campaign for Granular earlier this summer and followed it with an AI Max test this fall. Same brand, same region, similar budgets.

Then we compared search terms across six weeks to see what was actually happening behind the scenes.

What We Found

PMax delivered more relevant traffic overall, about 81% of the queries were related to digital marketing or agency services. AI Max came in lower at 70%, but with seven times more total queries.

That sounds impressive until you look closer. A lot of that “extra volume” was off-topic. Things like:

“group 8a”

“co nxt”

“direct mail services near me”

There was also very little overlap between the two, only about 5% of queries appeared in both campaigns.

And the biggest red flag? AI Max had way more “Other search terms.” You know, the mystery bucket where Google hides queries you can’t see.

Example Queries

AI Max

• Relevant(ish):
  • intero digital
  • optima marketing
  • spectrum ppc
  • paid media
  • google ads manager
• Off-Target:
  • how to post my company on google
  • group 8a
  • co nxt
  • direct mail services near me
  • myads

Takeaway: AI Max surfaced some marketing-related queries, but mixed in random brand names and vague business searches that clearly weren’t our audience.

PMax

• Relevant:
  • marketing agency in united states
  • social media agency in milwaukee
  • digital marketing agency milwaukee wi
  • how to advertise your business on google
• Off-Target:
  • マーケティング アウトソーシング (Japanese for “marketing outsourcing”)
  • where to advertise garage sales
  • app developers near me

Takeaway: PMax showed stronger intent overall. Even the “misses” were still related to marketing or advertising.

So… Which One Wins?

We always recommend testing, because what works for one account might not work for another. Even with our AI Max results, we’re not completely ruling it out for clients who want to experiment. Instead, we use what we learned to help set realistic expectations and train our team on what to watch for.

As for us, we’ll be skipping AI Max for now and sticking with traditional Search campaigns.

We’re also not currently running a PMax campaign in our own account, but we’ve seen PMax perform really well for several eCommerce clients, especially for: local businesses looking to drive more in-store visits or eCom advertisers with solid conversion tracking.

What’s Next

There’s growing speculation that AI Max will eventually be the only way to appear in AI Overviews. History shows that Google often tries to sweeten the pot to lure (force) some advertisers to adopt new campaign types – else they miss out on valuable placements. 

If that happens, we’ll need to revisit its role and figure out where it fits in the overall mix.

Until then, keep testing. Stay curious. And maybe don’t hand over your entire ad strategy to a campaign type that still thinks “co nxt” is a qualified query for a digital marketing agency.

Questions?

If you have any questions or are interested in having Granular help grow your business, please use the button below to get in touch!

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