Microsoft AI Max vs Google AI Max: what's switched on

Microsoft AI Max vs Google AI Max: same features, different ways in

If you built a Search campaign in Microsoft Advertising after 27 August 2026, AI Max is probably on. If you sync from Google Ads, switching it off in Microsoft may not stick: the next import can switch it back. And from 1 October, Microsoft says, a new Maximize Clicks campaign can no longer have a CPC ceiling at all.

Google and Microsoft sell the same three features under the same name. What differs is how each one gets into your account and what you can do about it. Here is that difference, what Microsoft's own numbers prove, and which campaigns to test first.

The three shared features, in plain words:

• Search term matching decides which queries you pay for, beyond your keyword list.
• Text customization writes extra ad lines that nobody on your team approves one by one.
• Final URL expansion picks the landing page for each click.

In Microsoft's words:

"AI Max will also be enabled by default for any new Search campaigns you create in Microsoft Advertising, though it can still be turned off at any time during campaign creation or afterwards."

Carolyn Chou, Director, Product Management, Microsoft Advertising, 27 August 2026

Google's AI Max help page documents finer controls today, and one of Microsoft's is still "coming soon", so we would start narrower on Microsoft. For the Google-side decisions, see our AI Max auto upgrade checklist and the AI Max vs Performance Max guide.

Which Microsoft campaigns already have AI Max switched on

New Microsoft Search campaigns start with AI Max on, and scheduled Google Import copies Google's setting across. Existing campaigns are the exception.

For existing campaigns, Microsoft's 27 August post says auto-generated assets now appear as the text customization feature, and that this "doesn't opt you into the broader AI Max feature set." Check each campaign's AI Max panel rather than assuming nothing moved.

Imports carry the bigger surprise. The same post says Microsoft campaigns that match Google campaigns with AI Max on "will continue to inherit those settings during future syncs." Switch it off in Microsoft and the next sync can switch it back on.

Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) run the other way. Microsoft supports them "until further notice", and Google-upgraded DSA campaigns convert back to DSA on import. One campaign can then sit in two different setups, which breaks any cross-engine report that assumes they match.

Copilot-drafted campaigns are new campaigns too, so by Microsoft's wording they start with it on; our guide to Copilot in Microsoft Ads covers where review fits.

What Microsoft's 8% figure proves, and what it does not

Microsoft's launch post says advertisers saw "at least an 8% increase in conversions" against control campaigns with the features off. The footnote is more useful than the headline.

Ten clear wins out of 44. Our reading: the headline "at least 8%" matches the 8.2% lower bound of those ten, so it describes the significant tests, not all 44. Microsoft does not say so. The other 34 did not necessarily lose; small tests often cannot tell. Plan around that, because a test with no verdict wastes a quarter. So before you test, check whether your campaign is even big enough to see an 8% lift. Most are not.

Google's newer 7% figure, from its April 2026 upgrade post, compares the full suite with search term matching alone. It does not compare AI Max with no AI Max.

Microsoft also says uplift ran higher in campaigns built mostly on Exact and Phrase match. Google made a similar claim in May 2025: typically 14% more conversions or conversion value, and 27% where more than 70% of conversions came from exact or phrase keywords (Google internal data). Tightly built accounts hold the most unclaimed queries, so they test best.

So test on your busiest non-brand campaign, or accept that a small one only catches large effects. Our incrementality testing guide covers the sizing in more depth.

What changed on 1 October: no Max CPC on new automated campaigns

From 1 October 2026, Microsoft says, new non-portfolio Microsoft Advertising campaigns can no longer set a Max CPC (maximum cost per click) on three automated bid strategies. Rollouts vary, so check your account. Microsoft announced it in its 31 August 2026 product roundup:

• Maximize Conversions with a target CPA (cost per acquisition)
• Maximize Conversion Value with a target ROAS (return on ad spend)
• Maximize Clicks

Put the two August announcements together and the riskiest new campaign this quarter is obvious: a Maximize Clicks Search campaign built in October starts with AI Max on, broader queries, and no CPC ceiling. Catch that pairing before launch.

Campaigns created before 1 October that already used Max CPC keep it. Portfolio bid strategies keep it for new and existing campaigns. Microsoft's reason: a cap overrides your CPA or ROAS target and causes missed outcomes, "even when the cap is above average CPC".

On target CPA and target ROAS this brings Microsoft in line with Google, which already limits those bid caps to portfolio strategies. Maximize Clicks is different. Google still allows a cap there on a standard campaign; Microsoft no longer does for new ones.

The removal bites unevenly. On target CPA the target already prices the click: roughly, a click is worth up to the target CPA times the expected conversion rate. Illustrative numbers only: 150 units at a 2% conversion rate points to about 3 units per click, cap or no cap. Maximize Clicks has no target, so the cap was the only price control.

Microsoft is right that caps fight targets when conversion data is steady. Thin B2B accounts rarely have it, so for them the portfolio route is the practical answer.

Is Microsoft AI Max worth running for B2B, insurance and finance?

Yes for most B2B and insurance marketing teams, because Microsoft Search campaigns can use LinkedIn profile targeting, so the expanded queries land inside an audience you chose.

The 31 August roundup made Job Seniority generally available for Search campaigns and Audience ads, with 10 standard levels, from Entry to CXO. A commercial insurer selling to finance heads can aim expanded queries at Director level and above. The mechanics are in our piece on Microsoft Ads and LinkedIn audience data. And since Microsoft's 30 September roundup, a LinkedIn company list can hold 10,000 names, up from 1,000.

That changes what query expansion is worth. On Google, the main defence against junk queries is the negative list. Microsoft gives you a second fence: company or seniority targeting on top.

The risk sits in the creative and the routing. Microsoft's term exclusions block named words in AI-generated assets, and generated assets can be reviewed in the asset report. Final URL expansion can send a searcher to a page never cleared for that query, such as a product page written for another market.

Search term matching is easier to govern, because its output is a query list you can read and exclude. For a regulated product the list is read after the ad serves, hence the holdout-only row below. Write the rule for keeping it before the test starts. Illustrative rule: once "AI optimized" rows reach 30 CRM-qualified leads, if their cost per qualified lead runs above 1.25 times the keyword rows', matching goes off in that campaign. Set your own thresholds with finance.

Setting up Microsoft AI Max on purpose: seven steps

Seven steps, in the order our search advertising team runs them. Steps 1 and 2 guard against the two default-on routes in the timeline, and they are the ones teams skip.

1. Audit the Google Import scheduleList every synced campaign with AI Max on in Google. Where you want it off in Microsoft, fix it on the Google side or pull the campaign from the schedule.
2. Change the launch templateAdd a line: "AI Max: on or off, and why". With default-on, silence means yes.
3. Check Q4 launches against the Max CPC tableAny launch that needs a ceiling goes onto a portfolio strategy, or into a capped pre-October campaign once you have confirmed the cap survives your edits.
4. Write the term exclusion list per marketStart from compliance's prohibited-claims list and add competitor names. For regulated products it supplements the review above; it does not replace it.
5. Set brand exclusionsKeep brand queries in the brand campaign, so any uplift you report is non-brand uplift.
6. Test one campaign, on versus offSame bid strategy and budget in both arms, as in Microsoft's own tests. Microsoft's optimization experiments went generally available on 30 September; check AI Max can be the variable. Size it with the calculator above and judge it on CRM-qualified conversions.
7. Read three reports weekly for the first monthSearch terms filtered to "AI optimized", the asset report, and the search term landing page report.

Microsoft's prompt-based messaging guidelines were still "coming soon" when we checked on 6 October. When they ship, the regulated row is worth revisiting.