AI Max automation is not a replacement for negative keywords — it's a reason to be more deliberate about them. Here's how exclusions work in AI Max and what to prioritize.
Why Negatives Matter More in AI Max
In traditional Search campaigns, you control which queries trigger your ads through keyword match types and bids. In AI Max, the campaign's URL expansion and cross-channel optimization means your ads can appear in contexts you never explicitly targeted.
Without proper exclusions, AI Max may serve on:
- Brand-damaging content (news sites covering negative stories in your category)
- Competitor brand queries (if your campaign objectives include conquesting)
- Irrelevant query intent (informational searches when you need commercial intent)
- Geographic markets you don't serve
The July 2026 ToS (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-tos-july-2026-ai-automation-what-changed) added explicit requirements: advertisers are responsible for ensuring AI Max placements meet brand safety standards, even when those placements result from automated optimization.
Negative Keyword Structure for AI Max
Negative keywords in AI Max work at three levels:
Campaign-level negatives: Block queries from triggering any asset group in the campaign. Use these for absolute exclusions: competitor brand names you don't want to target, geographic restrictions (city names outside your service area), unrelated product categories.
Account-level negative keyword lists: Shared across campaigns. Maintain a master exclusion list that applies everywhere: adult content terms, violence-related terms, news-related modifiers ("crisis," "scandal," "recall") that might pull your ads into brand-damaging placements.
Asset group signal exclusions: Not true negatives, but audience exclusions — you can exclude specific audience segments (e.g., "low-income households") from asset groups that target premium products.
Building Your Negative Keyword List
Start with these categories:
Competitor brand terms (if not conquesting):
Add all major competitor brand names and common misspellings as exact match negatives. If you ARE running conquesting campaigns, keep competitor terms in a separate campaign and exclude them from brand-protection campaigns.
Informational intent blockers:
Add terms that signal research intent with no purchase intent: "how to," "what is," "definition," "meaning," "history of," "examples of," "for beginners." These drive traffic but rarely convert for commercial campaigns.
Job seeker and investor intent:
Add: "jobs," "careers," "salary," "stock," "investor relations," "annual report," "press release." These users are looking for information about your company, not your product.
Free/cheap intent:
Decide consciously whether to add these: "free," "cheap," "discount," "cheap alternative," "open source." If you sell premium products, these are negatives. If you compete on value, they might be valuable queries to keep.
The DSA Migration and Negative Inheritance
The DSA to AI Max migration (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-dsa-ai-max-migration-february-2027) did not automatically transfer all DSA negative keywords to AI Max campaigns. If you migrated from DSA, audit your negative keyword coverage:
- Export negative keywords from your old DSA campaigns
- Compare against current AI Max negatives
- Add any missing negatives that were protecting your DSA campaigns
DSA campaigns often accumulated negatives over months or years — this historical list is institutional knowledge that shouldn't be lost in migration.
Placement Exclusions for Display and YouTube
AI Max serves on Display and YouTube inventory. These channels require separate exclusion management:
Content category exclusions:
In Campaign Settings, under "Brand Safety," exclude categories that don't align with your brand: Tragedy and Conflict, Sensitive Social Issues, Profanity and Rough Language, Sexually Suggestive Content.
Specific site/app exclusions:
Review your placement reports monthly (after the June 2026 reporting changes — https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-reporting-data-deleted-june-2026, this requires using post-June data only). Add individual websites or apps that have poor conversion rates or brand concerns to your exclusion list.
Mobile app exclusions:
Mobile app placements in Display often have low conversion rates (accidental clicks, low-intent browsing). Consider adding "mobile apps" category as an exclusion if your Display ROAS is poor — this removes all in-app placements.
Shopping-Specific Exclusions
If running AI Max for Shopping (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ai-max-shopping-replacing-performance-max-2026), use product-level exclusions:
- Exclude products with low margins from AI Max Shopping (use a custom label in your Merchant Center feed)
- Exclude out-of-stock products (set up automatic exclusions via Merchant Center feed rules)
- Exclude products with active promotions from standard Shopping campaigns to avoid overlap with promotional asset groups
Reviewing Search Terms for Exclusion
AI Max does not provide a full search term report — it shows "categories" rather than individual queries. This limits exclusion precision compared to traditional campaigns.
Workaround: Use the search term insights report (available in the Insights tab) to identify irrelevant categories. When a category appears with high impressions and low conversions, research common queries within that category using Google's keyword planner, then add relevant negatives.
Exclusion Review Schedule
Maintain a regular exclusion review process:
- Weekly: Check for new high-spend, low-conversion placement patterns
- Monthly: Review search term categories for new irrelevant themes
- Quarterly: Full audit of negative keyword list — remove expired terms (discontinued products, old campaigns), add new ones based on account history
This ongoing maintenance is non-negotiable for AI Max campaigns. Unlike traditional campaigns where queries are controlled upfront, AI Max's expanding coverage requires ongoing exclusion updates to maintain efficiency.
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