Performance Max (PMax) launched as Google's first "all-inventory" campaign type — a single campaign that could serve across Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps simultaneously. AI Max is its successor (for Shopping) and the expansion of AI-driven automation to Search. Understanding what changed and what stayed the same is essential context for the July 2026 ToS and for any advertiser managing the transition.
What Performance Max Was
Performance Max campaigns were designed around a simple idea: give Google your creative assets, conversion goals, and budget, and the AI allocates spend across all available inventory to maximize performance. Unlike campaign-specific types (Search, Shopping, Display, Video), PMax ran on all channels simultaneously.
Advantages of PMax:
- Simplified campaign management (one campaign vs multiple channel-specific campaigns)
- Cross-channel budget allocation by the AI
- Dynamic creative assembly from uploaded assets
Limitations of PMax:
- Limited visibility into which channels were generating conversions
- Limited control over channel-level budgets (the AI decided)
- Audience exclusions had limited implementation (exclusions didn't always work as expected)
- The AI's cross-channel decisions were largely opaque
What AI Max Changed
AI Max for Shopping is the successor to Performance Max for Shopping campaigns. Key changes:
More granular control: AI Max for Shopping allows advertisers to separate Shopping-focused campaigns from Display/Video. You can run AI Max for Shopping purely for Shopping placements if that's where your results came from in PMax.
Better attribution clarity: The separation of campaign types means Shopping conversions come from AI Max for Shopping, video conversions from Video campaigns, etc. PMax's mixed-channel attribution made it hard to know what was working.
Alignment with the July 2026 ToS (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-tos-july-2026-ai-automation-what-changed): The ToS explicitly defines AI Max's scope and the boundary between AI decisions and advertiser control. PMax operated under less clearly defined boundaries — the AI's authority was broad and poorly documented.
AI Max for Search as separate product: PMax included Search through dynamic asset generation and audience-based query matching. AI Max for Search is a distinct campaign type with Search-specific RSA asset structures, more explicit keyword signals, and clearer negative keyword support.
What Stayed the Same
Core AI-driven features that existed in PMax carry into AI Max:
- Asset mixing: The AI still combines headlines, descriptions, and images from uploaded assets
- Audience signal inputs: Customer Match, remarketing, and GA4 audience imports work in both
- Conversion-based optimization: Target ROAS and Target CPA remain the core bid strategies
- URL expansion: Automatically expanding to additional pages on your site (PMax had "Final URL expansion"; AI Max for Search has the same concept)
- Seasonality adjustments: Available in both campaign types for expected conversion rate changes
The June 2026 data deletion (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-reporting-data-deleted-june-2026) affected both PMax historical data and AI Max data — the deletion wasn't campaign-type specific.
Migrating From Performance Max to AI Max for Shopping
The primary PMax migration is PMax for Shopping → AI Max for Shopping. This is a campaign type migration, not just a settings change. Steps:
- Create a new AI Max for Shopping campaign in parallel with your existing PMax campaign
- Link the same Merchant Center account and product groups
- Add Customer Match and remarketing audience signals
- Run both campaigns for 2-4 weeks to compare performance
- Once AI Max for Shopping performs equivalently, pause and retire PMax
- Consolidate budget to AI Max for Shopping
The AI Max for Shopping learning phase (1-2 weeks shorter than a brand-new campaign, because the account has Shopping history from PMax) means the parallel period can be shorter than for an entirely new campaign type.
AI Max for Search and the DSA Migration
AI Max for Search replaces the DSA campaign type (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-dsa-ai-max-migration-february-2027). PMax campaigns that included Search placements are not the same as DSA campaigns — PMax Search served based on audience signals and asset relevance, while DSA served based on website content matching.
For advertisers who ran both PMax and DSA:
- PMax's Search functionality → AI Max for Shopping handles Shopping; AI Max for Search handles the Search component
- DSA → AI Max for Search (direct migration)
If you ran only PMax (no dedicated DSA campaign), your Search coverage from PMax transitions to AI Max for Shopping's Search-adjacent placements plus potentially a new AI Max for Search campaign if you want explicit Search coverage.
Performance Reporting: What Improved With AI Max
For AI Max for Shopping (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ai-max-shopping-replacing-performance-max-2026), reporting improvements over PMax include:
- Channel-separated reporting: Easier to see what comes from Shopping placements vs. other placements
- Search term reports: Available in AI Max for Search, showing which queries the AI entered
- Asset performance metrics: More granular data on which RSA assets perform best
- Audience insights: Better visibility into which audience segments the AI is finding productive
PMax's "Insights" tab offered some of this data in aggregate form. AI Max surfaces more of it through standard campaign reporting.
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