Google rolls out new tools to automate even more of the marketing process

Google’s annual product event, Google Marketing Live, is less than a month away, and ahead of the event, it’s debuting several new capabilities within AI Max, its creative and targeting tool suite that first debuted about a year ago.

AI Max is Google’s “fastest-growing AI search product,” Brendon Kraham, VP of search and commerce global ads solutions, told reporters during a press briefing, and the new tools that will soon roll out are aimed at helping advertisers run ad campaigns in a search landscape that is becoming “more conversational, visual, and personal” amid the rise of AI agents and other tools.

“The future is definitely more automated,” Kraham said. “AI is not only changing the consumer experience, but it can be a tool for a marketer to be agile.”

Marketing Brew broke down the latest AI Max announcements below.

Keeping it brief: Google is rolling out AI Brief, a new tool within AI Max that allows marketers to write a brief detailing creative visions and campaign-targeting guardrails, Kraham said. The feature marks a departure from the manual settings and keyword lists marketers have traditionally relied on, he noted.

The tool gives advertisers the ability to detail messaging guidelines and other parameters. Advertisers can instruct the AI to not include pricing information in campaigns, for example, or use the Matching Guidelines feature, which lets them tell the AI which searches to target (and which to avoid), Kraham said, like prioritizing results for “healthy pantry staples.” Advertisers can also use the Audience Guidelines feature to help the AI identify audiences for campaigns and serve them customized ads.

Google is rolling out AI Brief in English for AI Max for search campaigns first, and the feature will eventually be included in other Google campaign offerings, like Performance Max. (For context, while Performance Max campaigns allow advertisers to reach consumers across multiple touchpoints like search and display, AI Max is more focused on optimizing for search.)

Add to cart: Google is using advertisers’ Merchant Center feeds to automate shopping campaigns for search through AI Max for Shopping. The features span text customization, which optimizes ad copy by taking into account queries made by consumers and their intent, as well as final URL expansion, a tool that automatically shows shoppers brand landing pages that are deemed most relevant to their queries. Finally, AI Max for Shopping’s Optimal Format Selection offering automatically selects an ad format by taking into account a shopper’s asks.

Google is also rolling out certain features within AI Max catered more to specific verticals, including:

• Text disclaimers, which guarantee mandatory text for certain regulated industries, will show up in ads even if final URL expansion tools are used.
• Search campaigns for travel that will bring together text ads, travel promotion ads, and booking links under AI Max, offering unified reporting for travel advertisers.

In the case of the search campaigns for travel, “this shift brings together what has been a disconnected set of tools,” Kraham said.