Advertisers running Google’s AI Max campaigns may soon gain a critical new lever of control over how their ads interact with branded search queries, addressing one of the most persistent and vocal criticisms leveled at the automated campaign type since its launch. Evidence of a new “Branded Searches” control setting has surfaced in advertiser accounts, suggesting Google is preparing to offer a more native, transparent mechanism for managing brand traffic within AI-driven campaigns.
New Branded Searches Setting Spotted in AI Max Campaigns
The emerging control, first reported by Paid Search specialist Thomas Eccel, presents advertisers with three distinct options for how AI Max campaigns handle queries that include brand terms. This is a significant departure from the current default behavior, where AI Max participates in all relevant searches, including those involving the advertiser’s brand, without a dedicated campaign-level toggle.
The three options observed within the setting are:
- Show ads on all relevant searches: This maintains the existing default behavior, allowing the campaign to serve ads for both branded and non-branded queries.
- Control branded searches using brand inclusions and exclusions: This option provides a middle ground, letting advertisers define specific brand terms the campaign can or cannot target, offering granular oversight.
- Show ads only on unbranded searches: This is the most restrictive and potentially most sought-after option, effectively barring the AI Max campaign from serving on any query that contains a brand term, thereby reserving that traffic for dedicated brand campaigns.
The appearance of this interface element suggests that Google is actively developing a solution to a problem that has dogged AI Max since its inception: the lack of clean separation between campaigns designed to capture new demand and those tasked with protecting or converting existing brand interest.
Why This Setting Matters to Advertisers and Agencies
The core concern that this new control addresses is the potential for AI Max campaigns to cannibalize branded traffic. Advertisers often run separate, dedicated campaigns specifically for brand terms, typically with conservative budgets and a focus on protecting market share or capturing high-intent users. When an AI Max campaign, optimized for broad goals like conversions or revenue, also aggressively targets these same branded queries, several problems emerge.
First, it can drive up the cost per click for branded traffic, as the AI Max campaign may bid against the dedicated brand campaign, inflating expenses for traffic that was already highly likely to convert. Second, it creates attribution fragmentation, making it difficult to assess the true incremental value of the AI Max campaign versus the established brand effort. Finally, it undermines the strategic intent of using AI Max for prospecting and net-new customer acquisition, blurring the line between demand generation and demand capture.
The “unbranded only” option offers a direct and powerful remedy. By selecting this setting, an advertiser can explicitly instruct the AI Max campaign to focus exclusively on queries that do not contain brand terms. This cleanly delineates the campaign’s role, ensuring it is used for its intended purpose: reaching new audiences and driving incremental growth, rather than competing with itself for existing brand demand.
How This Differs from Previous Workarounds
Prior to this sighting, advertisers who wanted to prevent AI Max from serving on branded queries had to rely on manual brand exclusion lists. This approach, while functional, has several drawbacks. It requires meticulous maintenance, as new brand variations or misspellings can slip through. It also lacks transparency; an advertiser cannot easily see within the campaign’s settings that a brand exclusion policy is in place. The process is reactive and labor-intensive.
A native campaign-level setting represents a more elegant and strategic solution. It moves brand traffic management from a negative, exclusion-based tactic (blocking terms) to a positive, strategic choice (defining the campaign’s scope). It also provides a clear, visible indicator within the campaign’s configuration, signaling to the ad platform and to internal teams exactly how that campaign is intended to operate. This shift in interface design reflects a deeper recognition of the advertiser’s need for governance over automated systems, not just performance.
The Broader Movement Toward Advertiser Controls in AI Campaigns
This development fits within a larger pattern of Google adding more manual controls and governance features to its automated campaign types. Since the introduction of Performance Max and its evolution into AI Max, advertisers have consistently requested greater visibility into where their ads are showing and more levers to influence campaign behavior. Features like asset group reporting, search term insights, and campaign-level brand exclusions were all responses to this demand.
The addition of a branded searches control is another step in this direction. It signals that Google is listening to the community’s concerns about brand safety and traffic cannibalization. It also suggests a maturing of the AI Max product, moving from a black-box, fully automated solution toward a more configurable system that can adapt to different strategic priorities. For advertisers who have been hesitant to fully commit budget to AI Max due to these brand control concerns, this feature could be a significant enabler.
Strategic Implications for Campaign Architecture
If this setting rolls out broadly, it could fundamentally alter how advertisers structure their Google Ads accounts. The traditional separation between branded and non-branded campaigns, which has been blurred by the rise of broad match and automated campaigns, could be reinforced. Advertisers might feel more confident in dedicating a larger share of budget to AI Max for prospecting, knowing they have a reliable, native mechanism to protect their brand terms.
For performance analysts and media planners, the “unbranded only” option offers a cleaner framework for measurement. The incremental lift from an AI Max campaign becomes far easier to calculate when its exposure to branded queries is eliminated. This could lead to more confident scaling decisions and clearer attribution models, as the risk of internal competition is removed.
The option to use brand inclusions and exclusions also provides a sophisticated middle path. An advertiser might want AI Max to serve on certain branded variations (e.g., “brand name reviews”) while excluding others (e.g., “brand name competitor”). This granularity allows for nuanced bidding strategies even within automated campaigns, giving advanced advertisers fine control over their spend.
What Advertisers Should Watch For and Expect
As of now, the branded searches control appears to be an early sighting, not a confirmed global rollout or even an officially announced beta. It is unclear whether this is a feature being A/B tested with a subset of accounts, a precursor to a wider launch, or an experimental interface element that may not see broad release. Advertisers should not assume they will immediately see this control in their own accounts.
However, the strategic rationale for such a feature is undeniable. It directly addresses a well-documented pain point and aligns with Google’s broader trend of enhancing transparency in automated products. Advertisers are advised to monitor their own AI Max campaign settings regularly for any appearance of the branded searches control. They should also pay close attention to official communications from Google, including product release notes, blog posts, and announcements from Google Ads liaisons, for any confirmation of a wider rollout.
In the meantime, maintaining current best practices is essential. Continue to use brand exclusion lists as a defense against unwanted branded traffic in AI Max campaigns. Carefully analyze search term reports to identify instances of cannibalization or unexpected branded spend. This new setting, when it does arrive, will be a powerful addition to the advertiser’s toolkit, but until it is universally available, existing workarounds remain the primary line of defense. The sighting itself, however, is a promising indicator that Google is moving toward a more advertiser-friendly balance between automation and control.
