AI Max expands query matching automatically -- which makes negative keyword management more critical than in any previous Google Ads campaign type. Advertisers who migrate from traditional search without updating their exclusion strategy consistently report branded traffic cannibalization, irrelevant query expansion, and inflated spend.
This guide covers how negative keywords and brand exclusions work in AI Max specifically, and what to do before scaling.
How AI Max Handles Query Matching Differently
In standard search campaigns, negative keywords block exact queries. In AI Max, query expansion is driven by landing page content, asset combinations, and conversion signals -- not keyword lists. Negatives still block queries, but the expansion logic operates at a different layer.
The practical consequence: negatives that were sufficient in broad match campaigns may not be sufficient in AI Max. AI Max can surface ads for queries that share semantic intent with your landing pages even when no explicit keyword targets those queries.
Campaign-Level Negative Keywords in AI Max
Campaign-level negatives in AI Max work as absolute blocks -- any query matching the negative will not trigger your AI Max ads.
Best practice for building your negative list before launch:
- Export your current search term reports from existing campaigns (all match types)
- Identify irrelevant query categories: competitor brand names, job-related searches, unrelated product types
- Add these as campaign-level negatives before AI Max launch
- After launch: review Search Terms report weekly for the first 6 weeks and add new negatives continuously
Important: AI Max provides less search term visibility than standard search campaigns. You will see a sample of queries that triggered impressions, not a complete list. This makes proactive negative lists -- built from historical data -- essential rather than optional.
Brand Exclusions: The Most Critical Setting
Brand exclusions in AI Max prevent the campaign from targeting your own branded queries. This matters because:
- If you run a separate brand campaign (recommended), AI Max can cannibalize branded traffic and inflate its conversion rate with easy branded clicks
- Brand queries often have high conversion rates, which AI Max's optimization will learn to exploit -- pulling budget toward branded queries and away from non-branded growth targets
How to set brand exclusions in AI Max:
- In your AI Max campaign settings, navigate to Brand Exclusions
- Add your brand name and common misspellings
- Add product line brand names separately if you have sub-brands
- Test by searching for your own brand -- if your AI Max ad appears, the exclusion is not working
For the interaction between AI Max campaign structure and brand protection, also see how the July 2026 ToS update affects automated asset policies: https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-tos-july-2026-ai-automation-what-changed
Competitor Brand Terms: Include or Exclude?
This depends on your strategy:
Include competitor terms (no exclusion): AI Max will target competitor brand queries if your landing pages are semantically relevant to those products. Can be effective for comparison-intent queries.
Exclude competitor terms: Cleaner brand safety, avoids policy risk in regulated industries, prevents spend on queries with low conversion probability.
If you exclude competitor terms, add them as campaign-level negatives. Brand exclusions in the Brand Exclusions setting apply only to your own brand -- competitor exclusions must be set as standard campaign negatives.
Account-Level Negative Keyword Lists
For AI Max, account-level negative keyword lists are the most efficient way to apply consistent exclusions across campaigns. Build lists by category:
- Brand-negative list: your own brand (for AI Max campaigns only -- do not apply to brand campaigns)
- Competitor list: competitors you want to exclude
- Irrelevant-industry list: queries from unrelated industries that share terminology with your business
- Job-seeker list: hiring-related queries ("jobs", "careers", "salary", "resume") -- commonly triggered by service-description landing pages
Apply the relevant lists to your AI Max campaign at setup, not after launch.
The DSA-to-AI Max Migration: Negative Carry-Over
If you migrated from Dynamic Search Ads, your DSA negative lists need to be manually transferred to AI Max. DSA and AI Max are separate campaign types -- negatives do not carry over automatically.
For the full migration checklist: https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-dsa-ai-max-migration-february-2027
Search Term Report Limitations in AI Max
AI Max shows a subset of triggered queries in the Search Terms report. Google's privacy thresholds mean low-volume queries -- including long-tail or highly specific ones -- are omitted.
Workaround: use Google Ads scripts to pull Search Terms data daily and aggregate over time. A weekly sample misses the tail; daily accumulation catches pattern clusters that warrant new negatives.
Placement Exclusions: The Non-Keyword Layer
AI Max also serves on Display network placements. Placement exclusions work separately from keyword negatives:
- Set placement exclusions at the campaign level for specific URLs or app categories
- Account-level placement exclusion lists apply across all Display-eligible campaigns
- Common exclusions: parked domains, app categories irrelevant to your audience, low-quality content sites
Review placement performance in the Placements report (Campaigns > Placements) and exclude irrelevant categories in the first month of AI Max operation.
Monitoring and Maintenance Schedule
AI Max negative keyword management is ongoing:
- Weekly (first 6 weeks): Review Search Terms report, add new negatives
- Monthly (ongoing): Check for new query patterns, review brand exclusion effectiveness
- Quarterly: Audit account-level negative lists for overlap and gaps
For reporting best practices after the June 2026 data deletion: https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-reporting-data-deleted-june-2026
For the AI Max Shopping campaign type and its separate exclusion logic: https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ai-max-shopping-replacing-performance-max-2026
