Google Ads is changing, but a business owner still needs answers to three simple questions: are the right people finding us, does the page deliver what the ad promises, and are we winning worthwhile customers? This guide explains recent Google announcements in plain language, then sets out Wavekart Digital's suggested approach to testing them. Product details were checked on 26 September 2026. Availability can vary by account, language and rollout stage.
What is new in Google Ads right now?
On 23 September, Google announced more languages for the closed beta of AI Brief. This tool lets advertisers describe their business, audience and messaging to guide AI Max. Google also previewed reporting that connects the search term, the creative shown and the destination page. It said further availability details would follow later in the year. Treat these as developments to watch, rather than settings every advertiser can already switch on.
An August announcement introduced tests of different budgets and return targets across multiple Search campaigns, scheduled to roll out in September. Google also described AI Max experiments that work with brand and location controls. The practical opportunity is to compare a proposed change against your existing approach while retaining the limits your business needs.
Sources: Google's 23 September AI Max announcement · Google's testing and planning update
Understand AI Max before changing a campaign
AI Max is a set of features for Search campaigns. Search term matching can find additional relevant searches. Text customization can adapt ad text using your existing material. Final URL expansion can choose a relevant destination on your website. That makes your website's content and accuracy part of the campaign's input, not simply the place a click ends up.
Our recommendation is to review the pages and messages you are comfortable advertising before testing expansion. A local repair company, for example, should clearly state the equipment it repairs and the areas it serves. Remove outdated offers from its pages. Review the available brand, location and URL controls in the account, and use exclusions where necessary. Automation still needs a clearly defined service.
Measure a useful outcome, not every button click
Decide what a valuable conversion means for your business. A completed order, an accepted appointment request and a qualified sales enquiry are different outcomes. A click on the form's submit button does not prove that the enquiry was accepted or reached your team. Check the full journey and make sure repeated actions do not inflate your results.
Then connect campaign reviews with sales feedback. Record how many enquiries meet your service area and scope, how many become customers, and what those customers are worth. Where your setup supports it, bring qualified-lead or sale outcomes back into measurement. Use customer information only with the appropriate permissions and account setup.
For illustration, a campaign spending 1,000 in your account currency and producing 20 enquiries appears to cost 50 per enquiry. If only five qualify, the cost per qualified lead is 200. Both figures describe the same campaign. This example is hypothetical; it shows why raw lead counts can hide a quality problem.
Make the landing page answer the ad's promise
Send people to the page that explains the advertised service or offer. If the ad offers a quote, explain what information you need, what happens next and how someone can contact you. State important conditions clearly. Use genuine reviews and relevant work examples rather than unsupported claims about guaranteed results.
Check that experience on a phone. Can a visitor read the offer, reach the form and understand an error without zooming or scrolling sideways? Do the page and form load reliably? A simple, fast destination often makes a better starting point than adding more campaign features to an unclear customer journey.
Test AI Max with a question you can answer
Start with a specific question, such as whether AI Max can bring more qualified enquiries at an acceptable cost. Google's experiment tools can compare a treatment campaign with a control. Review which features the experiment enables: Google's help documentation says the default setup activates search term matching, text customization and final URL expansion in the treatment.
Write down the budget limit, success measure and review date before starting. Avoid rewriting the landing page, changing the offer and adjusting several bidding settings at the same time. Otherwise, an improvement or decline will be difficult to explain.
Allow for the time it takes customers to convert and for enough relevant outcomes to accumulate. A small number of clicks or one good day is not a reliable decision rule. Review search terms, destinations, lead quality and cost together. Keep, adjust or stop the experiment based on that evidence; no feature guarantees a particular return.
Check the revised migration dates
If you use Dynamic Search Ads, do not rely on the original September deadline. Google's 11 June update moved the start of the DSA sunset and automatic upgrade to February 2027. The same update retained September 2026 for campaigns using Automatically Created Assets or the campaign-level broad match setting.
These are different migration groups. Check the notices and settings in your own account, record the current configuration, and review the relevant controls before making changes. A dated checklist is more useful than assuming every campaign has the same deadline.
Sources: Google's migration announcement, including the revised timeline
A practical first-month plan for business owners
Week one: define a qualified customer, check conversion recording, and review recent enquiries with the person who answers them. Week two: improve one priority landing page and list the searches, locations and destinations that do not fit your offer.
Week three: if your account is ready and the relevant tools are available, launch one controlled experiment with a clear spending limit. Week four: check delivery and early lead quality, document what happened, and decide whether more observation is needed. A month is a planning rhythm, not a promise that an experiment will reach a reliable conclusion in four weeks.
If you are starting from zero, build the measurement and landing-page foundations first. If you already have a stable campaign, use that as your comparison. The aim is a repeatable process that improves the quality of decisions as well as the volume of enquiries.
Your next three steps
- Agree on one business outcome and verify how it is recorded.
- Review your mobile landing page and the account's AI Max and migration settings.
- Choose one experiment with a budget limit, quality measure and documented review point.
Further reading
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