WTF has Google Been Doing This Week? 8 SEP 2026
Google had a pretty big week. Not quite “break up the company” big, but definitely “we’re going to keep changing how your advertising works whether you’re ready or not” big.
The headline is that Google has avoided being forced to sell its AdX ad exchange or break up its ad-tech business, despite a US court finding that Google unlawfully maintained monopolies in parts of the digital advertising market. Instead, the court has opted for behavioural remedies aimed at opening up access for competitors and changing some of Google’s practices.
So, Google keeps the ad business.
And while the legal world debates what that means for competition, Google is getting on with something arguably more relevant to advertisers right now:
- Google is giving its AI more control over how your campaigns actually work.
AI Max is officially moving from “new thing” to “your problem”
As of September, Google’s AI Max rollout started becoming very real.
From 1 September, Google began automatically upgrading eligible Search campaigns using campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets to AI Max. The migration is rolling out progressively throughout the month.
Dynamic Search Ads have been given a reprieve until February 2027, so there’s a little more time there. But the broader direction is pretty clear. Google wants advertisers to spend less time telling it exactly what to do, and more time telling it what outcome they want.
AI Max can expand search-term matching, customise ad text and expand landing-page selection. Google says campaigns using the full AI Max feature set see an average 7% increase in conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS, and that could absolutely be a good thing.
But the more decisions the algorithm makes, the more important the quality of the inputs becomes. So that raises an important question:
- Are we getting more of the right conversions, or simply more conversions?
Google is taking another setting off the table
Later in September, Google is removing campaign-level language targeting from Search and the Search component of Performance Max.
Instead, Google will use signals including the language of the ad, search term and user behaviour to determine which language is most appropriate. Language settings will continue to apply across other PMax inventory such as YouTube, Display, Discover and Gmail.
Again, the logic makes sense. Google has a lot more signals available to it than a simple campaign setting can provide. But it is another example of the same fundamental shift:
- Fewer manual controls, more algorithmic decision-making.
That means advertisers need to spend less time asking “Where is the setting?” and more time asking “What is the system actually doing?”
Search is changing too
And then there’s AI Mode.
Google is increasingly moving Search away from being a list of links and more towards an AI-led experience where the user asks a more complex question, gets a generated response and can continue the conversation.
That changes the advertising opportunity too.
The traditional model was fairly straightforward: keyword → ad → click → website
The emerging model looks more like:
question → intent → AI interpretation → response → commercial opportunity
That has big implications for how we think about search strategy. Keywords still absolutely matter. However context, creative, landing pages, product information and conversion signals matter a whole lot more when Google is doing more of the interpretation.
So what’s the big takeaway?
There are plenty of areas where Google’s machine learning can make decisions faster and at a scale that humans simply can’t. We’re not anti-automation. Far from it. But we are asking: are the right things being automated?
Our role as the agency changes if Google is increasingly deciding:
- What search queries are relevant
- Which creative to show
- Which landing page to use
- Which users to prioritise
- Where the next conversion opportunity sits
It means that besides optimising campaigns we also need to govern the system doing the optimisation. And that makes measurement, testing and good-quality conversion signals more important than ever.
Here’s what we’re checking in our clients’ accounts
1. AI Max migrations – Which campaigns have been automatically upgraded, what settings have changed and whether those changes make sense for the individual account.
2. Search-term quality – We’re looking beyond the headline CPA/ROAS to understand whether additional search volume is genuinely incremental and commercially valuable.
3. Conversion quality – Are we optimising towards the conversions that actually matter to the business, or simply the conversions Google can see most easily?
4. Creative and landing-page expansion – Where Google is generating new assets or choosing alternative landing pages, we’re checking that the experience still makes sense for the brand and the customer.
5. Brand vs incremental demand – More automation means we need to be even more disciplined about understanding where conversions are actually coming from.
6. Account structure and controls – As Google removes manual settings, we’re reviewing what controls we still have and where we need to use experiments, exclusions, data and account structure to maintain the right level of governance.
7. What’s happening outside Google – Because ultimately, a better Google Ads result isn’t necessarily a better media result. We’re looking at the role Search is playing alongside YouTube, BVOD, programmatic and the broader customer journey.
