Google announced on September 23, 2026 that AI Max for Search is getting a single report showing, for each search term, the assets that were shown and the landing page the user reached. The same post expands the AI Brief closed beta to seven more languages. The report has no date yet: Google says it will share more details and availability later this year.
The timing matters more than the features. September is the month Google automatically upgrades campaigns that use campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets to AI Max, and Google expects those upgrades to conclude by the end of September. Advertisers spending this week deciding whether to move early or wait now have Google's answer to the most common objection, which is that AI Max has been hard to audit.
This post covers only the September 23 changes and the end of the September window. The full migration playbook, the DSA delay and the API fields are in earlier posts linked below.
- 01The unified report is announced, not available. Google says details and availability come later in 2026.Its promise is one row per search term with the assets shown and the landing page reached. Until it ships, AI Max reporting stays split across the search terms, assets and landing page reports.
- 02AI Brief reaches seven more languages, still in closed beta.Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Google says it steers messaging, matching and audience in your own words; it has not said those guidelines act as hard exclusions.
- 03Google expects the September auto-upgrades for broad match and automatically created assets to finish by September 30.Announced April 15, 2026 and restated June 11. Dynamic Search Ads move in February 2027, not this month.
- 04Google's 7% figure is internal data comparing the full feature set with search term matching alone.It is the average for non-Retail advertisers using search term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion together, measured against search term matching alone. It is not a promise for an account that switches some of them off.
01 — The changeWhat changed on September 23, and what did not
Two things were announced and two were already in motion. The table keeps them apart, with the status Google gives each.
| Item | Status | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Unified AI Max report | Announced. Availability later in 2026 | One view joining the search term that triggered the ad, the assets shown, and the landing page the user reached. |
| AI Brief in seven more languages | Closed beta expanding | Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Advertisers describe business, audience and messaging in their own words to guide AI Max. |
| Auto-upgrade of campaign-level broad match and automatically created assets | Running through September 2026 | Announced April 15, 2026. Campaigns using those two features are upgraded to AI Max starting in September; Google expects the upgrades to conclude by the end of the month. |
| Dynamic Search Ads auto-upgrade | February 2027 | Delayed from September 2026 in the June 11 update. Upgrade tools port DSA settings into standard ad groups. |
The reporting change is the one that alters a decision. Google's announcement describes the new report as "a single, unified view of the Search ads journey". The objection it answers is a practical one. AI Max can match a query, write the headline and pick the landing page, and until now checking all three for one search term meant three reports and a join by hand. A single row per term makes an AI Max audit a weekly task rather than a project.
What did not change is the control set. AI Brief is guidance in plain language: Google describes messaging, matching and audience guidelines that steer AI Max, but has not said they act as hard exclusions. Brand inclusions and exclusions, location intent controls and URL exclusions remain the levers, as covered in our AI Max playbook from the April launch.
02 — The deadlineThe last week of the window
Google's migration post sets September 2026 as the month campaigns using campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets are upgraded to AI Max automatically, and recommends moving before that to keep control of the setup. With a week left, the checklist is short.
List the campaigns in scope
Every Search campaign with either feature is a candidate for automatic upgrade. Export the list now so you can compare settings before and after the change lands.
Set the controls before Google does
Google says upgraded campaigns get settings configured to mirror the legacy setup, with search term matching on (plus text customisation for ACA campaigns). Set them on the campaign, not in a note for later.
Snapshot the search terms report
The unified report is not available yet. Your own export of search terms, top assets and landing pages is the baseline you will compare the upgraded campaign against.
Leave DSA alone
Dynamic Search Ads are not in the September window. Do not rebuild them this week; use the upgrade tools Google is rolling out when the February date approaches.
The pattern here is the same one our June post on the DSA delay set out: do the control work before the upgrade, because the upgrade copies what it finds. The only new element is the report, and the report is not here yet, so the baseline has to be yours.
03 — The reportWhat to read in the new report once it arrives
When the unified view ships, the three columns it joins answer three different questions. The value is in reading them together for one search term at a time.
Google's migration post says AI Max for Search campaigns see an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS when using the full feature suite: search term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion together, compared with search term matching alone. It is Google's internal data from 2026 for non-Retail advertisers, an average across campaigns, and it assumes all three features are on. An account that switches off final URL expansion is not in that average.
04 — The edge casesIf you have not been upgraded yet
Some accounts may reach September 30 without seeing the upgrade land. That is not a reprieve. Google's April post says new DSA campaigns cannot be created through Google Ads, Google Ads Editor or the API once automatic upgrades begin, and the June update kept these two features on the September schedule while moving DSA to February 2027, so the direction of travel is fixed even where the date slips.
Advertisers who also run Microsoft Advertising should note that its product of the same name is not the same product. Our September 1 comparison lists where the two differ, and none of this week's Google changes apply on the other platform. Teams that want the migration and the first audit handled together can see how we run paid media for clients.
05 — ConclusionThe report answers the audit objection, but not before the window closes
Set the controls and export the baseline before September 30, then wait for the unified report to arrive before judging the upgraded campaigns
The September 23 announcement changes what an AI Max audit will cost once the report ships. It does not change what happens on September 30. Do the control work now, keep your own export as the comparison, and treat Google's 7% as an average for the full feature set rather than a forecast for your account.