Google is testing whether ordinary Search campaigns built on exact and phrase match keywords can show text ads inside AI Mode, its conversational search interface. Until now, getting ads into AI Mode meant opting into one of Google’s automated campaign products.
Anthony Higman, founder and CEO of ADSQUIRE, spotted the change first. He posted on LinkedIn that Google was “now serving regular pure search campaigns with restrictive match types in AI mode,” and said he had “confirmed through multiple campaigns and tests on our side.”
Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed the test to Search Engine Roundtable on Sept. 4. “This is a small experiment that recently kicked off,” she said.
Limited to direct intent
Marvin set out the limits in a LinkedIn comment. “Exact and phrase match keywords are eligible to serve text ads in AI Mode,” she wrote. “Note however that this is limited to cases where there is explicit and direct user intent. AI Max and PMax for Search are designed to capture complex conversational intent and access our latest ad formats (like Highlighted Answers).”
That leaves the newer formats with the automated products. According to PPC Land, Google’s documentation had made AI Max for Search or Performance Max with text customization a condition for AI Mode ad experiences. Google hasn’t said publicly how it decides whether a query carries “explicit and direct” intent, and it gave no country or vertical scope for the test.
Higman thinks the change is bigger than Google’s wording suggests. “Before this the ONLY way to show in those places was through ai max, p-max or broad and smart bidding,” he wrote on X. “Thats why its a big deal!”
Why advertisers care
Exact and phrase match have been the main way advertisers keep spending tight and away from placements they didn’t pick. For accounts that still run large exact-match programs, the test offers a route into AI Mode without moving budget into Performance Max or AI Max.
The surface is getting bigger. PPC Land notes that Google said at I/O 2026 that AI Mode had passed 1 billion monthly users, with searches averaging three times the length of traditional queries. It also cites Similarweb data from August putting ads on nearly 30% of ad-eligible AI Mode queries.
Exact match has also become less exact over time. PPC Land cites a Smarter Ecommerce analysis of 383 million impressions in EMEA ecommerce Search campaigns that found roughly 71% of exact match keyword impressions were truly exact by July 2026, down from at or near 100% through the first half of 2025.
Google hasn’t said whether or when the test will expand beyond its current limits.
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