Google Ads Editor 2.14 enables AI Max by default for new Search campaigns

Google Ads Editor 2.14 enables AI Max, text asset automation and Final URL expansion by default when creating Search campaigns. The version also brings controls for customer acquisition and retention, alongside background downloads. The change to initial settings concerns campaigns newly created in the desktop editor, where ad copy and the landing page can be selected automatically according to the search.

Editor is Google's free application for working locally with one or more advertising accounts. Data is downloaded to the computer, and changes are prepared before being sent to the account. Teams can export and import files for review. This separation between local preparation and actual posting makes a campaign's initial options part of the configuration that will subsequently be submitted.

What automated text and landing-page selection can change

AI Max is an optimisation layer for Search campaigns. Its search term matching component combines broad keyword matching with information from ad assets and website pages. Matching can also work without a keyword covering the user's precise request. The configuration includes brand and geographical-interest controls at the campaign or ad-group levels specified by the product.

Text customisation uses the domain, landing-page content, existing ads and ad-group keywords to produce additional headlines and descriptions. Google combines extraction techniques with generative AI. Those assets enter the same eligible pool as the advertiser's own text, and the system selects the combination to show. The current documentation specifies that text customisation supports the languages available in Google Ads.

Final URL expansion allows the visitor to be sent to another relevant page on the same domain that matches the search and the ad group's theme. The feature depends on text customisation so that the message corresponds to the selected destination. Turning off text customisation also disables this expansion. URL exclusions are configured at campaign level, while inclusions can guide selection within ad groups.

The setup documentation specifies that text assets pinned to particular positions in a responsive Search ad are not used when expansion chooses a more relevant destination. URL inclusions also affect the use of pinned text. In the same guidance, Google connects effective operation of AI Max components with conversion-based Smart Bidding strategies. Editor's default setting operates within this mechanism for selecting the message and destination.

Reporting on combinations of searches, ads and websites

AI Max reports distinguish automation's contribution through the match type and the column indicating the source of the match. The search terms and ad combinations view brings together the search term, displayed headline and landing page. In asset reports, text created through customisation is marked Google AI. The landing-page report indicates selection by AI Max. Google specifies that filtering the report by the AI Max match type excludes the other search terms row, changing the displayed total.

Controls for new, lapsed and loyalty-programme customers

Editor 2.14 allows account-level acquisition and retention settings to be edited when the account does not use a conversion tracking parent, known as a CTP. For accounts with a CTP, those settings are read-only. Within customer-goal configuration, the values assigned to segments and the audience lists define the categories used by the bidding system.

In Google Ads, acquisition and retention are separate goals. The first can prioritise new customers, while the second addresses existing or lapsed customers. A business defines inactivity using its own criteria and can provide corresponding Customer Match lists. Re-engagement of lapsed customers is documented for Performance Max, while retention for loyalty-programme members is available for Performance Max and Shopping.

The version also includes a retention mode in which bidding is limited to lapsed customers. In the general goals documentation, Google distinguishes re-engaging these customers from prioritising lapsed customers who previously made frequent purchases, had large baskets or placed high-value orders. The segments are defined using their existing relationship with the business.

For loyalty-programme members, Google documents the use of up to seven membership tiers represented by first-party lists. Bidding optimisation for these customers is available globally. The functionality connects Customer Match lists with the programme configured in Merchant Center and provides reporting by membership tier, known non-members and customers whose status is unknown.

The additional values assigned to segments are added to a purchase conversion's value when the customer falls within the defined segment. Google's documentation specifies that this adjustment is included in the conversion value column and is used by Smart Bidding. The lifetime-value columns for a new or won-back customer identify the respective adjustments. Value configuration therefore also affects the interpretation of business reporting.

Background downloads and preservation of local changes

The new full-account download runs in the background without blocking editing. Once it finishes, the user can replace local data, discarding local changes, or refresh with the information received from the server while preserving edits. Performance statistics also download in the background. The two ways of applying downloaded data have different effects on work that has already been prepared.

The Editor workflow includes checking changes before posting, including for several selected accounts. Errors that prevent posting are flagged beside the affected items. When downloaded updates are reviewed, the application distinguishes server information from unpublished local changes. The new version retains this working model of local data, review and separate submission to Google Ads.