TL;DR
- Ginny Marvin said on 4 September 2026 that eligibility is limited to cases with explicit and direct user intent, and Google published no definition of that phrase.
- Anthony Higman spotted the behaviour first on LinkedIn and said he confirmed it through multiple campaigns and tests on his side.
- Before the test, the only routes into those AI Mode placements were AI Max, Performance Max for Search, or broad match with Smart Bidding.
- Google named no countries, gave no end date and released no performance data, so whether Thai accounts are included is unknown.
- Marvin said AI Max and PMax for Search remain the products built for complex conversational intent and formats such as Highlighted Answers.
Google is running an experiment that lets regular Search campaigns built on exact and phrase match keywords serve text ads inside AI Mode. Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Liaison, confirmed the test on 4 September 2026 with the line "This is a small experiment that recently kicked off." The behaviour was first spotted by advertiser Anthony Higman, who wrote on LinkedIn that "Google is now serving regular pure search campaigns with restrictive match types in AI mode" and said he had confirmed it "through multiple campaigns and tests on our side".
The reason this got attention comes from Higman's own framing, reported by Search Engine Roundtable on 4 September 2026: before this test, the only ways to appear in those AI Mode ad placements were AI Max, Performance Max for Search, or broad match with Smart Bidding. So a campaign whose reach is fixed by a keyword list is now reaching a surface that had been closed to it.
What Google said, word for word
Marvin set out the eligibility in a comment on Higman's LinkedIn post: "Exact and phrase match keywords are eligible to serve text ads in AI Mode. 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)."
There are two halves to that statement. The first half makes exact and phrase match keywords eligible in AI Mode. The second half narrows where the eligibility applies, to queries Google reads as carrying explicit and direct intent. Google has not published a definition of that phrase, so the working boundary is not visible from outside the system.
Marvin was asked a second time and again told Search Engine Roundtable that this is a new limited experiment being run by the Google Ads team. Higman argued publicly that the change looks bigger than a small experiment. As of 4 September 2026, the only position Google has stated on the record is Marvin's.
How AI Mode ad eligibility worked before this test
The three routes Higman named have one thing in common. Each of them moves query matching away from the advertiser's keyword list and into Google's automation. That is the pattern the experiment appears to break.
AI Max for Search
AI Max for Search is Google's automation layer applied to Search campaigns. Marvin's comment places it, together with PMax for Search, in the group designed to capture complex conversational intent and to access newer ad formats. She named Highlighted Answers as an example of those formats. The source does not describe the matching logic behind AI Max in any more detail than that.
Performance Max for Search
Performance Max campaigns do not run on a keyword list at all. The advertiser supplies assets, audience signals and a conversion goal, and Google decides which queries and surfaces to buy. That structural difference is why PMax reaching a new surface such as AI Mode has never required an advertiser-side change, and why keyword-driven campaigns reaching it does.
Broad match with Smart Bidding
Broad match with Smart Bidding is the middle path. The keyword still exists, but it acts as a topic signal rather than a boundary, and the bidding system decides which of the resulting queries are worth an auction entry. Higman's point, as reported, is that this pairing was previously required for a Search campaign to reach AI Mode placements at all.
What exact, phrase and broad match actually control
Match type is the contract between the advertiser's keyword and the queries Google is allowed to enter. The differences matter here because the experiment is defined by match type, not by campaign type.
- Exact match is the tightest of the three. It covers the keyword and close variants of it, including misspellings, singular and plural forms, and reorderings that do not alter meaning. It is the setting advertisers use when they want to buy a specific query and nothing adjacent to it.
- Phrase match allows words before and after the keyword phrase as long as the meaning of the phrase is preserved. It is wider than exact match and still anchored to the phrase the advertiser wrote.
- Broad match lets Google enter auctions for queries it judges related to the keyword, including queries containing none of the keyword's words. It is the widest setting and the one Google pairs with Smart Bidding.
Google's own wording groups exact and phrase together as the restrictive pair. That grouping is what the experiment turns on.
Where the boundary probably sits: analysis, not sourced fact
The following is our reading of Marvin's wording and is not something Google has confirmed. Google said eligibility is "limited to cases where there is explicit and direct user intent" and, in the same comment, described AI Max and PMax for Search as the products built for "complex conversational intent". Set side by side, those two lines suggest a split between a query that names what the user wants and a query that describes a situation and asks the model to work out what is wanted.
On that reading, a query that names a product, a service or a brand outright sits on the eligible side. A long question that supplies context and asks for a recommendation sits on the other side, in the territory Google says it built AI Max and PMax for Search to serve. We want to be plain about the limit of this reading: Google published no examples, no query classifier documentation and no threshold. Anyone stating a firm rule about which queries qualify is going beyond what has been made public.
The test at a glance
The table below separates what Google and the reporting actually state from what remains unknown, so that nothing in the second column needs to be taken on trust.
| Item | What the source states | Standing |
|---|---|---|
| Experiment status | Ginny Marvin, 4 September 2026: "This is a small experiment that recently kicked off." | Confirmed by Google |
| Eligible match types | Exact and phrase match keywords are eligible to serve text ads in AI Mode | Confirmed by Google |
| Stated limit | Limited to cases where there is explicit and direct user intent | Confirmed, but not defined |
| Routes before the test | AI Max, Performance Max for Search, or broad match with Smart Bidding | Attributed to Anthony Higman |
| Countries, end date, results | None given | Not stated in the source |
What the source did not say
The gaps are as informative as the confirmation. Google called this a small experiment and gave no end date. No countries were named, so there is no way to tell from the reporting whether accounts in Thailand are inside the test group. No impression, click or conversion data was released, and no eligibility criteria were published beyond the phrase "explicit and direct user intent". Google also did not say whether the experiment will expand, contract or stop.
Two further absences are worth flagging for anyone planning around this. Google did not say whether AI Mode traffic is reported separately in any account-level report, and it did not say whether the experiment changes how existing bidding targets behave on affected ad groups.
What to check in your own account
None of this warrants a restructure. An experiment with no stated end date can be switched off without notice, and an account rebuilt around it would then be a rebuild with no purpose. What it does warrant is a closer look at the numbers you already have.
- Segment by search terms on your exact and phrase ad groups. Start from the report you already trust and look at the query mix over the past few weeks against the weeks before. You are looking for a shift in composition, not for a label that says AI Mode.
- Look for volume you cannot attribute. If impressions on a tightly controlled exact match ad group rose without a bid change, a budget change or a seasonal reason, write down when it started. A dated note is worth more later than a recollection.
- Watch impression share and average CPC on those ad groups. A new placement adds auction entries. If it is reaching your account, impression share and cost per click are the first two metrics likely to move.
- Check conversion rate separately from volume. Extra impressions from a surface with different user behaviour can move blended numbers without any change in demand.
- Change nothing structural yet. Record what you see, keep your bidding strategy stable long enough to read the data, and wait for Google to say more.
If you want a second pair of eyes on the query mix, our Google Ads management team can read the before and after with you.
How this connects to the AI Max push
Marvin's comment is also a positioning statement. In the same breath as confirming exact and phrase eligibility, she restated that AI Max and PMax for Search are the products designed for complex conversational intent and for newer ad formats such as Highlighted Answers. The message to advertisers is that the experiment does not make the automation products redundant.
Both statements can hold at once. The narrow keyword route may cover a slice of AI Mode queries where the user asked for something specific, while the automated products cover the wider conversational body of queries. Whether that division survives contact with real auction data is exactly what an experiment is for, and Google has released no results.
What this means for Thai marketers
The honest answer for a Bangkok advertiser is that the source gives no country list, so nobody outside Google can say whether Thai accounts are in the test. Treating an unconfirmed experiment as a plan is how budget gets spent on a surface that may not exist next month.
The useful response is a measurement one. Accounts that already segment by search term, that separate brand from generic, and that keep a written record of bid and budget changes will be able to tell whether something moved once Google says more. Accounts that do not have those habits will be guessing either way. The same discipline applies to how brands are being surfaced in AI answers generally, which is the ground our generative engine optimisation work covers.
There is a second point for Thai accounts running heavily automated setups. If exact and phrase match can reach placements that previously required automation, the argument for pushing every campaign toward hands off structures weakens slightly. It does not disappear, and it should not be rebuilt on a single experiment, but it is worth revisiting the next time a campaign structure comes up for review.
FAQ: exact and phrase match in AI Mode
Can exact match keywords serve ads in AI Mode?
Yes, within a limited experiment that Google confirmed on 4 September 2026. Ginny Marvin stated that exact and phrase match keywords are eligible to serve text ads in AI Mode, and that eligibility is limited to cases where there is explicit and direct user intent. She described the test as a small experiment that recently kicked off.
Do I need AI Max or Performance Max to appear in AI Mode?
Not any longer, at least for accounts inside this experiment. Anthony Higman stated that before the test the only routes into those AI Mode placements were AI Max, Performance Max for Search, or broad match with Smart Bidding, which is why he described the change as a big deal.
Is the experiment running in Thailand?
The source does not say. Google named no countries when it confirmed the test on 4 September 2026, gave no end date and released no performance data, so there is no public basis for saying whether Thai accounts are included.
Should I change my campaign structure because of this?
No, not on the strength of an experiment Google itself called small. A sensible response is to segment your exact and phrase ad groups by search term and note any unexplained impression movement with a date, while leaving bidding and structure alone.
What does explicit and direct user intent mean?
Google has not defined it. The phrase comes from Marvin's LinkedIn comment, where it sits opposite the complex conversational intent that she said AI Max and PMax for Search were designed to capture. Any reading tighter than that is interpretation rather than published guidance.
If you would like your exact and phrase match ad groups reviewed against the past few weeks of query data before Google says anything more, Relevant Audience can take a look and tell you plainly whether anything has moved.
