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What happened to predictive matching in Microsoft Ads, and should B2B search campaigns turn on AI Max?

By The Tofu team ·

Microsoft's help pages say predictive matching is moving to search term matching inside AI Max, with no end date, according to PPC Land and Search Engine Roundtable. AI Max reached all advertisers in August 2026. Use it in a B2B Search campaign if it bids on conversions tied to pipeline, such as CRM-qualified leads, and someone checks search terms every week. Keep it off if you have few conversions or bid on clicks. Microsoft's August 27 blog says AI Max is on by default for new Search campaigns, so choose on purpose.

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As of November 2026.

Quick answer by situation

If you…UseWhy
Used predictive matching beforeCheck each campaign's AI Max settings nowMicrosoft's Ads Liaison says those campaigns were moved into AI Max
Bid on CRM-backed conversions with steady volumeAI Max with search term matching, run as an experimentIt reaches searches beyond your keywords, and it needs conversion bidding
Have few conversions or bid on clicksYour own keywords, with AI Max offSearch term matching and URL expansion need a conversion-based or portfolio bid strategy
Have careers, docs, login or support pagesFinal URL expansion off, or URL inclusions if your account has themIt can send clicks to whatever page it picks
Need legal or brand sign-off on ad copyText customization off, or term exclusions and messaging guidelinesIt writes new ad text from your site
Import campaigns from Google AdsA deliberate choice in the AI Max import optionAI Max settings carry over and keep syncing
Create a new Search campaignA decision on each AI Max featureMicrosoft's blog says AI Max is on by default for new Search campaigns

If you used predictive matching before

Microsoft hasn't published a date for when predictive matching ends, and its blog posts on AI Max don't mention it. On July 31, 2026, PPC Land and Search Engine Roundtable both reported that Microsoft's help pages now say "Predictive Matching is moving to Search term matching within AI Max" and "No action is required at this time." Microsoft's help center doesn't load without JavaScript, so this page relies on those reports for the wording.

Predictive matching used your final URL, ad text and keywords to find more queries, according to PPC Land. Search term matching does a similar job. Microsoft says it "uses your keywords, ads, landing pages, and other contextual signals" to reach relevant searches beyond your keyword list. It works alongside your keywords rather than adding new ones: Microsoft's API guide says it matches searches "without requiring an advertiser-managed keyword for each query."

Microsoft's Ads Liaison, Navah Hopkins, wrote on LinkedIn (quoted by Search Engine Roundtable on August 20, 2026) that campaigns already testing predictive matching or auto-generated text "found new homes in AI Max," with those AI Max settings turned on, and that "no other AI Max features will be turned on until you opt into them." She didn't say which AI Max feature predictive matching became. Microsoft's blog says the same for auto-generated assets in responsive search ads: they now show as AI Max's "text customization" feature, and this "doesn't opt you into the broader AI Max feature set."

What to do: open each Search campaign's settings (Microsoft shows AI Max in the campaign creation flow and on campaign settings pages) and check which AI Max features are on.

If you bid on CRM-backed conversions with steady volume

This is where AI Max has the best chance in B2B. Microsoft's API guide says search term matching and final URL expansion need one of these bid strategies: Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Target CPA, Target ROAS, or an eligible portfolio bid strategy. You also need a UET tag on your site or an eligible offline conversion goal.

The goal you bid on matters more than the setting. If any form fill counts as a conversion, AI Max will look for more form fills, whether or not they turn into pipeline. Give it a goal closer to revenue:

  • Import qualified leads or opportunities from your CRM as offline conversions.
  • Or use Microsoft's Conversions API, which Microsoft announced as generally available on October 28, 2026. Microsoft says it connects your website, apps, CRM and point-of-sale systems to Microsoft Advertising server to server.

Then test it against your current setup. Microsoft's Ads Liaison says you can run experiments on all three AI Max features or on single ones. Microsoft says early tests showed "at least an 8% increase in conversions" with AI Max against Search campaigns with it off, and more uplift for campaigns that rely on exact and phrase match. Its footnote covers 44 advertiser-run A/B tests from June to August 2026, of which 10 had statistically significant positive results. Microsoft doesn't say how many were B2B, so treat the number as a reason to test, not a forecast.

While it runs, watch three reports Microsoft added:

  • Search term and keyword reports label traffic from search term matching with a new "AI optimized" match type.
  • The asset report shows AI-generated assets next to your own.
  • A search term landing page report template shows which pages the clicks went to.

Microsoft says AI Max respects your negative keywords, bid strategy, budget, conversion goals and targeting settings. For B2B, LinkedIn profile targeting is also available in Search campaigns, and Microsoft added job seniority to it in August 2026, next to company, industry and job function. Microsoft doesn't say how AI Max and LinkedIn targeting work together, so compare those segments in your test.

If you have few conversions or bid on clicks

Leave search term matching and final URL expansion off. They don't work without a conversion-based or portfolio bid strategy, and a campaign with a handful of conversions a month gives the system little to learn from. Grow reach with phrase and exact match keywords you choose, and add negatives as you find bad queries.

If your site has careers, docs, login or support pages

Final URL expansion lets Microsoft send people to "the page on your site that best matches their intent" instead of the URL you set. On a B2B site, that page might be a job listing, a help article or a login screen. Microsoft's API guide says final URL expansion also needs text customization on.

To narrow it:

  • URL inclusions limit the pages AI Max can use, with rules on the URL, page title, page content, category or custom label. Microsoft says they need separate account eligibility.
  • Page feeds list the pages you want considered, up to 20 feeds per AI Max campaign. These also need that eligibility.
  • The search term landing page report shows where clicks actually went.

Microsoft's AI Max guide describes URL inclusions, not URL exclusions. If your account doesn't have URL inclusions, keep final URL expansion off.

If legal or brand teams must approve ad copy

Text customization uses your assets and website content to write more ad text variations, then picks combinations at auction time. Before you allow it, set its guardrails:

  • Term exclusions: up to 25 words or phrases, 30 characters each, that AI-written text must not use. Think of claims you can't make, or product names you've retired.
  • Messaging guidelines: in open pilot for Search campaigns with AI Max, Microsoft said on October 28, 2026. You can add up to 40 rules on claims, themes, tone or language to avoid.
  • The asset report: review what it wrote, next to your own assets.

If nobody can review generated text each week, keep text customization off. Final URL expansion needs it, so that turns off URL expansion too.

If you import campaigns from Google Ads

This is where Microsoft's AI Max and Google's meet. Microsoft says Google Import can now carry AI Max settings over from Google Ads, and scheduled imports keep inheriting them on future syncs. The option sits under Import from Google Ads > Choose import options > Targeting > AI Max settings. Microsoft's API docs say this option is on by default. Turn it off if you want Microsoft campaigns to keep their own AI Max settings.

Two differences to know:

  • Microsoft still supports Dynamic Search Ads "until further notice," though Google has announced its move away from them.
  • Google Search campaigns that were upgraded from Dynamic Search Ads come back as standard Dynamic Search Ads campaigns when you import them into Microsoft.

If you create a new Search campaign

Microsoft says AI Max is "enabled by default for any new Search campaigns" created in Microsoft Advertising, and you can turn it off during setup or later. It doesn't say which of the three features that default turns on, so check each one. Microsoft's own statements disagree here. In a LinkedIn post quoted by Search Engine Roundtable on August 20, 2026, its Ads Liaison wrote that "AI Max remains an opt-in setting for new and existing campaigns." The August 27 blog post came a week later and says it is on by default for new ones. Until Microsoft settles this, check every new campaign.

The API works the other way. When you create a campaign through the API and leave out a feature's setting, Microsoft stores that feature as off. When you turn the main AI Max switch off, every feature under it turns off too.

What to avoid

  • Turning on all three features in your main campaign at once, with no experiment. You won't know which one changed your results.
  • Bidding toward every form fill. AI Max finds more of whatever you count as a conversion.
  • Skipping the weekly search term review. Add negatives for job seekers, students, support and login searches as they appear.
  • Reading Microsoft's 8% figure as what your account will get.

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