Google Ads AI Max Columns Explained A New Visibility Fix

What do the new AI Max columns in Google Ads actually show you? Google Ads started rolling out new AI Max columns on October 7, 2026, giving advertisers a clearer view of the settings that shape Search campaign targeting. This matters right now because automated campaign features have made it harder to see what is actually driving results, and these columns start to fix that.

What the Google Ads AI Max columns include

Google Ads now lets you add three new columns to your reporting views. They are Locations of interest, Optimized targeting and Brand inclusions. Each one connects to a specific setting inside AI Max, the automated targeting system built into Search campaigns. Before this update, you had to open each campaign to check these settings one at a time. Now you can see them directly in your reporting table.

How the Locations of interest column changes campaign review

The Locations of interest column flags which campaigns use location-of-interest targeting. This setting controls whether Google counts someone as a valid audience based on where they show interest, not just where they physically are. With this column, you can line up geographic targeting choices next to performance data in one view. This makes it faster to spot whether a location setting is helping or hurting results across multiple campaigns at once.

Why Optimized targeting visibility matters for AI Max campaigns

The Optimized targeting column shows you where Google’s automated audience expansion is active. Optimized targeting lets Google add audiences beyond the ones you picked, based on its own prediction of who will convert. Advertisers have had limited visibility into when this was switched on for a given campaign. With this new AI Max column, you can compare campaigns with and without optimized targeting side by side, using the same report you already check for performance numbers. This push toward consolidated visibility reflects a broader need among advertisers to see automated settings and performance data in one place rather than checking campaign-by-campaign, which is the same gap tools like Screpy’s consolidated SEO workspace address on the SEO and crawl side, pulling fragmented site health data into a single dashboard instead of a page-by-page audit.

Brand inclusions and the limits of automated targeting

The Brand inclusions column shows where brand inclusion settings are applied across your campaigns. This setting lets advertisers specify which brands their ads should associate with, which matters under AI Max because of how much targeting the system handles automatically. For advertisers who want tighter control over brand association, this column gives a direct way to confirm the setting is applied where you expect it. You no longer need to open each campaign individually to check.

What this rollout means for your reporting setup

Google has not said how long the full rollout will take, so you may not see these columns in your account yet. The change does not alter how AI Max operates. It only adds visibility into the settings already running in the background. For advertisers managing several Search campaigns, this turns a manual, campaign-by-campaign check into a single report you can scan in minutes.

Check your Google Ads reporting view over the next few weeks to see if the three new columns have appeared in your account. If they have, use them to audit your current AI Max settings against your results, rather than assuming your configuration matches what you intended. This is a visibility update, not a change to how targeting works, so the value depends on you actually reviewing the data. If you’re already auditing automated settings across campaigns, tools like Screpy’s unified SEO dashboard can help you apply that same scrutiny to your site’s technical health and crawlability in one place.