Google Is Letting Exact Match Into AI Mode Ads
Up to now, if you wanted your ads showing up in Google's AI Mode results, you had exactly two doors in: AI Max, Performance Max, or broad match paired with Smart Bidding. That's the "let Google figure out the user" tier of search. Exact and phrase match, the stuff your specialist has been carefully building around "apartments near [employer]" or "[submarket] pet friendly 2 bedroom," were locked out. According to PPC Land, Google is now testing letting exact and phrase match in too.
That sounds technical. It isn't. For an apartment operator, match type is the whole game. Broad match and Smart Bidding are how you catch a renter typing something vague. Exact and phrase match are how you make sure someone searching your actual property name, or a phrase your leasing team knows converts, doesn't get lost in Google's algorithmic soup. If those tightly controlled keywords start feeding into AI Mode's more conversational, intent-guessing ad slots, the traffic quality and the reporting underneath it can shift without your agency changing a single setting on your account.
The source is careful to note eligibility is still capped at "explicit user intent," meaning Google isn't opening the floodgates yet. But tests like this tend to expand, not shrink. If your budget is split across match types the way most leasing campaigns are, you want to know now whether any of your dollars are already inside this test, because right now nobody outside Google is deciding that for you.
- 01Are any of our exact or phrase match keywords currently enrolled in this AI Mode ads test, and how would we find out?
- 02What percentage of our current search spend sits in exact or phrase match versus broad match or Performance Max?
- 03If our exact match keywords start serving in AI Mode placements, does our attribution model separate that traffic from standard search results?
- 04Has click-through or cost-per-lead changed on any exact or phrase match campaigns in the last reporting period, and can we see that broken out by match type?
- 05What's our plan if Google expands this test past the current cap on explicit user intent?
- 06Do we have an opt-out or exclusion setting if AI Mode placements start underperforming for our leasing keywords?
Source: PPC Land, September 6, 2026
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