Final URL expansion
Final URL expansion is a setting in Performance Max and AI Max that lets Google send a click to another page of your site that better fits the person's intent.
How it works
With the setting on, Google may replace your final URL with a more relevant page of your site and write headlines and descriptions for that page. You can’t switch off this text generation without switching off the setting.
In Performance Max the setting is on by default. In Search campaigns it is part of AI Max, works only with text customization on, and is off by default. Pages you never want as a landing page, such as a blog, go into URL exclusions.
In a campaign with a product feed, product ads lead to the product’s URL from the feed. For such campaigns, Google’s documentation says the setting enables Dynamic Search Ads, so it mostly governs text ads. Our guide to Final URL expansion for online stores covers whether a store should keep it on.
Example
Example store, not client data.
The tableware shop runs Performance Max with its home page as the final URL and the setting left on. Google can now send a click from a search for linen napkins to the napkins category page, with a headline written for that page. It could pick the shop’s blog post on caring for crystal glasses as well, until the shop adds the blog to URL exclusions.
Not to be confused with
- Feed-only Performance Max — a Performance Max campaign without your own assets. It does not switch off Final URL expansion, so text ads to other pages of the site stay possible.
- AI Max — the wider set of Search campaign features. Final URL expansion is one of them, next to search term matching and text customization.
Right and wrong readings
- Wrong: “Switching off Final URL expansion takes my products out of the ads.” Right: product ads take their link from the feed, so they keep running. The setting decides whether text ads may lead to pages other than the final URL.
Sources
- Performance Max Optimizations — what it does, its default, URL exclusions. Checked 2 October 2026.
- Asset automation settings — defaults by campaign type; generated text stays on. Checked 2 October 2026.
- Get started with AI Max for Search campaigns — AI Max features and their defaults in Search. Checked 2 October 2026.
- Performance Max for online sales with a product feed (retail) — URL expansion enables Dynamic Search Ads. Checked 2 October 2026.
- Merchant API: ProductAttributes — item link; ads redirect overrides it in product ads. Checked 2 October 2026.