Search Campaigns for Travel (AI Max) Setup Guide

This guide is a work in progress. Search Campaigns for Travel is still rolling out, and Google is finalizing parts of the setup. We're sharing what we know now and will keep this page updated as we learn more from Google. If something looks different in your account, check back soon or contact the Magpie team.

What we know so far

• Legacy Travel Campaigns are being replaced by Search Campaigns for Travel with AI Max (also called Travel Ads in Search Campaigns, or TASC). If you do nothing, Google auto-migrates your active campaigns (expected around late July 2026, in Q3 2026). You can also self-migrate now.
• Google has shared a beta implementation guide, so the required steps are now clear: create a Search campaign that mirrors your Travel Campaign, enable AI Max (with text customization and final URL expansion on), link one data feed per campaign, add an Item Group for feed-based targeting, add a Responsive Search Ad for text ads, and keep Search Terms Matching on. The steps below walk through this.
• Best practices are confirmed: conversion-based autobidding is required during the beta, and Data-Driven Attribution is recommended for measurement.

What we're still confirming with Google

• The exact auto-migration date (Google will confirm by email).
• Screenshots for each step, and any changes to the interface as the feature rolls out.
• Timing for later features (for example, an Item tab for bidding and reporting) and support for Google Ads Editor and the API.

This guide reflects Google's current beta implementation guidance. Treat it as a working draft that we'll refine as the feature rolls out. Questions in the meantime? Contact the Magpie team.

Overview

Search Campaigns for Travel bring AI Max and full Search-campaign capabilities to Things to Do advertisers: expanded bidding options, comprehensive reporting, and more ad formats than the legacy Travel Campaigns you may have run before. Your Google Things to Do feed, kept in sync through Magpie, powers the activity prices, availability, and booking links that appear alongside your Search ads.

This guide covers the manual (self-migration) path: creating a new Search Campaign for Travel with AI Max that mirrors your existing Travel Campaign settings.

Prerequisites:

• An active Google Things to Do feed in Magpie
• A Google Ads account linked to Magpie as your Google-approved connectivity partner (see Google Travel Campaigns Setup Guide for the feed-linking and notify-Magpie steps, using Feed ID 485698908)
• Products fully configured with title, price, categories, locations, and images (see the Google Things to Do Setup Wizard and Setting up Google Things to Do)

Important: Travel Campaigns are being discontinued

Google is retiring legacy Travel Campaigns for Things to Do and replacing them with Search Campaigns for Travel. You have two options:

• Migrate on your own (available now): Create new Search Campaigns for Travel that mirror your legacy Travel Campaign settings, then pause the legacy campaigns to prevent auto-migration. This guide walks you through it, and lets you use the new features sooner.
• Auto-migration (Q3 2026): If you take no action, all active Travel Campaigns will be ended and equivalent Search Campaigns for Travel will be created automatically in Q3 2026 (Google has indicated migration begins around July 28, 2026 and will confirm the exact date by email). Make sure your campaigns are in an active state to be eligible.

In both cases Google works to respect your original intent, so budget, bidding, and targeting are moved over to the closest equivalent. New campaigns are set to active by default, and all historical data from your legacy Travel Campaigns remains available in Google Ads for review.

Benefits

• Show your activity feed's price and availability information directly in Search ad formats.
• Reuse the same Things to Do feed data you already send to Google through Magpie, with no new feed to build.
• Advertisers running the full range of travel formats see up to a 20% increase in click-through rate (Source: Google internal data, Global, May 2024).

Step 1: Connect your feed

Search Campaigns for Travel require your Magpie Things to Do feed (Feed ID 485698908) to be connected to your Google Ads account. If you already linked it for Travel Campaigns, you're set, so skip to Step 2. Otherwise, link it now:

1. Open Data Manager. Access the Data Manager section within your Google Ads account's Tools menu.

2. Manage and Link. Click Manage and Link on the Things to do center list item.

3. Link Things to Do Center. Select the Link Things to Do Center button.

4. Enter the Magpie Feed ID. In the Things to do center ID field, enter 485698908 (the Magpie Feed ID), then click Send request.

5. Notify Magpie. Complete the form below so Magpie knows to accept your linking request.

Allow 24 to 48 hours (Monday to Friday) for Magpie to accept the request and upload your feed. Once linked, it appears in Google Ads as 485698908 · Magpie Travel · Things to Do Center feed.

Optional: track ad vs organic clicks. During the pilot you can tell ad clicks apart from organic in your landing-page reporting. Add the {GOOGLE-ADS-CLICK-SOURCE} parameter to your Actions Center tracking template, for example https://www.yourdomain.com?{GOOGLE-ADS-CLICK-SOURCE}. Google replaces it with tfsa for a Travel Feeds in Search Ads click or tpa for a Travel Promotion Ads click. This is recommended but not required.

Step 2: Start a new campaign

From the Campaigns → Overview screen, select + New campaign (or the Create button in the top-left).

Step 3: Choose the Sales objective

On What's your campaign objective?, select Sales ("Drive sales online, in app, by phone, or in store").

Step 4: Set your conversion goals

Under Use these conversion goals to improve Sales, keep your account-default conversion goals or select Add goal to choose specific conversion actions for this campaign.

Step 5: Choose Search as the campaign type

Select Search ("Drive sales on Google Search with text ads"). Search Campaigns for Travel use the standard Search campaign type, not the legacy Travel campaign type.

Step 6: Name your campaign

Enter a descriptive Campaign name (for example, Things-to-do-1) so it's easy to identify later.

Step 7: Set your bidding

On the Bidding screen, under What do you want to focus on?, choose Conversions (or Conversion value). Optionally tick Set a target cost per action to mirror your legacy Travel Campaign's target. Leave Customer acquisition unchecked unless you specifically want to optimize for new customers, then select Next.

During the beta, conversion-based autobidding is required (for example, Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value). Manual CPC is expected to remain available until general availability in H2 2026. If one campaign runs multiple formats, autobidding is strongly recommended so AI Max can shift budget toward the best-performing formats.

Step 8: Turn on AI Max

In the AI Max for Search campaigns section, switch on Optimize your campaign with AI Max. AI Max must be on to run Travel ads in Search campaigns. It expands your reach with broad-match technology, automated creative, and dynamic landing pages; advertisers who activate it typically see around 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS.

Keep the AI Max sub-settings text customization and final URL expansion enabled. Text customization must be on for feed-based text ads (Travel Feeds in Search Ads) to trigger, and final URL expansion is recommended for performance.

Step 9: Advertise items from your data feed

In the Data feed panel, tick Advertise items from a data feed. Key feed data such as dates and prices is used to enhance your text ads with Travel Feeds in Search Ads. By default the campaign uses your account-level feed; to use a different one, manually select 485698908 · Magpie Travel · Things to Do Center feed from the dropdown. Only one feed can run per campaign, so if just one feed is linked the selector is disabled and shows that feed in gray. You can enable more feed-based formats later in your Ad group settings.

How feed changes are handled:

• If the account's default feed changes, every campaign using the default feed updates to the new one automatically.
• Campaigns with an explicitly selected feed (or with feed usage disabled) are not affected by account-level default changes.
• If an explicitly linked feed is deleted at the account level, the campaign throws an error and its feed-based formats pause until you select a valid feed.

Step 10: Choose your networks

Under Campaign settings → Networks, keep Google Search Partners Network and Google Display Network enabled (both recommended) to extend your reach, or uncheck them to stay on Google Search only.

Step 11: Set your locations

Under Locations, choose where your ads should serve: All countries and territories, a preset, or Enter another location to target specific markets. Under Location options → Include, keep Presence or interest (recommended) so you reach travelers planning to visit your destinations.

Step 12: Set languages and EU political ads

Under Languages, add the languages your customers speak (English is selected by default). Under EU political ads, answer the required question. For most tour and activity operators, select No, this campaign doesn't have EU political ads.

Step 13: Add audience segments

Under Audience segments, search or browse for relevant travel segments (for example, Family Vacationers or Beachbound Travelers). Keep the targeting setting on Observation (recommended) so you can gather data and adjust bids without narrowing your campaign's reach.

Step 14: Set up your AI Max ad group and formats

On the Keywords and ads screen, open Ad group settings for AI Max. Confirm the banner reads AI Max is turned on for your campaign, then under Formats keep both enabled:

• Text ads: can include feed-based formats like Travel Feeds in Search Ads.
• Travel promotion ads: highlight your value proposition when travelers search within a category.

Formats are chosen at the ad group level, and keywords apply only to Travel Promotion Ads and Text Ads. Format previews are available for Travel Promotion Ads. To replicate a legacy Travel Campaign that ran only TPA, select Travel Promotion Ads only. For feed-based Text Ads to serve, you also need text customization on (Step 8), an Item Group (Step 15), and a Responsive Search Ad (Step 18).

Step 15: Choose the items in your Item Group

Your Item group controls which activities from your feed are advertised, and it doubles as feed-based targeting. Item Group targeting is distinct from traditional keywords and complements AI Max's Search Term Matching by using your feed data to extend reach. When Text Ads are enabled, Google also uses the item group to match your ad group to relevant text-ad searches. A good way to think about it: your legacy US Travel Campaign becomes a Search Campaign for Travel with a US item group at the ad group level.

By default, all items from Magpie Travel are selected (for example, 21 of 21). To narrow it, open the item group and use Choose items in your feed to filter. For Things to Do (beta), the available dimensions are:

• ID or Name: search for specific feed items by item ID or name.
• City, Region, or Country: filter by location.

Pick a dimension, then Include or Exclude the matching items. Only exact match (Is / Is not) is supported (not "contains" or "starts with"), and the filter only offers values that actually appear in your feed. If you apply no filters, all items in your feed are used, and later feed changes carry over automatically. These same dimensions segment your Things to Do reporting, and you can revisit Item Groups any time from the Ad Groups tab.

Step 16: Confirm search term matching

Under Search term matching, keep Expanding your keywords with Google AI enabled so AI Max can broaden your reach to relevant new searches. You'll see how it performs in your search term reports.

Step 17: Generate keywords and assets

Under Keyword and asset generation, enter the Final URL travelers should land on (your activity or booking page) and select Generate. Google AI drafts keywords, headlines, and descriptions from your URL and feed for you to review; always check generated content before it runs. Select Skip if you prefer to add keywords and assets manually.

Any keywords you add through this flow affect your Text Ads and Travel Promotion Ads targeting, so add only keywords you want to bid on in addition to your item-group (feed-based) targeting. You can also add keywords manually in the next step.

Step 18: Add your keywords and ad assets

On the lower half of the Keywords and ads screen, complete the ad itself. If you used Keyword and asset generation (Step 17), much of this is pre-filled for you to review. Otherwise, add it manually. For feed-based Text Ads to serve, your ad group needs at least one Responsive Search Ad (RSA), so be sure to add one here. Keywords apply only to Text Ads and Travel Promotion Ads.

Keywords, under Add details to match your ads to the right searches:

• Enter a Final URL and select Get keyword suggestions to have Google recommend keywords based on your page, or
• Type or paste your own keywords directly (one per line, or separated by commas). Keywords are the words and phrases that match your ad to traveler searches.

Ads, under Create ads to get more sales, build the responsive ad. The ad strength indicator and the live preview show what's still needed:

• Final URL and Display path: the landing page and the friendly URL shown in the ad.
• Headlines (up to 15) and Descriptions (up to 4): select View ideas for suggestions.
• Images: must meet Google's quality standards (no logo overlay, text overlay, GIFs, blurry, or poorly cropped images).
• Business name and Business logo: the name should match your URL or verified advertiser name.
• Sitelinks and other asset types: add account-level or campaign-level sitelinks to send travelers to specific pages.

When the ad is complete, select Done, then Next to continue.

Step 19: Pause your legacy Travel Campaign

Once your new Search Campaign for Travel is live and mirrors your old settings, pause the legacy Travel Campaign so it isn't auto-migrated later. In the Campaigns list, click the status dot next to your old Travel Campaign and select Pause. Your historical data stays available in Google Ads for review.

Best practices

Choosing your account structure

Google offers two ways to organize formats, both compatible with the beta:

• Retain your current structure. Keep dedicated campaigns for Text Ads versus Travel Formats, each with its own budget. Add broad item groups so feed formats get good reach, and refine later.
• Merge formats (Google's recommended, more-automated option). Run all formats under a single campaign and budget, with separate ad groups per format (for example, one Text Ads ad group and one Travel Promotion Ads ad group). Text Ads include Travel Feeds in Search Ads (feed required); Travel Formats include TPA and Booking Links. Replicate your existing item groupings, or start with your whole feed in one item group and refine.

Autobidding is required during the beta for both structures. Merging formats lets AI Max shift budget toward the best-performing formats automatically.

Bidding and targeting

• Use conversion-based autobidding (Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value). Manual CPC is expected to remain available until general availability in H2 2026.
• Budgets live at the campaign level and apply to every format in the ad groups within it.
• Keywords are for optimization, not restriction: an exact-match keyword alongside item targeting won't reduce your feed-based traffic, but its bid takes priority in the auction.

Measurement

• Opt into Data-Driven Attribution (DDA), now available for Travel formats, under Tools & Settings → Measurement → Attribution, to credit conversions across formats and campaigns.
• If you use a manager (MCC) account, verify cross-account conversion tracking with Account map (under Tools & Settings → Setup). An orange check mark next to an account means it shares conversions with the manager; without it, that account's data won't appear in cross-network paths or attribution.
• New reporting: ad-format performance is viewable at the search-term level (with a "source" value of "AI Max data feed matches" for feed matches), and a new item / vertical report shows feed items and dimensions alongside core metrics.

Frequently asked questions

Which bidding strategy should I use with AI Max?

Use a conversion-based strategy such as Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value. AI Max relies on the signals from automated bidding to power Search Term Matching and its other optimizations. If you use Manual CPC, those AI features, including smart search-term matching, won't work, so AI Max's benefits are limited.

Can I edit the activity titles or images used in my ads?

No. Creative content for feed-based formats like Travel Promotion Ads is managed in your feed, not at the campaign level. Update your activity titles and images in Magpie (your Things to Do Center feed), and Search Campaigns for Travel will use that feed data to generate ads dynamically.

If I add a new activity to my feed, do my Item Groups update automatically?

Yes. Item Group rules automatically match new items as your feed updates. For example, if an Item Group is filtered for Country includes France, any new activity added to your feed in France is included automatically.

Is keyword targeting available for travel formats?

Yes. Keyword targeting works with Text ads (including those enhanced by Travel Feeds in Search Ads) and Travel Promotion Ads in your Search Campaigns for Travel ad groups, more flexibility than legacy travel formats offered. It complements feed-based Item Group targeting rather than replacing it.

Does AI Max honor negative keywords?

Yes. Negative keywords are respected even with AI Max turned on.

Will AI Max reuse my existing ad copy?

It can. The generated ad may include your existing ad copy when it's relevant to the traveler's query and the ad URL, alongside marketing messages drawn from your landing pages.

What happens if I turn AI Max off?

AI Max is a suite of features. Turning it off disables all of them, including settings like brand exclusions, and may impact performance. Turning it back on restores those settings as they were.

Does AI Max work with Google Ads Editor or the API?

Not fully yet. Activating or deactivating AI Max can cause errors for API requests that manage text customization and brand settings, since AI Max isn't yet available in the API and Editor. Let your team know before toggling it, and check Google's documentation for the latest availability.

Support

If you need help setting up Search Campaigns for Travel or migrating from legacy Travel Campaigns, contact the Magpie team and we'll guide you through it.