If you’ve been running Google Ads for more than a few years, your job description has changed without your consent. Match types that once signaled precision now target “related intent”; a 2023 rebuild made Broad Match competitive again; and Smart Bidding shifted the focus from keywords to outcomes like return on ad spend (ROAS) and cost-per-action (CPA). Now, with AI Max, keywords are becoming optional in Search campaigns altogether. I joined Google in 2002 as one of its first few hundred employees and spent a decade as the first AdWords Evangelist. Back then, the keyword was the undisputed foundation of paid search. After 24 years in the industry, my conclusion is simple: Keywords are dead. This isn’t a slogan. It is a technical reality. The core system is being replaced, even if the legacy interface remains. As users shift from search queries to conversational prompts, the “synthetic keyword” – a distillation of complex intent – is replacing the legacy keyword.…