Google just gave advertisers more time to move off Dynamic Search Ads. The automatic migration to AI Max for Search — previously scheduled for September 2026 — now happens in February 2027. Google cited advertiser feedback: nobody wanted a forced account overhaul going into their busiest quarter.
The delay is genuine relief. But there's a split in the timeline that's going to catch accounts off guard, and the practical deadline for learning how AI Max behaves is still this fall.
There's a Split You Need to Know About
Not all campaigns got pushed to February. If your campaigns use Automatically Created Assets (ACA) or campaign-level broad match settings, those still migrate to AI Max on the original September 2026 schedule.
This is the detail most coverage is glossing over. You might see "DSA migration delayed to February" and relax, then find your accounts substantially changed in September because your broad match campaigns were on the short timeline the entire time.
The fix is simple but you have to do it now. Open Google Ads, filter campaigns by bidding strategy and match type, and identify anything running ACA or campaign-level broad match. Those are on the September clock. Standard DSA campaigns — the ones using your URL targets to match queries — are the ones that got pushed to February.
What AI Max Actually Is
Dynamic Search Ads work by crawling your landing pages, generating headlines from the copy, and matching queries to your URL targets. You control which pages get traffic by setting URL rules, and negative keywords keep irrelevant queries out.
AI Max for Search is different in every one of those ways. It pulls from your full creative asset library — headlines, descriptions, images, final URLs — and uses Google's models to construct ads, pick URLs, and match queries. You're no longer directing traffic at the page level. You're managing guardrails.
The guardrail that matters most is URL expansion. This setting lets Google send traffic to pages beyond what you've manually designated — any page on your domain that Google's model considers relevant. If you're running a structured funnel with specific landing pages built to convert, unchecked URL expansion routes volume somewhere else.
The other thing to understand: AI Max matches branded queries by default unless you set explicit brand exclusions. If you run a separate branded search campaign, you need those exclusions configured before AI Max goes live on your account. Letting both campaigns compete for the same branded traffic is expensive and avoidable.
What the New Timeline Actually Looks Like
The extension gave you more runway, but the milestones stack up fast:
Now through Q3 2026: The only period where you have real live DSA data to compare against AI Max side by side before Q4 noise takes over.
September 2026: ACA and campaign-level broad match campaigns migrate whether you're ready or not.
January 2027: Google removes the ability to create new DSA campaigns. You can still run existing ones, but you can't build new ad groups, add URL targets, or make structural changes.
February 2027: Google automatically migrates whatever DSA campaigns are still active, upgrading them to Performance Max or AI-powered Search campaigns.
The practical hard stop is January, not February. After January you're frozen in whatever DSA structure you've built, running it until Google pulls it in February.
What to Do Before Q4
The delay is not a reason to wait. Q4 data is too compressed and seasonal to be reliable for baseline measurement. If you start learning what AI Max does to your account in November, you'll spend your peak revenue season reacting to automation changes instead of running controlled campaigns.
Start a parallel test now. Take one DSA ad group — ideally one with consistent volume and a clean conversion funnel — and mirror it as an AI Max campaign with the same budget. Run both for three to four weeks.
The metrics to watch go beyond CPC and conversion rate. Pull the URL report in AI Max weekly. Expansion sends traffic to pages Google picks, not pages you chose. If high-spend URLs in that report aren't your conversion landing pages, tighten the URL expansion setting or exclude those pages explicitly.
Set your brand exclusions on day one. Check the Automatically Created Assets setting on every campaign before September hits — if ACA is enabled and you haven't noticed, that campaign is migrating in six weeks.
Google gave you until February. Use the time to learn the system, not to delay touching it.
