The September deadline just disappeared
For the last five weeks, every Google Ads guide, agency checklist, and GML follow-up said the same thing: migrate your Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max before September 2026 or Google does it for you. That deadline is gone.
On June 11, Google published an update on the Ads Developer Blog confirming that DSA automigration to AI Max — previously locked in for September 2026 — has been delayed to February 2027. That's a five-month extension, and it's not a minor footnote. As of today (June 15), Google is restoring the ability to create new DSA campaigns, a function that had quietly been restricted as DSA headed toward deprecation.
If you spent the last month in panic mode over this, you weren't wrong to take it seriously. But the urgency has shifted.
What the new timeline actually looks like
Three dates you need in your calendar:
- June 15, 2026 (today): New DSA campaigns can be created again
- January 2027: DSA creation closes permanently
- February 2027: Automigration begins for any remaining active DSA campaigns
That January cutoff matters. Until then, you can create fresh DSA campaigns and test them against AI Max. After January, you can run existing DSAs but can't build new ones. February is when Google steps in and migrates whatever's left — to AI-powered Search with broad match and Smart Bidding, not necessarily the setup you'd have chosen.
Why Google reversed course
Google framed the extension as giving advertisers "additional time to manage their own transitions, perform thorough testing, and ensure a seamless migration." Read between that: AI Max wasn't ready for everyone, and enough advertisers pushed back.
Early performance data has been uneven. While Google's projections cite average conversion improvements from switching to AI Max, independent agency testing has shown a wide range — with many accounts seeing flat or negative results in the first 30–60 days post-migration. That's not unusual for an AI system that needs time to learn, but it's hard to absorb when you're running a migration checklist against a hard deadline.
The restoration of DSA creation says more than any announcement copy. You don't un-deprecate a product heading toward retirement unless the replacement isn't holding its weight.
If you already migrated
If you ran an early migration and AI Max is hitting targets, stay on the path. The February deadline is real — DSA is not coming back permanently. This extension is more time, not a reprieve.
But if you migrated DSA campaigns to AI Max and performance has been choppy, you can now rebuild DSA campaigns as a controlled comparison. You're not locked into AI Max for the rest of the year.
Check two things before deciding what to do:
- Compare AI Max conversion volume and CPA against your pre-migration DSA baselines over the same seasonal window
- Look at which query categories AI Max is actually winning — it often outperforms on long-tail and brand-adjacent terms, while DSA has traditionally held ground on catalog depth
That split tells you where to use each, rather than treating this as all-or-nothing.
If you haven't migrated yet
You have more runway than you thought, but that's not an invitation to do nothing. Seven months is enough time to test properly — it's not enough time to ignore this entirely and scramble again in January.
Start by running AI Max on your highest-volume DSA campaign categories now. Use the extended window to build real signal, not to delay. By October, you want six months of parallel data. By January, you should know exactly which campaigns need manual oversight during automigration and which can go over cleanly.
If you wait until December and auto-migration still happens in February, you'll have zero data on how AI Max handles your account's specific query mix. That's the bad outcome this extension is meant to help you avoid.
The lesson that outlasts this deadline
Google set a September date based on how fast AI Max was supposed to be ready. It wasn't. The extension isn't charity to advertisers — Google is buying time too.
That tells you something worth keeping: when any platform sets a deprecation deadline, budget for the date moving. When they say a new product is ready to replace something working, verify it against your own account before trusting the announcement.
Your DSA campaigns have until February 2027. Use that time with intention, not as a reason to start planning in January.
If you want to see how your current Google Ads account is positioned for this kind of transition — including campaign structure issues that will surface when automigration runs — the free audit at gromerce.com/en/audit flags the gaps in under three minutes.
The February deadline is still coming. The difference is you now have time to be ready for it.
Sources: Google Ads Developer Blog, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, June 2026
