Google Delays the Dynamic Search Ads → AI Max Migration to February 2027
Google has given advertisers a reprieve. The forced migration of Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) into AI Max for Search — originally scheduled to auto-convert any remaining DSA campaigns in September 2026 — has been pushed back to February 2027. Google confirmed the change in an advertiser notification in late July 2026, citing feedback that a Q4-season upheaval was the last thing performance teams needed heading into their busiest quarter.
The extension buys nearly five extra months, but it is not a cancellation, and it does not delay everything. A few pieces of the transition still flip on the original September 2026 timeline. This guide lays out exactly what moved, what didn't, and the concrete steps to take with the runway you just got back.
What actually changed
The single headline is simple: the date on which Google will automatically upgrade any leftover DSA campaigns to AI-powered Search has slipped from September 2026 to February 2027. That "automigration" is the hard stop — the moment where campaigns you never touched get converted for you, whether you planned for it or not.
Google framed the delay as a direct response to advertiser pushback. Forcing a structural campaign change during the October–December retail and lead-gen peak risked destabilizing accounts at the worst possible time. By moving the deadline into the quieter first quarter, Google gives teams a window to migrate deliberately, learn the new controls, and gather performance data before committing budget-critical campaigns.
Crucially, this is a delay to the mandatory conversion — not to AI Max itself. AI Max for Search is already live, already the default on new Search campaigns, and voluntary migration has been open since June 2026. You can still move today; you simply are not required to until early 2027.
The revised timeline at a glance
Here is how the phased rollout now reads after the extension. Note that two items — automatically created assets and the campaign-level broad match setting — still transition on the original September 2026 schedule.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| June 2026 – January 2027 | Extended voluntary migration and testing window. Advertisers can move DSA campaigns to AI Max at their own pace and compare performance. |
| September 2026 | Unchanged: automatically created assets and the campaign-level broad match setting still transition to AI Max as originally scheduled. |
| January 2027 | The ability to create new DSA campaigns is removed. Existing DSA campaigns keep running for now. |
| February 2027 | Automigration: any remaining active DSA campaigns are automatically upgraded to AI Max Search (or Performance Max, depending on setup). |
The practical takeaway: you have until January 2027 to spin up any last DSA campaigns you still want under the old model, and until February 2027 before Google makes the decision for you. Everything in between is your window to migrate on your own terms.
What is AI Max for Search?
AI Max is Google's bundle of AI-driven targeting and creative features layered onto standard Search campaigns. Instead of the DSA model — where Google crawls your site and dynamically generates headlines and landing-page targeting — AI Max uses broad-match-style query expansion, automated asset generation, and machine-selected final URLs to find converting searches your keyword lists would miss. In effect, it folds the "let Google find relevant queries" job that DSA did into a more automated, opaque system that also touches your standard keyword campaigns.
That shift matters because AI Max inherits the same trade-off every automated Google product carries: broader reach and less visibility. You gain query coverage; you lose some of the granular control and reporting that let you see exactly which searches triggered which ads. That is the core reason to migrate deliberately rather than let February 2027 do it for you — the same discipline we recommend for any account facing rising automation and climbing Google Ads costs in 2026.
Why the delay is good news — and why it isn't a free pass
The obvious win is timing. Migrating a core campaign type mid-Q4 is exactly the kind of avoidable risk that keeps performance marketers up at night. Pushing the mandate to February removes that landmine and lets teams protect their peak-season revenue.
But treating the extension as permission to ignore the change would be a mistake for three reasons:
- Two components still flip in September. Automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match transition on schedule. If those settings affect your account, you need to plan for them now, not in 2027.
- Voluntary migration gives you data the automigration won't. Move a few campaigns early and you learn how AI Max behaves in your account — where it expands well, where it wastes spend — before it is applied to everything at once.
- An automatic conversion is a black box. When Google migrates for you in February 2027, you inherit whatever default settings it chooses. Migrating yourself means you control the negative keywords, URL exclusions, and brand controls from day one.
What advertisers should do with the extra runway
The right response is a staged, testable migration rather than either a panic or a shrug. Here is a practical sequence for the months between now and the February 2027 deadline.
1. Inventory your DSA footprint
Pull a list of every active DSA campaign and how much of your spend and conversions it drives. Accounts that lean heavily on DSA for long-tail coverage have more at stake and should start testing sooner. Accounts with only a vestigial DSA campaign can afford to wait — but should still confirm what the September asset and broad-match changes will do.
2. Run a controlled AI Max pilot
Migrate one or two representative DSA campaigns to AI Max now and let them gather at least two to four weeks of data. Watch conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and — critically — the search terms report for query expansion drift. Compare against the DSA baseline before rolling the change wider.
3. Build your negative-keyword and URL guardrails
AI Max expands reach, which means it will find queries and land on pages you didn't intend. Prepare a tight negative-keyword list and use URL exclusions to keep AI Max off thin, out-of-stock, or off-brand pages. This is the single highest-leverage control for keeping automated spend efficient — the same principle behind protecting budget from over-broad Performance Max targeting.
4. Protect brand and high-intent traffic
Keep branded search and your highest-intent exact-match campaigns insulated so AI Max's broad expansion doesn't absorb and reprice cheap, high-converting clicks. Segment deliberately rather than letting one automated campaign swallow everything.
5. Document a migration deadline of your own
Set an internal target — say, December 2026 — to have all campaigns migrated on your terms, comfortably ahead of the February automigration. That way the forced deadline never actually triggers on any of your campaigns, because you've already moved them yourself.
How this fits the broader 2026 Google Ads picture
The DSA delay is one thread in a year of aggressive automation across Google Ads. AI Max is now the default on new Search campaigns; Performance Max keeps widening its inventory; and Google has been steadily reshaping how bidding and shopping formats work, from CSS Product Listing Ads replacing Comparison Listing Ads to mid-year bidding-delivery changes. The common thread is that Google is moving control from advertiser-defined targeting toward machine-selected reach — and rewarding accounts that feed it clean conversion data and tight guardrails.
Read that way, the February 2027 extension is less a pause and more an invitation: use the extra months to get good at AI Max on your own terms, so that when the automated conversion arrives, it changes a date on a calendar rather than the performance of your account.
The takeaway
Google delayed the forced DSA-to-AI Max migration from September 2026 to February 2027, sparing advertisers a Q4-season disruption. But automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match still transition in September, and the mandate is postponed, not cancelled. The smart move is to treat the extension as a testing window: inventory your DSA campaigns, pilot AI Max with real budget, build negative-keyword and URL guardrails, protect brand and high-intent traffic, and finish migrating on your own schedule well before February 2027. Do that, and the automigration deadline becomes a non-event.
