Google Is Forcing DSA Into AI Max By September. Here’s How to Prepare

Short answer: From September 2026, Google is automatically upgrading Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match into AI Max, whether you opt in or not. You won’t be able to create new DSA campaigns at all after that point. If you wait for the auto upgrade, you inherit whatever settings Google decides mirror your old campaign, not the settings you’d have chosen yourself. The fix is to go in now, set your own brand and location controls, and treat the first weeks after upgrading as a supervised test, not a switch you flip and walk away from.

What’s changing

Google is folding Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets, and campaign-level broad match into AI Max. This isn’t an optional trial. From September, DSA campaigns can no longer be created in the UI, in Editor, or via the API.

If you’ve been treating DSA as a safety net, the layer that catches whatever your keyword campaigns miss, that safety net is about to run on a different engine. AI Max pulls from real-time intent signals rather than just your landing page content. In theory that’s smarter targeting. In practice, it also means less of your account is running on rules you set, and more of it is running on Google’s read of what a searcher wants right now.

What we found when we tested it

We’ve been testing AI Max on live accounts, and the honest verdict is apprehension. In practice it can behave a lot like broad match, but on a wider scale.

One case in point: a high end architect client working on renovations upwards of £500,000. AI Max served their ad against a rental agency search. Someone looking to rent a property isn’t in the market for a five figure architectural renovation. That’s not a subtle mismatch, it’s a different category of buyer entirely.

Google’s own figures claim 7% more conversions at a similar cost per acquisition when the full AI Max suite is switched on, and that broadly tracks with what we’re seeing elsewhere. The technology isn’t the problem. The rollout pressure is. A pop up banner and a hard September deadline isn’t a smooth transition, it’s a reason to get in and set things up properly before Google does it for you.

How to prepare, step by step

1. Go in now rather than waiting for the auto upgrade. Set your own brand and location controls instead of letting Google apply its defaults.
2. Reduce budget while you’re testing. Don’t hand a newly upgraded campaign full spend on day one.
3. Check search terms daily, not weekly, for the first few weeks. Add negative keywords as fast as mismatches show up.
4. Only allow the campaign to scale once it’s behaving itself. Earn the extra budget, don’t gift it up front.
5. If someone else manages your account, ask them directly what their plan is for the September deadline. If they don’t have one yet, that’s worth knowing now rather than in October.

The takeaway

Automatic doesn’t mean hands off. If anything, the run up to September is the moment to be watching your account more closely, not less. The deadline is coming whether anyone likes it or not, but what lands in your account afterwards is still very much something you can control if you get in ahead of it.

Sandra Chapman is the founder of All Aspect Media, a Google Partner certified agency managing over £23m in ad spend for clients across the UK. If you want a second pair of eyes on your DSA to AI Max transition before September, get in touch.