September 9, 2026. If you or your agency runs Google Search campaigns, something in your account is being converted to AI Max this month. It is probably not the thing you read about. The Dynamic Search Ads migration that most write-ups still date to September was pushed back to February 2027 in June. The two changes that were never delayed are the ones landing right now.
What is actually being upgraded this month
- Automatically created assets. Search campaigns using ACA are being auto upgraded to AI Max starting September 2026, with search term matching and text customization on by default.
- The campaign level broad match setting. Campaigns using it upgrade on the same schedule, with search term matching on by default.
- Dynamic Search Ads are not. Google moved the DSA automigration from September 2026 to February 2027, restored the ability to create new DSA campaigns on June 15, 2026, and set January 2027 as the point where DSA creation closes for good.
The date most write-ups still get wrong
Google's original April announcement said DSA campaigns would be automatically upgraded starting in September, and that it expected all eligible upgrades to conclude by the end of that month. That post carries a June 11 update extending the DSA timeline, and Google's Ads Developer Blog published the revised dates the same day, citing advertiser feedback and a reluctance to force account changes during Q4. Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal and PPC Land all reported it, and Google's own help page for Dynamic Search Ads now names February 2027.
Explainers written before June still circulate with the September date. They are wrong in the direction that costs you: they raise an alarm about the migration that got postponed, and say nothing about the two settings actually converting this month.
The caveats that live in the help docs, not the blog
Two of them will surprise the accounts they affect.
The first is that manual bidding quietly disables the headline feature. Google's AI Max FAQ states that if you use Manual Cost Per Click with AI Max, search term matching will not work, because AI Max depends on signals from automated bidding strategies. A campaign on manual CPC therefore inherits the upgrade without the thing the upgrade is for.
The second is stranger. The same FAQ warns that activating or deactivating AI Max may cause errors for API requests managing text customization and brand settings, because AI Max is "not yet available in the API and Editor", and it still dates that fix to later in 2025. Meanwhile Google's own Ads API reference publishes an AiMaxSetting on the campaign object in versions 21 and 22, and there is a developer guide for getting started with AI Max for Search campaigns. The advertiser facing FAQ and the developer documentation disagree, and if you manage campaigns through the API or Google Ads Editor, that disagreement is yours to resolve before an upgrade lands unannounced.
What it means for operators
For an agency running client Search accounts, this month calls for a five minute triage, not a strategy review. Sort on two questions: does the campaign use automatically created assets or the campaign level broad match setting, and is it on manual CPC. The overlap is the set of accounts that will be upgraded and will not benefit, and the only group with an urgent decision.
Everything else can wait. DSA campaigns have until February 2027, and Google has shown it will move that date under pressure. The real risk is a reporting discontinuity nobody warned the client about: search term, keyword and landing page reports gain new AI Max dimensions when a campaign converts, so a September swing may be a measurement change rather than a real one. Note the upgrade date in the account before you explain a trend line with it.
The broader point recurs as more of the ad stack automates: the useful detail is never in the launch blog. It is in the help article that blog links to, and increasingly in the developer reference contradicting them both. Reading past the announcement is most of what AI search optimization is in practice, and the same discipline behind honest lead generation reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, not any more. That was the original April 2026 plan. Google updated the announcement on June 11, 2026 to move the DSA automigration to February 2027 and restored the ability to create new DSA campaigns from June 15, 2026. Automatically created assets and the campaign level broad match setting are still being auto upgraded to AI Max starting September 2026.
Not permanently. Google's language is consistently that eligible campaigns will automatically be upgraded. After an upgrade you can toggle individual AI Max settings off, and re-enabling restores your prior settings, but there is no documented exemption from the eventual migration itself. What advertisers gained in June was time, not an opt out.
Partly, and not in the way most people expect. Google's AI Max FAQ states that search term matching will not work if you use Manual Cost Per Click, because AI Max relies on signals from automated bidding strategies such as maximize conversions. A manual CPC campaign can be upgraded and still not get the feature the upgrade is built around.
January 2027, according to Google's Ads Developer Blog, after which the ability to create DSAs is removed. Automigration of any remaining active DSA campaigns begins in February 2027. Creation was restored on June 15, 2026 as part of the same timeline extension, so there is currently a window in which new DSA campaigns can still be built.