Google will migrate Dynamic Search Ads campaigns to AI Max from February 2027

Google has locked in the dates: new Dynamic Search Ads campaigns can be created until January 2027, and from February 2027 existing ones will be migrated to AI Max automatically. The previous deadline was September 2026 — it moved, and that extra time is better spent preparing than waiting for the system to move your campaigns for you.

What actually changes

AI Max is not a new campaign type but a layer inside regular Search campaigns. Where DSA relied mostly on your website content, AI Max adds keywords, ad copy, budget and real-time intent signals on top of it.

• ads are assembled from your site copy, your assets and the query context;
• final URL expansion can send a user to any relevant page on the domain;
• targeting goes beyond your keyword list — the system decides which queries to serve;
• manual control shrinks, and you get it back only through guardrails.

The dates and mechanics are covered by Search Engine Land.

What it means for advertisers in Ukraine

DSA was mostly used where building semantics by hand is expensive: online stores with thousands of SKUs, service sites with dozens of pages, classifieds. Those accounts will feel the change the most — the landing page decision moves to the algorithm.

For a store with seasonal stock this is a direct risk: instead of a narrow product page the system may route users to a broad category, and conversion drops while CTR still looks fine. The second point: the quality of your site copy now feeds ad copy directly, because AI Max builds headlines and descriptions from page content. Truncated titles, empty H1s and boilerplate descriptions turn into weak ads. We covered how to fix that in the guide on meta tag optimisation.

DSA vs AI Max: the difference

What to do before the deadline

• migrate to AI Max manually and early, before the automatic move in February 2027 — you get time to set limits before expansion is on by default;
• audit generated ads for brand fit: Ads → Assets → Performance;
• review the search terms report weekly: AI Max reaches beyond your keywords, and that is where wasted impressions show up;
• set guardrails: brand lists, URL exclusions, up to 25 negative keywords and up to 40 phrase restrictions;
• clean up landing pages — titles, H1s and opening paragraphs become raw material for ads.

Moving early is not about rushing. It gives you several months to compare DSA and AI Max on real data instead of dealing with the consequences after an automatic migration.

How to tell the migration did not hurt

It is tempting to let the algorithm sort it out, but the comparison should happen before the budget goes sideways. Take two equal windows — 28 days before the switch and 28 after — and look at four things.

• CPA and conversion share split by branded and non-branded queries: AI Max often picks up brand traffic, which makes the blended CPA look better than it is;
• traffic distribution across landing pages: if impressions drift to broad categories instead of product pages, turn on URL exclusions;
• the search terms report: new themes you did not plan for are either growth or waste, and only a manual review tells you which;
• quality of generated copy: review assets weekly for the first two months, then monthly.

If after two weeks non-branded CPA is up by more than a quarter and landing pages have drifted, tighten the guardrails instead of raising the budget.

Related reading: Contextual Advertising Audit