Google Just Gave You Five More Months on DSA. My AI Max Preflight for Every Legacy Account.

On April 15, 2026, Google announced that every remaining Dynamic Search Ads campaign would auto-migrate to Google AI Max starting September 2026, and that no new DSA campaigns could be created in Google Ads, Editor, or the API from that date.

Two months later, Google walked half of that back.

The June 2026 Google Ads Developers Blog post confirmed that "the automatic upgrade of DSA campaigns to AI Max has been postponed from September 2026 to February 2027." New DSA creation came back on June 15, 2026, "to give advertisers additional time to manage their own transitions."

Most of what I am reading online has not caught up. Search Engine Journal writeups, agency blog posts, LinkedIn threads. They are still writing preflight guides for a September DSA deadline that no longer applies.

Google AI Max is a feature layer on your existing Search campaign, not a new campaign type. Here is what actually flips in September, and how I am using the extra five months on the DSA side.

Key takeaways

• September 2026 auto-migration still hits Automatically Created Assets (ACA) on Search and campaign-level broad match Search campaigns, not DSA.
• DSA auto-migration was postponed from September 2026 to February 2027 by Google's June 2026 announcement.
• Google AI Max is not Performance Max. AI Max is a feature layer on Search campaigns that learns from your existing keywords, creatives, and URLs. Search themes are a Performance Max input, not an AI Max input.
• My 4-Point Preflight is the exact checklist I run on every DSA-heavy account: snapshot, lock brand exclusion and URL expansion, rebuild keywords not themes, set a hard 30-day performance floor.
• Use the DSA extension as a workbench, not a reprieve. Do the migration yourself before February 2027 rather than letting Google's system route your campaigns for you.

What actually flips in September 2026, and what got extended?

Two things still auto-migrate in September 2026: Automatically Created Assets (ACA) on Search campaigns, and campaign-level broad match Search campaigns. Both get upgraded to AI Max. If you are running either, September is real for you and the preflight below applies right now.

Legacy DSA campaigns got an extension. Auto-migration begins February 2027. That is five months of runway most of my managed accounts did not have three weeks ago.

The important part: Google did not cancel it. It postponed it. In February 2027, remaining active DSAs move to AI Max or Performance Max, whichever Google's system routes them to. If you use the extra time to babysit the last of your DSAs and hope for another extension, you are going to spend Q1 2027 in a fire drill.

Is Google AI Max the same as Performance Max?

No, and the confusion is costing people money. I keep seeing consultants recommend "rebuilding search themes from your DSA categories" as prep for AI Max. That advice is applied to the wrong product.

Search themes are a Performance Max input. Google's own Help wording: "With search themes, you provide words and phrases that describe what your customers are likely to search for. This helps Performance Max's keywordless targeting reach the right audiences faster."

AI Max works differently. It is a set of features layered onto your existing Search campaign, not a new campaign type. Google says AI Max "will learn from your current keywords, creatives, and URLs," and its search-term matching uses "broad match, asset-based, and landing page-based technology."

The distinction matters for prep work. AI Max for Search is an enhancement on top of the Search campaign you already have. It runs on Search inventory only, and it steers off the keywords, creatives, and landing pages already in the campaign. Performance Max is a separate campaign type that runs cross-network across Search, Display, YouTube, Shopping, Discover, Maps, and Gmail, and it steers off asset groups, search themes, and audience signals.

If you are preparing for AI Max, you are tightening your keywords, your ad copy, and your landing pages. Those are the inputs the model learns from. Search themes are not the lever here.

My 4-Point Preflight I run on every legacy DSA account

I have walked this list on every DSA-heavy account I manage in the last two weeks. Here is the version I use.

1. Snapshot the current state you are migrating away from

Before Google moves anything, I document the current DSA campaign in a way that survives migration.

I pull the last 90 days of search terms for the DSA campaign and export the CSV. I screenshot the landing page category settings, the ad group targets, and the auto-target list. I copy the DSA campaign settings into a Google Doc: bidding, budget, network, location, language, ad rotation. I archive one screenshot of the search-terms report showing the top 20 by impressions.

This is the baseline you will compare against on day 31 after auto-upgrade. Without it, you cannot answer "did AI Max help or hurt" with anything specific.

2. Lock brand exclusion and final URL expansion at the account level

AI Max's default behavior is more aggressive than DSA's. Final URL expansion will send traffic to pages you did not intend if you do not gate it.

Before the migration, I set two account-level defaults. First, an explicit brand exclusion list at the account level so AI Max does not cannibalize brand traffic from a Brand-only Search campaign. I use the negative keyword list model and apply it to every campaign that could receive AI Max features. Second, gate final URL expansion to a specific include list of high-intent pages. Do not let AI Max discover your careers page or privacy page as ad destinations.

Both settings are reversible after migration but harder to fix mid-flight if you get a spike in irrelevant clicks the first weekend.

3. Rebuild your keyword and negative lists, not your search themes

This is where the "prep for AI Max = build search themes" advice sends people down the wrong road. AI Max learns from the Search campaign's existing keyword list, not from a themes list.

I use the DSA category targets as a starting point. For each category, I add three to five phrase-match keywords and two exact-match keywords to the Search campaign that will inherit AI Max. Then I mine the 90-day DSA search terms report and add every high-volume irrelevant match to the account-level negative keyword list.

The goal is not to give AI Max keywords. It is to give the model a cleaner signal about what queries are worth spending on.

4. Set a hard 30-day performance floor with a rollback plan

Before the switch flips, I write down the specific metric threshold that would trigger a rollback. Something like: if CPA rises above the pre-migration baseline for seven consecutive days at more than 50 percent of the pre-migration daily spend, throttle budget by 60 percent and pause AI Max asset-based expansion.

The rollback plan gets shared with the client before migration day, not after. On day 31, I compare the actual performance to the archived baseline and either release the throttle, keep it, or roll back further.

What do I check the first 30 days after auto-upgrade?

Once AI Max is on, I check three things daily for the first week. New search terms the campaign is showing on: anything unrelated to the business gets added to negatives immediately. Landing pages AI Max chose via final URL expansion: anything off-brand gets added to the URL exclusions. CPA and CVR versus the archived baseline: a 20 percent swing either direction inside the first seven days is normal, but a 60 percent swing at day 14 is a signal to throttle.

Weeks 2 through 4, I check twice a week and pull a formal 30-day comparison report at day 31.

How I am using the extra five months on the DSA side

For accounts running ACA or campaign-level broad match, September 2026 is still real and the preflight above is what I am executing this month.

For DSA-heavy accounts, February 2027 gives me time to do the migration myself instead of letting Google auto-flip it. I would rather build the Search campaign I want, mirror the DSA performance, and phase the DSA down manually while the new campaign learns. Then when February hits, there is nothing left for Google's system to auto-migrate.

Frequently asked questions

Does AI Max replace my Search campaign?

No. AI Max is a set of features on top of an existing Search campaign, not a new campaign type. Your campaign structure, budgets, and reporting stay in the same place.

Do search themes work for AI Max?

No. Search themes are an input for Performance Max campaigns. AI Max learns from your existing keywords, creatives, and landing pages, per Google's own AI Max documentation.

Was the September 2026 AI Max migration cancelled?

No. Google postponed the DSA leg of the auto-migration to February 2027 in its June 2026 Google Ads Developers Blog post. The September 2026 auto-migration still applies to Automatically Created Assets (ACA) on Search and campaign-level broad match Search campaigns.

Can I still create new DSA campaigns in Google Ads?

Yes, as of June 15, 2026. Google restored new DSA creation in Google Ads, Editor, and the API when it postponed the auto-migration.

What is the risk of letting Google auto-migrate my DSA to AI Max?

Two main risks: AI Max's more aggressive final-URL-expansion behavior may drive traffic to off-intent pages, and its asset-based search-term matching may broaden into irrelevant queries. Both are manageable if you lock the account-level defaults before the switch flips.

If you are an in-house marketing lead running DSA and you want a second set of eyes on the preflight before you flip the switch, I am around. I offer a quick call at calendar.app.google/TAW24SEXUv1HWqGA6.