AI Max for Search campaigns is a Google Ads setting that lets Google match your ads to searches beyond your keyword list, write extra headlines and descriptions, and choose the landing page for each click. Google will move any Dynamic Search Ads campaign still running in February 2027 to it automatically.
Part of that switch has already happened. Campaigns that used automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting kept Google's original September 2026 date, so AI Max may already be live in your account. If you run DSA today, two dates decide how much of the change you control: January 2027, when new DSA campaigns stop, and February 2027, when Google upgrades the rest.
On this page
- How does AI Max for Search campaigns work?
- What happens to Dynamic Search Ads, and when?
- AI Max vs DSA, side by side
- What the upgrade changes inside a campaign
- Which keyword wins under search term matching?
- The controls to set before AI Max goes live
- How text guidelines limit what Google writes
- What do the results say about Google Ads AI Max?
- Who should turn AI Max on now, and who should wait
- How to move from DSA to AI Max before February 2027
How does AI Max for Search campaigns work?
AI Max sits inside a normal Search campaign. Your keywords, ads, bids and budget stay in place, and AI Max adds three features on top, each with its own switch. Google announced it on May 6, 2025, and new Search campaigns now have it on by default.
Search term matching extends your keywords with broad match and what Google calls keywordless technology. It reads your ads, assets and landing pages to find searches you never listed. You switch it on for the campaign, then turn it off for any ad group that should stay on the phrases you chose.
The second feature, text customization, writes new headlines and descriptions from your landing pages, ads and keywords. Google used to call it automatically created assets. The ad a person sees can include lines nobody on your team wrote.
Final URL expansion only works with text customization on. It sends the click to the page Google thinks fits the search best, instead of the final URL in your ad. When it picks a different page, Google skips your pinned headlines, so a line pinned for legal or pricing reasons may not show.
All three can act on one click. An ad group built around "emergency plumber" that points to your home page could show for "burst pipe repair tonight," use a headline from your pipe repair page and send the click there.
What happens to Dynamic Search Ads, and when?
Your Dynamic Search Ads keep running until February 2027. Google first planned the move for September 2026. Then on June 11, 2026, it pushed the DSA date back five months because advertisers asked for more time. The Google Ads & Commerce Blog post on the DSA upgrade carries both the April plan and the June update.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| April 15, 2026 | Google announces the DSA upgrade and starts rolling out voluntary upgrade tools. |
| June 11, 2026 | Google moves the automatic DSA upgrade from September 2026 to February 2027. |
| June 15, 2026 | You can create new DSA campaigns again. |
| September 2026 | Upgrades begin for campaigns with campaign-level broad match or automatically created assets. |
| January 2027 | New DSA campaign creation ends. |
| February 2027 | Google upgrades every DSA campaign that is still active. |
The June 15 and January dates come from Google's Ads Developer Blog post on the DSA automigration. So a DSA campaign is still your fallback if an AI Max test goes badly, but only until January.
AI Max vs DSA, side by side
Both let Google pick the searches and write headlines from your site. They differ in what Google reads and how much you can steer it.
| Job | Dynamic Search Ads | AI Max for Search campaigns |
|---|---|---|
| Which searches it matches | Searches related to your website content, with page titles as the main signal | Broad match plus keywordless matching from your ads, assets and landing pages |
| Who writes the headline | Google, from the search and your page text; you write the description | Google, from your landing pages, ads and keywords |
| Where the click lands | The page Google matched within your targets | The page Google predicts fits best, within your URL inclusions and exclusions |
| How you steer it | URL equals, URL contains, categories, page feeds, negatives | Brand lists, URL lists, negative keywords and negative URLs |
| Location by search intent | Not available | Locations of interest per ad group |
| Rules for ad copy | No text guidelines | Up to 25 term exclusions and 40 messaging restrictions per campaign |
Locations of interest are exclusive to AI Max, according to Google. Text guidelines exist only for AI Max and Performance Max, so a DSA advertiser who wants rules on generated copy has to move.
What the upgrade changes inside a campaign
Dynamic ad groups become standard ad groups, and your Dynamic Search Ads become responsive search ads, according to Google Ads Help. All three AI Max features switch on, and Google keeps your existing URL controls.
Your old ads don't vanish at once. They keep serving while Google writes the new responsive search ads and sends them for policy review. Once those go live, the DSAs pause and turn view-only. If the new ads fail review, the DSAs keep running.
Check your URL rules after the move. Rule types such as "page title contains" turn read-only, so you can remove them but can't add or edit them.
The September 2026 upgrades were narrower. Campaigns that used automatically created assets now run search term matching and text customization. Campaigns with the campaign-level broad match setting run search term matching only. In both cases you can turn the other features on or off in the AI Max section.
Which keyword wins under search term matching?
An exact match keyword that is identical to the search still wins. Google's keyword prioritization rules put identical exact match keywords ahead of phrase, broad and AI Max matches, and ahead of Performance Max. Identical covers spelling fixes but not plurals or synonyms, so "dentist near me" and "dentists near me" count as two searches.
That rule gives a small account its best protection. Add the searches that already bring you sales as exact match keywords, and they stay with the ads and pages you chose. AI Max then works on the searches you never thought to add.
When no keyword is identical to the search, Google uses AI-based ad group prioritization. It reads the meaning of the search, every keyword in each ad group and the landing pages, then considers only the most relevant ad groups. If two are still level, the one with the higher Ad Rank enters the auction.
A bakery running the exact match keyword "birthday cakes chicago" with AI Max on would see two outcomes. A search for that exact phrase goes to the keyword and its page. "Birthday cake delivery chicago" has no identical keyword, so AI Max can match it, write a delivery headline and send the click to the delivery page.
The controls to set before AI Max goes live
Set these before you switch AI Max on, or before Google does it for you. Google's reporting guide asks you to wait at least two weeks after turning AI Max on before you change anything. A setting you miss now either runs for those two weeks or gets fixed against that advice.
- Brand exclusions work per campaign and stop your ads from showing on searches for the brands you list. Add your own brand to non-brand campaigns so AI Max doesn't pull brand searches away from your brand campaign.
- Brand inclusions limit matching to the brands you name. Set them per campaign or per ad group, and the ad group list overrides the campaign list.
- Locations of interest work per ad group and target people by the place they search for, even on keywordless matches. They suit a business with branches in several cities.
- URL inclusions, set per ad group, tell final URL expansion which pages it may use.
- URL exclusions cover the whole campaign and keep pages such as careers, old blog posts or discontinued products out of rotation. They need text customization and final URL expansion on.
- Negative keywords still apply with AI Max on. You can add a negative keyword or a negative URL from the search terms report by selecting the row's checkbox.
Budget comes before any of these settings. AI Max won't be effective if a campaign is limited by budget, Google says. If yours shows "Limited by budget," raise the budget or narrow the campaign before you judge the test.
How text guidelines limit what Google writes
Finish text guidelines first if your ads have legal or pricing limits. Google's text guidelines help page allows up to 25 term exclusions per campaign. These are exact words or phrases the generated copy must never use, such as "unlimited" or "low cost."
You can also add up to 40 messaging restrictions per campaign, written as plain rules like "Don't imply our products are discounted." Term exclusions can't block prices, so use a messaging restriction for those. Each term exclusion works in one language only, which means an English term won't block the same word in Japanese.
Guidelines also apply to assets Google already generated. Any asset that breaks a new rule stops serving and shows as removed. A vague rule such as "my ads should bring joy" can strip out good assets, so write each one as a hard requirement. The feature is still an experimental beta, and it won't work unless text customization is on.
What do the results say about Google Ads AI Max?
Google's own numbers are positive, and they come from Google. In its May 2025 launch post, Google said advertisers who turn on AI Max for Search campaigns usually see 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS. For campaigns still running mostly on exact and phrase match, the figure rose to 27%. Both numbers come from internal 2025 data for non-retail advertisers.
The April 2026 post gives a smaller number. Campaigns using all three features averaged 7% more conversions or conversion value than search term matching alone, on the same basis. That figure comes from internal 2026 data, again excluding retail.
Independent data is less tidy. Smarter Ecommerce's study of more than 250 Search campaigns, reported by Search Engine Journal on March 5, 2026, found a median 13% rise in conversion value and a median 16% rise in CPA. Results ran from 42% above baseline ROAS to 35% below it. Only 22% of campaigns ended near their original ROAS targets.
So the median campaign in that study found extra revenue but paid more for each sale. A store with healthy margins can carry a 16% higher CPA. A service business already near its break-even cost per lead can't. Google's figures leave out retail while the Smarter Ecommerce data covers online stores, so a lead generation business only learns its own number by testing.
Paid search is also moving into AI answers. Google has started testing sponsored results in AI Mode, and OpenAI keeps adding formats and conversion tools to ChatGPT Ads. A clean AI Max test now gives you a cost per lead to compare those channels against.
Who should turn AI Max on now, and who should wait
Switch it on now if your campaigns hit their targets with budget left over. Hold back, or use only part of it, if your budget is capped or your cost per lead is already at its limit.
| Your account | Start with | Before you add more |
|---|---|---|
| Running Dynamic Search Ads | A campaign experiment of AI Max against your DSA campaign | Wait for the experiment result, then upgrade |
| Online store with margin to spare | All three features | Judge on ROAS, not conversion count |
| Local service business on a small budget | Search term matching only | Write text guidelines and clear any budget limit |
| Finance, health or legal advertiser | Search term matching, with text customization off | Cover your industry's ad rules in messaging restrictions |
For DSA advertisers, Google's Ads Developer Blog suggests testing AI Max with broad match and Smart Bidding against the current DSA campaign. If AI Max wins, the one-click upgrade tool keeps your historical reporting. A manual move takes longer, but you can rewrite assets and keep your own campaign structure.
Local businesses should also keep their local SEO and Google Business Profile in shape, so paid clicks aren't the only way nearby customers find them.
How to move from DSA to AI Max before February 2027
None of these steps needs a developer, and all of them fit before January 2027.
- List every campaign that still uses Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting.
- Add the searches that already convert as exact match keywords, so they keep priority.
- Set brand exclusions, URL exclusions and text guidelines.
- Clear any "Limited by budget" status.
- Run a campaign experiment of AI Max against your current setup, and leave it alone for at least two weeks.
- Check the search terms and ad combinations view every one to two weeks. It shows the headline, landing page, campaign and ad group behind each search. Add negatives only for terms that keep missing your goals across all campaigns, as Google advises.
- Expect lower totals when you filter the search terms report by the "AI Max" match type, because that filter leaves out "Other search terms."
- Upgrade with the one-click tool once the test beats your current setup. Set a reminder for December 2026, before DSA creation closes in January.
Final URL expansion can send paid clicks to pages you never picked, so every page on your site now carries part of your ad results. Check them for speed against Core Web Vitals and for clear answers, the same work that helps pages get cited in Google AI Mode.
If AI Max for Search campaigns is already live in your account, start with steps 3 and 6 this week. For a second look at the account before February, talk to the Techno Mantra Google Ads and paid search team.
Frequently asked questions
No, you can switch it off in any campaign's AI Max section. Dynamic Search Ads campaigns still running in February 2027 move to AI Max either way. Campaigns that used automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting started their upgrade in September 2026.
Yes, until January 2027. Google restored DSA campaign creation on June 15, 2026, after it delayed the automatic upgrade. Any DSA campaign still active in February 2027 moves to AI Max, so a new DSA campaign today buys you a few months at most.
No, your keywords keep running and still decide priority. An exact match keyword identical to the search beats any AI Max match. AI Max adds broad match and keywordless matching on top, so it reaches searches your list misses instead of replacing that list.
Open the campaign's AI Max section and switch the toggle off. That opts the campaign out of every AI Max feature at once. Brand exclusions stop working while AI Max is off, and switching it back on restores your earlier feature settings.
Wait at least two weeks after you turn AI Max on before changing anything. After that, Google suggests reviewing search terms every one to two weeks. Judge the test on cost per conversion or ROAS against a campaign experiment, since conversion count alone can hide a rising CPA.