Google Ads AI Max does not have one automatic upgrade deadline. Current Google guidance puts legacy text customization and the campaign-level broad match setting on a September 2026 clock, while Dynamic Search Ads move on a separate February 2027 clock. The legacy feature in each campaign determines both the date and the settings Google says will carry forward.
The confusion is understandable. Google's April 15 AI Max announcement was updated on June 11, 2026 to extend the DSA sunset and auto-upgrade to February 2027. The same page still contains older September language in its header, generated summary, and parts of the rollout section. The feature-specific Help pages now provide the cleaner source of truth.
This article reflects the documentation available on August 7, 2026. Google can revise rollout timing, eligibility, and migration behavior, so check the notification and resulting settings in the actual account before treating any date as the only control.
The headline answer: two clocks, three legacy states
Starting in September 2026, campaigns using text customization—the setting formerly called automatically created assets, or ACA—are scheduled to upgrade into AI Max. Campaigns using the campaign-level broad match setting remain on that September clock. Google's current Dynamic Search Ads guidance places DSA auto-upgrades in February 2027.
AI Max is an optimization layer inside a Search campaign, not a new campaign type. Its main components are search term matching and asset optimization. Asset optimization includes text customization and final URL expansion, but those components do not inherit identically from every legacy state.
A manager who labels an entire account “September” or “February” will miss the point. One account can contain campaigns on both clocks, and a campaign can receive a narrower or broader AI Max configuration depending on what it used before migration.
One account can be on both clocks
Imagine an advertiser with three Search campaigns. The brand campaign uses text customization to supplement responsive-search-ad copy. A nonbrand service campaign uses the old campaign-level broad match setting. A catalog-coverage campaign contains dynamic ad groups and page rules.
The brand campaign and nonbrand campaign sit on the September clock. Google says the text-customization campaign will move with search term matching and text customization enabled, while the campaign-level broad match setup will move with search term matching enabled.
The catalog campaign is different. Its dynamic ad groups sit on the February 2027 DSA clock, and the migration changes both targeting structure and asset delivery. Treating all three campaigns as one upgrade would hide those differences.
That separation matters because expansion traffic is not automatically equivalent to the traffic a team already understands. Our 1-800 Cash For Cars case study shows why proven search intent and expansion traffic should be read separately. AI Max adds better source and journey reporting, but the account still needs someone to interpret it against qualified outcomes.
September 2026 changes the control panel, not every feature
For a legacy text-customization campaign, the visible setting moves under AI Max and Google says search term matching and text customization will be enabled by default. Text customization can generate additional headlines and descriptions from the domain, landing page, existing ads, and ad-group keywords.
For the old campaign-level broad match setting, Google maps the campaign to AI Max with search term matching enabled. That feature can expand from the keywords you supplied and can use keywordless matching informed by ads and landing pages.
Those are not identical configurations, and neither September mapping says that final URL expansion is automatically enabled merely because the AI Max label appears. Read the resulting component settings, not just the master toggle.
Pinning is a good example of why that distinction matters. Google's final URL expansion documentation says pinned responsive-search-ad assets are not used when final URL expansion selects a more relevant URL; URL inclusions can produce the same result. A campaign moved because of text customization does not automatically prove that pinning changed. The final URL expansion and URL-inclusion settings do.
Do not manufacture a performance verdict from a few noisy days around the label change. The test-capacity problem described in our small-budget advertising article still applies: a campaign needs enough qualified outcomes and enough elapsed conversion time to separate a real effect from ordinary variation.
February 2027 is a structural DSA migration
DSA received the later deadline because the move is more structural than relocating a setting. Google's current DSA Help pages repeat February 2027, while the June 11 correction in the launch post explains that advertisers were given more time to complete the transition.
Google's DSA-to-AI-Max setup instructions say dynamic ad groups become standard ad groups and Dynamic Search Ads are converted into responsive search ads with generated static assets. During a voluntary upgrade, the old DSA can continue serving alongside the new RSA until the replacement clears policy review.
Legacy targeting rules need special attention. Google says unsupported dynamic targets become read-only. Rules based on page title or page content can no longer be added or edited after the upgrade, so a team that depends on those rules should document what they do and decide how URL inclusions, exclusions, page feeds, or a cleaner site structure will replace them.
For DSA, Google's migration description enables search term matching, text customization, and final URL expansion, with legacy URL controls preserved. That is a broader inherited setup than either September legacy state, which is why “we already moved one Search campaign” is not proof that the DSA handoff is understood.
Final URL expansion makes the website part of ad delivery
Final URL expansion can replace the advertiser-provided final URL with another relevant page on the same domain and generate copy that matches the selected destination. It requires text customization. When it is active, the usable campaign inventory is no longer only the URLs typed into ads; it is the eligible surface of the site after inclusions and exclusions.
That makes website quality an advertising control. Old offers, thin location pages, sold-out products, login screens, legal pages, blog posts with the wrong intent, and test URLs should not remain eligible by accident. URL exclusions and page-feed rules should express the actual commercial boundary.
Tracking templates also have to survive a dynamic destination. Google warns that a static template or a nonstandard use of the {lpurl} parameter can send traffic to the wrong place or produce a 404. Test an AI-selected landing page through the full redirect and analytics path before relying on final URL expansion.
This is the operational link between paid search and the website. Branding Bull's Growth Marketing service treats search-term review, negative keywords, ad testing, landing-page alignment, and decision-focused reporting as one system rather than isolated campaign chores.
Read the change through the full customer journey
AI Max reporting provides more than a campaign total. Google's reporting guide describes a search-terms view that connects the query, headline, and landing page; source columns that distinguish broad expansion from keywordless matching; landing-page reporting with a “Selected by” column; and asset reporting tied to performance metrics.
Use those views together. A search term can be relevant while the generated headline is weak. A good headline can send the click to the wrong page. A suitable page can still produce low-quality leads. Each failure points to a different control: negative keyword, asset removal, negative URL, URL rule, landing-page repair, or conversion-goal correction.
Lead-generation advertisers should connect that journey to the event the sales team actually values. Google's enhanced conversions for leads guidance recommends qualified-lead or converted-lead goals for that setup. Our qualified lead tracking article explains the operating handoff between form, CRM, and campaign reporting.
Google recommends waiting at least two weeks after enabling AI Max before routine optimization changes so the campaign can learn. That is not a reason to leave a broken URL, policy problem, or obviously ineligible page live. Correct delivery failures immediately; give normal performance evidence enough time to mature.
The one-click experiment has important exclusions
An AI Max experiment can split traffic and budget inside the existing campaign between a control with AI Max off and a trial with it on. By default, the trial activates search term matching and asset optimization, and the advertiser can adjust treatment settings.
The apparent shortcut does not fit every September campaign. Google says the one-click flow is unavailable when text customization is already enabled, and it also lists restrictions for portfolio bid strategies, shared budgets, bidding exploration, active experiments, and some other campaign states.
That makes the migration inventory practical rather than bureaucratic. A campaign already using ACA may be closest to the September deadline yet unable to use the simplest AI Max experiment. Another campaign may qualify for a clean test but lack enough conversion volume to answer the business question. Choose the evidence path campaign by campaign.
A practical August-to-February sequence
Before the September upgrades
Identify campaigns using legacy text customization and the campaign-level broad match setting. Capture their current search terms, generated assets, negatives, brand controls, bid strategy, conversion goals, landing pages, tracking templates, and campaign notifications. Record which features Google is expected to enable so the post-upgrade state can be compared with something concrete.
After each September change
Open the resulting AI Max settings rather than assuming the migration mirrored every preference. Confirm search term matching at the right ad-group level, text customization, final URL expansion, URL inclusions and exclusions, pinning needs, brand controls, and tracking. Then read the combined query–headline–URL view through at least one normal conversion cycle.
Before DSA moves in February
Resolve the rules that will become read-only, remove obsolete destination pages, confirm replacement RSAs can pass policy review, and test page feeds or URL controls against the live site. Preserve a baseline for dynamic targets, queries, headlines, destinations, qualified outcomes, and conversion delay. The February date creates preparation time; it does not make the DSA structure self-documenting.
The useful deadline is attached to the feature
The cleanest answer to the Google Ads AI Max upgrade deadline is not a single date. September 2026 applies to legacy text customization and campaign-level broad match. February 2027 applies to Dynamic Search Ads. More importantly, each path inherits a different feature set and creates a different review job.
Start with the campaign's current legacy state, map the matching clock, preserve the baseline, verify the resulting controls, and judge the change through the exact query, creative, landing page, and qualified outcome. That sequence turns a platform deadline into a manageable operating change instead of a surprise label in the interface.
If your Search account needs a feature-level migration review, send a project brief to discuss the campaign structure, landing-page controls, measurement readiness, and reporting cadence that should be in place before the relevant clock runs out.
