AI Max for Search and the end of Dynamic Search Ads: what changes and how to test it safely

What Dynamic Search Ads were

Dynamic Search Ads, or DSA, let Google read your website and show ads for searches that matched your pages. You did not need keywords. Google wrote the headline and sent the person to the page it thought fitted best. For shops with big catalogues, DSA was an easy way to catch searches that the keyword list missed.

I used DSA a lot in retail. It found long, specific product searches well. It also spent money on pages you never wanted to advertise, like old blog posts, if you did not watch it.

What AI Max for Search is

AI Max is not a new campaign type. It is a group of features you switch on inside a normal Search campaign. Google's help page on how AI Max works lists three main parts:

• Search term matching. Your ads can show for searches beyond your keywords. Google uses broad match, your ads and your landing pages to decide.
• Text customisation. Google writes extra headlines and descriptions based on your ads, your site and your assets.
• Final URL expansion. Google can send people to a different page on your site if it thinks that page fits the search better. This needs text customisation to be on.

The timeline, as of June 2026

• April 2026. Google announced that Dynamic Search Ads are upgrading to AI Max. AI Max left beta. Upgrade tools started rolling out. The plan was automatic upgrades from September 2026.
• June 2026. After pushback from advertisers, Google delayed the automatic DSA migration to February 2027. Creating and editing DSA campaigns was allowed again from 15 June 2026.
• January 2027. You will no longer be able to create new DSA campaigns.
• February 2027. Remaining DSA campaigns are upgraded automatically.

One part did not move. Campaigns that use automatically created assets or the campaign-level broad match setting still move to AI Max from September 2026. Search Engine Land also reported that AI Max is now the default when you create a new Search campaign. So even if you never used DSA, you may already have AI Max switched on.

What happens to your settings when a campaign is upgraded

According to Google's April announcement, a DSA campaign is upgraded like this: dynamic ad groups become standard ad groups, and search term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion are all switched on. Your old URL rules are kept. Campaigns with automatically created assets get search term matching and text customisation. Campaigns with the broad match setting get search term matching.

Google's own numbers are positive. At the May 2025 launch it quoted about 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar cost. The April 2026 post gives a smaller figure: about 7% more for non-retail advertisers, when you compare the full feature set against search term matching alone. Independent tests have been mixed. PPC Land collected several where AI Max cost more per conversion than phrase match or classic match types. That is why I would test it rather than trust it.

The controls you should set first

AI Max comes with more controls than DSA had. Set them before you switch it on, not after the first bad week.

• URL exclusions. Block pages that should never be landing pages: blog posts, careers, terms, old offers, out-of-stock categories.
• Brand exclusions and inclusions. Stop your ads showing next to brands you do not sell, or limit them to brands you do.
• Locations of interest. Set at ad group level, so a search about another city does not trigger your local ad.
• Text guidelines. Tell Google which words and claims it must not use in the text it writes.

Two technical points from Google's help page catch people out. First, pinned headlines are not respected when final URL expansion is on. Second, if you use a tracking template, check it works with dynamic landing pages, or people may land on the wrong page or a 404 error.

How to test AI Max safely

Google has a ready-made test for this, described on the AI Max experiments help page. It splits one campaign into two parts. The control part runs with AI Max off. The trial part runs with AI Max on. Because it stays in one campaign, there is no copy to build and the learning period is shorter.

This is how I would run it for a small account:

1. Check conversion tracking. If purchases, calls or form leads are not tracked properly, the test tells you nothing.
2. Pick one campaign with steady traffic and regular conversions. Not a seasonal one.
3. Set URL exclusions and brand controls first. They apply to both sides of the test.
4. Let it run long enough for both sides to collect a fair number of conversions. Do not stop it after three days.
5. Read the search terms report. It now shows "AI Max" as a match type, so you can see which new searches it found and whether they are relevant.
6. Check the landing pages report. A "Selected by" column shows which pages AI Max chose, and how they performed.

The quick experiment does not work with portfolio bid strategies or shared budgets. Then Google suggests a custom experiment.

What this means for businesses in Cyprus and Greece

Most local accounts I see are small: one or two Search campaigns and a site in Greek and English. Two things matter.

First, your website now writes part of your ads. If your product pages are thin, out of date or only half translated, AI Max will pull from them anyway. Fix the pages that sell before you switch it on.

Second, Greek search is full of spelling variants, Greeklish and mixed-language searches. Search term matching can find these, which is useful. It can also match you to searches in the wrong language or about the wrong area. Locations of interest and the search terms report are your safety net here. If you serve Nicosia only, a search mentioning Thessaloniki should not cost you money.

If you still run DSA, you have until February 2027. Use the time to test, not to wait.

Questions people ask

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Sources

1. Dynamic Search Ads are upgrading to AI Max, Google, April 2026
2. Google ends Dynamic Search Ads: DSA upgrades to AI Max in September, PPC Land, April 2026
3. Google delays DSA-to-AI Max automigration to February 2027, PPC Land, June 2026
4. Google delays Dynamic Search Ads migration to AI Max, Search Engine Land, June 2026
5. How AI Max for Search campaigns works, Google Ads Help
6. About AI Max experiments, Google Ads Help