Time to read: 3 minutes
If you’ve been running ads on Google for a while, you likely aren’t surprised by this news. Google has been changing the Google Ads experience with the incorporation of various AI features for a while, and, after months of rumors, the change is finally here – AI Max is moving out of beta testing and replacing Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).
Google’s team and their Ad Product Liaison Ginny Marvin made the announcement on April 15, and the news spread throughout the online advertising community rapidly. By end of September, Google expects AI Max to be fully rolled out for all DSA users.
Since a lot is changing, if you’re managing your Google Ads campaigns yourself or in-house, you may be out of the loop on what you need to do. Keep on reading to learn the steps you need to take before DSAs are no longer available.
Quick Recap: What Is AI Max?
To make it simple, AI Max is sort of like an autopilot you can enable as a second layer for you search campaigns. While DSA used your website content to find queries, AI Max takes things further by offering more benefits such as increased transparency, control, and reach.
AI Max uses Google’s own AI systems to optimize your ads in real time by reframing your messaging to help reach more customers, leading to more leads and revenue for your business. Check out the example below of AI Max performing its magic for a beauty website:
Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Transition to AI Max
- You have until the end of August 2026 to make changes yourself, since by September 2026 campaigns that are still using DSA will be automatically switched to AI Max.
- This upgrade is also going to impact your automatically created assets (ACA) and campaign-level broad match settings as the switch to AI Max is made.
- To ease the transition, Google has already started rolling out tools to help you upgrade so you can carry over historical data and settings.
- Google is suggesting users make the switch before their system makes automatic updates to ensure their setup is fully aligned with their business goals.
- Most users should see a pop-up banner or other call-to-action to make the switch, but, if you don’t, you can navigate to your campaign’s “Other Settings” where you will be prompted to the upgrade option:
So Why Is Google Making This Change?
Pay-per-click managers are no strangers to updates from Google. From the company introducing Performance Max (Pmax) in 2021 to getting rid of expanded text ads in 2022, Google upheavals are simply business as usual. In fact, many advertisers still even call the platform Google AdWords out of convenience, even though the platform rebranded back in 2018. According to Google, they’re making this switch due to the success AI Max has had in beta testing, as they stated in their announcement:
“AI Max for Search campaigns see an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA/ROAS when using the full feature suite – search term matching, text customization and final URL expansion – compared to using search term matching alone.”
To paint a better picture of some of the changes that have led to this update, take a look at the comparison chart Google put together:
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