Google AI Max and AI Search Ads: the forced migration has been pushed to February 2027. Here's what you do until then.

The context

Since spring 2025, Google has been pushing advertisers toward its new AI Max for Search format. On April 15, 2026, the product left beta. At Google Marketing Live on May 20, 2026, the message was clear: AI Max becomes the new standard, Dynamic Search Ads will disappear, and the automatic conversion of all existing DSAs was scheduled for September 2026. Every YouTube video and blog post of the past few weeks screamed the same thing: get ready, it's in 3 months.

Except last week, Search Engine Land broke the news: Google is pushing this forced migration to February 2027. Even bigger, the option to create new DSA campaigns, which had been temporarily removed, comes back on June 15, 2026. This is a strategic reversal few practitioners saw coming, and it changes exactly what you need to do over the coming months.

We'll explain what AI Max really is (with the real numbers, not Google's sales pitch), the 5 new ad formats in AI Mode, and the decision framework we use at the agency to decide when to activate what.

What AI Max actually is

First, AI Max is NOT a new campaign type like Performance Max. It's an optimization layer you toggle on your existing Search campaigns via a checkbox. And behind that checkbox sit three distinct functions you can activate independently.

Search term matching: instead of restricting you to the keywords you added, Google scans your site, your ads, and your keywords, then decides which search terms deserve your ad. It's a targeting expansion that resembles broad match but more aggressive.

Text customization: Gemini writes your headlines and descriptions from your landing page content. You still provide your base ads, but Google can generate variations based on the query. This is what lets you appear in Conversational Discovery Ads inside AI Mode.

Final URL expansion: Google routes the click to the page on your site it judges most relevant to the query, not necessarily to the URL you set in the ad. This is the function that most resembles Dynamic Search Ads.

These three functions can be activated together or separately. And that modularity is what makes the debate possible: some functions are nearly risk-free, others can wreck an unprepared account.

The 5 new ad formats in AI Mode

Google unveiled five ad formats at Marketing Live designed for AI Mode (the conversational chat experience to the right of Google results). Three fundamentally change how your ad is built.

1. Conversational Discovery Ads. Gemini generates your ad copy in real time, tailored to the exact question the user typed. No fixed headline. Every conversation gets a different variation, built from the rich elements on your site (price, guarantees, shipping, FAQ). If your site only has product pages with a price and nothing else, Gemini has nothing to shape. The quality of your website becomes the quality of your ad.

2. Highlighted Answers. When AI gives a list of recommendations in response to a question ("best accounting tool for 12 employees"), your product can appear as one of the listed options. Extremely valuable because trust is high: the user perceives it as Google's recommendation. Expected very high CPCs, but high conversion rates too.

3. AI Shopping Ads. For ecommerce. Gemini picks the most relevant product from your feed and writes why it fits the user. Runs on Shopping, Performance Max, and AI Max for Shopping. If your product feed is weak (poor titles, few attributes, single image), Gemini won't have material to generate convincing copy.

4. Business Agent for Leads. A chat agent directly inside the ad. The user clicks "Chat", asks questions, and the agent answers from your website content. Built for service businesses. Public rollout coming in the next few months. Practical reality: your pages must contain prices, service area, shipping fees, FAQ. Otherwise the agent won't know what to answer.

5. Direct Offers. Your promotions show directly in the AI Mode answer. The user can buy without leaving the conversation. Pilot launched in January 2026 with Chewy, Gap, and L'Oreal. Your Merchant Center data (promos, prices, availability) must be up to date at all times.

What we're doing in agency accounts until February 2027

With 8 extra months handed to us by Google, here's the concrete sequence we're deploying in client accounts, whether ecommerce or lead gen.

Step 1, this month: full audit of the negative keyword list. AI Max decides what to target based on your site content, not your keyword list. Direct consequence: if your site contains the word "accountant", AI Max risks bidding on every accounting-related query, including ones you never wanted to target. The negative list becomes more critical than with a traditional campaign. This step also applies to current broad match campaigns. It's useful work in every case.

Step 2, July to August: install offline conversion tracking for lead gen accounts. Connection between the CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Pipedrive) and Google Ads to push Sales Qualified Leads and closed sales as conversions. Without this round trip, smart bidding optimizes toward the lowest cost per form. With it, it optimizes toward the real customer. This is the foundation of everything that follows.

Step 3, September to October: clean the product feed for ecommerce accounts. GTIN on every product, titles rich in keywords, full descriptions, multiple attributes (color, size, materials, dimensions), several images per SKU. This step conditions the performance of standard Shopping, Performance Max, and AI Shopping Ads in AI Mode. Not optional.

Step 4, November to December: site content enrichment for service accounts. Detailed FAQ pages with prices, service areas, fees, processes, timelines. This is what Business Agent for Leads will read to answer prospects inside the ad. If your pages only have vague marketing ("We're the best!"), the agent will have nothing concrete to say.

Step 5, January 2027: create a standalone AI Max campaign (not an upgrade on an existing campaign) for each active DSA. Search term matching only at first. Observe new terms for 2 weeks. If the quality score stays good and CPA is in range, gradually activate text customization with strict rules, then final URL expansion last.

Verdict

For the vast majority of SMBs running Google Ads, AI Max isn't the urgent topic right now. The delay to February 2027 confirms it: Google knows the market isn't ready, and that forcing a migration now would create more problems than gains.

The real urgency is taking advantage of these 8 extra months to do the real foundation work: offline conversion tracking, negative keyword audits, product feed cleanup for ecommerce, site content enrichment for service accounts. Every one of these steps improves your Google Ads performance today, and gets you ready for AI Max when the time comes.

If you want us to look at your account together to identify where the real wins are before the migration, write us. We do this diagnostic for free for accounts spending over $2,000 per month on Google Ads.