Google AI Max: What Advertisers Need to Do Before DSA Upgrades in September 2026

AI Max is Google's AI-powered search expansion feature. It replaces the Dynamic Search Ads model of matching ads to your website content with something broader: AI Max uses your keywords, landing pages, and conversion data to find additional relevant queries you have not explicitly targeted.

The critical distinction: AI Max sits on top of your existing Search campaigns rather than replacing them. Your keyword-targeted campaigns continue to run. AI Max adds an extra layer of AI-driven query expansion on top, using signals from across your account to identify new traffic opportunities.

Think of DSA as reading your website and guessing what queries match your pages. AI Max reads your website, your keyword history, your conversion patterns, and your audience signals, then proactively finds queries it believes will convert. The reach is broader. The control is narrower.

This is part of a larger trend covered in our AI PPC Playbook for 2026: Google is steadily shifting decision-making from advertisers to algorithms. AI Max is the next step in that direction for Search campaigns.

The migration is not cosmetic. Four things change fundamentally:

• Broader query matching. DSA matched queries to your website content. AI Max matches queries to a combination of your content, your keywords, and your conversion patterns. This means more reach, but also more queries you did not explicitly ask for
• Landing page content matters more. AI Max reads your landing pages to understand what you offer and which queries are relevant. If your pages are vague, outdated, or thin on content, AI Max will struggle to match you accurately. Your landing page quality directly affects your traffic quality under AI Max
• Negative keywords become essential. AI Max does not add negative keywords automatically. With broader query matching, the gap between "queries AI Max thinks are relevant" and "queries that actually convert" will widen. Without comprehensive negative keyword lists, you will pay for irrelevant traffic
• Conversion tracking accuracy becomes critical. AI Max optimises based on conversion signals. If your tracking is incomplete, fires on the wrong actions, or double-counts conversions, AI Max will optimise toward the wrong outcomes. Bad data in means bad decisions out

The common thread: AI Max rewards advertisers with strong foundations (clean pages, good tracking, tight negatives) and punishes those without them. If your account is well-managed, AI Max should improve performance. If it is not, AI Max will amplify existing problems.

Here is what Google has confirmed, what remains unclear, and what you should assume.

Confirmed:

• The migration starts in September 2026 as a phased rollout
• Existing DSA campaigns will be migrated to AI Max automatically
• AI Max will be available as an opt-in feature before the forced migration begins

Unclear:

• The exact rollout schedule (which accounts migrate first, over what period)
• Whether DSA-specific settings (page feeds, category targets, URL exclusions) will carry over fully
• How AI Max will interact with existing broad match and Performance Max campaigns in the same account

What you should assume:

• Your DSA settings probably will not transfer perfectly. Document everything now
• The first wave of forced migrations will have bugs. Being prepared early means you can test on your terms, not Google's
• Google will position AI Max as an upgrade, but the initial performance may dip while the system learns your account. Budget for a learning period

If you have been through the Performance Max migration, this playbook will feel familiar. The advertisers who prepared early for PMax fared better than those who were caught off guard. The same will be true for AI Max.

You have roughly three months. Here is the preparation checklist, in priority order.

1. Audit your landing pages. AI Max reads your pages to understand your business. If your landing pages are vague ("we offer great solutions") instead of specific ("we provide emergency boiler repair in Essex"), AI Max will match you to broad, low-intent queries. Review every page that DSA currently targets. Make sure each one clearly states what you offer, who it is for, and where you operate. Get a free landing page audit
2. Strengthen your negative keyword lists. This is the single most important thing you can do. AI Max will find new queries, and many of them will be irrelevant. Without negatives, you pay for every one. Build comprehensive negative lists now, organised by theme (brand terms you do not want to appear for, job-related queries, informational queries, competitor names). Use our negative keyword list template as a starting point
3. Verify your conversion tracking. AI Max optimises based on conversion data. If your tracking counts page views as conversions, or misses half your phone calls, or double-fires on form submissions, AI Max will optimise toward the wrong signals. Run a full tracking audit. Confirm that every conversion action reflects a genuine business outcome
4. Review your first-party data strategy. AI Max performs better with strong audience signals. Customer match lists, offline conversion imports, and enhanced conversions all feed AI Max better data to work with. If you have not set these up, the next three months are the time to do it
5. Test AI Max opt-in on a few campaigns. Do not wait for the forced migration. Opt in to AI Max on one or two lower-risk campaigns now. Run them for four to six weeks alongside your existing DSA campaigns. Compare performance. This gives you real data on how AI Max behaves in your account before you lose the choice

Your landing pages are now a direct input to your campaign targeting. This is a shift from traditional keyword-based PPC, where landing pages affected Quality Score but not query matching.

Under AI Max, your landing pages need to be:

• Specific. Generic pages attract generic queries. A page that says "professional services for businesses" could match anything. A page that says "Google Ads management for e-commerce brands spending £5k+/month" gives AI Max clear signals about who you serve
• Current. If your services have changed but your pages have not, AI Max will target queries based on outdated information. Review every page for accuracy
• Structured. Clear headings, defined service areas, explicit geographic targeting, and unambiguous calls to action help AI Max understand your page content. Walls of text with no structure are harder for the AI to parse
• Conversion-focused. AI Max will send more traffic to pages that convert well. Pages with high bounce rates and low conversion rates will get less AI Max traffic over time, which is good, but it also means underperforming pages need fixing before the migration

If you are not sure where your landing pages stand, a PPC landing page audit will identify the gaps before AI Max exposes them through wasted spend.

This deserves its own section because it is the number one risk area.

AI Max does not add negative keywords for you. It expands your reach, finds new queries, and spends your budget on them. If a query is irrelevant but AI Max believes it is related to your business, you pay for the click. The only defence is a comprehensive negative keyword list.

Most accounts already have negative lists, but they were built for keyword-targeted campaigns with relatively predictable query matching. AI Max query matching is broader and less predictable. Your negatives need to be broader too.

Build negatives across these categories:

• Job and career terms (hiring, salary, careers, interview, job description)
• Educational and informational terms (what is, how does, tutorial, course, certification, definition)
• DIY terms (free, template, how to do it yourself, without an agency)
• Competitor brand names you do not want to appear for
• Services you do not offer (if you do Google Ads but not SEO, add SEO-specific negatives)
• Geographic exclusions (if you only serve the UK, add country-specific negatives for markets you cannot serve)

Download our free negative keyword list template with 500+ pre-built negatives organised by category. It is the fastest way to build a foundation before AI Max goes live.

Even with preparation, the first few weeks after migration will require close monitoring. Here are the signals to watch.

• Impression volume spikes. AI Max will likely increase your impression count. This is expected. The question is whether those impressions come from relevant queries. Check your search terms report daily for the first two weeks
• Search term report changes. You will see queries you have never seen before. Some will be good discoveries. Many will need adding to your negative lists. Budget extra time for search term reviews during the transition period
• CPA shifts. AI Max needs a learning period to understand your account. Expect CPA to fluctuate for two to four weeks. If CPA has not stabilised after six weeks, something is wrong with your setup
• Quality Score changes. AI Max may send traffic to landing pages that were not originally targeted for those queries. If Quality Scores drop, it could mean AI Max is matching queries to the wrong pages
• Overlap with Performance Max and broad match. If you run PMax or broad match campaigns alongside AI Max, watch for query overlap and cannibalisation. The same query triggering ads from multiple campaign types wastes budget and confuses attribution

For a detailed framework on auditing AI-powered campaigns, including PMax and AI Max, see our guide to auditing PMax and AI Max campaigns.

AI Max is not an isolated change. It is part of Google's broader strategy to move PPC beyond keyword-based targeting. Broad match, Performance Max, and now AI Max all point in the same direction: algorithms deciding which queries you appear for, with advertisers providing inputs (pages, data, budgets) rather than making targeting decisions directly.

This does not mean keywords are dead. It means they are becoming one input among many, rather than the primary control lever. The advertisers who adapt to this shift, by investing in the inputs AI cares about (conversion data, landing page quality, audience signals, negative keywords), will do well. Those who try to manage AI Max the same way they managed exact-match campaigns will struggle.

For a deeper look at how to structure your PPC strategy in this new environment, read our guide on post-keyword PPC strategy.

If you need help navigating the transition, our Google Ads management team has been testing AI Max opt-in across client accounts since the feature launched. We know what works, what breaks, and how to protect your performance through the migration.