Google has postponed its automatic migration of Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max for Search campaigns from September 2026 to February 2027, a five-month extension driven by advertiser feedback. The company also reversed an earlier phase-out step: new DSA campaign creation, which had been blocked, resumes June 15.
The delay matters because Q4 now lands entirely inside the voluntary migration window. Advertisers who had been staring down a September forced cutover can now plan their peak-season campaigns on existing DSA infrastructure without the risk of an automated transition disrupting ad account structure mid-flight.
Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin explained the decision in a LinkedIn post, stating that Google wanted to give teams the time they had been asking for and did not want to interfere with Q4 planning. Marvin’s explanation is candid: the original September date had created pressure that advertisers pushed back on, and Google moved. Search Engine Land reported the announcement on June 12.
The revised timeline has four clear phases. DSA campaign creation returns now, in June 2026. The testing and voluntary migration period runs from June 2026 through January 2027. New DSA creation ends in January 2027. Automigration of remaining campaigns begins in February 2027.
One item in that schedule should not be overlooked. The September 2026 date still applies to two specific components: the broad match control at the campaign level and automatically created assets, both of which will move to AI Max on that original timeline. What the extension covers is full campaign automigration, not every part of the transition.
Google is using the extended window to push voluntary migration rather than waiting for February. The available migration tools, side-by-side experiment features, and DSA campaign audit workflows are all being actively promoted; the recommendation is to use them before the deadline rather than hold for the forced cutover. Manual upgrades preserve historical reporting and campaign learnings; automigrated campaigns do not carry the same guarantee.
The announcement also included a product signal worth noting separately. Any newly built Search campaign now starts on AI Max by default. Google cited internal testing showing that fresh campaigns hit their first conversion sooner across the opening two weeks when AI Max was the starting configuration. The claim is Google’s own measurement; no independent verification was disclosed.
That default-setting change points to the direction of travel regardless of the DSA timeline. Google is not delaying AI Max adoption as a strategy; it is delaying the forcing function while making AI Max the path of least resistance for any new campaign built today.
For teams planning Q4, the February 2027 automigration date is the hard boundary, but January 2027 is the softer one: that is when new DSA creation ends, closing the option to build fresh DSA campaigns as a fallback during testing. Teams that want real side-by-side data before February should begin structured experiments now, while both formats are available and the holiday-season results are still comparable.
Reported by Search Engine Land on June 12, 2026, based on a LinkedIn statement from Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin.
