Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max: A Practical Migration Guide

Do not treat the DSA-to-AI-Max transition as a settings toggle. Treat it as a migration.

Google says Dynamic Search Ads will begin automatically upgrading to AI Max for Search campaigns in February 2027. During the upgrade, dynamic ad groups become standard ad groups, existing DSAs become responsive search ads, and legacy URL controls are carried into AI Max. The safest approach is to inventory the current DSA setup, capture a performance baseline, clean up targets and destinations, document the controls you need in AI Max, and then upgrade with a human reviewing the confirmation dialog.

After the change, allow the new setup to learn before making routine optimizations. Google recommends waiting at least two weeks after enabling AI Max before making changes such as adding negatives, unless policy, brand-safety, tracking, or obviously irrelevant traffic requires immediate action.

Dynamic Search Ads use website content or a page feed to match queries, choose a landing page, and generate a headline. Advertisers supply the description. AI Max is not a separate campaign type; it is an optimization layer for Search campaigns that combines search term matching, text customization, and final URL expansion.

For a DSA upgrade, Google currently describes the following structural changes:

The deadline is not the only migration signal. Google began upgrading automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match settings in September 2026, while extending the DSA transition to February 2027. That makes a current-state audit useful even if you plan to wait for the automatic DSA upgrade.

Build one control sheet per campaign. It should show how the campaign reaches a query, which page can receive the click, what creative may be generated, and which safeguards constrain that behavior.

This is the minimum viable map. If the account uses page feeds, keep the page URL and custom-label inventory as a separate appendix because those feeds often encode merchandising, geography, availability, or compliance rules that are easy to lose in a high-level campaign review.

Start with the campaign settings, not the ads. Identify campaigns with dynamic ad groups, record the website domain and language, and note whether targeting uses Google’s index, a page feed, or both. Then list dynamic targets and exclusions by ad group.

Flag campaigns where “all pages” targeting, broad URL rules, or stale category targets create more reach than the business actually wants. Those campaigns need a tighter control plan before migration.

Use at least 30 days of stable data; extend to 60 or 90 days for low-volume accounts. Pull DSA search terms with the generated headline and landing page, plus page-feed performance where feeds are used.

Separate the review into four questions:

Save the date range, attribution assumptions, conversion actions, and bidding strategy with the baseline. Otherwise, a post-migration comparison can confuse structural change with a tracking or bidding change.

DSA performance depends heavily on the quality of the pages Google can select. Remove broken, redirected, duplicate, expired, out-of-stock, gated, and non-commercial URLs from page feeds. Replace redirects with final destination URLs. Make sure custom labels still match the business meaning they are supposed to represent.

Google recommends avoiding duplicate page-feed URLs and using multiple custom labels on one URL when it belongs to several groups. It also warns that new or edited feeds can take time to crawl, so do not schedule a major feed rebuild immediately before the migration.

Classify problems by cause:

Avoid converting every weak search term into a negative. A low-volume query may be noise, while a repeated intent pattern is a control problem. Look for clusters that recur across search terms, landing pages, or campaigns.

Decide which AI Max features you intend to enable and how they should be constrained. Review search term matching, text customization, final URL expansion, brand settings, locations of interest, URL inclusions or exclusions, and text guidelines.

AI Max works best when it has reliable conversion signals, but “more automation” is not a control plan. Write down what the campaign may expand into, what it must never target, which pages are eligible, which brand language is restricted, and which metrics will trigger intervention.

Google provides the DSA upgrade from the Dynamic Search Ads settings panel in the Google Ads interface. Before confirming, review the ad-group conversion, responsive search ad transformation, and final URL expansion choices. If the campaign is strategically important, consider a Google Ads experiment instead of moving the full budget at once.

Keep screenshots or an exported baseline of the old setup. During Google’s transitional period, legacy DSAs may continue serving until the new responsive search ads pass policy checks. Do not assume the old ads stopped serving on the day you clicked Upgrade.

For routine optimization, wait at least two weeks as Google recommends. Then compare the post-upgrade campaign with the saved baseline. Review search terms and ad combinations, landing pages, expanded final URL assets, conversions, conversion value, CPA or ROAS, and brand or URL leakage.

Prioritize changes by failure mode:

Use this after connecting the Google Ads account to an AI client through HireOtto. Replace the bracketed fields before running it.

A useful response should distinguish evidence from recommendations. Ask for the source rows behind each proposed exclusion, and review the proposed changes before authorizing any write.

HireOtto can turn the audit into a repeatable workflow inside an MCP-capable AI client. For existing DSA campaigns, it can inspect campaign settings, list positive and negative dynamic targets, discover domain categories, list page feeds and feed pages, and pull DSA search-term and page-feed performance reports. It can also support reviewable cleanup by creating or updating dynamic targets and managing page-feed membership.

Use those capabilities to build the baseline, find waste, and prepare the control plan. Keep the actual DSA-to-AI-Max upgrade and AI-Max-specific configuration in the Google Ads interface for now, with a human approving the structural changes. After migration, use Google Ads’ AI Max reporting views to evaluate search-term, headline, and landing-page combinations until dedicated AI Max controls are available in your HireOtto workflow.

Relevant guides: Google Ads MCP tools reference — https://docs.hireotto.com/google-ads-mcp-tools

Getting started: Connect HireOtto to your AI client — https://docs.hireotto.com/setup/connect-ai-tool

Quickstart — https://docs.hireotto.com/quickstart

If performance changes, you need a record of the targets, feeds, exclusions, ads, conversion configuration, and baseline results that existed before migration.

The concepts overlap, but the new system also uses search term matching, text customization, and final URL expansion. Rebuild the control model around queries, creative, destinations, brands, and locations—not around a one-for-one settings copy.

Multiple simultaneous changes make the outcome hard to diagnose. Sequence the work: fix obvious feed or tracking defects, capture the baseline, migrate, allow learning, then optimize.

A poor destination is often better fixed with a URL exclusion. Brand cannibalization needs brand controls. Off-brand generated copy needs text customization controls. Match the control to the failure.

New responsive search ads may need policy review, and changing eligible landing pages can expose gaps in tracking. Confirm that conversion tags, URL parameters, redirects, consent behavior, and final pages still work before judging performance.

Google’s current timetable says the DSA sunset and automatic upgrade will begin in February 2027. Google had originally announced September 2026, then extended the DSA timeline in a June 11, 2026 update.

No. AI Max is an optimization layer within an existing Search campaign. Google says dynamic ad groups convert to standard ad groups and existing DSAs convert to responsive search ads during the upgrade.

Google says legacy URL controls will be preserved during the transition. Still export the feed, URLs, labels, and targeting source before migration so you can verify the result rather than assume every business rule transferred correctly.

Upgrade when you can review the controls, measurement, and post-change monitoring—not merely because the button is available. High-value campaigns may warrant an experiment or phased rollout. Accounts that are not ready should at least complete the inventory and baseline before February 2027.

HireOtto can currently support the DSA audit, reporting, target cleanup, and page-feed work described above. Complete and approve the actual upgrade and AI-Max-specific settings in Google Ads.