Google Ads AI Max Migration: September 2026
From 1 September, Google Ads begins moving Search campaigns to AI Max automatically. The ability to build them the old way ended on 3 August.
Google will automatically migrate Search campaigns using campaign-level broad match or standalone Automatically Created Assets (ACA) to AI Max between 1 and 30 September 2026, per the Google Ads Developer Blog and Search Engine Land on 14 August 2026. Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) follow in February 2027. Creation of new legacy configurations was blocked across the Google Ads interface, Ads Editor and the API on 3 August.
Google says campaigns will be migrated in place using equivalent AI Max settings, with brand inclusions and exclusions carried over. AI Max bundles broader query matching with automatically generated assets, so the migration converts two separate opt-ins into one feature set expanding where your ads can show and what they can say.
Which Google Ads campaigns migrate to AI Max in September 2026? Any Search campaign carrying campaign-level broad match or legacy ACA. Campaigns running neither are untouched for now, though September brings in-account notices nudging voluntary DSA upgrades.
Our math: Modelled, not a client account. A Search campaign spending $4,000 CAD a month at $2 a click buys 2,000 clicks. At a 5% conversion rate that is 100 conversions at $40 each. If migration widens matching and, with spend unchanged, 20% of clicks move to new queries converting at half the rate, the campaign lands at 90 conversions and $44.44 each, up 11%. If the new queries convert at zero, 80 conversions at $50.00, up 25%. Scenarios, not forecasts; the reverse is possible if the new queries are good. The variable deciding which scenario you get moved from your keyword list to Google's matching.
Our read: "Migrated in place using equivalent settings" is Google's phrasing. Equivalence is a claim, and claims about your account are verified in your account, not in the announcement. Defaults are how platforms ship behaviour changes: on 3 August the ability to build Search campaigns the old way was removed, and in September the remaining ones move. Export your search terms report and record cost per conversion by campaign before the migration runs. Afterwards, that baseline is your best evidence of what changed.
If you cannot say which of your Search campaigns carry campaign-level broad match or ACA, that is this week's audit.
Sources
Google Ads Developer Blog, "Migrate campaign-level broad match and automatically created assets to AI Max", Google, August 2026.
Search Engine Land, "Google sets AI Max migration timeline for Search campaigns", 14 August 2026.
Search Engine Land, "Google to auto-upgrade some Search campaigns to AI Max", August 2026.
Last verified: 17 August 2026
Pakhiateau & Co is a marketing accountability firm. We install closed-loop tracking, audit the pipeline, and reallocate spend to what produces deposited cash, not impressions. The Read is our weekly account of what changed in paid media and search, and what it does to a budget.