Google Ads AI Max migration: the settings to check before your next campaign review

If your Google Ads account uses features moving to AI Max, begin with an account review rather than a blanket decision to switch everything on or off. Confirm what changed, where ads can send people and what your conversion data tells the system to pursue.

The migration timetable needs particular care. Different legacy features are on different schedules, and an older summary of the announcement can leave you with the wrong date.

The timeline to use in October 2026

Google’s AI Max migration announcement was updated on 11 June. That correction says Dynamic Search Ads auto-upgrades begin in February 2027. Campaigns using Automatically Created Assets and campaign-level broad match remain on a transition starting in September 2026.

Some earlier text on the announcement still refers to September for DSA. Use the dated correction and verify the current notice inside your account before planning work. These dates do not prove that any particular campaign has already migrated.

Take a record before changing settings

Ask the person managing the account to record affected campaigns, their current settings, recent change history and the business outcome each is intended to support. Include who is authorised to make changes. This avoids two well-intentioned people editing the same campaign while interpreting different versions of the plan.

Keep the baseline practical. You need enough information to understand a performance change, not a screenshot of every screen. Record budget, targeting boundaries, conversion goals, landing-page controls and the dates of material changes. Add any promotion, stock issue or staffing constraint that could affect results.

If an account is managed externally, ask for a short written explanation of the migration’s effect on your campaigns. “We have AI Max covered” is less useful than knowing which controls changed and how the team will assess enquiry quality.

Review the website as an advertising input

A campaign can only send visitors to pages your business is comfortable using. Make a list of pages that support current offers and those that should not be destinations for paid traffic. Look for old pricing, discontinued services, job vacancies, expired campaigns and informative articles with no suitable next step.

For a service business, check geography and scope carefully. A page discussing national industry trends does not necessarily mean the business delivers the service nationally. An article explaining a specialist issue does not necessarily offer that specialist service.

Turn those distinctions into a landing-page review brief. Where the account supports relevant controls, ask the manager to confirm how they are applied. Do not assume a page exclusion exists simply because somebody agrees the page should be excluded.

Check the promise in the ad

Review the claims a customer could reasonably infer from the ad and destination together. Are delivery times, qualifications, prices and availability accurate? Could a phrase imply an offer broader than the business provides?

Prepare a short set of approved messages and prohibited claims for your account manager. Include the reason behind each restriction. “Do not promise same-day installation because assessment and stock confirmation come first” is clearer than “avoid aggressive wording”.

This is also a useful moment to remove outdated content from the website. An archived promotion should not continue to look current to either a customer or the people managing your advertising.

Inspect the quality of the outcome

Higher conversion counts can mean more suitable enquiries. They can also reflect a measurement change or an increase in low-value actions. Check what is being counted before judging a transition.

• Does a successful enquiry mean the form was accepted, rather than merely that a button was clicked?
• Are repeated submissions or duplicate records being identified?
• Can the sales team distinguish a relevant enquiry from spam, a job application or a supplier pitch?
• Is there enough time for a lead to become a qualified opportunity before you assess performance?
• Have changes in phone handling or response capacity affected the result?

Agree which business evidence matters. For a specialist consultancy, a lower raw lead count with more suitable projects could be preferable to a large increase in unsuitable contacts. That is a business decision, not a universal advertising rule.

Make the review specific enough to act on

Consider this illustrative example. A business sells commercial fit-outs but not residential renovations. Its website has a useful article explaining renovation planning. After a campaign change, the team notices more residential enquiries.

The sensible investigation checks search terms where available, actual landing pages, ad wording and how the enquiries were classified. It does not immediately blame one platform update. If the destination and message are attracting the wrong audience, the team can tighten those parts and review the effect.

Document the hypothesis before the edit: “Clarifying commercial-only scope should reduce unsuitable residential enquiries.” Then record what changed and how you will assess it. This creates a useful learning record even when the outcome is inconclusive.

Agree a controlled review plan

Choose the decision-maker, the evidence to review and the conditions requiring immediate attention. A misleading claim or broken enquiry path needs prompt correction. Ordinary short-term fluctuation may need observation rather than another round of changes.

Avoid changing targeting, creative, website copy and conversion definitions simultaneously unless a serious issue requires it. When several variables move together, it becomes harder to understand what helped. Account-specific constraints may still make a staged approach impractical, so record those limitations.

Google’s announcement is a reason to inspect your setup, not a reason to promise better results. Your account history, commercial priorities and customer feedback should guide the decision.

Bring the account and the customer journey together

Grendesign’s paid advertising services are a relevant starting point if you want to discuss the campaign review. If the investigation exposes unclear service boundaries or weak destinations, include the website journey in the brief too. Improving the account settings alone cannot resolve an offer customers cannot understand.