Platform Watch

Google's Forced Ad Migration Leaves B2B Teams No Opt-Out

Google's forced AI Max migration for Search campaigns is running through September with no opt-out, and B2B advertisers need an account audit now.

By The Pull Desk·Today·5 min read
Platform Watch

Google's Forced Ad Migration Leaves B2B Teams No Opt-Out

The short version

THE SHORT VERSION: Google is running a forced ad migration this month, automatically converting eligible legacy Search campaigns to AI Max with no opt-out, after freezing new legacy campaign creation on August 3 — a live account-level change B2B search advertisers need to audit before September 30.

What happened

Google confirmed a migration timeline for Search advertisers that is actively running this month: since August 3, 2026, Google has not allowed creation of new Campaign-level Broad Match or legacy Automatically Created Assets campaigns, and from September 1 through September 30, 2026, it is automatically migrating existing campaigns of that type to AI Max, with no advertiser opt-out. A separate migration for Dynamic Search Ads, originally set for September, was pushed to February 2027 after advertiser pushback. Google's own messaging has also shifted: at AI Max's May 2025 launch, Google promised 14% more conversions or conversion value at a similar cost; by its April 2026 DSA-retirement announcement, that claim had been revised down to 7% more conversions from the full AI Max feature suite compared with search-term matching alone. The confirmed migration timeline is detailed at Search Engine Land.

Why the forced ad migration deserves an audit

From the publisher

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Independent testing has tracked a similar gap. A Smarter Ecommerce analysis of more than 250 retail campaigns, covered by PPC.land, found AI Max delivering conversions at roughly 35% lower return on ad spend than traditional match types over a four-month test, with cost-per-conversion of $100.37 versus $43.97 for phrase match. That study predates the current forced migration and covers retail rather than B2B accounts, but it's the most concrete documented performance gap available — and it matters most for B2B advertisers running tight CAC targets on Search, where one mismatched campaign type can burn a quarter's paid budget before anyone notices.

  1. Check which of your Search campaigns have already migrated
    Log into Google Ads this week and look for campaigns tagged as AI Max or recently converted from Broad Match or Automatically Created Assets. Note the exact conversion date so you can compare performance before and after in your next reporting cycle.
  2. Set performance alerts on cost-per-conversion, not just spend
    Because early testing shows AI Max can run at meaningfully higher cost-per-conversion than phrase match, set a Google Ads automated rule flagging any campaign where CPA jumps more than 25% week-over-week, so a bad migration doesn't burn budget for a full month unnoticed.
  3. Rebuild your highest-intent keywords as separate exact-match campaigns
    For your top five highest-converting B2B keywords, create standalone exact-match campaigns outside the AI Max migration path this week, giving you a stable control group to measure against whatever AI Max delivers on the rest of the account.

By the numbers: Google's own stated conversion lift for AI Max has already been revised down once, from 14% at launch in May 2025 to 7% in its April 2026 DSA-retirement announcement — before independent testing found cost-per-conversion running as high as $100.37 versus $43.97 for phrase match.

What to do this week

Spend 20 minutes in Google Ads checking which campaigns have already converted to AI Max under the September auto-migration, then set a cost-per-conversion alert at 25% above your current baseline on each one. That single guardrail catches a bad migration inside a week instead of a full billing cycle, before it quietly eats a month of pipeline budget.

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