What Are Dynamic Search Ads? How DSA Works and What the AI Max Upgrade Changes

What are dynamic search ads (DSA) in Google Ads?

Dynamic search ads are a Google Ads search format that targets your website content instead of keywords. Google crawls your site, matches each search to your most relevant page and writes the headline from that page automatically. You write only the description, and you control reach through page targets, categories or a page feed.

I have run search campaign strategy since 2012, and dynamic search ads remain one of the most misunderstood tools in the accounts I audit. Some advertisers treat DSA as a shortcut: traffic without keyword research. In practice, its real strength lies elsewhere. It catches the long tail searches that your keyword list misses. Left unchecked, however, it spreads budget across pages that never sell.

In this guide I explain how DSA works, which targeting options exist, why the page feed matters and how negative targets draw the line. I also summarise Google's decision to move DSA into AI Max and what that transition means for your account. The rules come from Google Ads Help and Google's official blog; the examples are my own illustrations.

How do dynamic search ads work?

Google's crawler sits at the centre of the system. It reads your site, organises your pages by topic and checks that index whenever a relevant search happens. When it finds a match, it picks the best landing page and builds a headline that fits that page. As a result, the ad often mirrors the searcher's wording more closely than a headline you would write by hand.

The flow looks roughly like this:

1. You create a dynamic ad group and enter your domain and language in the campaign settings.
2. You choose dynamic ad targets: all pages, specific URLs, categories or a page feed.
3. You write the descriptions. Google generates the headline, final URL and display URL.
4. When someone searches, Google selects a relevant page from its index of your site and enters the auction.
5. The ad then competes on Ad Rank, exactly like any other search ad.

So the quality of DSA depends directly on the quality of your site. Thin pages, vague titles or out of stock products produce vague ads. For that reason, I always check that the site is crawlable, current and clearly titled before I switch on a single dynamic ad group.

Who chooses the DSA headline and landing page?

Google chooses both. In fact, its DSA help page states plainly that your page's HTML title is the most important signal for the generated headline. In other words, a weak title tag leads to a weak ad headline. Above all, this is one of the most concrete bridges between SEO and paid search.

For example, if a product page carries a coded title such as "Item 1452 | Store", the dynamic headline has little to work with. A clear title like "Stainless Steel Vacuum Flask 750 ml" helps you in organic results and in DSA at the same time. My guide on how to write a meta title and description covers the craft in detail.

For the landing page, Google looks for the page that best fits the search intent. That page will not always match your preference. A blog post, for instance, can look more relevant to a product search than the product page itself. Therefore you need targets and negative targets that decide which pages stay eligible. Otherwise you end up paying for clicks that land on pages that cannot convert.

How do dynamic search ads differ from standard search ads?

Both formats compete in the same auction, but the control points differ. In a standard search campaign you choose the keyword, the headline and the URL. Dynamic search ads hand most of those decisions to your site content and to Google's matching. The table sums up the differences:

In short, DSA does not replace a keyword campaign; it fills the gaps around one. I see the best results when it runs next to a well built keyword structure. The keyword campaign protects known demand, while DSA surfaces demand that has not reached your list yet. Mix up those two roles and both your reports and your budget decisions become blurry.

Which dynamic ad targets can you use?

Google's help page lists eight types of dynamic ad targets. Each offers a different level of control, so your choice shapes the whole campaign:

• All webpages: every page on your domain that Google's crawlers discover.
• Categories: sets of landing pages that Google groups by theme from your content.
• URL contains: pages whose address includes a token, such as "/flasks/".
• URL equals: individual addresses you list one by one.
• Page title: pages whose titles contain certain words.
• Page content: pages that contain words you specify.
• Custom label: URL groups you tag inside a page feed.
• Landing pages from standard ad groups: pages you already use in search ads across the account.

New accounts often reach for "all webpages" because it takes the least setup. However, even Google recommends adding negative dynamic targets when you use it. Categories can also take up to 24 hours to populate after setup, so an empty list on day one is normal.

My own preference is to start narrow and widen with data. First, I open only sales pages through a page feed or a "URL contains" rule. After a few weeks, once the search terms report looks healthy, I expand the scope. That way the learning budget goes to pages that can actually sell.

Why is a page feed the most controlled way to target?

A page feed is a spreadsheet of the URLs you want to advertise. Google's help page describes it as the most focused and controlled form of DSA targeting. The reason is simple: it relies on your list rather than on Google's interpretation of your site.

In practice, the real value sits in custom labels. You can add up to 20 custom labels to each URL. For instance, you might tag products as "high-margin", "on-sale" or "low-stock", then attach separate bids and separate descriptions to each label. As a result, one campaign can bid aggressively on profitable products and cautiously on thin margin ones.

Predictability is another advantage. Category targeting depends on how Google reads your site; with a feed, you decide which pages enter the auction. In addition, the same feed works for Performance Max campaigns, according to Google's documentation. When my team and I build DSA structures for online stores, the feed almost always becomes the core target.

How do you prepare a page feed?

The feed is a simple two column sheet: "Page URL" and "Custom label". You separate multiple labels with semicolons. According to Google's help page, you upload it through the Business data section under the Tools menu. Here is how I prepare one:

1. Pick the pages you want to advertise; start with product, category and service pages.
2. Make sure every URL is the final address; if a redirect exists, list the destination instead.
3. Remove tracking parameters, because Google asks for clean URLs in the feed.
4. Delete duplicate URLs and any address that redirects to another domain.
5. Drop pages that Google cannot crawl; ads will never serve for them.
6. Assign labels that reflect business goals: margin, season, stock level or product family.

After the upload, however, patience matters. Google says crawling a feed takes 2 to 14 days on average, depending on its size. There is also a limit of 100 page feeds per account. To keep the URLs current, an XML sitemap generator helps you export your site's URL inventory on a regular schedule.

How do negative targets and negative keywords work together?

With DSA you set limits on two layers. The first layer is negative dynamic ad targets, which keep specific pages out of the auction. The second is negative keywords, which stop the ad from showing on specific searches. If you skip either layer, the campaign spends money on the wrong page or the wrong query.

These page groups end up on my negative target list on almost every site:

• Corporate pages such as careers, contact, about and privacy.
• Product pages that are out of stock or discontinued.
• Account pages: cart, login, password reset.
• Blog posts with weak commercial intent, especially purely informational ones.
• Duplicate addresses that multiply through filter and sort parameters.

On the keyword side you watch for off intent terms like "free", "what is" or "jobs". That said, you cannot predict every DSA query in advance. So you need to grow the negative list often in the first weeks, guided by the search terms report. To test how match types behave, the keyword match type tool gives you a quick sandbox.

What happens when DSA and a keyword campaign overlap?

Google gives a clear rule here, because overlaps are common. If a search term is identical to an exact keyword in another campaign, the ad from your keyword campaign may show instead of your dynamic search ad. So an exact keyword usually wins that auction.

However, the picture changes when the search only matches your keyword as broad or phrase match. In that case Google may show the dynamic ad if it has a higher Ad Rank. Ad Rank for DSA works the same way as for keyword ads: your bid, auction time ad quality, Ad Rank thresholds and the context of the search.

The practical takeaway matters. If you keep proven, profitable searches as exact match keywords, you keep control of that traffic. DSA then works in the discovery space around them. Instead of two campaigns cannibalising each other, you get a clean division of labour. That division starts with solid keyword choices, which I cover in how to find keywords that drive sales.

How should you write descriptions for dynamic search ads?

Because the headline is dynamic, the description is the only part of the ad you author. That means it carries the whole persuasive load. The headline answers "what"; the description has to answer "why you".

My core rule is to write the description for the scope of the ad group. In an ad group that targets the whole site, you have to stay generic. In a group built around a "flasks" label, by contrast, you can name a product specific benefit. So narrower targeting also produces stronger copy.

A good DSA description usually includes:

• A concrete benefit you can prove: delivery time, warranty or easy returns.
• General wording that cannot clash with the headline, since you never know it in advance.
• A clear call to action, such as "Browse the range" or "Request a quote".
• Only promises your pages actually keep; never mention a discount the page does not show.

If you also run standard ads next to DSA, the responsive search ad builder helps you keep the messaging consistent across both.

How do you read the DSA search terms report?

In practice, this report acts as the control panel for DSA. According to Google's help page, it shows the searches that triggered your ads, the dynamically generated headlines and the performance of each landing page. You open it from the Search terms section in the Campaigns menu.

The report offers four views: search terms only, landing pages only, both combined, and AI Max search terms data. I usually start with the combined view, because the most common DSA problem is the right search landing on the wrong page.

While reading, I ask three questions. First, which searches spend without converting? You add those as negative keywords. Second, which pages collect clicks but no sales? You can exclude them straight from the report as negative URLs. Third, which pages convert well? Google suggests creating a "URL equals" target for them and raising the bid.

In large accounts it pays to look at word patterns rather than single terms. The search terms n-gram analyzer groups spend by word and shows waste quickly.

How should you plan bids and budget?

DSA bidding follows the same Ad Rank logic as standard search. The difference lies in predictability. In a keyword campaign you know which query you bid on. With DSA the variety of queries is much wider, so budget can drift into unexpected corners.

That is why I stick to three principles early on. First, I run DSA in its own campaign, or at least with its own budget control, so it cannot eat the main campaign's money. Second, I avoid automated bidding until conversion tracking is solid. Third, I raise bids on profitable product groups through feed labels.

How much to spend depends on the number of pages you target and the cost per click in your sector. The Google Ads budget calculator gives you a starting figure. Also, I recommend not scaling the budget before you have reviewed at least two weeks of search term data.

Which metrics show whether DSA is performing?

Dynamic search ads spread traffic across many pages, so campaign averages can mislead you. A healthy looking cost per conversion may hide a few strong pages and dozens of loss making ones. You need to measure at page and label level instead.

These are the indicators I track:

• Cost per conversion by landing page: shows which pages deserve budget.
• ROAS by feed label: reveals profit gaps between product groups.
• Share of new search terms: tells you whether DSA actually discovers new demand.
• Spend overlapping with keyword campaigns: shows whether the two structures compete.

For example, the ROAS calculator gives you a quick check per label. In addition, move strong new terms that DSA discovers into your keyword campaign. That closes the loop between discovery and efficiency.

Which websites suit dynamic search ads?

Specifically, DSA shines on large, well organised sites. On a store with hundreds or thousands of products, writing keywords for every item is not realistic. Dynamic search ads fill that gap and catch product searches you never anticipated.

Typical good fits include:

• Online stores with large catalogues and well written title tags.
• Business sites with many service or location pages.
• Sites whose inventory changes often, such as events, listings or tours.
• Mature accounts that want to discover searches their keyword campaigns miss.

By contrast, one page sites, brand new sites with little content and sites with coded titles tend to disappoint. If you are unsure about your product pages, start with my ecommerce product page guide.

When does DSA waste budget?

In account audits I see the same causes of DSA waste again and again. The most common one is launching with "all webpages" and no negative targets. Blog posts and corporate pages then start to absorb paid clicks.

The second cause is stale stock and pricing. Google crawls the page, but if the product no longer sells, the visitor clicks and bounces. The third cause is DSA and keyword campaigns fighting over the same searches. Next to broad match keywords in particular, DSA can make reports almost unreadable.

The fourth cause is missing conversion tracking. Because DSA sends traffic to so many pages, you cannot optimise without knowing which pages actually sell. Another frequent issue is the same page appearing in DSA and in a standard ad group with different messages. Users then see mixed promises for one product, and you cannot tell which ad drove the sale. Finally, some accounts ignore the search terms report for months. The Google Ads audit tool helps you spot these issues quickly. In short, DSA is not a self driving campaign; it is a discovery tool that needs regular maintenance.

Why is Google upgrading dynamic search ads to AI Max?

On 15 April 2026, Google announced on its official blog that it will upgrade Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max. The announcement covers three legacy features: DSA, automatically created assets and the campaign level broad match setting. Google's aim is to bring these functions together under AI Max for Search campaigns.

The timeline has changed once. Originally, automatic upgrades would begin in September 2026. However, an update dated 11 June 2026 moved the DSA date to February 2027. Campaigns that use automatically created assets or campaign level broad match still upgrade from September 2026. Google Ads Help pages now carry the note: "starting in February 2027, campaigns using Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) will automatically be upgraded to AI Max."

Google also states that AI Max for Search campaigns using the full feature suite see an average of 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS. That figure is Google's own claim, not a promise for your account. You can read the details in Google's DSA upgrade announcement.

What happens to your dynamic ad groups during the AI Max upgrade?

According to Google, campaigns with dynamic ad groups will move to standard ad groups. Google ports settings and historical data into AI Max to keep performance consistent. Google Ads Help also notes that existing dynamic search ads turn into responsive search ads.

In other words, the job DSA does will not disappear. AI Max offers a similar discovery function through search term matching, text customisation and final URL expansion. On the control side it provides URL inclusions and exclusions, brand inclusions and exclusions, and text guidelines. So the closest equivalent of DSA negative targets will be URL exclusions in AI Max.

Still, do not assume every setting carries over one to one. Google's announcement gives no detail on how page feeds and negative targets behave in the upgrade. That is why you should document your current setup before the switch, so you can compare afterwards. Google also notes that some advertisers may no longer see the DSA setting when they create a new campaign, as part of a simplification experiment.

How should you prepare before the AI Max deadline?

Google strongly recommends moving to AI Max voluntarily now rather than waiting, and it offers upgrade tools for this. According to the announcement, these tools help you port historical settings and data into new standard ad groups. Google also suggests testing the impact with one click experiments. My preparation checklist:

1. Export and archive all dynamic ad targets, negative targets and feed labels.
2. Save the last 90 days of search term and landing page data for later comparison.
3. Move negative keywords into shared negative lists.
4. Rebuild your list of pages that must never receive ads, using AI Max URL exclusion logic.
5. Verify conversion tracking, because automation amplifies measurement errors.
6. Run an experiment on an important campaign before the forced date and measure the difference yourself.

This approach keeps the transition under your control rather than Google's calendar. For an online store with a critical holiday season, for example, it makes sense to start the experiment by early autumn. Keep budget and bid strategy fixed during the test; otherwise you cannot isolate the cause of any change.

How do my team and I audit a DSA campaign?

When we take over an account, we always review DSA as a separate topic. Our first look goes to targeting: does the campaign target all pages, or does a feed or URL rule limit it? Next we check whether the negative target list is current and whether the feed URLs still exist.

Then we read the search term and landing page views together. We separate pages that spend without converting and propose dedicated targets and bids for pages that do convert. After that, we check the overlap between DSA and the keyword campaigns. Finally, we draft a roadmap for the AI Max upgrade.

We also put the website itself on the table, because DSA success depends on title tags and content quality. If you want your search ads managed end to end in this way, take a look at our Google Ads management service.

Are dynamic search ads still worth using today?

Yes, as a transition tool. DSA keeps running until February 2027, and a well built setup can still bring valuable long tail traffic. Rather than building a large new DSA architecture from scratch, though, I suggest designing the same logic in a way that moves cleanly into AI Max.

To sum up: fix your title tags, narrow targeting with a page feed and URL rules, add negative targets from day one and read the search terms report regularly. Also keep profitable searches as exact match keywords and leave DSA to the discovery space. That way your current campaign stays efficient and you arrive ready for AI Max. However advanced the automation gets, your content and the limits you set still decide ad quality.

For the keyword side in a B2B context, Google Ads search campaigns for B2B is a good next read. As primary sources, I recommend Google's pages About Dynamic Search Ads, About targets for Dynamic Search Ads and Use a feed to target Dynamic Search Ads.