Automated Ad Settings

Last Updated on October 1, 2026

Google Ads has a growing number of settings that let Google create, change, or swap out ad content on its own. These settings can add headlines, descriptions, sitelinks, callouts, images, videos, and even different landing pages to our ads without anyone on our team writing or approving them. Google pulls this content from the client’s website, landing pages, Merchant Center feed, and Google Business Profile.

These settings are spread across several different areas of the account, and many of them are on by default. This page covers where each one lives, what it does, and how to check whether it is causing something unexpected to show in an ad.

Why this matters: A client once sent us a screenshot of their ad showing a product image that included an item they no longer carry. The image was not an uploaded asset anywhere in the account. It took checking thirteen different places to find the cause: the Automated locations setting was on, with a checkbox granting Google permission to use photos from the client’s Google Business Profile in ads. Automated content is only as accurate as its source, and outdated website pages, product feeds, or GBP photos can end up in live ads.

Sebo Default

For most clients, we turn off automated content settings so that only the assets we write and approve can serve. If there is a good reason to turn one on for a specific client (for example, a client with a large, accurate, well-maintained website who wants to test AI Max), make that decision intentionally and note it in the client’s records so the rest of the team knows it is on by choice.

Where Automated Settings Live

Account-Level Automated Assets

These settings apply to the whole account, not a single campaign. When Google predicts an automated asset will improve performance, it creates the asset and shows it with our ads, sometimes alongside our manual assets and sometimes in place of them.

How to get there: Campaigns > Assets > Associations tab > three-dot menu (right side of the table) > Account-level automated assets > three-dot menu again > Advanced settings.

Each asset type has its own on/off setting on this page. Turning one off asks for a reason; select one and save.

Setting	What Google does	Risk level
Dynamic sitelinks	Creates sitelinks to pages on the client’s site	Medium: can link to outdated or off-strategy pages
Dynamic callouts	Pulls short phrases from the landing page (e.g., “25 years of experience”)	Medium: can surface stale claims or offers
Dynamic structured snippets	Lists products or services pulled from the site	Medium: can list discontinued items
Dynamic image assets	Pulls images from the landing page into Search ads	High: can show discontinued products or low-quality images
Automated locations	Adds address, directions, and sometimes a call button. Google may match the business to locations on its own if none are added.	High: see the GBP photo checkbox below
Dynamic business information	Adds business name and logo pulled from the site	Lower: confirm the site’s logo and name are current
Automated promotions	Finds deals and offers from the site and other sources	High: can show expired or incorrect promotions
Site visits	Shows the number of site visits as non-clickable text	Lower
Seller ratings	Shows review ratings from review sources	Lower: pulls from review data, not site content

Watch for the GBP photo checkbox. Under Automated locations, there is a separate checkbox that grants Google Ads a license to use merchant photos and other media from linked Google Business Profiles in the account’s ads. Turning off Dynamic image assets does not turn this off. Check both.

Also note: If Dynamic image assets is on, every new Performance Max campaign is created with Landing page images turned on by default.

AI Max (Search Campaigns)

AI Max for Search Campaigns

AI Max is a campaign-level set of features for Search campaigns. It replaced the old “Automatically created assets” setting, which is now called Text customization and lives inside AI Max.

How to get there: Campaigns > Campaigns > Settings tab > select the campaign > AI Max. Content settings are under the “Asset optimization” panel.

Text customization: Google writes additional headlines and descriptions for our responsive search ads using the landing page, domain, existing ads, and ad group keywords. These can serve alongside our own headlines and descriptions.
Final URL expansion: Google can send clicks to a different page on the site than the final URL we set, and writes matching headlines and descriptions for that page. Final URL expansion requires text customization, so turning off text customization also turns off final URL expansion.
Search term matching: Controls which searches the campaign can show for, not what the ad says. It is managed on the same AI Max page, so review it while you are there.

September 2026 auto-upgrade: Google is automatically upgrading Search campaigns that used the old automatically created assets setting or the campaign-level broad match setting to AI Max. Upgraded campaigns come over with search term matching on, and campaigns that had automatically created assets also get text customization on. Check the AI Max settings on every Search campaign, even ones where you turned the old setting off in the past.

Removing a single generated asset: Campaigns > Ads > find the responsive search ad > View asset details > hover over the asset’s status > Remove. Removal is permanent.

Performance Max

PMax has its own set of automation controls, separate from AI Max and separate from the account-level settings. Each PMax campaign has to be checked individually.

How to get there: Campaigns > Campaigns > gear icon next to the PMax campaign > Settings > Asset optimization. Settings are grouped into Text, Images, and Video tiles.

Text customization (Text tile): Google writes additional headlines and descriptions from the landing page, domain, and current ads.
Final URL expansion (Text tile): Google can replace the asset group’s final URL with another page on the domain and generate matching text. This can change the landing page that people land on. Usually, we want this to be turned off.
Image enhancements (Images tile): Google adjusts the appearance of our uploaded images to fit more ad formats.
Landing page images (Images tile): Google pulls images from the landing page into ads. This is on by default for new PMax campaigns if Dynamic image assets is on at the account level.
Video enhancement (Video tile): Google can create new versions of uploaded videos, such as vertical or square versions, and add AI voiceover to videos without a voice track.

Product feeds count too. PMax campaigns that target products can pull images directly from the Merchant Center feed. If a product feed image is outdated, it can show in PMax ads even with every Asset optimization setting turned off. See the Merchant Center & Business Profile tab.

Auto-Apply Recommendations

Auto-apply lets Google accept certain recommendations on its own, without anyone reviewing them. Several of these add or change ad content, including new responsive search ad headlines and descriptions pulled from the site, and new assets.

How to get there: Campaigns > Recommendations > Auto-apply settings. Uncheck any recommendation types that are on, then save.

To see which auto-apply recommendations are on and who turned them on, check the History tab on the Recommendations page. You can also see the list under Admin > Account settings > Auto-apply.

Sebo default: Leave the “Ads and assets” recommendations off for auto-apply. Review ad-related recommendations manually and apply only the ones that fit the client.

Merchant Center & Business Profile

Merchant Center & Google Business Profile

These are not Google Ads settings, but they are source material that Google Ads can pull from automatically.

Merchant Center feed: PMax and Shopping ads use the product images, titles, and details in the feed. If a product was discontinued or changed, confirm the feed reflects it. Review the image for each affected product, not just the product title.
Google Business Profile: If the Automated locations GBP photo checkbox is on (see the Account-Level Automated Assets tab), photos from the client’s GBP can appear in ads. Old GBP photos showing discontinued products, previous locations, or outdated branding are a risk. Either turn off the checkbox or make sure the GBP photos are current.

Finding What Served

Before changing settings, check the reports. They can often tell you exactly where an unexpected asset came from.

Google-created assets: Campaigns > Assets > Add filter > “Added by” > Google AI. This shows assets Google created instead of ones we uploaded.
Automated locations and seller ratings: These do not show in the filter above. Use the three-dot menu on the Assets table > Account-level automated assets.
Search ad text: Campaigns > Ads > View asset details under the responsive search ad to see Google customized headlines and descriptions.
PMax: Check the asset group’s asset reporting and the combinations report to see which assets have served together.

Troubleshooting: An Ad Is Showing Something We Didn’t Approve

When a client reports ad content we didn’t write or upload, work through these checks in order. Start with the reports, since they can point you straight to the source.

Confirm it is the client’s ad and note which campaign type it likely came from (Search, PMax, Shopping).
Check our own assets first. Search the ad copy and image assets at the ad group, campaign, and account levels, and in every PMax asset group. Fix any incorrect copy we wrote.
Check the Assets report filtered to “Added by: Google AI.” Also check the Account-level automated assets report for location assets and seller ratings.
Check the PMax combinations report if the account has PMax campaigns.
Check AI Max on each Search campaign (text customization and final URL expansion).
Check PMax Asset optimization on each PMax campaign (text customization, final URL expansion, image enhancements, landing page images, video enhancement).
Check every setting on the Account-level automated assets Advanced settings page, including the GBP photo checkbox under Automated locations. Do not stop at Dynamic image assets.
Check Auto-apply settings under Recommendations.
Check the Merchant Center feed for the affected products, including their images.
Check the Google Business Profile photos if the GBP photo checkbox was on.

New account or new campaign? Run through the Account-level automated assets Advanced settings page, Auto-apply settings, and the AI Max or PMax Asset optimization settings during setup. Several of these default to on when a campaign is created, and it is much easier to set them correctly at the start than to track down an unexpected asset later.