On October 21, Google posted on the Google Ads Developer Blog that Performance Max image extraction will be enabled by default for newly created Performance Max campaigns starting December 4, 2026. If you have ever turned off automated image use on purpose, this is a change to your defaults that is easy to miss, because nothing in your existing campaigns will visibly move.
What Google announced
Image extraction is the setting where Google scans your landing page and pulls images from it to use as ad assets in Performance Max. In the API it appears as GENERATE_IMAGE_EXTRACTION. Google's post says it will default to OPTED_IN for newly created Performance Max campaigns. Two trade publications that read the full post, PPC Land and Relevant Audience, report three further details, all attributed to Google's post:
The new default applies across the Google Ads API, the Google Ads interface and Google Ads Editor. It applies even when Dynamic Images is turned off at the account level. And existing Performance Max campaigns will retain their current configurations.
That second point is the one that matters. Until now, a new campaign without an explicit setting inherited your account preference. After December 4, an account-level “off” will no longer protect you on newly created campaigns unless the campaign itself is set to opt out.
Why a founder should care
Automated images are not automatically bad. For some brands they add useful variety. The problem is control. Your landing pages often hold images you would never want in an ad: stock photos you only hold a web licence for, partner or customer logos, before-and-after shots with compliance rules attached, screenshots with pricing that has since changed. PPC Land notes that Google asks advertisers to confirm they hold the rights to use these images for commercial and advertising purposes. If you have said “no” at account level, you presumably had a reason, and a new campaign launched in January could quietly ignore it.
This also hits anyone who creates campaigns in bulk or through scripts and tools. If your agency, freelancer or feed tool launches campaigns through the API, the default flips for them too unless they send an explicit opt-out.
What we do not know yet
We read Google's post through those two reports, and the post leaves some gaps. We could not confirm from the sources we have whether there will be a per-campaign opt-out control in the Google Ads interface or Editor, or whether a duplicated campaign counts as “newly created.” Both sources describe the API opt-out in detail and neither describes an equivalent button. Until Google clarifies, treat the interface behaviour as unknown, and do not assume a toggle will be there on launch day.
What to do before December 4
First, check your account-level setting. PPC Land gives the path as Campaigns, then Assets, then More, then Account-level automated assets, then Advanced settings, then Dynamic images. Note whether it is on or off today. That tells you whether December 4 changes anything for you at all.
Second, decide your position. If you are happy for Google to use landing page images, there is nothing to fix. If you are not, you need a campaign-level opt-out on anything you create from December 4 onward.
Third, tell whoever launches your campaigns. If an agency or tool uses the API, the reported fix is to include asset_automation_settings with GENERATE_IMAGE_EXTRACTION and status OPTED_OUT in the campaign creation payload. One warning from the same reports: the field is a list, and an update replaces the whole list, so any other entries (for example text asset automation) have to be sent again or they get cleared.
Fourth, audit what you already have. The reports suggest a GAQL query on campaign.asset_automation_settings filtered to Performance Max. Campaigns with no image extraction entry are inheriting the account setting. Know which ones those are, because the account setting is the thing that is about to stop being a safety net for new campaigns.
Fifth, clean the landing pages that feed it. If you do end up opted in, the images Google can see are the images it can use. Remove anything you would not want in an ad from the pages you point Performance Max at, or confirm you hold the rights to it.
The practical read
Nothing breaks on December 4 for an account that is not launching new Performance Max campaigns. The risk sits with the next campaign you build, and with whoever builds it. A six-week heads-up is enough time to write one line into your launch checklist and one line into your agency brief. It is much harder to find out in February that a new campaign has been showing images you never approved.
If you want a second pair of eyes on how your Performance Max setup is configured, including asset controls, conversion setup and how your reported ROAS compares with the money in the bank, that is part of what our free 15-point Profit Audit covers. For a related Google Ads automation change with a deadline, see what your account needs to do about automated promotions.