From December 4, 2026, every new Performance Max campaign you create will pull images off your own website by default, and the account-level dynamic images switch will no longer stop it. Google announced this on its Ads Developer Blog on October 21, 2026. Existing campaigns keep their current settings.
What is Google actually changing on December 4?
Google is flipping image extraction to on by default for newly created Performance Max campaigns, across the Google Ads interface, Google Ads Editor and the Google Ads API.
Image extraction is the feature that lets Google scrape photos from your landing pages and use them as ad assets alongside the images you uploaded yourself. Until now it followed a single account-level control called Dynamic images. If you had switched that off, new campaigns inherited "off" and that was the end of it.
That inheritance breaks on December 4. According to the Google Ads Developer Blog post of October 21, 2026, reported by PPC Land the same day, the new campaign-level default applies even where dynamic image extensions are disabled at the account level. In plain terms: the switch you flipped off two years ago protects your old campaigns and nothing you build from December onward.
Campaigns you already have running are untouched. Google’s wording is that existing Performance Max campaigns retain their current configurations.
Why should a small-business owner care about this?
Because the images on your website were almost never chosen to be ads, and in a lot of trades they are legally not yours to run.
Think about what is actually sitting on a typical home-services or retail site. Stock photos licensed for web use but not paid advertising. A manufacturer’s product shot lifted from a supplier portal. A team photo from 2019 with a staff member who left. A before-and-after from a job where the homeowner agreed to a website photo, not an ad across the Google Display Network.
Google is aware of this exposure. In the same announcement it asks advertisers to confirm they own all legal rights or permissions to the images published on their landing pages, because extracted images may include third-party or licensed photos. That is Google putting the rights question on your side of the table.
The second reason is quality control. Performance Max already decides where your ads show and which assets it leans on. Letting it also pick which pictures represent your business means your worst photo can quietly become your highest-spending creative.
How do you turn image extraction off for a new campaign?
You have to set it on the campaign itself now, not just at account level, and the method depends on how you build campaigns.
If someone builds your campaigns through the Google Ads API or a script, the setting is GENERATE_IMAGE_EXTRACTION and it needs asset_automation_status = OPTED_OUT included in the campaign creation payload. Google’s warning here matters: writing new asset automation settings replaces the whole array rather than merging with what is already there, so any other entry such as TEXT_ASSET_AUTOMATION has to be re-included or it gets cleared.
If you build campaigns in the interface, the account-level control still lives under Campaigns, then Assets, then More, then Account-level automated assets, then Advanced settings, where you will find Dynamic images. Keep it set the way you want — it still governs existing campaigns. Google’s post did not spell out a campaign-level opt-out in the interface or Editor, so for now: build the campaign, then check its asset settings before you let it spend.
To audit what you have, the query is against campaign.asset_automation_settings. Any Performance Max campaign with no GENERATE_IMAGE_EXTRACTION entry is still inheriting the account setting rather than holding its own.
What does this look like before and after?
| Situation | Before December 4, 2026 | From December 4, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| New Performance Max campaign, account dynamic images ON | Image extraction on | Image extraction on |
| New Performance Max campaign, account dynamic images OFF | Image extraction off | Image extraction ON by default |
| Existing Performance Max campaign | Follows its current setting | Keeps its current setting |
| Where the control lives | Account level | Campaign level, set at creation |
| Who carries the image rights risk | Advertiser | Advertiser, explicitly stated |
One gap worth naming: the announcement does not say whether a campaign created on December 4 itself falls under the old rule or the new one, and it does not address copied campaigns. Treat anything built from December 1 onward as subject to the new default.
What to do this week
- Walk your own website as if you were Google. Open your top three landing pages and ask of every image: do I have the right to run this as a paid ad, in Canada, with no end date? Anything you hesitate on, replace or remove before December.
- Write down your account’s Dynamic images setting today. You will want to know what it was when a new campaign starts behaving differently in December.
- Tell whoever builds your campaigns. If an agency, a freelancer or a script creates your Performance Max campaigns, send them the December 4 date and ask whether their build template will opt out or opt in. A template written in 2025 will silently opt in.
- Put a calendar note for the first new campaign you launch in December. Check its asset settings before the first weekend of spend, not after.
If you are running Performance Max on a $500–$10,000 monthly budget and have never looked at which assets are actually carrying your spend, that is the more valuable audit. Our Google Ads management work starts with exactly that asset-level read before anything gets rebuilt.
Frequently asked questions
Will this change my existing Performance Max campaigns?
No. Google’s October 21, 2026 announcement states that existing Performance Max campaigns retain their current configurations. If image extraction is off on a campaign running today, it stays off. The change applies to campaigns created from December 4, 2026 onward. The open question Google did not answer is what happens to existing campaigns that never had an explicit campaign-level setting and have been following the account toggle — if that describes your account, audit it rather than assume.
Is image extraction bad for small businesses?
Not automatically. For a business with a genuinely strong photo library on its site — a photographer, a restaurant, a detailer with real job shots — extraction can add usable creative variety without extra production cost. The risk is concentrated in businesses whose site images are stock, supplier-supplied or outdated. The deciding question is not whether the feature works, it is whether you own and would choose every photo on your landing pages.
Do I need to do anything before December 4, 2026?
Only if you plan to create new Performance Max campaigns after that date and do not want Google pulling images from your site. If so, the work is small: confirm your image rights, record your current account setting, and make sure whoever builds your campaigns knows to set the campaign-level opt-out rather than relying on the account switch. If you are happy for Google to extract images, Google’s own guidance is that no action is needed.
Does this affect Google Shopping or Search campaigns?
The announcement is specific to Performance Max campaigns. It does not describe a change to Search, Display or standard Shopping campaign defaults. But Performance Max is the campaign type most small businesses are steered toward, which is why a narrow default change matters more than it sounds.
Want a second pair of eyes before December? We run a free 48-hour audit of your Google Ads account — book it here.
Sources: PPC Land, "Google turns on PMax image extraction by default from December 4", October 21, 2026; Relevant Audience, "Google Ads PMax image extraction default", October 23, 2026; Google Ads Developer Blog, October 21, 2026.