Key takeaway: Google updated Smart Bidding guidance and will default image extraction on for new Performance Max campaigns from December 4, 2026.
Key Takeaway
Google has announced two operational changes for its advertising platform. Google Ads updated its Smart Bidding learning documentation to state that the visible Learning status does not last more than seven days, while also clarifying when that status appears and which routine changes do not trigger it. Separately, Google said that newly created Performance Max campaigns will have image extraction enabled by default from December 4, 2026. The PMax change applies across the Google Ads API, the Google Ads interface, and Google Ads Editor, including accounts where Dynamic images is disabled at the account level. Existing Performance Max campaigns retain their current configurations.
What the Smart Bidding documentation changes
Google renamed the earlier help document about campaign learning duration to “About Smart Bidding learning” and substantially revised its guidance. It identifies three reasons a bid strategy can show a Learning status: the strategy was newly created or reactivated; campaigns, ad groups, or keywords were added to or removed from the strategy; or the conversion goals or actions being optimized changed significantly.
The document separates the visible Learning label from the time required for bidding performance to stabilize. The seven-day limit applies to the status, not a guarantee that performance will be fully stable after seven days. Changes to budgets, targets, creatives, or targeting settings such as location, audience, or language do not remove historical data or trigger Learning status, according to the updated guidance.
Google recommends using one consistent primary conversion goal, sending tag-based or offline conversion data frequently and consistently, maintaining sufficient daily budgets, and consolidating campaigns or ad groups where possible to pool conversion data. It also advises avoiding multiple target changes within one conversion cycle unless there is a clear business need.
How the PMax image default affects advertising operations
Google says new Performance Max campaigns will default to GENERATE_IMAGE_EXTRACTION from December 4, 2026. The feature scans advertiser-provided landing pages for high-resolution images that can enrich creative assets and expand reach across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. The account-level Dynamic images setting will no longer protect newly created PMax campaigns. Advertisers who do not want landing-page images extracted must explicitly set GENERATE_IMAGE_EXTRACTION to OPTED_OUT for each new campaign. Existing campaigns keep their current configurations.
For Google Ads API integrations, the setting is held in the Campaign resource’s asset_automation_settings field. Google warns that this is a repeated field: an update replaces the entire array rather than merging the submitted entry with existing settings. A tool that sends only the image-extraction setting could therefore remove other automation entries. Developers should retrieve and include all desired entries when updating the field. Google also supplies a Google Ads Query Language query for auditing PMax campaigns. The announcement covers the web interface and Editor as well, but does not describe the matching creation controls in those products.
Method and Limitations
Advertising teams can verify the Smart Bidding rules in the revised Google Ads help documentation, then check image-extraction settings at both the account and campaign levels before creating PMax campaigns. API users can inspect asset_automation_settings and preserve the full repeated field during updates. The public material does not specify which individual landing-page images will be selected, whether each image is reviewed before serving, or whether advertisers can remove individual extracted images afterward. It also provides no usage or performance figures. The source uses both “starting December 4” and “after December 4” when describing the effective date, so the treatment of campaigns created on December 4 itself remains unspecified.