Google renamed ad extensions to "assets" in 2022, but the concept remains: additional information shown alongside your ads. In AI Max campaigns, how these assets are used has changed significantly. The AI now decides which assets show for each impression rather than following your configured priority order.
The AI Asset Selection Model
Traditional campaigns with extensions: you configure extensions; Google's system selects which to show based on ad rank and relevance. You had some control via asset scheduling and bid adjustments.
AI Max campaigns: the AI selects assets from all available assets at the account, campaign, and ad group level. The AI chooses the combination that maximizes expected conversion probability for each specific impression.
This means:
- More assets = more options for the AI = better potential combinations
- Assets that seemed redundant before may serve in specific contexts the AI identifies
- You cannot force a specific asset combination to show
The Most Important Assets for Q4 AI Max
Sitelink assets:
Four or more sitelinks that link to high-value pages (sales pages, specific product categories, "Buy now" type destinations). In Q4, sitelinks that point to gift categories or seasonal promotions perform particularly well.
Recommended Q4 sitelinks: "Holiday Gifts", "Shop Sales", "[Product Category]", "Gift Ideas Under $[price]". These help the AI show additional purchase destinations for seasonal queries.
Callout assets:
Short text snippets (25 characters max) highlighting value propositions. No links. Used to add context: "Free Shipping Over $50", "24-Hour Delivery", "Easy Returns", "Gift Wrapping Available". In Q4, gift-relevant callouts outperform generic ones.
Structured snippet assets:
Formatted lists of specific products, services, or features. For Shopping context: use structured snippets to list product categories available. The AI can show these to users researching whether you carry what they want.
Call assets:
Phone number shown with the ad. Under the July 2026 ToS (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-tos-july-2026-ai-automation-what-changed), the AI selects when to show call assets based on predicted call conversion probability. Schedule call assets to show only during business hours to avoid call impressions when phones are unmanned.
Seller ratings:
Automatically populated from Google Customer Reviews and third-party review sites. No configuration required — they appear when your account qualifies. Monitor your aggregate star rating before Q4; if ratings have changed since Q4 2024, this affects how seller ratings show.
The Data Deletion Effect on Asset Performance
The June 2026 data deletion (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-reporting-data-deleted-june-2026) removed asset performance history for the deleted period. Assets that performed well in Q4 2025 (December sitelinks, Black Friday callouts) may show as "insufficient data" for performance label purposes.
If your asset performance history shows gaps or "insufficient data" for sitelinks and callouts that were previously rated "Best": this may reflect the deletion. Don't remove assets rated "insufficient data" during the data gap period; they may recover their performance rating as 2026 data accumulates.
DSA Migration and Assets
DSA campaigns (retiring February 2027: https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ads-dsa-ai-max-migration-february-2027) supported the same asset types as AI Max for Search. When migrating DSA to AI Max for Search, your existing account-level and campaign-level assets carry over.
What changes in AI Max for Search: RSA assets (the headlines and descriptions) are now the primary creative. Sitelinks and callouts become supporting assets that the AI adds to RSA-based ads rather than to DSA-generated ads. The function is the same; the base ad format is different.
AI Max for Shopping Assets
For AI Max for Shopping (https://yositeup.com/blog/google-ai-max-shopping-replacing-performance-max-2026), Shopping ads have a different asset structure than Search ads:
Asset group assets (text and images): used for YouTube, Display, and Discovery placements within AI Max for Shopping. Not shown on traditional Shopping surfaces.
Feed-based assets: product title, description, price, and image from Merchant Center are the Shopping surface assets. These aren't configured as "assets" in the traditional sense — they're populated from your feed.
Call assets for Shopping: can appear on Shopping ads for local businesses when the product is in stock locally. Relevant for retailers with physical stores.
The most impactful "asset optimization" for AI Max for Shopping is Merchant Center feed optimization (product titles, descriptions, images) rather than campaign-level asset configuration.
Asset Scheduling for Q4
Assets can be scheduled to show only during specific time periods. For Q4-specific assets:
- Create Q4 promotional sitelinks ("Holiday Deals", "Black Friday Sale", etc.) with scheduling set to November 1 - December 31
- Create "Last Day for Christmas Delivery" callout scheduled for December 15-22
- Schedule call assets to match your expanded Q4 customer service hours
Asset scheduling in AI Max: the AI respects asset schedules as constraints (assets outside their schedule window won't show regardless of the AI's preference). This is one of the configuration tools that operates as a directive, not a signal.
