Is Google AI Writing Your Ads? How to Preview and Control It

Google can now preview AI-written headlines before they go live. Here is how to check them, set guardrails and spot what AI Max has already added to your ads.

If you run Google Search ads, there is a fair chance Google is already writing some of your headlines. Campaigns using the old automatically created assets setting are being moved to AI Max from September 2026, and AI Max switches text customization on by default.

The useful news arrived this week. According to MediaPost on 9 October, advertisers can now preview up to 10 AI-generated headlines and descriptions, in about 30 seconds, before anything goes live. Here is how to use that preview, and what to check in the ads that are already running.

What Google is actually changing

Text customization (the new name for automatically created assets) generates extra headlines and descriptions for your responsive search ads. Per Google's help page, it draws on your domain, landing page, existing ads and ad group keywords. The assets are reviewed and refreshed at least every 48 hours, so a landing page edit should show up within two days.

Your own copy still runs. Google's generated assets serve alongside it, and only when Google predicts they will beat what you uploaded. They also count towards your Ad Strength rating.

The timeline matters too. Google's original AI Max announcement says campaigns with automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match upgrade from September 2026. Dynamic Search Ads were pushed back: PPC Land reports their automatic upgrade now starts in February 2027, after advertisers complained that AI Max sent specific product searches to generic landing pages.

Step 1: Find out what Google has already added

Before you preview anything new, look at what is live. Google's help page points to two places:

• The Added by column in Google Ads, which shows the impact of generated assets at ad and campaign level.
• The ad-level asset report for responsive search ads, and the asset details report, where you can read the generated lines themselves.

Read every generated headline the way a customer would. Does it promise a price, a delivery time or a guarantee you do not offer? Does it name a product you have stopped selling? Google's AI uses your website as source material, so an outdated page produces outdated ads.

Step 2: Run the preview on your main campaigns

You will find previews in the Asset optimization section, either when you create a new Search campaign or when you edit an existing one. Enter a landing page URL, and Google analyses the page and generates up to 10 sample headlines and descriptions, mostly in under 30 seconds.

Google's help page says previews do not require opting in to AI Max. That makes them a low-risk way to see what the system would say about your business. They cover English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Japanese and Dutch, and almost all business categories except adult content.

Preview your five highest-spend landing pages first:

1. Open the campaign and go to Asset optimization.
2. Paste in the landing page URL and generate the sample.
3. Mark every line that makes a claim you cannot back up.
4. Compare the rest with your own best-performing headlines. Where Google is repeating you, fine. Where it is inventing angles, decide whether you like them.

Step 3: Set text guidelines

Google is piloting text guidelines that let you exclude specific terms, define a tone of voice and avoid certain concepts. The preview results are filtered to meet your rules, and if the rules block every asset you will be prompted to loosen them.

This is a pilot, so you may not see it in every account yet. If you do, start with a short list:

• Competitor names and any comparison language.
• Words that imply a guarantee, a discount or a result ("free", "cheapest", "guaranteed") unless your terms really support them.
• Products, services or locations you do not currently offer.
• A tone note, for example plain and friendly rather than salesy.

Regulated industries should be stricter still. Google tells advertisers to follow its ad policies and applicable laws and to monitor generated content, which means the responsibility for what runs sits with you.

Step 4: Decide per campaign, not per account

Text customization can be switched on or off at campaign level, both at creation and later. There is no reason to treat your whole account the same way.

Where it tends to make sense to keep it on:

• Campaigns with a solid set of your own headlines already, where Google fills gaps rather than replacing your voice.
• Broad services pages with many keyword variations that are hard to cover by hand.

Where to be more careful:

• Legal, health and finance campaigns, where one wrong claim creates real risk.
• Campaigns for products with strict specs, pricing or stock limits.
• Landing pages that are thin or out of date.

Note that Final URL Expansion requires text customization to be on, so switching it off also limits that feature.

Step 5: Test it, then review it monthly

Google says campaigns using the full AI Max suite (search term matching, text customization and final URL expansion) see on average 7% more conversions or conversion value at a similar CPA or ROAS than search term matching alone. That is Google's own internal data for non-retail advertisers, so treat it as a claim to test rather than a promise. The announcement recommends running one-click experiments before committing.

Set a recurring check: every month, open the asset reports, read the generated lines, and compare conversion rate and cost per lead with and without them. Watch the search terms report at the same time. If AI Max is matching queries your landing page cannot answer, that is a landing page problem you can fix.

What to do next

1. Check the Added by column and read what Google has already written for you.
2. Preview copy for your top five landing pages in Asset optimization.
3. Add text guidelines if your account has the pilot.
4. Turn text customization off for any campaign where an inaccurate claim would be costly.
5. Start an experiment on one campaign and review results after a few weeks.

If you would rather have a specialist audit this, our Google Ads management and PPC management teams do exactly these checks, and a landing page review often fixes the root cause when AI copy goes wrong. When you are ready, get a free quote and we will take a look at your account.

Sources

• Google Gives Advertisers 30-Second Automated Ad Previews (MediaPost)
• About text customization in Search campaigns (Google Ads Help)
• We're upgrading Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max (Google)
• Google delays DSA to AI Max auto-migration to February 2027 (PPC Land)