Nobody enjoys reading terms of service — which is exactly why they are a good place for far-reaching shifts. On 1 July 2026 Google updated the terms of service for Google Ads. At first glance it looks like legal routine: sharpened wording, a few regional adjustments. At second glance it contains a shift that affects every ad account.
Because the new version no longer describes automation as a tool you switch on and off, but as an authorisation you grant Google. At the same time it stresses explicitly that responsibility for the resulting campaigns and creatives stays with you. That combination is the actual point — and the reason a close look is worth it.
1. What has applied since 1 July 2026 — and what you had to do
The good news first: you had to do nothing. The updated terms took effect without active consent and without any change to your account. There was no pop-up to click away and no contract to re-sign. Anyone who simply carried on working in July has been working under the new rules since.
The changes concern Google Ads accounts only. Other Google products such as Workspace or Cloud Identity are untouched. So this is not a group-wide re-regulation but a targeted adjustment in the advertising business — where Google has automated most aggressively over the past two years.
2. The decisive clause: automation becomes an authorisation
Until now the relevant passage read roughly like this: Google provides tools with which advertisers can generate targets, ads or landing pages — and many of these automations can be switched on or off. The tone was that of an offer.
The new version phrases it as an authorisation. The customer authorises Google and its affiliates to serve ads — including the use of automated program features to format, select or generate targets, ads or landing pages on the customer's behalf. Responsibility for the resulting campaigns and creatives remains with the customer.
In practice that means features such as automatically generated ad copy, AI-created assets or landing pages suggested by Google move further into the default. Much of that used to be a deliberate decision. From now on automation is the preset path — and it is up to you to constrain it where you need control.
Schematic comparison of the key changes. As of August 2026.
3. The three areas of change in detail
Google itself splits the update into three blocks. Read side by side they give a clear picture.
Your inputs are used across features
Extended wording clarifies how the inputs you provide may be used across different Google Ads features to improve campaign performance. What you upload for one campaign — text, images, feeds, targets — can therefore feed other features too.
Conversational tools are explicitly covered
Google clarifies that information you enter into conversational tools and similar features can be used further by Google's systems. That concerns the chat-style assistants in campaign creation — precisely the places where advertisers like to write freely and, in doing so, reveal internals about margin, audiences or product plans.
Access and crawling for automatic setup
Updated provisions govern which URLs and accounts you grant Google access to and permission to crawl, so that automatic campaign setup can work. Anyone naming their website as a source is thereby allowing its content to be used for ads and landing page suggestions.
4. Your duties grow with it: rights, review, approval
The revised terms stress two advertiser duties explicitly. First, you must ensure you hold the necessary rights to all information, content, URLs and other inputs you hand over to Google Ads. Second, you remain responsible for reviewing, approving, editing or removing automatically generated campaigns and creatives.
That is the actual instruction contained in this update. Anyone using automation must not let it run blind. Regular checking of AI-created elements moves from convenience to duty — legally as well as commercially. Because if an automatically generated ad makes a claim your company cannot keep, you are liable, not the platform.
For marketing leads that means the approval process many know only for manually created creatives has to be extended to machine-generated assets. Anyone who does not document that has nothing to hand in a dispute.
5. The criticism from the industry: relevance and control
Not everyone sees the update as an advantage for advertisers. Anthony Higman, founder of the agency AdSQUIRE, criticises the new terms for further hollowing out two pillars of Google Ads: relevance and control. He points to the wording that lets Google format, select or generate targets, ads and landing pages automatically — while responsibility stays with the advertiser.
In his view the earlier terms offered more explicit ways to opt out of individual automations. Together with adjustments to liability and arbitration clauses in some regions, he sees a continuing transfer of decision-making power from the advertiser to Google's systems.
In fairness the counter-position belongs here too. For accounts with clean tracking, sufficient conversion volume and a well-maintained asset pool, Google's automation often delivers better results than manual steering. The dispute is less about the quality of the AI than about who decides — and who is liable.
6. What this means concretely for smaller companies
Large advertisers have teams watching account changes daily. Small and mid-sized companies do not — and that is exactly where the shift bites hardest. Three effects are typical.
First, brand control. Automatically generated text and images draw on your website. If the site is imprecise, outdated or inconsistent, the ad will be too. Your website becomes the training material for your own advertising.
Second, data economy. If inputs to conversational tools can be reused, internal metrics, customer names or pricing strategies do not belong in the free-text field of a campaign assistant. That discipline has to be agreed explicitly within the team.
Third, provability. Anyone advertising regulated services — health, finance, trades quoting prices — needs a demonstrable approval step for every published creative. Including those nobody on the team wrote.
7. Keeping control: the account checklist
There is no complete opt-out from automation. There are plenty of adjustments that narrow the AI's room, though. Go through these seven points once, properly:
- Review automatically created assets. Account settings control whether Google may add text and images. Decide that deliberately, campaign by campaign — not by default.
- Build your own asset pool. Google's systems prefer to draw on material you provide. The more on-brand images, texts and videos are stored, the less the AI has to invent.
- Set final URL expansion deliberately. Check per campaign whether Google may choose other pages of your website as destinations — and which areas stay excluded.
- Maintain the website as an advertising source. Outdated prices, old promotions or dead subpages otherwise end up indirectly in your ads. A website audit is a paid search topic here, not only an SEO one.
- Use target values instead of open targets. Target CPA and target ROAS give the automation a clear guardrail. On the changes to the bidding logic, see our article on the target CPA update of 17 August 2026.
- Read the change history regularly. The change history report shows what has happened in the account — including what did not come from you. A weekly look is usually enough.
- Document approval. Record who checked which automatically generated creative and when. That fulfils the new duty of care and helps with follow-up questions.
8. Regional adjustments, fees and the bridge to the AI Act
Alongside the AI clauses the update contains country-specific changes. These include adjustments to arbitration agreements in certain regions — in part with revised wording, in part with such clauses dropped. There are also new references to regulatory operating fees and other country-specific charges that can apply to ads in certain markets. So it is worth checking the version that applies in your own market.
In substance the change fits a larger picture: platforms are automating the creation of creatives while legislators regulate the transparency of those contents. Anyone serving machine-generated ads should therefore keep the disclosure questions in view as well — we covered them in our article on the AI disclosure duty under Article 50 of the AI Act.
9. Conclusion: steer the automation rather than refuse it
The new Google Ads terms are another step in a clear direction: Google is moving more and more operational decisions into its automated systems. That can save work and improve performance — but it demands a higher level of attention. Let everything run and you lose sight of what you are legally and financially answerable for.
The sensible response is not to refuse automation but to steer it deliberately. Clear account structures, reviewed creatives, clean data and regular reporting make sure the AI works for you rather than past you.
Also worth reading: Google Ads AI Max: the automatic upgrade and Google Ads account audit: the seven most expensive mistakes.
10. FAQ: the key questions about the new Google Ads terms
Did I have to actively accept the new Google Ads terms of service?
No. The updated terms took effect on 1 July 2026 without active consent and without any account change. Anyone continuing to use their Google Ads account is working under the new version. Only Google Ads accounts are affected, not other Google products such as Workspace or Cloud Identity.
What is the most important substantive change?
The customer explicitly authorises Google and its affiliates to use automated program features to format, select or generate targets, ads or landing pages on the customer's behalf. Responsibility for the resulting campaigns and creatives nevertheless stays with the advertiser. Automation is thereby the preset path rather than the deliberate exception.
Can I switch the AI features off completely?
There is no complete opt-out. You can narrow the scope considerably, though: control automatically created assets in the account settings, review final URL expansion per campaign, store your own asset pool, and set firm guardrails with target CPA or target ROAS. The change history in the account shows which adjustments did not come from you.
What new duties do I have as an advertiser?
Two points are stressed explicitly: you must hold the necessary rights to all information, content, URLs and other inputs you hand over to Google Ads. And you remain responsible for reviewing, approving, editing or removing automatically generated campaigns and creatives. Regular checking of the AI's output thereby becomes a duty.
