How is Google AI Adding Sitelinks? (AI MAX Turned Off)

We recently discovered that Google AI is adding sitelinks even though we've turned off AI Max and Asset Optimization
In our assets > sitelink > ad groups google ai is adding sitelinks here.
Under the "added by" column, we see our sitelinks (Advertiser), then Google's (categorized as Google AI).
Has anyone been seeing this in their ads?

Yeah that’s dynamic sitelinks, a totally separate acc-level setting from AI Max, which is why turnin those off did fk-all: go to Assets > three-dot menu > Account-level automated assets > Dynamic sitelinks > toggle Off (n heads up, it kills all dynamic sitelinks acct-wide, not just on one campaign).

this is easy to miss because ai max and automatically created assets are separate settings. check both the account-level and campaign level settings, especially the individual asset toggles. removing assets manually won’t stop google from generating new ones if the setting is still enabled.

Google Ads has several automation settings spread across different levels, You can check the campaign settings and asset reports to see whether those sitelinks are being generated automatically.

linda held said:

We recently discovered that Google AI is adding sitelinks even though we've turned off AI Max and Asset Optimization
In our assets > sitelink > ad groups google ai is adding sitelinks here.
Under the "added by" column, we see our sitelinks (Advertiser), then Google's (categorized as Google AI).
Has anyone been seeing this in their ads?

Click to expand...

Pretty sure those are dynamic sitelinks, which sit under account-level automated assets, not AI Max. There’s a separate toggle under Advanced settings there. Took me a while to find it too.

deohieukieugi said:

Yeah that’s dynamic sitelinks, a totally separate acc-level setting from AI Max, which is why turnin those off did fk-all: go to Assets > three-dot menu > Account-level automated assets > Dynamic sitelinks > toggle Off (n heads up, it kills all dynamic sitelinks acct-wide, not just on one campaign).

Click to expand...

Ah, that explains it! Didn't realize dynamic sitelinks had their own separate setting. Thanks for pointing that out!

TRAutomat said:

this is easy to miss because ai max and automatically created assets are separate settings. check both the account-level and campaign level settings, especially the individual asset toggles. removing assets manually won’t stop google from generating new ones if the setting is still enabled.

Click to expand...

Good point! I'll double-check both settings. Didn't know Google could keep generating them even after manually removing them.

MateoVega said:

Google Ads has several automation settings spread across different levels, You can check the campaign settings and asset reports to see whether those sitelinks are being generated automatically.

Click to expand...

Yeah, Google really makes it confusing with all these different automation settings. Appreciate the tip!

affix.group said:

Pretty sure those are dynamic sitelinks, which sit under account-level automated assets, not AI Max. There’s a separate toggle under Advanced settings there. Took me a while to find it too.

Click to expand...

Looks like that's exactly what's happening. I'll check the account-level automated assets settings. Thanks!