Performance Max Image Assets: One SKU, Three Crops, Empty Headlines

A Performance Max image asset is a still of the product or scene you will actually land people on, cut to the crops Google Ads asks for, not a poster with invented headlines. Google’s Ads API asset-requirements page (current as of September 2026) still wants at least one landscape marketing image at 1.91:1 (recommended 1200 × 628, minimum 600 × 314) and one square marketing image at 1:1 (recommended 1200 × 1200, minimum 300 × 300). A 4:5 portrait (recommended 960 × 1200) is optional and worth making. A 1:1 logo (recommended 1200 × 1200) is required when brand guidelines are off at the asset-group level. File types are GIF, JPG, or PNG, max 5,120 KB. Headlines (30 characters), long headlines (90), and descriptions (90) are separate text assets. Leave those rectangles empty in the picture. Overlay real copy in Google Ads. OpenAI launched ChatGPT Images 2.5 on September 8, 2026, and said it keeps a subject more stably while you change one object—useful for moving the same kettle from a landscape crop to a square. FreeGPTImg is a GPT Image 2 workspace: 20 daily free credits, no credit card required. Do not bake “50% off,” a fake star rating, or a Google/YouTube wordmark into the pixels.

Draft the still in FreeGPTImg. Keep the object honest in AI product photography, lock a clean field in the white-background product photo tool, stage a desk or kitchen crop with the lifestyle product photo generator, recrop feed and story frames in AI social media ads, cut a simple mark in the AI logo generator, stay on GPT Image 2 for the loop in front of you, invent the first scene in AI text-to-image, and pull a reusable layout from image templates. Do not ask one prompt for a landscape hero, a square tile, a portrait story, a logo, and four sale stickers.

What a Performance Max still actually does

Performance Max is a goal-based campaign that can serve across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from one campaign. Google AI mixes the assets you upload. That only works if each still has one job.

The landscape marketing image answers a wide placement: product-led, one focal point, room for a headline Google will typeset later. The square answers a feed tile. The portrait answers a tall mobile slot. The logo answers identity, not a second product shot. A collage with four SKUs, a QR code, and “Best 2026” type answers nothing the auction can reuse.

Retail Performance Max linked to Merchant Center can auto-build a minimum set from the feed. That is not a reason to skip unique stills. Google’s own requirements page still recommends uploading extra assets so the system has more combinations. Extra stills must still be the SKU you sell.

ChatGPT Images 2.5 can keep a subject while you change one object. That is useful for locking the kettle and switching only the crop or the room. It is not permission to add a Prime badge, a Google G, or a dual price. FreeGPTImg runs GPT Image 2. Write the model you used into the file name.

Do not prompt another advertiser’s packaging. Do not generate celebrity faces as “social proof.” Photorealistic AI people are a separate policy: if a platform requires a contains-synthetic-performer tag in IPTC/XMP, apply it in an editor. Prefer a counter, a hanger, or an empty desk.

Pick one slot before you generate

Weak PMax sets fail because they ask for a 1.91:1 hero, a 1:1 tile, a 4:5 story, a 1:1 logo, and a “Sale” burst in one pass. Name the slot first.

Slot job	Working crop	Official target (recheck live)	Start from	Change one thing	Wrong move
Landscape marketing image	1.91:1	1200 × 628 rec.; 600 × 314 min.	One SKU, even catalog light	Product or quiet scene only	Headlines, prices, extra SKUs, stretched square
Square marketing image	1:1	1200 × 1200 rec.; 300 × 300 min.	The same SKU	Crop only	New colorway, fake review stars
Portrait marketing image	4:5	960 × 1200 rec.; 480 × 600 min.	The same SKU	Crop / room only	Tiny product lost under UI chrome
Logo	1:1	1200 × 1200 rec.; 128 × 128 min.	Your real mark	Nothing else	Product photo used as a logo, Google/YouTube marks
Landscape logo	4:1	1200 × 300 rec.; 512 × 128 min.	The same mark, wide lockup	Layout only	Slogan baked in if the live lockup has none
Lifestyle / in-use	1:1 or 4:5, then recrop	Same pixel floors as above	The same SKU in a real room	Scene only	Props implied as included

Text assets stay in the account, not in the PNG: at least three headlines (30 characters), one long headline (90), two descriptions (90). Generate large. Recrop in an editor. Do not stretch a square into 1.91:1. Linking an image with the wrong ratio returns an aspect-ratio error at link time, not at upload.

Performance Max image workflow

Use the same sequence in product-photo tools, a GPT Image 2 tab, or ChatGPT Images 2.5.

1. Write the still in five lines. SKU truth (one object, true color, true count), slot name, crop, empty type zones, the single buyer question. If you cannot say it in five lines, the frame will clutter.
2. Choose one hero, not a catalog dump. One bottle, one kettle, one pair of shoes. Extra SKUs live in other asset groups or other stills.
3. Split identity from the product. Logo files are marks on a quiet field. Marketing images are products or scenes. Do not put the wordmark twice in the hero and again as the logo.
4. Write keep / change / do-not. Keep silhouette, materials, and pack count. Change only crop or room. Do not add logos you do not own, seals, QR codes, star ratings, or extra products.
5. Match the crop after generation. Landscape 1.91:1, square 1:1, portrait 4:5. Generate oversized, then recrop. Confirm the live Ads API or Ads Help pixel box for the account you upload to.
6. Inspect the product before the mood. Wrong colorway, extra ports, a lid you do not sell, or a lifestyle prop that looks included are stop conditions.
7. Overlay copy last—in Google Ads. Headlines, descriptions, and sitelinks are text assets. Final URL expansion and text customization can generate more copy from your landing page. You still review that copy. Invented “50% off” in the PNG is a stop.
8. Test at phone width. Hold the landscape still at about 375 pixels wide. If the product became a sliver, regenerate with a quieter scene and a larger object.

OpenAI’s Images 2.5 notes still help if you never open ChatGPT: keep the subject, edit one element, expect earlier choices to survive later turns. That is a PMax rule. Swap the crop. Do not redraw the SKU.

Prompt formula

Performance Max catalog still, not a sale poster and not a collage.
Product: one [SKU], accurate color, scale, pack count, and included accessories only.
Slot: [landscape 1.91:1 / square 1:1 / portrait 4:5 / 1:1 logo].
Light: even catalog light for product-led; one honest indoor lamp for lifestyle.
Keep: empty headline band, empty price box, empty badge area.
Change only: [the product / the room / the crop].
Text in image: none. No prices, percentages, star ratings, QR codes, watermarks, or platform badges.
Do not add: extra SKUs, celebrity faces, Google or YouTube wordmarks, fake reviews, props not in the box.

Prompt examples

Landscape marketing image, empty type. “Wide 1.91:1 catalog still of one brushed-steel 1.7-liter kettle, three-quarter view, even studio light, soft gray-to-white field. Product fills the center. Large empty headline band on the left third. No prices, no ‘Best kettle 2026’ type, no second SKU, no Google logo.”

Square marketing image, same kettle. “Square 1:1 still of the same brushed-steel 1.7-liter kettle, front three-quarter, even light, quiet white field. Product centered and large. Empty top band. Do not change the finish, add a mug, or invent a rating badge.”

Portrait 4:5 lifestyle. “4:5 lifestyle still of the same kettle on a real kitchen counter, late-day window from the left, product sharp and true to scale. Empty headline band in the upper third. No extra appliances, no ‘Free shipping’ type, no people.”

1:1 logo. “Square logo lockup of one original wordless kettle icon in matte charcoal on a pure white field, centered, generous padding, no slogan, no drop shadow, no product photo, no Google or YouTube marks.”

If the first still splits into two products or invents a badge you do not own, shorten the prompt. One SKU. Then retry. Free retry exists on FreeGPTImg when a generation misses. Use it on the same five-line brief, not a new campaign idea.

Crops you should not guess

Generate the still large. Recrop in an editor. Recheck the live Ads API asset-requirements page and the campaign’s brand-guidelines setting; pixel boxes and whether the logo lives on the asset group or the campaign can change.

Slot	Working crop	What belongs there	What does not
Landscape marketing image	1.91:1	One real SKU or one quiet scene, empty type	Stretched square, sale burst, four products
Square marketing image	1:1	Same SKU, product-led	New colorway, fake stars
Portrait marketing image	4:5	Same SKU, tall safe center	Tiny object under UI chrome
Logo	1:1	Your real mark, padding	A cropped product JPEG
Landscape logo	4:1	Wide lockup you actually use	A slogan you do not ship
Feed / Story recrop	1:1 or 9:16 from the same hero	Empty type	Prices baked into pixels

Keep marketing images, logos, and landing-page screenshots as separate exports. A Merchant Center feed photo is not automatically a 1.91:1 marketing image.

Review the pixels before you upload

Zoom to 100%. A phone grid hides a second logo.

• Product honesty. Same color, count, ports, fabric, and included accessories. If a stranger would think this is another brand’s kettle, discard the still.
• Ratio honesty. Landscape stays 1.91:1. Square stays 1:1. Do not pad with blurry stripes to “make it fit.”
• Empty type. Headlines, prices, and “Performance Max” stay empty. Generated “50% off” is a stop, not a starting point.
• Logo hygiene. One original mark. No Google G, YouTube play button, or another company’s packaging.
• People. No recognizable generated faces you cannot clear. Prefer an empty counter.
• File hygiene. GIF, JPG, or PNG, RGB, under 5,120 KB, enough pixels for the recommended box, no watermark, no QR. Preview on a phone.
• Provenance and rights. OpenAI still uses C2PA metadata and an invisible watermark on GPT Image outputs. Downstream apps may keep, strip, or flag that data. You also need rights to the product design. A prettier lid is not a license.

Limitations you should not skip

A generated still is not Google Ads approval, not a guaranteed conversion, and not a commercial-rights grant. Do not upload someone else’s packaging “to see the style.” Do not ask the model to imitate a competitor’s ad, a celebrity, or a review widget. If a platform requires AI disclosure, follow that policy.

ChatGPT Images 2.5 is not GPT Image 2. On FreeGPTImg you are in a GPT Image 2 loop with product-photo tools. Better subject preservation is not an infinite remix. If turn three redraws the kettle, revert.

Do not generate medical, flame-safety, or “non-toxic” badges unless those claims are already on the real label and you overlay them later from approved copy. Do not invent dual prices. Google’s Performance Max help still says you remain responsible for landing-page accuracy and for dynamically generated assets if Final URL expansion or text customization is on. Recheck the live asset-requirements page for the account you upload to; recommended pixels and brand-guideline linkage can differ by campaign setting.

FAQ

What is a Performance Max image asset?

It is a still cut to a required or recommended crop for a Performance Max asset group: landscape 1.91:1 and square 1:1 at minimum, optional 4:5 portrait, plus a 1:1 logo when the group must carry brand assets. The picture shows one real SKU or one quiet scene. Headlines stay out of the pixels. FreeGPTImg runs this on GPT Image 2, with 20 daily free credits and no credit card required.

Do I need all three marketing crops?

You need at least one landscape 1.91:1 and one square 1:1 to meet the current non-retail minimum on Google’s Ads API requirements page. A 4:5 portrait is optional and worth adding because tall mobile inventory exists. Recheck the live table before you upload; minima can change.

Should I put the headline and price in the image?

No. Headlines (30 characters), long headlines (90), and descriptions (90) are text assets in the account. Leave empty bands in the still. Overlay the real line in Google Ads. Invented badges are a review fail and a policy risk.

Can I use one square photo for every PMax slot?

No. Stretching 1:1 into 1.91:1 is how products get cropped off and how link-time aspect-ratio errors happen. Generate large, then recrop each slot from the same SKU.

Can I generate a Google or YouTube logo as my logo asset?

No. Upload the mark you actually own. A 1:1 logo is identity, not a product photo and not a platform badge.

Why did the model add extra SKUs and a star rating?

The prompt asked for a “winning ad” or a “bestseller.” Shorten it. One SKU. Empty type. Generate again. If the finish still drifts, lock a white-background hero first, then build the landscape and portrait crops from that still.

Sources

• Google Ads API: Asset requirements for Performance Max
• Google Ads Help: About Performance Max campaigns
• OpenAI: Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.5
• C2PA: Content Credentials

Make one Performance Max still on FreeGPTImg

Write five lines for one SKU and one slot. Ask for empty headline and price boxes. Open FreeGPTImg, run the job in AI product photography or AI social media ads, lock a clean field in the white-background product photo tool when the hero is product-led, stage the room in the lifestyle product photo generator, cut the mark in the AI logo generator, stay on GPT Image 2 when that is the model in front of you, and overlay the real headline only after the still looks like the product you sell.