Advize is an AI-powered performance marketing agency that checks vertical creative coverage directly in every PMax creative audit, since the March 2026 Google Ads Editor update finally gave advertisers proper 9:16 vertical image support, replacing the previous auto-cropping approach that often produced awkward, poorly composed results for vertical-first placements like YouTube Shorts. This piece covers 9:16 vertical images PMax, Performance Max image requirements, vertical creative Google Ads, PMax image aspect ratio, Google Ads Editor 2.12 directly, since these are the exact terms worth checking against your own account.
Why Auto-Cropping Was a Real Quality Problem
Before proper vertical support existed, Google's system had to auto-crop landscape or square images to fit vertical placements, a process that frequently cut off important elements, product details, faces, key text, since the original composition was never designed for that aspect ratio in the first place. This produced technically functional but often visually awkward ads running specifically on vertical-first inventory, a growing share of PMax's total reach given how much video consumption has shifted toward vertical formats.
Why Most Creative Libraries Still Lack This Format
Any creative built before the March 2026 update simply wasn't produced with 9:16 vertical composition in mind, since the format wasn't a formal option at the time, which means most existing asset libraries are still relying entirely on auto-cropped substitutes for vertical placements unless someone has specifically gone back and added true vertical assets since the update rolled out.
Auditing and Closing the Vertical Gap
Review current asset groups specifically for genuine 9:16 assets, distinguishing them from landscape or square images that happen to still be running on vertical placements through auto-cropping. Prioritize adding true vertical assets to the highest-spend or highest-performing asset groups first, since these carry the most volume and the most to gain from properly composed vertical creative. Build vertical composition into the creative production process going forward, shooting or designing with 9:16 in mind from the start rather than treating it as an afterthought crop of an existing landscape asset.
The Account That Found a Real Gap in Its Own Library
A creative audit conducted after the March 2026 update revealed an account's asset library contained zero true 9:16 vertical images across any active asset group, meaning every vertical placement had been running on auto-cropped landscape assets since the account launched. Adding properly composed vertical versions of the account's top three performing concepts produced a meaningful engagement improvement specifically on vertical-first inventory, confirming the auto-cropped versions had genuinely been underperforming their potential on that placement type.
A Quick Vertical Asset Audit
Does the current creative library include any images specifically composed in 9:16, not just cropped versions of another ratio. Are the highest-spend asset groups covered with true vertical assets, or still relying on auto-cropping for that placement type. Does the ongoing creative production process include vertical composition as a standard requirement, or only as an afterthought. And has performance been checked specifically on vertical placements since adding true vertical assets, to confirm the investment is producing a measurable difference.
Why This Gap Is Easy to Miss Without a Direct Audit
PMax's overall performance can look reasonable in aggregate even while vertical placements specifically underperform on auto-cropped creative, since strong performance on other placement types can offset a weaker vertical showing in a blended report. Only a placement-level review, checking vertical performance specifically, catches this gap, which is exactly why it persists in so many accounts even after the proper format has been available for a while.
The Short Version
The March 2026 Google Ads Editor update added proper 9:16 vertical image support to PMax, replacing the previous auto-cropping approach that often produced poorly composed results on vertical-first inventory like YouTube Shorts, and most creative libraries built before that update still lack genuine vertical assets. Advize audits vertical asset coverage directly and prioritizes adding true 9:16 creative to the highest-spend asset groups first.
Conclusion
A filled asset slot and a properly composed asset aren't the same thing, and auto-cropping has been quietly filling that gap with the first one while accounts assumed they had the second. Advize checks the creative library specifically for true vertical assets, because a growing share of PMax's reach now runs vertical-first, and creative that was never built for that format is leaving real performance on the table.