diff --git a/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloud/googlecloud.go b/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloud/googlecloud.go
index 08d2d2a82fa..5376d1c272f 100644
--- a/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloud/googlecloud.go
+++ b/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloud/googlecloud.go
@@ -2,9 +2,6 @@
 package googlecloud
 
 import (
-	"time"
-
-	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/opentelemetry-operations-go/exporter/collector"
 	"github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/exporter/googlecloudexporter"
 	otelcomponent "go.opentelemetry.io/collector/component"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/collector/pipeline"
@@ -64,11 +61,10 @@ func (args *Arguments) SetToDefault() {
 
 // Convert implements exporter.Arguments.
 func (args Arguments) Convert() (otelcomponent.Config, error) {
-	var result googlecloudexporter.Config
-	// We need to assign default values first to populate fields with unexported functions
-	result.Config = collector.DefaultConfig()
+	// The factory default seeds the embedded collector.DefaultConfig(), which
+	// populates fields holding unexported functions.
+	result := *googlecloudexporter.NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*googlecloudexporter.Config)
 
-	result.TimeoutSettings.Timeout = 12 * time.Second // https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/blob/70d8986fa3a30e1f26927abffe1880345e2afa3f/exporter/googlecloudexporter/factory.go#L48
 	q, err := args.Queue.Convert()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloudpubsub/googlecloudpubsub.go b/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloudpubsub/googlecloudpubsub.go
index 3aa70fe7a0f..2edfa2b9a83 100644
--- a/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloudpubsub/googlecloudpubsub.go
+++ b/internal/component/otelcol/exporter/googlecloudpubsub/googlecloudpubsub.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func (args *Arguments) SetToDefault() {
 }
 
 func (args Arguments) Convert() (otelcomponent.Config, error) {
-	var result googlecloudpubsubexporter.Config
+	result := *googlecloudpubsubexporter.NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*googlecloudpubsubexporter.Config)
 
 	result.BackOffConfig = *args.Retry.Convert()
 
diff --git a/internal/component/otelcol/processor/cumulativetodelta/cumulativetodelta.go b/internal/component/otelcol/processor/cumulativetodelta/cumulativetodelta.go
index 099df5c9f11..9077c1d9142 100644
--- a/internal/component/otelcol/processor/cumulativetodelta/cumulativetodelta.go
+++ b/internal/component/otelcol/processor/cumulativetodelta/cumulativetodelta.go
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ func (args *Arguments) Validate() error {
 
 // Convert implements processor.Arguments.
 func (args Arguments) Convert() (otelcomponent.Config, error) {
-	var result cumulativetodeltaprocessor.Config
+	result := *cumulativetodeltaprocessor.NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*cumulativetodeltaprocessor.Config)
 
 	result.MaxStaleness = args.MaxStaleness
 
diff --git a/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/file_stats/types_convert.go b/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/file_stats/types_convert.go
index c94a512f1c6..e95e0698496 100644
--- a/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/file_stats/types_convert.go
+++ b/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/file_stats/types_convert.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ var _ receiver.Arguments = Arguments{}
 
 // Convert implements receiver.Arguments.
 func (args Arguments) Convert() (otelcomponent.Config, error) {
-	var out filestatsreceiver.Config
+	out := *filestatsreceiver.NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*filestatsreceiver.Config)
 
 	out.ControllerConfig = *args.Controller.Convert()
 	out.Include = args.Include
diff --git a/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka.go b/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka.go
index 4c7142b55ea..5e5aaf99cd8 100644
--- a/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka.go
+++ b/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka.go
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ func (args Arguments) Convert() (otelcomponent.Config, error) {
 	input := make(map[string]any)
 	input["auth"] = args.Authentication.Convert()
 
-	var result kafkareceiver.Config
+	result := *kafkareceiver.NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*kafkareceiver.Config)
 	err := mapstructure.Decode(input, &result)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka_test.go b/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka_test.go
index 150efd63f35..acdaacb2d11 100644
--- a/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka_test.go
+++ b/internal/component/otelcol/receiver/kafka/kafka_test.go
@@ -60,6 +60,10 @@ func TestArguments_UnmarshalAlloy(t *testing.T) {
 				Topics:   []string{"otlp_spans"},
 				Encoding: "otlp_proto",
 			},
+			Profiles: kafkareceiver.TopicEncodingConfig{
+				Topics:   []string{"otlp_profiles"},
+				Encoding: "otlp_proto",
+			},
 			HeaderExtraction: kafkareceiver.HeaderExtraction{
 				ExtractHeaders: false,
 				Headers:        []string{},
@@ -164,6 +168,10 @@ func TestArguments_UnmarshalAlloy(t *testing.T) {
 					Encoding:      "zipkin_json",
 					ExcludeTopics: []string{"^traces-debug-.*$"},
 				},
+				Profiles: kafkareceiver.TopicEncodingConfig{
+					Topics:   []string{"otlp_profiles"},
+					Encoding: "otlp_proto",
+				},
 				ClientConfig: configkafka.ClientConfig{
 					Brokers:         []string{"10.10.10.10:9092"},
 					ProtocolVersion: "2.0.0",
@@ -588,7 +596,9 @@ func TestArguments_Auth(t *testing.T) {
 
 			actual := actualPtr.(*kafkareceiver.Config)
 
-			var expected kafkareceiver.Config
+			// Seed the same way Convert does, so the case only has to spell out
+			// what it overrides on top of the upstream defaults.
+			expected := *kafkareceiver.NewFactory().CreateDefaultConfig().(*kafkareceiver.Config)
 			err = mapstructure.Decode(tc.expected, &expected)
 			require.NoError(t, err)