Google Ads · Status at source date: Newsletter archive
Gmail ads move to the bottom of the Promotions and Social tabs
Hana Kobzová has noticed that Gmail ads on desktop now appear at the bottom of the Promotions and Social tabs rather than at the top. For years, these ads: which look like ordinary emails with a "Sponsored" label and expand on click: held the top position for maximum visibility.
What changed
The shift to the bottom follows the logic of Gmail's September 2025 move to algorithmic (rather than chronological) sorting of the Promotions tab: if Gmail surfaces the most relevant emails at the top, placing paid ads at the bottom gives users a clearer boundary between content they have engaged with and content paid to reach them. The change is desktop-only; mobile Gmail runs its own format tests, including a sticky overlay. Gmail ads continue to be served through Demand Gen and Performance Max, with Google automatically selecting placements.
Why it matters for advertisers
For you, this means Gmail ad placement has become less prominent on desktop, which may affect visibility and engagement for campaigns that serve there. Worth monitoring Gmail placement performance within your Demand Gen and PMax campaigns, recognising you cannot control the placement directly.
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Gmail ads move to the bottom of the Promotions and Social tabs
Hana Kobzová has noticed that Gmail ads on desktop now appear at the bottom of the Promotions and Social tabs rather than at the top. For years, these ads: which look like ordinary emails with a "Sponsored" label and expand on click: held the top position for maximum visibility. The shift to the bottom follows the logic of Gmail's September 2025 move to algorithmic (rather than chronological) sorting of the Promotions tab: if Gmail surfaces the most relevant emails at the top, placing paid ads at the bottom gives users a clearer boundary between content they have engaged with and content paid to reach them. The change is desktop-only; mobile Gmail runs its own format tests, including a sticky overlay. Gmail ads continue to be served through Demand Gen and Performance Max, with Google automatically selecting placements.
For you, this means Gmail ad placement has become less prominent on desktop, which may affect visibility and engagement for campaigns that serve there. Worth monitoring Gmail placement performance within your Demand Gen and PMax campaigns, recognising you cannot control the placement directly.
Source captured . No explicit first-contributor label was provided for this update.
