Follow Google Ads changes with dated source evidence, contributor credits and practical context for campaign decisions.
Google Ads
Performance Max now offers a third choice when creating an asset group: apply an existing one, alongside new and copy. It reduces rebuild work across campaigns.
Google Ads
The Google Ads plugin for Claude Code and Cowork now lets you manage multiple accounts or an entire MCC in a few clicks. It answers the tool's most requested feature.
Google Ads
The new AI Max ad group settings now appear when building a Search campaign. They show campaign-level AI Max confirmation and a search-term-matching beta that expands keywords to broad match.
Google Ads
Google is testing an arrow icon next to sponsored URLs that opens the site in a new window, and a separate "Visit site" button in Search ads. Organic and paid listings are also showing altered URL displays.
Google Ads
Google is appending Gemini-written descriptions beneath sponsored results. One flagged example told shoppers the advertiser's mini skid steers "may have lower lift capacity" than heavy machinery.
Google Ads
Google now shows audience segments with metrics inside the Performance Max Audience menu. Advertisers can finally see which audiences drive results in a campaign type long criticised as a black box.
Google Ads
Google appears to be testing the organic "included or missing words" SERP feature directly in paid ads. In the flagged example, the words were present in the ad, suggesting the automated check misread the creative.
Google Ads
Google now documents three types of promotional offers: new advertiser promotions, coded promotions, and codeless promotions. Coded offers apply to new and existing advertisers, while codeless offers surface automatically in existing accounts.
Google Ads
Google confirms that third-party rates become unavailable after 30 September 2026. Affected hotels need a direct price feed, an appropriate Google Ads link and recreated campaigns to retain the relevant Hotel Ads activity.
Google Ads
Google is rolling out Maximise Conversion Value bidding for Standard Shopping campaigns, flagged by Yash Mandlesha and also spotted by Boyd Klerk via Ruben Runneboom. Until now, advertisers who wanted to optimise toward conversion value in Standard Shopping had to use a Target ROAS strategy; the return of the uncapped Maximise Conversion Value option gives them a way to chase value without setting a hard target.
Google Ads
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.
Google Ads
Google has published its June Demand Gen Drop on the Ads & Commerce blog, detailing how it is expanding Demand Gen capabilities on YouTube. Video enhancements now support broader aspect-ratio transformations: vertical to square, vertical to landscape, and square to landscape: making it easier to adapt a single asset across placements.
Google Ads
Google has renamed the brand-safety "Inventory Type" categories within the Content Suitability settings, as Aleksejus Podpruginas flagged. The older "Expanded" and "Standard" labels are retired in favour of clearer names: Maximum inventory (formerly Expanded), Moderate inventory (formerly Standard), and Limited inventory (formerly Limited).
Google Ads
Google is adding multi-party approvals to the Google Ads API for sensitive account actions, announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog. From 27 July 2026, rolling out over several weeks, certain API calls: such as inviting a new user via the access-invitation service: will require a second administrator to approve before they take effect, mirroring a broader change in Google Ads accounts that now require multi-party approval for sensitive actions.
Google Ads
Google has added support for custom labels in Demand Gen campaigns, flagged by Emmanuel Flossie. Custom labels: long available in Shopping for segmenting products by attributes such as margin, season, or bestseller status: can now be used to organise and report on Demand Gen, giving advertisers a familiar lever for structuring campaigns around product groupings.
Google Ads
Google has launched a set of Agent Skills for Google Advertising and Measurement in its public skills repository on GitHub, announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog. Agent Skills are token-efficient, modular instruction sets that turn AI coding assistants into Google Ads and measurement specialists: for example, guiding an agent through setting up Google Ads API credentials and a client library inside an agentic IDE.
Google Ads
Google has updated its Gambling and Games policy to allow online lottery advertisements in Peru from 8 July 2026, in its advertising policy help centre. Eligible advertisers must hold a favourable technical opinion from Peru's Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP) and complete Google's country-specific certification before running ads.
Google Ads
Google has released version 24.2 of the Google Ads API, announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog and flagged by Arpan Banerjee. Alongside the multi-party approval requirement for sensitive actions, the release adds the ability to programmatically tag AI-generated creatives with transparency labels ahead of the EU AI Act's disclosure requirements, and introduces granular Performance Max placement visibility.
Google Ads
Google is testing new "Strongest match" and "Strong match" labels on Search ads, flagged by Arpan Banerjee. The labels surface a match-quality signal on sponsored results, indicating how closely an ad is judged to match the query.
Google Ads
Google has added three new columns to Google Ads reporting, flagged by Arpan Banerjee: Unique Search Categories, alongside related search-term insight metrics that reveal gaps in an account's search coverage. The column surface shows where a campaign is and is not appearing across search categories on Google Maps, giving advertisers a clearer view of unaddressed demand.
Google Ads
Google has issued a reminder on the Google Ads Developer Blog that version 21 of the Google Ads API will sunset on 5 August 2026. After that date, all v21 requests will begin to fail, so integrations still on v21 must migrate to a newer version to avoid disruption.
Google Ads
Google is rolling out its mandatory financial-services advertiser verification programme to every member state of the European Union and the European Economic Area, announced on the Ads & Commerce blog by Keerat Sharma, VP & GM of Ads Privacy and Safety. The programme requires advertisers promoting financial services to verify their identity and authorisation before running ads, aiming to stop scams before they reach users.
Google Ads
Google has announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog that, from 3 August 2026, advertisers will no longer be able to create new Smart Campaigns through the Google Ads API. Existing Smart Campaigns will continue to serve and can still be updated, but new ones must be built another way.
Google Ads
Google is updating how bidding strategies are labelled to clarify the difference between volume-focused and target-focused goals, announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog. Target CPA and Target ROAS are being decoupled from Maximise conversions and Maximise conversion value, reverting to their previous standalone naming.
Google Ads
Google has updated its Gambling and Games policy to allow Daily Fantasy Sports advertising in Colorado from 1 July 2026, as reported by PPC News Feed. Only operators certified under Colorado state regulations will be eligible, and advertisers must complete Google's certification before running ads.
Google Ads
Bob Meijer has built and released a free Chrome extension that hides the clutter that the Google Ads interface has accumulated: AI performance summaries, auto-pop-up notifications, educational cards, Ads Advisor callouts, and "you're viewing this data range" reminders: leaving the tables and charts that carry the performance data visible. There is one toggle per element or a master switch to strip the whole interface back to a focused view.
Google Ads
Google is testing partner selection in Performance Max, flagged by Arpan Banerjee. In an alpha, advertisers can choose whether their Performance Max campaigns serve on Search Partners: third-party search sites and apps beyond Google: and across the Google Display Network.
Google Ads
Arpan Banerjee's public post of 9 September describes receiving access to Google Ads Promotion Mode. His account observation adds practical detail to the Promotion Mode beta previously included in Google's broader bidding and budgeting announcement.
Google Ads
Google has expanded product reporting in the Google Ads API as of 15 June 2026, as flagged by Loveleen Joao and announced on the Google Ads Developer Blog. Cost and conversion metrics now return at the product level for Video, Demand Gen, and App campaigns, where previously only impressions and clicks were available.
Google Ads
Google has launched a beta that brings Google-hosted form leads into the Conversions section, flagged by Arpan Banerjee. Raw, qualified, converted, and lost leads are now tracked in one place, giving advertisers a clearer view of lead quality without the need to export to a separate system.
