Follow Google Ads changes with dated source evidence, contributor credits and practical context for campaign decisions.
Google Ads
Google has rolled out direct inline exclusion for placements in the Performance Max "When and where ads showed" report. Aleksejus Podpruginas has flagged that advertisers can now filter and exclude irrelevant placements at scale directly from the report view, rather than navigating to the separate exclusion list interface.
Google Ads
Google Ads is rebranding its content suitability inventory tiers starting May 2026. "Expanded" becomes Maximum inventory; "Standard" becomes Moderate inventory; and "Limited inventory" keeps its current name.
Google Ads
Thomas Eccel has spotted that Google Ads has added App Consent Insights, a new diagnostics view providing a breakdown of Consent Mode performance for mobile apps by app, platform, source, and region. The view returns a General Consent Rating (Excellent, Good, Poor) mirroring the equivalent rating for Web Consent Mode, a live count of apps actively sending consented data, and a consent rate table split by EEA and non-EEA showing the percentage of conversions coming from consented users.
Google Ads
From 1 June 2026, Google Ads will pace scheduled campaigns toward the full monthly cap of 30.4× the daily budget, regardless of how many days the schedule allows ads to run. Previously, a weekdays-only campaign with a $100 daily budget paced toward roughly $2,200 monthly; under the new rules, the same setup could spend up to $3,040, concentrating delivery on active days within the unchanged 2× daily overspend ceiling.
Google Ads
Dario Zannoni has spotted a new Image to Animation tool in Google Ads, designed to convert static product images or banners into 4-second animated clips without sound. The feature is positioned as a lighter-weight version of the existing Create video from images tool: narrower in scope (single scene, no audio) but easier to deploy for advertisers who need simple video assets quickly.
Google Ads
Cory Liseno has announced that Google Ads API v24 is generally available. The headline addition is support for Conversions with Cart Data, which extends conversion tracking with product-level transaction details: unlocking advanced sales and profit reporting.
Google Ads
Marcin Wsół has spotted a new "Set up in Google Tag Manager" option in the Google Ads conversion configuration flow. The button sits alongside existing installation methods and pushes a pre-populated tag configuration directly into GTM: eliminating the need to manually copy conversion IDs and labels into a new tag.
Google Ads
Google has announced three additions to Ads Advisor, the AI agent in Google Ads, ahead of Google Marketing Live on 20 May. Proactive troubleshooting flags complex policy violations without prompting and walks advertisers through a fix path before submitting an appeal: initially covering unacceptable business practices, circumventing systems, and counterfeit goods.
Google Ads
Thomas Eccel has flagged that Google Ads has relocated Lift Studies into the "Experiments" section of the interface, with a refreshed setup flow. Two studies are available: Brand Lift measures the impact of video and audio ads on awareness, consideration, and purchase intent through surveys, returning absolute lift, lifted users, and cost per lifted user.
Google Ads
Google has published guidance for AI-qualified call leads, a new conversion classification system that replaces call duration as the primary signal of lead quality. The system uses Google AI to evaluate call recordings for intent signals: such as a customer inquiring about specific services, scheduling a consultation, or demonstrating readiness to purchase: and counts only qualified calls as conversions.
Google Ads
Vivek has spotted a new step in the Google Ads campaign creation flow titled "Where do you want to run ads?": offering advertisers a choice between all channels or select individual channels before campaign settings are finalised. The control gives upfront visibility over where ads will appear, rather than relying on post-creation opt-outs.
Google Ads
Google has begun displaying sponsored product ads directly within the free listing grid on the Google Shopping tab: a placement previously reserved exclusively for organic listings. Brodie Clark first documented the change on 20 April 2026; SERP Alert followed with broader analysis.
Google Ads
From 4 May 2026, Google Ads will allow online gambling advertisements in Alberta, Canada, for entities authorised by the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC). The change covers lotteries, sports betting, online casinos and fantasy sports, with brand awareness campaigns only at launch and strict geo-restriction to the province.
Google Ads
New customer acquisition (NCA) goals for Performance Max campaigns are now importable directly from Google Ads into Microsoft Advertising, and the feature was rolled out to all advertisers this week. Google "website visitors" audience segments convert to equivalent rule-based remarketing lists; Google's auto-created "all visitors" and "all converters" lists map to Microsoft equivalents; unsupported lists such as Customer Match can be substituted with "all converters" or omitted at import.
Google Ads
Anthony Higman has identified a new Local Services Ads mobile format that shows a single business listing (one-pack) that expands into a five-pack, then into the full LSA list.
Google Ads
Google has announced that the Google Ads API will require MFA for all new OAuth 2.0 refresh tokens starting April 21, 2026, with enforcement rolling out over the following weeks. Existing OAuth refresh tokens continue to work without interruption.
Google Ads
Landing page reporting is now available for Performance Max campaigns in Microsoft Advertising, showing performance by Final URL, including spend, impressions, clicks, conversion metrics, and ROAS. The view can be segmented by campaign, asset group, and custom parameters.
Google Ads
Arpan Banerjee has flagged that Merchant Centre is already showing warnings for non-compliant product images under a new label: "Image too small for upcoming enforcement." From 31 January 2027, all product images must be at least 500×500 pixels.
Google Ads
Anthony Higman flagged a widespread Google Ads policy glitch sending mass "Destination not working" warning emails across accounts, confirmed as false positives across the PPC community. No corrective action is required on landing pages for accounts that received these notifications.
Google Ads
Thomas Eccel has spotted two Merchant Centre feed attributes gaining visible placement in Google Shopping listings. Business logos now appear next to the merchant name in sponsored product listings: a trust signal before the click.
Google Ads
Cory Liseno and Matt Landers have published episode 3 of the Ads DevCast, covering the new Google Ads and Analytics MCP servers for cross-platform data analysis, the Google Ads API Developer Assistant for writing and debugging API integrations, new Data Manager UI diagnostics, and AdMob SDK migration tools. Available on YouTube, YouTube Music, and as a blog post.
Google Ads
Google has added campaign-level filtering to its bulk ad review workflow. Advertisers requesting bulk revision of policy-flagged ads can now select specific campaigns rather than submitting all eligible ads simultaneously: reducing the risk of triggering broad re-review of campaigns that are already serving correctly.
Google Ads
The April coverage and images show a superseded DSA plan. Google's 11 June update moves the start of automatic DSA upgrades to February 2027. Automatically created assets and campaign-level broad match remain on the September 2026 timetable.
Google Ads
Google will resume certification applications for online gambling advertisers targeting Australia on April 21, 2026, after a pause since August 2025. The update follows Google's March 2026 eligibility changes, which impose stricter account and domain verification standards.
Google Ads
Arpan Banerjee and Thomas Eccel have both identified a new Results tab inside Google Ads Recommendations, showing the actual incremental impact of bid and budget recommendations that have already been applied: enabling advertisers to see whether Google's suggestions moved metrics in the stated direction rather than acting on blind faith.
Google Ads
Thomas Eccel has flagged a new dedicated Consent Mode card in the Conversion Summary Diagnostics tab (Goals → Conversions → Summary → Diagnostics), sitting alongside the Enhanced Conversions overview. The card shows whether web Consent Mode is rated Excellent, Good, or Needs Attention, with a "View details" link to inspect modelling uplift and domain-by-country breakdowns.
Google Ads
Jeremy Young has flagged a growing wave of phishing attacks targeting agency Google Ads Manager accounts. The scam involves fraudulent audit invites followed by a phishing email mimicking a read-only MCC access invite.
Google Ads
Arpan Banerjee has spotted that Text Guidelines (Beta): the brand rule system constraining AI-generated ad copy: can now be copied from an existing campaign to a new one in a single click, enabling consistent brand tone and messaging rules to be applied across an account without manual re-entry.
Google Ads
Natasha Kaurra has identified that the "Do not assign a value" option has been removed from the Google Ads conversion setup flow. Advertisers must now choose either a fixed value per conversion or dynamic values.
Google Ads
Following the Easter rollout, Google's seasonal Asset Group Theming is now live for Mother's Day. The feature duplicates an existing asset group, applies AI-generated themed images and updated copy, and leaves the original asset group untouched: all changes require approval before publication.
