The changes that matter to advertisers, with the sources behind them and a practical next step. Pick a topic and catch up at your own pace.
Google Ads
From 1 October, Local Services Ads may charge for missed business-hours calls over 20 seconds and certain follow-up calls, according to reported guidance.
Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising published guidance for preparing product discovery and checkout for AI assistants and purchasing agents. It emphasises complete, structured product feeds, Merchant Centre data quality, AI-native ad formats, Copilot Checkout, Brand Agents, and visibility measurement within AI experiences.
Google Ads
Arpan Banerjee reported that Google Ads is presenting suggested sitelinks inside campaign workflows. The suggestions can reduce setup time, but still require review for destination relevance, duplication, and approved messaging.
Google Ads
Arpan Banerjee reported that Performance Max is rolling out generative AI extensions that adapt existing video to missing aspect ratios. The setting may apply automatically, with an opt-out route and a reported 4 September deadline for requests.
Microsoft Advertising
Microsoft Advertising will remove Max CPC controls from new standalone campaigns that use several conversion-based automated bidding strategies as of 1 October. Existing campaigns and portfolio strategies retain their current options in response to the reported change.
Google Ads
Arpan Banerjee first surfaced a redesigned Asset Optimisation panel, with text, image, and video automation settings grouped more clearly. The change affects navigation and visibility rather than introducing a new optimisation principle.
Google Ads
Google Ads now lets advertisers add a business logo during setup for Performance Max and Shopping campaigns, using the Merchant Centre logo as a fallback when no separate asset is supplied. Arpan Banerjee was credited with first bringing the change to light.
Meta Ads
Peter Quadrel first reported that advertisers were removing granular placement exclusions from ad sets and steering hard exclusions toward account-level Placement Controls, with value rules available for softer bid adjustments. Social Media Today later reported the same direction as part of Meta's wider automation push.
Google Merchant Center
Google has notified advertisers that images supplied via image_link below 500 × 500 pixels will be disapproved as of 31 January 2027, with 1,500 × 1,500 pixels recommended. Hana Kobzová surfaced the notice first, with Thomas Eccel sharing the deadline in the contributor feed.
Meta Ads
Bram Van der Hallen spotted an option to choose age and gender signals for each creative within a single ad set. Meta can still deliver beyond the selected audience when it predicts a better response, so the setting is a signal rather than a strict targeting boundary.
Google Ads
Google documents how an additional source can supplement Google-tag conversions. Its guide says conversions from the added source become biddable after 14 days. Review eligibility, event definitions and duplication handling before implementation. More recorded events are only useful if they represent the outcomes you intended to measure.
Looker Studio
Google Cloud's Looker notes state that the new Explore and Merge Query Experience preview became enabled by default on 21 August. Because it remains a preview, interface behaviour and administrator controls may still change.
Google Ads
Google released the non-breaking v25.1 update with support for Brand Lift and Conversion Lift resources, new AI Max migration date fields, text-disclaimer assets, benchmark services, loyalty segmentation, and additional reporting dimensions. Client libraries must be upgraded before the new capabilities can be used.
Google Tag
Google is consolidating Google Tag measurement settings with advanced Tag Manager capabilities, along with no-code event tracking, a visual map showing which platforms receive data, and an in-account container update guide. Google says the consolidation can simplify data transmission, while new integrations include Akamai, Cloudflare, Duda, Fastly, and Webflow.
Google Ads
Emmanuel Flossie’s 26 August checklist covers product IDs, attribute rules, supplemental sources, feed labels, remarketing IDs and conversion cart data after migration. Compare identifiers and source relationships with your previous setup before changing campaigns. This is a practical troubleshooting reference, not evidence that every account has a migration fault.
Industry
Microsoft Clarity published five advanced query patterns for its MCP Server, including identifying pages with high scroll depth but low conversion rates and diagnosing mobile page friction. The examples are workflow guidance rather than a new advertising feature.
Google Merchant Center
A new Merchant Centre help page reference documents a native commerce attribute intended to support checkout experiences within Google surfaces. The documentation does not establish universal activation for all merchants or markets.
OpenAI
Garrett Sussman shared iPullRank panel data showing ChatGPT as the sixth-largest destination for Google Search clicks in the sample, with about 1.7 million clicks in one week and 4.75% of its Google clicks classified as paid. The analysis cannot reveal OpenAI's total spend, bids, or unclicked auctions, so it measures observed traffic mix rather than budget.
Industry
Google's August 2026 spam update began on 18 August and completed on 21 August, applying globally and across languages. Organic volatility during that window should be separated from paid-media changes and routine demand movement.
Industry
The Competition and Markets Authority opened investigations into Trainline, Virgin Atlantic, and RED Driving School over the presentation of mandatory fees. The cases are investigations rather than findings of infringement, but they sit within the UK's wider enforcement focus on transparent consumer pricing.
Industry
OpenAI cut the API and credit pricing of GPT-5.6 Sol by more than 20% for three months from 21 August, following July's reductions for Terra and Luna.
YouTube
Google is upgrading TrueView in-stream and in-feed consideration campaigns to Video View Campaigns, widening them toward multi-format delivery. The notice indicates that campaigns which previously excluded YouTube Search may have that inventory included after migration.
OpenAI
SERP Alert observed a test in which the ad label and advertiser site name appear above standard single-text ads rather than inside the ad unit. The sighting does not establish a full rollout or a performance effect.
YouTube
Google's Ads Decoded team highlighted conversational attributes, Q&A content, variant details, high-resolution imagery, short-form video links, shipping cut-offs, returns, local inventory, and accurate identifiers as holiday feed priorities. The guidance reflects how richer product context supports conversational and multimodal discovery.
Amazon Ads
Kate Pavlenko reports the Full Funnel tab appearing in an account and explicitly distinguishes that rollout from the earlier announcement. Oleksandr Kovalov’s earlier beta commentary raises questions about the control advertisers retain.
Amazon Ads
Amazon introduced AWD in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK on 20 August. The programme offers bulk inventory storage and automated replenishment into FBA, reducing the need to manage every restock manually.
Amazon Ads
Amazon Ads detailed how it works with HUMAN to identify and block made-for-advertising networks by using site, traffic, supply chain, infrastructure, and operator signals, rather than relying solely on page-level quality. Amazon says its agentic scanning system filtered more than 10 trillion bid requests that failed verification standards in 2025, while HUMAN observed a fourfold rise in requests from one investigated network during the first half of 2026.
Amazon Ads
Amazon Ads made its Manager Account API generally available to advertisers and agencies with an approved Login with Amazon client. The API supports bulk account creation, account lookup, pagination, and programmatic updates to business details across managed accounts.
Amazon Ads
Vita K. spotted inventory groups for Amazon DSP audio, extending a workflow already available for display and video. Advertisers can bundle negotiated or curated deals into one group and reuse updates across audio ad groups.
Amazon Ads
Ivan Marynych reported a Placement Reservation programme that allows eligible third-party sellers to select ASINs and bid for additional Sub Same Day warehouse space via Capacity Manager. Amazon's Sub Same Day network can deliver eligible products in two to five hours, while costs vary by ASIN and market and apply when units ship through the programme.
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