Google Ads News
Google TV Masthead Format Requirements Update
Google TV Masthead Format Requirements Update
Starting in September 2026, Google is relaxing some content restrictions for Google TV masthead ads:
Alcohol: Ads may depict or reference alcohol, provided they comply with Google’s existing Alcohol policy.
Consumer electronics: Newly permitted categories include headphones/audio equipment, laptops and desktops, wearables, cameras/imaging gear, routers, thermostats, and other smart-home infrastructure. TVs, smartphones, tablets, and soundbars remain prohibited.
Healthcare & medicines: Healthcare-related content will be permitted, subject to the existing Healthcare and Medicines policy.
Gambling: Sports betting will be permitted. Daily Fantasy Sports will also be allowed, but only when targeting the U.S. and Canada. Other gambling content—including offline gambling, other online gambling, non-casino games, and social casino games—remains prohibited.
Google is also adding a list of common masthead-ad disapproval reasons and restructuring the policy page for clarity.
Importantly, the change does not loosen the underlying policies themselves: existing certification, targeting, and other policy requirements still apply.
Google Tests ‘For You’ Label in Dynamic Remarketing Ads
Google Tests ‘For You’ Label in Dynamic Remarketing Ads. Thanks for sharing Hana Kobzová .
Google Ads Tests Swipeable Categories for Sponsored Results
Google Ads Tests Swipeable Categories For Sponsored Results Again thanks for sharing Barry Schwartz .
Upcoming Display & Video 360 API Changes
Google has announced three upcoming changes to the Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files that will take effect in October 2026.
From October 1, advertisers will no longer be able to exclude specific digital content labels through targeting, and most sensitive category exclusions will also be removed from the available targeting options. These changes affect both the DV360 API and related Structured Data File fields.
Then, from October 12, creating or updating YouTube responsive ads will require a business name and logo unless those values are already set at advertiser level. This also affects Ad Structured Data File uploads.
The practical takeaway: if you use the DV360 API or Structured Data Files in automated workflows, now is a good time to check whether your integrations rely on these targeting exclusions or on YouTube ad uploads without business name and logo fields.
Thanks for sending this over, Arpan Banerjee
Google Tests a New Sponsored Results Loading Animation
Google is testing a new loading animation for sponsored results on mobile Search.
During the test, users may see a message saying “Evaluating sponsored results” alongside Google and Gemini branding before the ads appear. At first glance, this made it look like Gemini might be involved in selecting or generating the sponsored results.
However, Google clarified that this is only a small experiment designed to show users that content is loading. The company specifically said Gemini is not being used to load sponsored results in Google Search.
Thanks for sharing Barry Schwartz .
Ask Advisor to Gain Shared Memory Across Google Marketing Tools
Google says Ask Advisor will soon gain shared memory across its marketing tools, including Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Merchant Center.
This means conversations will no longer be isolated to a single platform. If you discuss goals, campaign decisions, or performance in Google Ads, Ask Advisor will be able to use that context later when you move to Analytics, Merchant Center, or another supported Google marketing product.
Google says the shared memory will carry over goals, past decisions, and performance data, with the aim of providing more relevant recommendations across the entire marketing stack.
The feature was mentioned when Ask Advisor was originally announced, but Google is now signaling that the rollout is getting closer. Barry Schwartz notes that there is still no confirmed launch date.
Thanks for sharing Barry Schwartz .
Google Expands Campaign Performance Troubleshooting Guidance
Barry Schwartz reports that Google Ads appears to have published or updated a broader set of help documents focused on troubleshooting campaign performance fluctuations and changes.
The guidance now covers most major campaign types, including Performance Max, Search, Display, Video, Shopping, App, Smart, and Demand Gen campaigns. There is also a dedicated troubleshooter for Performance Max spend fluctuations.
These resources are designed to help advertisers diagnose why performance changes, covering campaign-specific factors that can affect metrics, spend, traffic, and conversions.
Barry notes that he believes several of these documents are new, although he couldn’t fully verify their history because the Wayback Machine was unavailable. Some may instead be existing pages that Google recently renamed or updated.
Merchant Center short_title Expands to Performance Max
Google has expanded the short_title attribute in Merchant Center beyond Demand Gen: it can now appear in visual Performance Max placements such as YouTube and Discover.
Merchants should aim to keep short titles under 40 characters to reduce mobile truncation, although Google still allows up to 65 characters.
Thanks for sharing Hana Kobzová
My Ad Center Adds ‘How This Ad Was Made’ AI Transparency
Google has added a new “How this ad was made” section to My Ad Center to improve transparency around AI-generated advertising.
The panel tells users when an ad was created or edited using artificial intelligence, giving more insight into how the content was produced.
The information can be accessed through the three-dot menu on ads across Google Search, YouTube, and Discover.
Ads created with Google’s own AI tools will automatically receive the appropriate disclosure. Advertisers that create AI-generated or AI-edited assets using external tools will need to declare this themselves.
In some regions, including the EU, India, and New York, visible AI labels are already required directly on the ad itself.
The practical takeaway: advertisers using AI-generated creative should expect more transparency requirements, and those using third-party AI tools will need to make sure the correct disclosures are added manually.
Thanks for sharing Arpan Banerjee .
Demand Gen Adds Multiple Conversion Optimization Goals
Google has updated Demand Gen campaigns to support multiple conversion optimization goals within the same campaign.
Advertisers can now optimize toward several actions at once, including lead form submissions, contacts, engagements, and YouTube follow-on views. Each goal can be enabled individually, and the new Add goal option makes it easier to manage the setup.
Previously, advertisers had less flexibility in combining different objectives within a single Demand Gen campaign. The change makes it possible to account for multiple valuable customer actions when optimizing performance.
The practical takeaway: Demand Gen campaigns can now reflect a broader range of business outcomes, giving advertisers more flexibility when a campaign has several meaningful conversion actions rather than one primary goal.
Thanks for sharing Hana Kobzová .
Performance Max Adds Local Customer Optimization
Google has introduced Local customer optimization for Performance Max campaigns focused on store goals.
The feature is designed to prioritize people who are physically nearby and showing strong immediate intent, such as searching for a local service, planning a route, visiting a store, or contacting a business.
Advertisers can use it to shift more budget toward locally relevant placements across Google Search, Google Maps, and Waze.
It can be enabled when creating a new Performance Max campaign for store goals or switched on in an existing eligible campaign.
There are some limitations: Local customer optimization cannot be used with online campaign goals or with campaigns that include Merchant Center products.
The practical takeaway: businesses that depend on nearby customers can now make Performance Max more focused on immediate local actions instead of broader online conversions.
Thanks for sharing Hana Kobzová
Asset Studio Adds ‘Upload as Drafts’ for Video Assets
Google Ads has added an Upload as drafts option for video assets in Asset Studio.
This lets advertisers upload and save videos as drafts without immediately choosing a YouTube channel.
Previously, videos had to be uploaded to YouTube before they could be added to a campaign. The new draft option gives advertisers more flexibility to review or edit videos first, or to prepare assets before deciding which YouTube channel to use.
The limitation is that the video still needs to be uploaded to YouTube before it can actually be used in a campaign.
The practical takeaway: advertisers can now prepare video assets earlier in the workflow without committing to a YouTube channel straight away.
Thanks for sharing Hana Kobzová .
Policy Manager Moves to Admin > Policy
Google has moved Policy Manager to a new location in the Google Ads interface.
Previously, advertisers could find it under Tools > Troubleshooting. It is now located under Admin > Policy.
Google has also added a new Ads tab next to the existing Account tab. The Ads section focuses on policy issues affecting individual ads, such as limited or disapproved ads, while the Account section continues to cover areas like verification and certifications.
The practical takeaway: if you regularly check ad disapprovals or policy restrictions, the functionality is still there, but you’ll now find it under Admin > Policy instead of the troubleshooting section.
Thanks for sharing Vojtěch Audy & Hana Kobzová .
Ask Advisor Expands Cross-Platform Intelligence
Google is expanding Ask Advisor with cross-platform intelligence across Google Ads, Google Analytics, Merchant Center, and Google Marketing Platform.
The biggest change is shared memory. Ask Advisor will be able to carry goals, previous decisions, and performance context from one Google product to another instead of treating each platform as a separate conversation.
Over time, it should also become more personalized by remembering what matters to the advertiser and using previous interactions to improve its recommendations and guidance.
Another benefit is continuity across products. Users should be able to move between Ads, Analytics, Merchant Center, and other Google marketing tools without losing context or having to start over.
Google is also adding access to previous chats, making it easier to revisit earlier conversations and decisions.
Thanks for sharing Vojtěch Audy & Hana Kobzová
Google Tag Manager Changes gtag(‘config’) Handling
Google is warning that Google Tag Manager snippets will soon stop recognizing or waiting for gtag(‘config’) commands.
This mainly affects websites that have a GTM container installed but still use commands such as gtag(‘config’, ‘G-…’) for GA4 or gtag(‘config’, ‘AW-…’) for Google Ads configuration. Google considers this combination an unsupported implementation.
Affected GTM container owners have reportedly received email notifications, and Google has published documentation showing which implementations are supported and unsupported.
The change is connected to Google’s broader move to unify Google Tag and Google Tag Manager. Advertisers and analytics teams using a mixed GTM/gtag setup should therefore review their implementation and move configuration into the supported GTM or Google Tag setup.
Thanks for sharing Hana Kobzová
Demand Gen Adds Three AI-Powered YouTube Tools
Demand Gen is adding three new AI-powered tools to help advertisers grow performance on YouTube:
Multimodal video creation: Generate publish-ready horizontal and vertical video ads from simple text prompts using Gemini Omni. Product feed expansion: Create dynamic travel ads featuring relevant local activities, events, and real-time offers. YouTube insights: Use Gemini-powered analytics to identify emerging cultural trends and measure performance across both paid and organic content.
Bottom line: Google is making Demand Gen more automated, personalized, and insight-driven to help advertisers capture more consumer demand on YouTube.
Local Services Ads Call Lead Charging Changes
Google is changing how Local Services Ads (LSA) call leads are charged starting October 1, 2026. The biggest change is that advertisers may now pay for certain calls even when nobody answers the phone.
A missed call during business hours can count as a valid, chargeable lead if the caller stays on the line for more than 20 seconds. Google can also charge for later follow-up calls between the business and the customer if the original call wasn’t charged but the follow-up meets its valid-lead criteria.
There is an exception for businesses using phone menus where callers must press a key to reach the right department. In those cases, the 20-second timer only starts after the caller presses the key. Google also says it is adding new protections against spam and automated calls, although it hasn’t explained those safeguards in detail yet.
Google Ads API Developer Assistant v4.0.0
Google has released Google Ads API Developer Assistant v4.0.0, a major update that turns the tool from a standalone project into a plugin that can be used directly inside AI coding environments such as Claude Code and Antigravity.
The assistant gives AI agents specialized Google Ads API capabilities. It can generate best-practice integration code, validate GAQL queries before they run, inspect current Protobuf schemas, troubleshoot issues such as failed offline conversion uploads, answer API questions using official definitions, and even run ad hoc reports against a Google Ads account from natural-language requests.
A major theme of the release is efficiency through progressive disclosure. Instead of loading huge amounts of Google Ads API documentation and schemas into the model context, the plugin only loads the rules and data needed for the current task. Google says this reduces token usage, response times, CPU and RAM usage, disk activity, and unnecessary multi-step LLM reasoning.
The release also adds native support for Claude Code slash commands such as /validate-gaql, /inspect-object, /troubleshoot-conversions, and /get-cids, alongside support for Antigravity.
Product Titles Beta Appears in Google Ads Reporting
Arpan Banerjee Arpan Banerjee now also saw the product titles beta! In this report you can see a sample of product titles created by Google AI!
Google Renames Multi-Source Conversions
Google has renamed conversions with multiple data sources to multi-source conversions across its documentation and Tag Diagnostics.
Multi-source conversions let advertisers connect an existing website conversion action with an additional backend source, such as a CRM or order database, using Data Manager or the Data Manager API. This can help recover conversions that may be missed because of ad blockers or browser restrictions, while avoiding duplicate counting.
To use the feature, advertisers need a unique transaction ID, the conversion date and time, and at least one attribution identifier such as GCLID, GBRAID, WBRAID, or hashed data.
The feature is currently in beta and does not yet support imported GA4 conversions or URL-based conversion actions.
Thanks for sharing Hana Kobzová
Customer Lifecycle Optimization Added to Conversions Summary
Google Ads has introduced a new Customer Lifecycle Optimization section within the Conversions Summary page, giving advertisers more tools to optimize campaigns across different stages of the customer journey.
The feature focuses on three key areas:
Customer Acquisition: Helps advertisers identify existing customers and optimize campaigns toward winning new ones.
Lapsed Customers: Uses audience segments to recognize previous customers and adjust bidding strategies to encourage them to return.
Loyalty Program Members: Allows advertisers to assign different conversion values to customers who are part of a loyalty program.
Some features require audience segments with at least 100 active members.
Overall, the update encourages advertisers to look beyond individual conversions and optimize for the full customer lifecycle, from initial acquisition to retention and repeat purchases.
Local Services Ads Booking Expands to 500+ Partners
Google is expanding Local Services Ads booking support from 20 to more than 500 Reserve with Google partners.
If a business already has an active partner booking link on its Google Business Profile, that link can now automatically appear in its LSA, allowing customers to book directly from Search and Maps.
These bookings are tracked as paid LSA leads, and businesses can manage booking links and preferences from their LSA settings.
Gemini Omni in Google Ads Asset Studio
New Google Omni in Ads
Gemini Omni in Google Ads helps marketers quickly create, edit, and scale on-brand video ads directly in Asset Studio.
It uses uploaded brand guidelines to maintain visual and tonal consistency, can generate video concepts from prompts or existing assets, and easily produces multiple horizontal and vertical variations for campaign testing.
In short, it turns a single creative idea into many brand-consistent video ads at scale.
Demand Gen Expands Multiple Conversion Goals
Google has expanded Demand Gen campaigns to support multiple conversion optimization goals, giving advertisers more flexibility in how campaigns are optimized and measured.
Advertisers can now select several goals within a single campaign, including lead form submissions, contacts, engagements, and YouTube follow-on views. Each goal can be enabled separately and managed through a new “Add goal” option in the campaign interface.
This update makes it easier to optimize Demand Gen campaigns around multiple business outcomes at once, helping advertisers better align campaign performance with their broader marketing objectives.
Source: Hana Kobzová
New Product Titles Report Shows AI-Generated Shopping Titles
Google Ads is starting to show a new “Product titles” report that reveals AI-generated product titles used in Shopping ads.
Google may replace a merchant’s original title with a customised AI version when it believes it’s more relevant, while still using the original when appropriate.
Advertisers can compare the AI and original titles and track metrics such as impressions, clicks, CTR, cost, and CPC giving them more visibility into how Google’s AI-driven title optimisation performs.
Thanks for sharing Yash Mandlesha
Maximize Conversion Value Waiting Period Gets Shorter
Google updated its help doc for Maximize Conversion Value bidding, and the standout change is a shorter waiting period before adopting the strategy after you start reporting conversion value (or change how it’s reported).
The old guidance said to wait 4 weeks or 3 conversion cycles for the campaign to stabilize at a similar conversion value rate. The new guidance drops that to just 1–2 conversion cycles and removes the “4 weeks” alternative entirely.
Two other things worth noting: the guidance now explicitly covers Shopping campaigns alongside Search (previously it named Search only), and Google added four new troubleshooting docs for performance fluctuations across Search, Shopping, Display, and Demand Gen campaigns.
Thanks for sharing Barry Schwartz .
New Beta Turns Websites and Ads into AI-Generated Videos
Google is beginning to roll out a new Beta video-generation tool in Google Ads Asset Studio, likely one of the features announced at GML 2026. Called “Transform your website or ads into video with Google AI,” it uses Google’s latest generative AI models, including Gemini Omni, to turn existing website or campaign creatives into polished 12-second videos with five scenes, voiceover, and horizontal or vertical formats.
Rather than generating videos entirely from scratch, the tool adapts and animates existing creative assets while still giving advertisers some control over imagery, messaging, visual direction, colors, scenes, and voiceover.
The workflow has five stages: selecting source material, reviewing an AI-generated creative brief, choosing among three creative narratives, editing a five-scene storyboard and voiceover, and finally reviewing, downloading, labeling, or uploading the finished video directly to YouTube.
Thanks for sharing Dario Zannoni .
Local Services Ads Changes Ahead of Google Ads Integration
Google’s quietly reshaping Local Services Ads before folding them into Google Ads.
Two things worth knowing:
→ Categories just got way more specific. “Restaurant” and “auto repair” are splitting into cuisine types and individual services (transmission, brakes, oil changes, sushi, pizza…). More precise targeting, higher-intent leads. → The migration into Google Ads has started. Phase one: select US home & storefront advertisers, August 2026. Non-US accounts follow in 2027.
The good news for anyone running LSAs: the model doesn’t change.
Still pay-per-lead, still keywordless, still Search + Maps only. Existing setups migrate automatically no rebuilding.
More control, same mechanics. Worth getting familiar with the new categories now if LSAs are part of your mix.
More PMax Control Over Conversion Prioritization
Google Ads is rolling out more control over how PMax prioritizes conversions across channels.
Useful when spend gets stuck in a low-performing channel but attribution still matters.
YouTube may assist a conversion that ultimately closes through Search.
More control is good. Use it carefully.
Credit to Heidi Sturrock
New ‘Re-review’ Status Appears in Google Ads
New status in Ads called re-review found by Barry Schwartz.