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Google Ads Performance Max data exclusions rolling out
How it works: Google Ads is rolling out data exclusion controls for Performance Max campaigns, letting advertisers choose which conversion events feed into their automated bidding.
What’s the benefit: Advertisers can exclude conversion types that might mislead the Smart Bidding, which will help improve targeting and efficiency.
Read moreMeta finally brings threads ads to every user
How it works: Meta has launched advertising in Threads globally, meaning marketers can now buy ads shown natively between organic posts on the Threads social feed.
What’s the benefit: Brands now have a new placement for awareness and engagement. There is also an early adopter advantage, meaning strong engagement potential as competition builds over 2026.
Google Shopping API deadline
Google’s Shopping API cutoff, requiring migration to the new Merchant API is becoming urgent, as old API versions will soon stop supporting Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.
How it works:
Older API endpoints will be dismissed, meaning campaign delivery for Shopping and related assets can fail if the Merchant data feed isn’t migrated to the new API standards.
What’s the benefit:
Completing the migration ensures uninterrupted paid‑click delivery for Shopping and PMax campaigns dependent on product feed data, and helps avoid issues with ad disapprovals or loss of catalogue synchronisation.
Microsoft adds customer acquisition goals & PMax enhancements
Microsoft Ads has introduced new customer acquisition goals and improved visibility for Performance Max campaigns.
How it works:
Advertisers can now choose Performance Max goals focused on new customers, get clearer measurement insights, and expand audience targeting on Google Ads.
What’s the benefit:
This gives you more control over who your paid clicks are driving, especially when targeting new buyers vs. existing audiences, making PMax more strategic rather than purely automated.
Google introduces ads within AI shopping experiences
Google has begun integrating paid ads into its AI-driven shopping and conversational tools, allowing personalised offers to appear during AI-assisted product discovery.
How it works:
Ads appear when AI detects shopping intent during a conversation. They use your existing Search, Shopping, and Performance Max campaigns; no new campaign type needed. As users narrow their questions, relevant offers like discounts, bundles, or free delivery can automatically show up in the AI experience.
What’s the benefit:
This creates new high-intent touchpoints beyond traditional SERPs, but also reduces visibility into exactly where ads are appearing. Marketers may see incremental conversions but will need to closely monitor performance shifts, as these placements are not always clearly segmented in reporting.
Microsoft expands Performance Max search themes
Microsoft Advertising has increased the number of search themes allowed in Performance Max campaigns from previous limits to 50 per campaign.
How it works:
Advertisers can now input a broader set of intent signals to guide Microsoft’s automation. Search themes act as directional prompts rather than strict targeting, helping the algorithm understand which queries and user intent it should prioritise when serving ads.
What’s the benefit:
This gives advertisers greater strategic influence without fragmenting campaigns. It is especially useful for brands with wide product ranges, seasonal demand, or multiple service lines, allowing automation to scale while staying aligned with commercial priorities.
Google Merchant Centre update
GMC is now showing priority diagnostics only. This could mean advertisers might miss non-critical issues from flagging. However, the good news is that you can switch off filters to see all diagnostics. The new system update will now only highlight urgent problems, so it will be important for users, as it could lead to overlooked issues.
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Combination tabs are now live in Pmax asset groups.
Combination tabs are now live in Pmax asset groups. This new feature in Google Ads provides transparency into which combinations of headlines, descriptions, images, and logos are performing best for your Performance Max asset groups. This will allow you to see best performing creative mixes, understand the AI ad assembly process and optimise for future assets. This gives more insights into performance. In essence, this helps you to better understand what resonates with your audience and how to improve them.
See Google helpGoogle rolling out brand inclusions to standard shopping campaigns
Google has quietly started rolling out brand inclusions to standard shopping campaigns in order to give advertisers more control over and precise management of which brands apear in shopping ads.
How it works:
This new feature will let you directly add in or remove brand lists to ad groups of both Performance Max and standard shopping. Before, targeting tools were only available in Performance Max and AI, leaving standard shopping in the dark when it comes to brand visibility. This means you can now define exactly which brands to include or exclude, preview in the set up and apply changes within the actual Google Ads interface.
What’s the benefit:
This update is huge for e-commerce brands because it allows users to protect brand-specific budgets or exclude brand-specific budgets. This will save time in the initial set up of campaigns because it saves having to use manual segmentation or using scripts to pull out branded keywords.
Read moreGmail video auto open in mobile app
This is update allows users to automatically open the advertiser’s site in app, which could potentially inflate site traffic data. This is because users who never intended to visit the site may click on the video potentially inflating website traffic and remarketing lists. This will be crucial for anyone running Demand Gen campaigns & Performance Max as users will have to check Gmail placements, especially if you are using clicks-based bidding around peak times of the year like Black Friday & Christmas, as there might be a lot of wasted spend here.
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