Week of Mar 31, 2025
19 changes logged the week of Mar 31, 2025, 3 high impact; 2 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- Unfair Advantage policy doc changed to allow one advertiser in both top and bottom ad auctions from April 14
Navah Hopkins highlighted a support-doc update stating that from April 14, 2025 an advertiser can occupy more than one ad location on a SERP, and Search Engine Land later reported Google would let top-ads advertisers also enter the bottom-ads auction. Google framed it as not violating double-serving rules since restrictions apply within a single ad location. Source
- Enhanced CPC removed from Search and Display campaigns; remaining campaigns moved to Manual CPC
Effective the week of March 31, 2025, Enhanced CPC is no longer available for Search and Display campaigns. Campaigns not migrated beforehand now run on Manual CPC. Google recommends Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value or Maximize clicks instead. Source
- Location Manager added to the Shared Library for managing business locations and location groups
A new Location Manager under Tools > Shared library consolidates business locations, location groups and related settings in one place. Source
- Google tested a 'Show more' overlay that loads extra Shopping ads without leaving the SERP
Sachin Patel captured a test in which a button on the second row of Shopping ads opens an overlay with additional products. A related 'More' button overlaying products from the same site was spotted by Khushal Bherwani days later. Source
Merchant Center
- Merchant API added Product Studio (alpha) sub-API and automatic improvements controls
In April 2025 the Merchant API (then in beta) gained a Product Studio alpha sub-API using generative AI to create and optimize titles and descriptions, AutomaticImprovements and AccountService/AccountRelationship resources in the Accounts sub-API, AutomatedDiscounts price fields on products, and deprecated the taxes and tax_category product fields. Source
Google Analytics
- GA4 introduced '(data not available)' source/medium value to replace '(not set)' for Cross-network
A new '(data not available)' value appears when source and medium cannot be determined, improving attribution of Direct-vs-Cross-network traffic; reports show a warning icon when the rate is high. Source
- GA4 Generated insights (AI explanations of data changes) rolled out inside detailed reports
AI-powered Generated insights now appear directly in detailed reports, explaining spikes and dips in plain language so users can understand why metrics moved without manual segmentation. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- New DEVELOPER_TOKEN_INVALID error code introduced for invalid developer tokens from April 28, 2025
Requests with an invalid developer token return DEVELOPER_TOKEN_INVALID in v19.1 (instead of the generic OAUTH_TOKEN_HEADER_INVALID); versions before v19 return DEVELOPER_TOKEN_NOT_APPROVED. Existing working integrations are unaffected. Source
Google Tag & Tag Manager
- Tag Diagnostics added 'tag data may be restricted', missing gtag config and missing Google tag alerts
New diagnostics flag when a CDN such as Cloudflare is detected without first-party mode, when the gtag config command is missing, and when pages have no Google tag; some alerts can now be dismissed. Source
Microsoft Ads
- LinkedIn profile targeting for Performance Max moved to general availability
LinkedIn profile targeting became generally available as a Performance Max audience signal in eligible markets, after the February pilot. Source
- "Use feed for testing only" replaced the "Enable publishing" checkbox for product feeds
Merchant Center online product feeds gained a test-only mode so merchants can validate feeds using the same product IDs and markets without affecting live listings. Test-feed products do not appear in the store summary. Source
- Local Inventory Ads setup reduced from three feeds to a primary feed plus inventory feed
Online product feeds were automatically upgraded to a Primary feed starting April 1, 2025 for merchants not running Local Inventory Ads, cutting the required feeds from three to two. Source
- Audience insight reports and asset-level conversion metrics for Performance Max became GA
Performance Max advertisers gained audience insight reports and conversion metrics at the asset level to guide creative refreshes. Source
- Bids on imported campaigns were automatically raised to Microsoft minimums
From March 25, 2025 Microsoft automatically raised below-minimum bids on campaigns imported from other platforms so they could serve; the adjustment was non-optional and could not be disabled. Source
- Disclaimers launched for native Audience ads
Advertisers could add customizable legal or consent disclaimers, shown as a clickable label, to native Audience ads. Performance Max support followed in August 2025. Source
- Optimization Score began deprecation on April 8, 2025
Microsoft started removing Optimization Score from the Microsoft Advertising Platform from April 8, 2025, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable alongside the April product updates. Source
- Audience video ads gained 9:16 vertical support and a 90-second maximum
Online video ads and Premium Streaming placements accepted vertical 9:16 creative and videos up to 90 seconds. Source
- Short headline limit for Audience ads raised from 30 to 40 characters
The longer limit aligns with Google formats to make imported campaigns copy over cleanly. Source
- Google-imported Performance Max campaigns got automatic final URL cleanup and new image aspect ratios
Microsoft began cleaning final URLs on imported Performance Max campaigns to improve crawlability and asset generation, and swapped in four new aspect ratios (2.01:1, 1.69:1, 1.53:1, 1.24:1) while removing 1.78:1, 1.33:1 and 1.5:1. Source
Took effect this week
Share this page: https://gadschangehistory.com/week/2025-03-31/