Week of May 19, 2025
32 changes logged the week of May 19, 2025, 4 high impact. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- Smart Bidding Exploration launched in global beta for Search campaigns
Smart Bidding Exploration is a campaign setting that gives Target ROAS bidding flexibility to pursue conversions from a wider range of search query categories, including lower-volume queries Smart Bidding would otherwise underbid. Google called it its biggest bidding update in over a decade and reported 18% more unique converting query categories and 19% more conversions. Source
- Search and Shopping ads in AI Overviews expanded to desktop in the US
Ads inside AI Overviews, previously mobile-only in the US, launched on desktop for US users, with expansion to select countries on mobile and desktop in English planned later in 2025. Advertisers running Performance Max, Shopping, Search with broad match and AI Max are eligible automatically. Source
- EU User Consent Policy compliance deadline set for July 21, 2025 with suspension of ad features
Google emailed advertisers with violating sites that they must comply with the EU User Consent Policy by July 21, 2025 or lose personalized and non-personalized ads, remarketing and conversion tracking on those sites. Affects advertisers with EEA/UK traffic. Source
- A bug halted spend for campaigns using 'new customers only' bidding; Ads Liaison confirmed and fixed
Benoit Legendre flagged that campaigns set to bid only for new customers stopped spending from May 15. Google confirmed the bug, suggested temporarily switching to 'new and existing customers', and Ginny Marvin confirmed the fix on May 19. Source
- Web and app integrations launched in Google Ads, with web-to-app install measurement coming
Google Ads now offers unified conversion tracking and bidding across web and app, and announced upcoming measurement of app installs driven by web campaigns. Web to App Connect expanded to YouTube, Hotel Ads and Demand Gen. Source
- Video ads rolling out on Search, Image Search and Shopping results in the US and Canada
Advertisers can supply high-quality video assets that Google surfaces as video ads within Search, Image Search and Shopping results. Rolling out soon in the US and Canada. Source
- Target ROAS bidding launched globally for iOS App campaigns
iOS App campaigns can now use Target ROAS bidding, using AI to predict conversion value from privacy-preserving signals. Available globally. Source
- One-click exclusion of users who recently interacted with your brand announced for Performance Max
Google announced a Performance Max beta, coming later in 2025, that excludes users who recently searched for or interacted with the advertiser's brand so budget focuses on prospecting. Source
- Incrementality testing thresholds lowered with improved Bayesian methodology
Google reduced the spend and conversion minimums for conversion lift and incrementality tests and improved the statistical methodology, making experiments viable at around $5,000 instead of roughly $100,000. Google cited lower thresholds in place from February-March 2025. Source
- Agentic Google Ads expert launched in beta to build campaigns and apply recommendations
An AI agent inside Google Ads can suggest keywords and creative, build themed ad groups with assets and implement recommendations in conversation. Available in beta; later rebranded Ads Advisor. Source
- New customer acquisition goal announced for Demand Gen campaigns
Demand Gen will support a new customer acquisition goal so advertisers can bid higher for, or only for, new customers, matching the option already available in Search, Shopping and Performance Max. Announced as coming soon globally. Source
- Google Maps inventory (Promoted Pins) announced for Demand Gen campaigns
Demand Gen will be able to reach customers on Google Maps through Promoted Pins, adding Maps to its YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Display inventory. Announced as coming soon. Source
- Data Manager confirmed globally available in Google Ads with new connectors and an API on the way
Data Manager, the hub for connecting first-party data sources such as BigQuery, HubSpot, Salesforce, Shopify, Sheets and Zoho to Google Ads, is now available globally, with Data Manager recommendations and a Data Manager API announced as coming soon. Source
- Creator partnerships hub launched in Google Ads in 20+ markets
A creator partnerships hub inside Google Ads lets advertisers manage YouTube creator collaborations, link creator content and run partnership ads directly. Available in more than 20 markets at launch. Source
- Attributed branded searches metric introduced to quantify brand search lift from video ads
A new attributed branded searches metric shows how many branded searches on Google and YouTube resulted from video ad exposure, giving upper-funnel campaigns a measurable outcome. Available shortly, globally. Source
- Asset Studio announced as a single creative workspace in Google Ads
Asset Studio brings image and video generation (Imagen and Veo), editing, variations and asset management into one destination inside Google Ads. Announced as launching soon globally. Source
- Ads began testing in AI Mode in the US
Google started testing Search and Shopping ads within AI Mode responses, appearing below or integrated into the AI answer where relevant. Available in English in the US to eligible Performance Max, Shopping, broad match Search and AI Max campaigns. Source
- Debt services verification folded into Financial Services verification in six countries
Advertisers offering debt services targeting Australia, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, South Korea and Spain must complete the Financial Services verification from June 3, 2025. Already-certified advertisers did not need to re-verify. Source
- Performance graphs gained clickable highlighted sections with contextual explanations
Thomas Eccel showed that highlighted areas on performance charts can now be clicked to get explanations of cost spikes or conversion drops. Google did not announce the feature. Source
- Shoppable YouTube Masthead launched globally on mobile
The YouTube Masthead can now feature a product carousel on mobile, letting retailers showcase products on the YouTube homepage placement. Available globally. Source
- Product-centric image generation rolled out in Google Ads and Merchant Center
Advertisers can generate lifestyle imagery that shows their actual products in new scenes using Google AI, rolling out in Google Ads and Merchant Center and coming to Asset Studio. Source
- Marketing Advisor browser agent announced for later in 2025
Marketing Advisor is a Chrome-based AI agent that gives step-by-step guidance across Google properties, identifies missing tags, and offers proactive assessments with voice interaction. Announced as coming later in 2025. Source
- Insights Finder expanded to surface top and trending YouTube creators for a topic or audience
Insights Finder now recommends creators by topic, category or audience with engagement metrics and content deep dives, to help advertisers activate creator partnerships. Available in 20+ markets. Source
- Generative video extension launched to reformat videos into all aspect ratios
Google AI can now automatically extend and resize a video asset into every required aspect ratio (outpainting), starting with App campaigns and expanding to more campaign types later in 2025. Available globally. Source
- AI Essentials 2.0 assessment added to Google Ads
AI Essentials 2.0 scores accounts on data strength, content strength, performance strength and agentic readiness, and is available in Google Ads. Source
Merchant Center
- AI Mode shopping experience and virtual try-on announced, powered by Merchant Center product data
Google announced a new shopping experience in AI Mode that combines Gemini with the Shopping Graph, plus virtual try-on for apparel listings in Search Labs. Both draw on merchants' Merchant Center product data, making feed quality the entry point to AI shopping surfaces. Source
- Product Studio "Generated for you" launched with one-click publishing of AI images and videos
Product Studio's "Generated for you" feature proactively creates brand and product images and videos (powered by Imagen and Veo) that merchants can accept, download or publish across Google in one click. It launched for eligible merchants in the US, UK, Canada, India and Japan. Source
- A/B testing of product titles, images and descriptions announced for Merchant Center
Google said Merchant Center would let merchants test alternative product titles, images and descriptions to find the best-performing content, alongside reviewing content suggestions and promotion recommendations. Source
- Brand profile management on Search announced for Merchant Center
Google announced that brands could manage their Search brand profile (story, visuals, videos and offerings) from Merchant Center, in addition to Google Business Profile. Availability was described as coming soon globally. Source
- AI-powered growth insights and recommendations announced for Merchant Center
At Google Marketing Live 2025 Google said Merchant Center would soon surface personalized, AI-generated growth insights, such as seasonal moments, trending products, discount suggestions with forecasted impact and pre-filled promotions, with merchants keeping control to review or approve changes. Source
- Price benchmark coverage in Merchant Center expanded to 34x more products
Google expanded the price benchmarks report in Merchant Center to cover roughly 34 times more products and reach about four times as many merchants, giving retailers more pricing comparison data. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- PMax image enhancement and landing page image settings launched UI-only; API control deferred to v21
New PMax image optimization settings (Image Enhancements enabled by default; Landing Page Images tied to the account-level Dynamic Image setting) could initially only be managed in the Google Ads UI; API control arrived in v21. Source
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