Week of Jul 21, 2025
17 changes logged the week of Jul 21, 2025, 2 high impact; 2 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- Some accounts could attach negative keyword lists to Performance Max despite docs saying otherwise
Jeremy Young and Alyssa Knab found, and Adriaan Dekker shared, the option to apply shared negative keyword lists to Performance Max campaigns while Google's documentation still said lists were unsupported. Google did not confirm the test. Source
- RSA asset reports began showing clicks and conversions per headline instead of only performance labels
Miles McNair and Bob Meijer found per-asset click and conversion metrics rolling out in responsive search ad reporting, replacing reliance on Low/Good/Best labels. Google did not formally announce it. Source
- Recommendations began citing competitor impression-share gains to justify bid changes
Emirhan Bayutmuş shared a recommendation that proposed a higher target CPA after noting a 26% impression share drop versus a competitor's 11% gain. Google did not announce competitor-aware recommendations. Source
- Branded searches added as an always-on reporting metric for YouTube and Demand Gen campaigns
Google Ads now reports branded searches, the number of searches for your brand on Google and YouTube after users see your ads, for YouTube and Demand Gen campaigns. The metric appears in All conversions and is reporting-only, not usable for bidding. Source
- Lookalike segments expanded with new seed sources, creator video audiences and reach settings
Lookalike segments can now be built from Android device IDs, Google Analytics audiences and YouTube users, can combine up to 10 seed lists, and offer narrow, balanced or broad reach settings. Audiences from creators' videos can also be used as seeds. Source
- Target CPC bidding rolled out for Demand Gen campaigns
A Target CPC bid strategy for Demand Gen campaigns began appearing in accounts, letting advertisers set an average cost-per-click target at the campaign or ad group level for traffic-focused campaigns. Google formally announced it in the October Demand Gen Drop. Source
- Responsive search ads gained asset-level impressions, clicks and conversions in place of Good/Best labels
Google began replacing the Low/Good/Best performance labels on RSA headlines and descriptions with actual metrics such as impressions, clicks and conversions per asset, available under Campaigns > Assets > Performance. Source
- Optimisation score column gained a tips icon that surfaces recommendations inline
Govind Singh Panwar and Hana Kobzová spotted a tips icon in the optimisation score column that reveals suggestions such as adding sitelinks. Google did not announce it. Source
Merchant Center
- Product Studio moved to a dedicated left-nav tab with themes and an Explore section
Google began moving Product Studio out of the Products section into its own sidebar entry in Merchant Center, adding themes and an Explore tab, initially for select accounts. Source
- 'Found by Google' section under Data sources redesigned from plain text into a structured table
Merchant Center's Found by Google area, which lists products discovered by crawling the merchant's site, was rebuilt as a structured table with an action button in place of the earlier plain-text layout. Source
- Maximum retail price [maximum_retail_price] attribute added for free listings in India
Google added an India-only maximum retail price attribute so free listings can show the manufacturer's MRP alongside the selling price. The value must match the landing and checkout pages. Source
Google Analytics
- GA4 added a native Reddit Ads cost data import integration
Advertisers can connect Reddit Ads so cost, clicks and impressions are imported automatically into GA4 cross-channel reporting. Source
- GA4 launched Lead acquisition and Lead disqualification/loss reports plus 8 lead-gen audience templates
New default reports for lead generation (Lead acquisition, Lead disqualification/loss) and eight audience templates for funnel stages such as New Leads, Qualified Leads and Converted Leads help lead-gen advertisers report and build remarketing audiences. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- Click conversion imports allowed both gclid and gbraid on the same ClickConversion from October 3, 2025
UploadClickConversions no longer returns FieldError.VALUE_MUST_BE_UNSET when both gclid and gbraid are set on a ClickConversion, giving advertisers more flexibility in offline conversion imports. Source
- Google Ads API Python client library dropped Python 3.9 support; 3.8 users lose access at v19 sunset
Google announced a Q4 2025 major version of google-ads-python incompatible with Python 3.9 (adding Python 3.14 support), warning that Python 3.8 users lose API access when v19 sunsets in Q1 2026 and Python 3.9 users when v22 sunsets in late 2026. Source
Microsoft Ads
- Lifetime budgets launched for Audience campaigns
Audience campaigns can set a total budget for the whole flight (up to 365 days) with overspend protection, and daily budgets gained start and end dates. Source
Search Console
- Search Console replaced its toolbox icon with a new magnifying-glass and bar-chart logo
Google retired the long-standing toolbox icon for a new design combining a magnifying glass with bar-chart elements, meant to reflect Search Console's mission of helping publishers and creators grow on Google. Source
Took effect this week
Share this page: https://gadschangehistory.com/week/2025-07-21/