Week of Apr 20, 2026
22 changes logged the week of Apr 20, 2026, 4 high impact; 3 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- AI-qualified call conversions launched; call recording turned on by default for US and Canada accounts
Google Ads now uses AI analysis of call recordings, rather than call duration, as the primary signal for counting a phone call as a conversion, with duration and ad interaction as fallbacks. Call recording is enabled by default for most eligible accounts (excluding healthcare and financial services or previously opted-out accounts), and call reports show AI summaries and intent hashtags. Source
- Asset experiments launched in Performance Max plus a centralized Experiments hub
Advertisers can now A/B test new creative assets, asset sets or Asset Studio-generated assets in Performance Max. Conversion lift studies and experiments are consolidated on one Experiments page, with a secondary success metric and API/manager-account support following. Source
- Shopping tab began mixing sponsored products into the free listing grid rather than only at the top
Brodie Clark (SERPalerts) documented Shopping ads appearing within the product grid and 'related products' sections of the Shopping tab. Source
- View-through conversion optimization became generally available for Demand Gen on YouTube
Demand Gen campaigns can now bid toward view-through conversions, which Google says drives more conversions in less time for YouTube-heavy campaigns. Source
- Paid local pack results tested 'immersive map view' videos inside ads
Anthony Higman spotted video content playing within local pack ads tied to a pre-opted Location Manager setting. Google did not confirm the test. Source
- Ads Advisor gained proactive policy troubleshooting, 24/7 security monitoring and instant certifications
Google announced three agentic additions to Ads Advisor: unprompted flagging of complex policy violations with guidance, a personalized account-security dashboard, and Gemini-powered instant certification approvals. Rolling out over the coming months to English-language accounts globally. Source
- Canada cannabis pilot expanded to provincially authorized private retailers
Eligibility for the Canada cannabis Search pilot now includes provincially authorized private retailers in addition to federal licence holders and government operators; pilot runs through December 31, 2026. Source
- Demand Gen inventory added to Commerce Media Suite for retailer first-party data campaigns
Retailers using Commerce Media Suite can now run Demand Gen campaigns in Google Ads that use their first-party catalog and conversion data to reach shoppers on YouTube, Discover and Gmail. Source
- An 'App Labs' beta tab appeared in the app advertising hub for early-access features
Thomas Eccel spotted a new App Labs tab offering experimental App campaign features ahead of wider rollout. Source
Google Analytics
- Google Analytics Data API v1alpha added Conversion performance reporting with attribution model selection
runReport in the Data API v1alpha can now return the Advertising > Conversion performance report, with a ConversionSpec to filter by conversion action IDs and choose DATA_DRIVEN or LAST_CLICK attribution, and getMetadata exposes conversion metadata and section compatibility. Availability is being expanded property by property. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- Google Ads API v24 released with cart data conversions, non-biddable metrics and simpler keyword forecasts
v24 added CartDataSalesView (segment conversions by product sold), all_* non-biddable metrics, the conversion_attribution_event_type segment on ShoppingPerformanceView, and made VideoResponsiveAdInfo mutable, while introducing breaking changes: campaign-level video content exclusions replaced by customer-level settings, refactored AudienceInsights/ReachPlan/ContentCreatorInsights fields, a streamlined GenerateKeywordForecastMetrics, and removed click_type from asset views. Source
Google Tag & Tag Manager
- Google began retiring the AW-XXXXXXXX tag ID format in favor of unified GT-XXXXXXXX IDs
Arjun Singh shared that Google Ads conversion tagging is moving from AW- prefixed IDs to the GT- format shared with GA4 and Floodlight. Source
Microsoft Ads
- AI Max for Search announced with an open pilot planned for May 2026
AI Max bundles search term matching, text customization and final URL expansion for Search campaigns across Bing and Copilot surfaces, with brand inclusions/exclusions, term exclusions and search term and asset reporting. Closed pilot at Activate on May 19; open pilot followed. Source
- Data-driven attribution model introduced alongside last click and last touch
DDA distributes conversion credit across the customer journey and feeds bidding; Microsoft said it would be available to all advertisers by the end of May 2026. Source
- Universal Commerce Protocol-ready feeds became generally available in Merchant Center (US)
Merchant Center supports UCP feeds so AI agents can read structured product data; Shopify catalogs sync automatically in real time. Source
- Offer Highlights launched to surface benefits like free shipping on product pages in Copilot, Edge and Bing
Retailers enter highlights in Merchant Center to show differentiators such as free shipping or in-store pickup within Copilot conversations and product detail pages; available for retail in English-speaking markets with Best Buy as an early adopter. Source
- LinkedIn profile targeting gained 10 job seniority levels for Search and Audience campaigns
Seniority filters (CXO, VP, Director, Manager, Senior, Entry, Owner, Partner, Training, Volunteer) were announced in April, rolled out in June and listed as GA in Microsoft's August 2026 roundup, alongside custom company lists. Source
- Copilot gained root-cause analysis and conversion tracking diagnostics; campaign health dashboard added
Copilot in the platform explains why performance changed and verifies UET tags and conversion goals, while a campaign health dashboard lets advertisers scan issues and act from the campaign table. Source
- Copilot Checkout expanded to the mobile app, 500,000+ merchants, Shopify catalog sync and loyalty linking
Checkout inside Copilot reached the mobile app with merchants remaining merchant of record, Shopify catalog integration via the commerce API, and loyalty account linking with Target as an early partner (US). Source
- Audience Generation piloted to build audiences from natural-language descriptions
Advertisers describe their ideal customer in plain language and Microsoft AI recommends demographics, locations and in-market signals; closed pilot in the US and Canada. Source
- Trafficking and exploitation policy revised to cover coercive relationship and matchmaking models
The policy added provisions on exploitative business models, coercive relationship models and transactional international matchmaking. Source
ChatGPT Ads
- Ads began appearing for logged-out ChatGPT users, expanding inventory beyond logged-in Free and Go accounts
AdExchanger and Search Engine Land reported ads appearing in conversations for unauthenticated users, addressing pilot advertisers' difficulty spending budgets. An OpenAI spokesperson had said in February that logged-out testing would come; OpenAI later noted ads in logged-out sessions are limited to all-audience creative. Source
Took effect this week
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