Week of May 4, 2026

14 changes logged the week of May 4, 2026, 1 high impact; 2 took effect. Open this week in the change history.

Google Ads

• Smart Bidding Exploration announced for Performance Max and Shopping campaignsMay 7, 2026 · Bidding & Budget · Performance Max

  Smart Bidding Exploration, previously limited to Search campaigns with target ROAS, will let Performance Max and Shopping advertisers set a ROAS tolerance to capture new converting queries. Google says Search campaigns using it see 27% more unique converting users on average. Source

• Journey-aware bidding launched in beta for Search campaigns using Target CPAMay 7, 2026 · Bidding & Budget · Search

  Journey-aware bidding lets Smart Bidding learn from every stage of the lead-to-sale journey, including non-biddable conversion goals such as qualified calls and form fills, to optimize toward downstream outcomes. Advertisers must import the relevant conversion actions. Source

• Demand-led budget pacing announced for Search and Shopping, shifting spend toward high-demand daysMay 7, 2026 · Bidding & Budget · General

  Google AI will automatically spend more on days with stronger predicted consumer demand and less on slow days while still respecting the monthly budget limit and daily cap. Rolling out to Search and Shopping campaigns in the coming months. Source

• Advertisers were emailed that call recording would default to 'Yes' on July 1 unless changedMay 7, 2026 · Measurement · Measurement · effective Jul 1, 2026

  Anthony Higman shared a Google email stating that call recording for call assets would be switched on by default from July 1, 2026 so AI can qualify call leads; advertisers could opt out before June 30. Source

• Google Tag Manager management controls surfaced inside Google Ads' Data ManagerMay 8, 2026 · Measurement · Measurement

  Adriaan Dekker and Marthijn Hoiting shared screenshots of a new 'Manage' option embedding GTM tag controls in Google Ads. Google had not announced it at the time. Source

• Passkeys to be required for sensitive Google Ads account actions starting July 15, 2026May 8, 2026 · Launch · Account & Billing · effective Jul 15, 2026

  Google Ads will require passkey verification for sensitive actions such as changing user access, adding users, updating account links and changing billing details. Administrators can set an enforcement date; users without a passkey can still sign in and manage campaigns but are blocked from those actions. Source

Merchant Center

• 'Use AI to add products - beta' appeared as a product source option in Merchant CenterMay 4, 2026 · Launch · Feeds

  First spotted on X and reported by Search Engine Roundtable on May 4, the option runs a one-time AI scan of a website to build product listings without a structured feed. Adriaan Dekker confirmed it on LinkedIn the next day. Source

Google Analytics

• GA Data API added cross-channel Conversion performance report data (alpha)May 4, 2026 · API & Tools · Reporting

  The Data API v1alpha runReport can now return data from the Advertising > Conversion performance report, giving programmatic access to the same paid and organic conversion data shown in the UI (availability varies by property). Source

• Data Manager API added server-to-server event ingestion for GA as a Measurement Protocol alternativeMay 7, 2026 · API & Tools · Measurement

  The Data Manager API can now send recommended and custom events directly to web and app data streams in a Google Analytics property, offering an alternative to Measurement Protocol (reserved events excluded). Source

Microsoft Ads

• Auction insights for Performance Max announced as coming soonMay 7, 2026 · Reporting & UI · Performance Max

  Microsoft said Performance Max would get auction insights with overlap rate and outranking share to benchmark against competitors. Source

• Custom columns expanded to all conversion metrics with goal-name segmentationMay 7, 2026 · Reporting & UI · Reporting

  Custom columns can now use every conversion metric, segment by conversion goal name and include All Conv., CPA and ROAS, enabling LTV and AOV style calculations in the platform. Source

ChatGPT Ads

• Self-serve Ads Manager beta opened to all U.S. businesses with CPC bidding, no minimum, pixel and CAPIMay 5, 2026 · Launch · Account & Billing · effective May 5, 2026

  OpenAI launched a beta self-serve Ads Manager at ads.openai.com for verified U.S. advertisers of any size, added cost-per-click bidding (recommended starting bids of $3–$5) alongside $60 CPM, removed the $50,000 minimum, and introduced a measurement pixel and Conversions API with aggregated reporting. Source

• OpenAI announced ChatGPT ads tests coming to the UK, Brazil, Japan, South Korea and MexicoMay 7, 2026 · Launch · General

  Dave Dugan, OpenAI's head of global ads solutions, said the pilot would expand to five more countries over the coming weeks following strong advertiser interest, joining the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Source

Search Console

• Google retired FAQ rich results and scheduled removal of the Search Console FAQ report, filter and API supportMay 8, 2026 · Deprecation · Reporting · effective May 7, 2026

  FAQ rich results stopped appearing in Google Search on May 7, 2026; Google said the FAQ search appearance, rich result report and Rich Results Test support would be dropped in June 2026, with Search Console API support removed in August 2026. Source

Took effect this week

• Brand-awareness-only online gambling ads allowed in Alberta for AGLC-licensed operatorsEffective May 4, 2026 · announced Apr 1, 2026 · Google Ads
• Google retired FAQ rich results and scheduled removal of the Search Console FAQ report, filter and API supportEffective May 7, 2026 · announced May 8, 2026 · Search Console

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