Week of Jul 27, 2026
17 changes logged the week of Jul 27, 2026, 1 high impact; 8 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- New 'Product clicks' and 'Non-product clicks' metrics separated product clicks from store-name and CTA clicks
Yash Mandlesha shared the new metrics on LinkedIn, calling product reporting much more transparent. Source
- Checkout Links for Demand Gen expanded to nine more markets
Checkout Links, which send shoppers from a Demand Gen ad straight to an optimized checkout or cart page, are now generally available in Switzerland, Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, France, Poland, Israel and Argentina. Google says Checkout URLs lift Demand Gen conversions by about 6%. Source
- In-account Social Casino Games certification applications rolled out under Admin > Policy > Account
Google began gradually enabling advertisers to apply for Social Casino Games certification within the Google Ads account; existing certifications and pending applications are unaffected. Source
- A new conversion tracking status, 'Has improvements', appeared on conversion actions
Thomas Eccel spotted the status on a store visits conversion action; it flags missing elements and suggests fixes. Source
- AI image generation gained an 'Add images' option to upload reference images guiding output
Arpan Banerjee posted screenshots of the new reference-image upload in the Generated assets section. Source
- Universal Commerce Protocol checkout enabled from YouTube Demand Gen ads for US shoppers
Demand Gen ads on YouTube can now complete purchases directly through the Universal Commerce Protocol for eligible US merchants, extending the UCP integrations announced at Google Marketing Live. Source
- Target ROAS bidding in Demand Gen upgraded to be less conservative early in a campaign
Google upgraded Demand Gen tROAS so the system is less overly cautious during a campaign's early phase, helping campaigns ramp faster. Source
- Google's AI-generated ad description test extended from text ads to Shopping and Product ads
Google confirmed a small experiment that adds AI-generated context beneath sponsored results; it has now been seen on Shopping and Product ads as well as text ads. Source
- 'Top things to know today' became a swipeable carousel of seven insight cards
Natasha Kaurra and Jordan Fry reported the new carousel covering budget alerts, spend changes, device and competitive insights. Source
Google Analytics
- GA4 added a diagnostic for missing GBRAID and gad_ aggregate identifiers in landing URLs
Properties missing aggregate identifiers receive a diagnostic listing the affected URLs and how to fix them, since these parameters now underpin paid-traffic attribution when click IDs are unavailable. Source
- GA4 campaign data import now requires a currency field for cost data
Uploads of cost data must map a currency column or set a single fixed currency so reporting stays accurate if the property currency changes. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- Passkeys required for Google Ads API user-authentication flows from August 5, 2026
Users generating new OAuth 2.0 refresh tokens must authenticate with a passkey; password-only and TOTP/SMS 2FA are disallowed, with a possible 7-day delay before a new passkey is trusted. Service accounts and existing refresh tokens are unaffected; Google Ads Editor, scripts, BigQuery Data Transfer Service and Data Studio are also subject to the requirement. Source
Microsoft Ads
- Ad Preview Hub extended to Performance Max with MSN, Bing Search and Outlook previews
Advertisers can preview auto-assembled Performance Max creative across placements, formats and devices and share view-only links; GA globally per Microsoft's August roundup. Source
- Predictive matching began transitioning into AI Max search term matching
Microsoft's help center documented that Predictive Matching for Search campaigns is being folded into AI Max's search term matching with improved intent understanding. Source
- Bing tested sitelinks that auto-expand as users scroll
Sitelinks on Bing search ads expanded automatically on scroll in a test spotted by Anthony Higman. Source
Search Console
- Platform properties became globally available with a new social and video analysis guide
Google announced platform properties are available to everyone worldwide and published a guide on analyzing social and video content performance in Search Console, covering query groups, the 24-hour filter, cross-platform exports and annotations. Source
- Robots.txt report 'request a recrawl' returned errors for some properties
Site owners reported that the request-a-recrawl action in the robots.txt report threw errors across multiple properties while working for others. Source
Took effect this week
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