Week of Aug 10, 2026
16 changes logged the week of Aug 10, 2026, 7 high impact; 1 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- Campaign-level language targeting to be removed from Search campaigns and the Search part of Performance Max
From late September 2026 Google will drop the language setting from Search campaigns and from Google Search inventory in Performance Max, relying instead on the language of ads and landing pages plus its understanding of user language. Other Performance Max channels keep the setting. API users should stop sending language criteria for new campaigns. Source
- Financial services verification extended to 13 more EEA countries; enforcement from September 15, 2026
Advertisers received notices that Google Ads is expanding financial services advertiser verification to 13 additional EEA countries. Applications through compliance partner G2 opened August 11, 2026 and enforcement starts September 15, 2026 for banking, loans, investment, trading and insurance advertisers. Source
- Dynamic Search Ads automatic migration to AI Max rescheduled to February 2027
Google revised its DSA timeline: in-account upgrade prompts begin September 2026, reminders go out January 15, 2027, and automatic migration plus removal of new DSA ad group creation happens February 1-28, 2027, rather than September 2026 as first announced. Source
- Prompt-built dashboards with AI performance summaries announced for Google Ads (beta, coming soon)
Advertisers will be able to describe a report in text and have Google Ads build a visual dashboard with an automatically generated summary of what drove performance. Beta for English-language accounts. Source
- AI-powered insight cards launched in beta on the Google Ads home page with a custom-insight prompt box
The Google Ads home page now shows personalized insight cards (for example competitor impact or campaign trends) and a prompt box to generate custom insights. Beta for English-language accounts. Source
- Political content policy allowed Māori-language election and government ads in New Zealand
Election ads and official government body ads in New Zealand may include contextually relevant Māori language on Google Ads and DV360 if all other policy requirements are met. Source
- YouTube and Discover Feed ad requirements language refined
Google refined wording and presentation of the YouTube and Discover Feed ad requirements without changing their content or enforcement. Source
- Mobile sponsored results tested a header listing advertiser names and favicons above the ads
Sachin Patel shared screenshots on X of a summary row under the 'Sponsored results' label. Source
Merchant Center
- Performance reports realigned Aug 24, 2026: YouTube affiliate split out; PMax, Video, App, Demand Gen added
Google changed Merchant Center performance reporting so YouTube affiliate traffic is reported separately from organic, YouTube organic click and impression definitions match YouTube reporting, product-level Google Ads reporting includes Performance Max, Video, App and Demand Gen, and a new Network segmentation dimension is added later. Organic traffic may show a one-time drop. Source
- Merchant Center for Agencies documented a limit of 1,000 linked client accounts per agency account
Google's help documentation now states an agency account can link up to 1,000 client Merchant Center accounts. The cap already existed but had not been published; it is unclear whether a linked multi-client account counts as one or by its sub-accounts. Source
Google Analytics
- GA4 conversions gained custom integer lookback windows: CTC 1-90 days, EVC 1-30 days
Conversion window configuration under Advertising > Conversion management > Settings now accepts any integer click-through window from 1 to 90 days (previously preset values) and engaged-view windows from 1 to 30 days (previously fixed at 3), letting advertisers align attribution with their sales cycle. Source
- GA4 launched a Campaign data import validation report
A validation report compares non-Google campaign data with imported campaign data to identify campaigns missing cost, clicks or impressions and review past imports. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- Campaign-level broad match and automatically created assets auto-migrated to AI Max from September 1, 2026
Search campaigns using campaign-level broad match or standalone automatically created assets are upgraded in place to AI Max during September 2026 (trackable via campaign.aca_migration_date_time and broad_match_migration_date_time); creating new legacy configurations was blocked on August 3, 2026, and API versions released after September 1, 2026 remove the legacy entities entirely. Source
- Campaign-level language targeting removed for Search and AI Max campaigns from late September 2026
Search ads match on the language of the ad instead of campaign language settings; adding or updating CampaignCriterion.language on Search campaigns returns ContextError.OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CONTEXT, while Performance Max keeps the language setting for non-Search channels only. Existing criteria are still returned in queries but no longer used. Source
Microsoft Ads
- Bing tested larger image assets on search ads
Enlarged image assets appeared next to some Bing search ads in a test spotted by Sachin Patel. Source
ChatGPT Ads
- Ad policies revised: health, finance and legal advertisers eligible via review; housing and jobs clarified
OpenAI's Ad Policies, first published in March 2026, were revised four times by August. April's update stopped categorically blocking ads near medical, legal and financial contexts; July added advertiser policies and eligible health and finance categories (e.g., health insurance, dental, supplements, hospitals, urgent care) subject to manual review; the August 10 update (v1.4) clarified housing and job listings. Source
Took effect this week
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