Week of Aug 31, 2026
31 changes logged the week of Aug 31, 2026, 5 high impact; 13 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- Channel prioritization sliders spotted in Performance Max alpha for Search, YouTube, Display and more
An alpha lets Performance Max advertisers set Low-to-High priority sliders for seven channels (Search, Search Partners, Discover, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Display), which adjust CPA bids per channel under Target CPA bidding. Source
- AI Mode began showing inline Shopping ad carousels plus a single ad unit at the bottom of responses
Brodie Clark (SERPalerts) called it a big change to ads in AI Mode; Google did not comment. Source
- Lookalike segments expanded to Video brand campaigns with narrow, balanced and broad reach tiers
A new Google Ads Help page documents Lookalike segments in Video campaigns, previously available only in Demand Gen. Advertisers pick narrow (2.5% of users in the target location), balanced (5%, the default) or broad (10%), and the combined seed lists must hold more than 100 active matched people. Source
- AI Max help doc was updated: broad keywords are not treated as exact match for keyword prioritization
Barry Schwartz spotted new guidance that advertisers must add exact match copies of keywords to preserve keyword prioritization in AI Max, at the cost of historical data. Source
- Hotel campaigns gained sub-country location targeting for regions, states, cities and postal codes
Google updated its location targeting Help page to say Hotel Ads campaigns can target and exclude areas within a country, such as regions, states, cities or postal codes. Targeting was previously limited to whole countries or territories. Source
- Automated promotions launched: Google pulls offers off landing pages and attaches them to ads
A new account-level automated asset scans landing pages for live offers such as '20% off' or 'buy one get one free' and attaches them as promotion assets to eligible Search and Performance Max campaigns. Campaigns need active location assets, and campaigns already running manual promotions are skipped. Source
- Personalized advertising policy to allow personalized alcohol ads on YouTube where locally permitted
From October 30, 2026, alcohol advertising may use personalization on YouTube inventory where locally allowed, with age restrictions maintained, no targeting of alcohol-related health information, and user controls in My Ad Center. Egypt, India, Indonesia and Poland are excluded. Source
- Waze Ads in Performance Max expanded from the United States to select global markets
Google rewrote the Waze section of its Performance Max Help page from 'Waze Ads are currently available only in the United States through Performance Max' to 'available across select global markets', reported as roughly 42 countries. Source
- Google began a small test serving exact and phrase match Search ads in AI Mode
Standard Search campaigns started showing text ads in AI Mode from exact and phrase match keywords, which had previously been limited to AI Max and Performance Max. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin confirmed a small experiment and said eligibility is limited to cases with explicit and direct user intent. Source
- 'Automatic payments' renamed Postpay and 'Manual payments' renamed Prepay across billing
Google renamed its two payment settings across roughly 60 Help pages, billing screens and navigation: automatic payments are now 'Postpay' and manual payments are 'Prepay'. Charging behavior is unchanged. Source
- Performance Max Help documentation rewritten to clarify Search prioritization, controls and budget panel
Google substantially revised the main Performance Max Help page: clarified how Search and Performance Max campaigns interact (exact match keywords and Search themes priority), regrouped brand exclusions, negative keywords, Search themes and Final URL expansion as campaign controls, and documented the Budget Panel's three recommendation levels. Source
- Sponsored results gained a 'What customers love' block labeled 'AI-generated from the store rating reviews'
Sachin Patel shared the new AI summary label on X and Search Engine Watch. Source
- Bumper ads redefined as 5 to 6 seconds long instead of '6 seconds or shorter'
Google's video ad formats Help page now describes bumper ads as between 5 and 6 seconds rather than 6 seconds or shorter, so creative under 5 seconds no longer meets the format requirement. Bumper ads remain non-skippable video that runs before, during or after a video. Source
- An 'Under re-review' eligible (limited) ad status drew attention; Google said it has existed for years
Anthony Higman highlighted the status on LinkedIn; Google told Search Engine Roundtable the label is not new. PPC News Feed had also documented it in August. Source
- YouTube Creator Partnerships analytics gained unique reach and co-viewer metrics for linked creator videos
The Analytics tab in YouTube Creator Partnerships now reports estimated unique reach, including co-viewers who watched together, using cross-device statistical models alongside views, watch time, likes, comments, shares and engagement rate. Unique reach can be calculated for up to 92 days and segmented by week or month, but not by day, quarter or year. Source
- Google Ads began nudging advertisers about recommendations they had already dismissed
Accounts started showing a campaign-level notice reading 'You still have dismissed recommendations for this campaign', with an option to dismiss the reminder again. Source
- Google tested sitelinks that collapse by default with a count you click to expand
A variation of expandable sitelinks appeared in which the sitelinks are collapsed and show a number indicating how many more are available; clicking expands the full set. Source
Merchant Center
- Business Agent can now be switched on from the Google & YouTube app in Shopify
Google added Shopify as a third way to enable Business Agent, its AI shopping assistant. Merchants open the Google & YouTube app in the Shopify admin and use the Business Agent recommendation card; the app imports the logo, brand colors and support contact details automatically. Source
- Merchant Center AI performance insights expanded to Australia, Canada, India and New Zealand
Google updated its Help documentation to say AI performance insights are available for English-language queries in Merchant Center accounts in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the United States. The report was previously US-only. Source
- Popular products report enhanced with broader coverage and more accurate rankings
Google enhanced the Popular products report in Merchant Center Analytics (and the equivalent Merchant API and BigQuery data) to give a more accurate and comprehensive view of product and brand popularity, which may shift rankings and expand coverage across regions. Source
Google Analytics
- Google Analytics showed zero traffic for September 1 across many properties due to a processing glitch
Dana DiTomaso flagged on LinkedIn that GA4 reports displayed no data for Sept 1 (and late Aug 31) across client accounts. Google had not confirmed the issue at publication. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- Google Ads Developer Policies updated to ban programmatic proxies and require a dedicated Cloud project
The renamed Google Ads Developer Policies (formerly Google Ads API Policy) now require integrations to connect directly to Google Ads services using their own Google Cloud project rather than through programmatic proxies, citing security, cross-tenant data leak and throughput risks; the Ads API Compliance team is reviewing existing integrations and contacting affected developers. Source
- Google Ads Developer Policies updated for AI-era integrations
Google revised its Developer Policies to set clearer frameworks for secure integrations using emerging AI technologies. Affects developers building on the Google Ads API. Source
- Google Ads API v22 sunset confirmed for October 7, 2026
Google reminded developers that all v22 requests will fail from October 7, 2026; integrations must move to v23 or later (v25 recommended). Source
Google Tag & Tag Manager
- Google tag gateway for advertisers left beta on Akamai and Fastly
The setup pages for Google tag gateway for advertisers on Akamai and Fastly dropped their beta labels, putting both CDNs alongside Cloudflare as supported production first-party serving options. Source
Microsoft Ads
- Performance Max search terms surfaced in the standard search term report as well as search term insights
PMax queries appear in both reports to improve discoverability and cross-account reporting. Source
- AI Max "Text guidelines" renamed "Text guardrails" in Search and Performance Max
The control for excluding up to 25 terms from AI-generated text assets was renamed in help documentation; functionality is unchanged. Source
- Xbox Dash placement rules expanded prohibited categories and required gaming tie-ins for non-endemic ads
Ads for US credit cards, crypto, NFTs, real estate, legal services, weight loss and other categories are barred from Xbox Dash; non-endemic campaigns need a gaming tie-in and landing experience, and Xbox Store placements are limited to games, accessories and eligible apps. Source
ChatGPT Ads
- ChatGPT Ads hit a $1B annualized run rate; self-serve Ads Manager opened in Europe, India and MENA
OpenAI said ChatGPT Ads hit $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate in under 200 days with tens of thousands of advertisers, and opened self-service Ads Manager the same day to eligible advertisers across 31 European markets, India, and Middle East and North Africa countries including Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. Source
- Ads Manager plugin launched for ChatGPT and Codex; audiences, matching and product-level reporting upgraded
OpenAI released a ChatGPT Ads Manager plugin that creates, edits, troubleshoots and analyzes campaigns from natural-language instructions in ChatGPT or Codex, previewing changes before applying them. Custom audiences gained incremental add/remove/replace, mixed identifiers, GAID support, sub-25K exclusion lists and 5M+ audiences; the pixel and Conversions API accepted hashed phone, name, region and postal code; product feed advertisers got carousel-card-level impressions and clicks in Ads Manager and the Insights API. Source
Search Console
- Generative AI performance reports and Search generative AI control rolled out to all websites worldwide
Google added notes to its June announcement and help pages stating that as of August 31, 2026 the Generative AI performance reports and the Search generative AI control are available to all websites worldwide. Source
Took effect this week
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