Week of Sep 7, 2026
26 changes logged the week of Sep 7, 2026, 1 high impact; 1 took effect. Open this week in the change history.
Google Ads
- Store sales measurement moved into Data Manager with direct CRM and Google Sheets connections
Google announced that advertisers will be able to connect a CRM or Google Sheets directly inside Data Manager to share offline sales data for store sales measurement and optimization, instead of building a separate upload process. Google said it is coming in the following weeks. Source
- AI Dashboards started appearing in advertiser accounts a month after being announced
Advertisers began seeing the Gemini-powered dashboards Google previewed in August: a text prompt describes the analysis wanted and Google builds the visual report, with AI summaries explaining what moved in the data. Source
- Online gambling ads disallowed in Croatia from October 7, 2026; existing certifications revoked
Google announced that from October 7, 2026 its Gambling and games policy will disallow all promotion of online gambling content targeting Croatia. Existing gambling certifications for advertisers targeting Croatia will be revoked and no new applications will be accepted. Source
- Google Ads revoked promotional credits after advertisers spent them; Google escalated the incident
PPC consultant David Melamed reported that Google Ads invalidated $3,200 promotional credits on at least two client accounts more than a month after the credits had been fully spent, leaving the advertisers liable for spend they believed was covered. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin acknowledged the reports and said she had passed them to the team. Source
- Meridian GeoX became generally available globally and Meridian added agentic auditing and brand signals
Meridian GeoX, Google's open-source library for causal geo-experiments, left beta and became generally available globally. It can be run for standalone incrementality experiments or fed into Meridian's marketing mix model, which also gained agentic capabilities that audit data quality and give real-time guidance while a model is built, support for brand signals such as Branded Google Query Volume, and backend speed improvements. Source
- Data Strength Uplift metric launched in Google Ads to quantify first-party data gains
Google added a Data Strength Uplift metric to Google Ads that calculates the additional conversions recovered by an advertiser's first-party data setup. Google says advertisers who build data strength with Google tag gateway see an average 14% conversion uplift, rising above 20% for Demand Gen campaigns. Source
- Data Manager expanded into Google Analytics and DV360 with a universal API and built-in diagnostics
Google built Data Manager directly into Google Analytics and Display & Video 360 so first-party data connections can be managed across platforms from one place. The Data Manager API became universal and is now based on IAB Tech Lab standards, and Data Manager gained built-in diagnostics that identify and resolve data issues before they affect campaign performance. Source
- 'Budget or bidding targets' experiments appeared as a beta for Search campaigns
A new experiment variable labelled 'Budget or bidding targets for Search campaigns' started showing in the Google Ads experiments area as a beta. Google's in-product description says it tests different budget, target CPA or target ROAS amounts to find the optimal level of spending for a campaign. Source
- Shopping ads showed a '200+ sold last week' badge more widely
Shopping ads were seen carrying a badge with the number of units sold in the past week, in the form '200+ sold last week'. Source
- Location asset requirements rewritten for terminology, readability and troubleshooting steps
Google logged a September update to the Location asset requirements policy. It says the June and September revisions updated terminology, improved readability and added troubleshooting steps for advertisers using location assets, and that enforcement of the policy is unchanged. Source
- 'Video campaign group' option appeared in beta when creating campaign groups
Google Ads began showing a 'Video campaign group' option in the campaign group creation flow. The beta groups Video and Demand Gen campaigns together for combined metrics and shared reach and frequency controls. Source
- Bug misaligned the 'Sponsored' label above search ads for some queries and browsers
The 'Sponsored' label above Google search ads was reported rendering off its usual left alignment, shifting position depending on the query and browser. Google did not comment and the behaviour was read as a rendering bug rather than a deliberate change. Source
- Shopping ads tested an 'X days left' countdown attribute on sponsored results
Shopping ads on Google Search were spotted showing a countdown attribute such as '5 days left' indicating how much time remains in a sale or deal. A Google spokesperson confirmed it as a very early experiment but would not give further detail. Source
- 'Loyalty program members' became available as a reporting segment in Google Ads
Google Ads added 'Loyalty program members' to the segment drop-down, letting advertisers split reporting between loyalty program members and other customers. It follows the loyalty member customer retention and bidding controls added in August 2026. Source
Merchant Center
- Merchant Center AI performance insights added AI Search intent, AI Search terms and AI attributes
Google expanded the AI performance insights report in Merchant Center with three new sections. AI Search intent shows the context behind conversational queries, AI Search terms surfaces the terms shoppers prioritise within a product category, and AI attributes flags structured specifications such as size, colour or material that are missing from a merchant's product data. Source
- Merchant Center added an 'Add videos' page for uploading product videos
A Product videos section with a dedicated 'Add videos' page started appearing in Merchant Center, letting merchants upload product videos directly rather than submit them through the video_link feed attribute. Google's in-product copy says videos give customers a more engaging and immersive experience by showing products from multiple angles. Source
- Merchant Center allowed supplemental feeds to be attached to automatic product imports
Merchants using Merchant Center's automatic product imports can now add supplemental feeds on top of them. Supplemental feeds were previously limited to primary feeds added by API or by XML/CSV file upload. Source
- Merchant Center's AI performance insight panel briefly showed its internal prompt instructions in a glitch
Instead of the AI-generated summary of top-performing products, the Merchant Center insight panel displayed the working instructions used to generate it, including analysis rules, product selection criteria and response templates. Vipul Kumar spotted it on LinkedIn; it appeared to be a temporary glitch and exposed nothing sensitive. Source
Google Analytics
- Dashboards launched in Google Analytics for building custom KPI reports on one page
Google Analytics launched Dashboards, a drag-and-drop, grid-based canvas that brings a property's key metrics and visualizations together on a single customizable report. Six card types are available at launch and published dashboards are shared with everyone who can access the property. Source
- Dashboards launched in Google Analytics with a drag-and-drop canvas and six chart types
Google Analytics added Dashboards, a single-page report that collects key metrics onto a grid-based canvas. Editors and administrators drag dimensions and metrics onto the canvas to build cards and publish the dashboard straight into the Reports navigation. Source
Google Ads API & Scripts
- Google Ads API developer tokens sunset; API access levels moved to Google Cloud projects
Google sunset developer tokens on September 9, 2026 and now ties Google Ads API access levels to the calling Google Cloud project instead. Developers sign up for API access from the Google Ads API Overview page in the Google Cloud Console, with no Google Ads manager account required, and the API Center page in manager accounts is deprecated pending removal. Source
ChatGPT Ads
- OpenAI stopped approving ChatGPT ads for standalone image and audio generation products
OpenAI told advertising partners that campaigns promoting standalone image- and audio-generation products would no longer be approved to run in ChatGPT, according to reporting by The Information. Video-generation tools can still advertise. The change was communicated privately to partners rather than published as a policy update. Source
- Amazon Ads began piloting ChatGPT Ads inventory through Amazon DSP for select U.S. advertisers
Amazon Ads and OpenAI launched a pilot letting select U.S. advertisers extend Amazon DSP campaigns into ChatGPT, with Delta Vacations among the first. Amazon manages setup and optimization while OpenAI's system controls delivery and placement; inventory is available on CPC and CPM bases, including product feed ads. Source
- Adform became the first European-headquartered ChatGPT Ads technology partner
Adform gained ChatGPT Ads access for its clients, becoming the first European-headquartered technology partner on a roster that had been North America-centric: Adobe, Criteo, Kargo, Pacvue and StackAdapt. European advertisers can now buy and measure ChatGPT campaigns alongside their other activity in one platform. Source
Search Console
- Search Console briefly mis-reported indexed pages as 'Crawled - currently not indexed' overnight
For about an hour overnight on September 8, 2026, the Search Console page indexing report showed indexed pages, including site homepages, as 'Crawled - currently not indexed'. John Mueller confirmed it was a short blip that was fixed the same night. Source
- Page indexing report lost its June 2026 data permanently; Google will not backfill it
A block of June 2026 data disappeared from the Search Console page indexing report across properties. John Mueller said the gap comes from the June reporting delay, that there simply is no data for that period, and that Google does not back-fill indexing data. Source
Took effect this week
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