Every Google rollout, decoded.
One brief per rollout. Each one tells you what actually changed, whether it's worth your attention, and the move worth making this week. Newest first.
The September 1 AI Max Auto-Upgrade: Your Creative Setting Just Became a Targeting Setting
Automatically created assets campaigns get search term matching and text customization switched on. Broad match campaigns get search term matching alone. Google calls it mirroring your setup. For one cohort it adds targeting automation that setting never had.
Ads · SearchGoogle Ads Passkeys: The API Deadline Already Passed. The Account Deadline Isn't in Writing.
The API requirement went live August 5. The account one has already moved once, from July 15 to a reported August 19 that appears on no Google page. With a documented 7-day activation delay, the audit to run across your hierarchy this week.
Ads · Account securityGoogle Ads Journey-Aware Bidding: Set Up Your Lead Stages Before Google Guesses Them
Search tCPA campaigns can now learn from your full lead-to-sale journey, and the Lead Journey Mapping tool is reaching accounts. The feature is only as good as your offline import. The audit to run before the toggle.
Ads · BiddingLocal Services Ads Is Becoming Performance Max Pay-Per-Lead, and Your History Doesn't Make the Trip
Migration starts in August with 14 days notice per account, the LSA dashboard is retired, and aggregate performance reporting doesn't transfer. The export checklist to run this week, before any notice arrives.
Ads · Local ServicesGoogle Tag Gateway Is Now Everywhere: The First-Party Tag Push, Decoded
First-party serving of Google tags is now live on five CDNs plus Google Cloud, near one-click. It recovers the tag loads ad blockers eat, and it means Google's data collection runs through infrastructure with your name on it. The three-step enable done right.
Measurement · TaggingPMax Partners Alpha: Google Is Testing a Search Partners and Display Opt-Out in Performance Max
A new alpha setting lets some advertisers switch off Search Partners and Display in PMax, the first network control it has ever offered. Most accounts don't have it. The audit it prompts is worth running anyway.
Ads · Performance MaxLocal Inventory Ads Turn On by Default August 31: The Shopping Campaign Email, Decoded
Google emailed it, didn't blog it: on August 31, local inventory ads switch on by default in Shopping campaigns with the LIA add-on, and the Local products setting disappears. The five-minute fix that keeps your budgets split.
Ads · ShoppingGoogle Ads Bid Target Adjustment Tool: The August 17 Bidding Change, Decoded
Starting August 17, budget-limited tCPA/tROAS campaigns will deliver to the target you stated, not the better numbers you've been getting. Google won't touch your targets; it will start believing them. The six-week window to close the gap.
Ads · BiddingGoogle Ads' July 2026 Terms of Service: What You Just Agreed To
New terms took effect July 1 with no acceptance required. Automation went from opt-in tools to standing permission, and you keep the liability for everything Google's AI generates. What to check in your MSAs and accounts.
Ads · GovernanceAI Max for Search Campaigns: What Google Isn't Saying Out Loud
Google frames AI Max as a convenience upgrade. Read the fine print and it's a quiet handoff of keyword control to Google's AI. Here's what changes in your account, and the audit to run before you opt in.
Ads · SearchMore briefs publish as Google ships things worth covering. Get them in your inbox →