The August migration continues, and October's Google Ads API v26 lets eligible integrators create Local Services Performance Max campaigns and link leads. This adds a concrete API path but does not restore old LSA reports or bidding controls.
A new Performance Max sourced-videos setting can add up to ten crawled videos per asset group, uploaded to a Google-owned branded YouTube channel. It is on by default for new campaigns, but sources require approval.
Google is changing the default for Performance Max image extraction on December 4, 2026. Existing campaigns keep their settings, but new campaigns will opt in regardless of an account-level opt-out; agencies and SaaS ad tools need a campaign-level override and careful handling of repeated asset settings.
Automated promotions make the advertiser's own website a source for ad assets. Google can find an offer, validate it and surface it without a marketer manually creating the promotion.
The change makes Reddit's more automated campaign type usable by agencies, ad-tech platforms and internal campaign systems instead of only through first-party buying surfaces. It expands automation reach, but third-party builders inherit Max's creative and optimization assumptions rather than gaining a new manual campaign type.
Google’s September Search changes now form a broader migration story: legacy campaign-level Broad Match and standalone Automatically Created Assets settings will be converted into AI Max, while language targeting stops affecting Search delivery and related API mutations begin failing.
Microsoft’s Search automation has moved from a limited test into a default campaign-creation path. Advertisers can still switch AI Max off, but new Search campaigns now begin with a suite that can expand queries, creative and landing-page routing beyond the manually supplied keyword-and-ad structure.
Microsoft Advertising is taking Max CPC out of new standalone automated campaigns from October 1. Existing capped campaigns and portfolio strategies retain the control for now, but advertisers creating new campaigns will need to rely more heavily on conversion targets, budgets and portfolio bidding.
The interesting change is economic as much as benchmark-driven. Anthropic is compressing capability that previously justified its larger Fable tier into Opus pricing, while cutting Opus list prices and expanding immediate availability across the major clouds.
Google Ads now documents positive-only AI review summaries inside Search ads in the US, UK, Australia and India. Advertisers cannot customise the text; source, opt-out and reporting controls remain unclear.
AdSense's October 22 policy revision changes where publishers can put accompanying video and how sticky players may start, without removing other video-ad safeguards or guaranteeing higher revenue.
Financial advertisers in the US and Canada face a new Google Ads verification gate in 2027. Google will announce accepted registries and onboarding details before enforcement; it is not a current blanket ad ban.
Google reversed its earlier ad-free approach to Personal Intelligence in AI Mode. Connected-app-derived insights may influence ads, with testing scope and advertiser controls still unclear.
Google Ads' new channel-priority controls offer a way to test Search partners and Display without giving them unrestricted budget, but the limits are not guarantees and Demand Gen has no allocation caps.
Google Ads API v26 begins a twice-monthly update cadence. Minor releases remain additive and sunset with their major version, so developers need a faster discovery workflow rather than twice as many breaking migrations.
A missed call can now become a billable Google Local Services Ads lead. Advertisers should review phone routing, business hours and the 30-day credit window rather than assuming only answered calls count.
The change is both a media-buying default and an API migration. Advertisers that want online-only Shopping campaigns must move that intent into listing scope or the inventory filter instead of relying on `ShoppingSetting.enable_local=false`.
Google has turned its Ads API helper into a reusable agent plugin rather than a standalone project. For developers maintaining ad-tech integrations, the material change is that agent workflows can now ground themselves in current Protobuf schemas and execute validated reporting against real Google Ads accounts instead of relying only on model memory.
Google has moved the Smart Campaign API creation cutoff to September 23. New create operations will fail, while existing campaigns can still be updated and served; Google points developers toward Performance Max, Search or Demand Gen for new automation.
Google Ads has changed a long-standing edge case in automated bidding: budget-constrained campaigns now aim more consistently at their configured target instead of sometimes materially overachieving it.