Google Ads Updates: January 2026 - PPC News Feed

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Screenshot of a billing reports page in an account dashboard. The "Billing reports" tab is highlighted, with an open date picker. A partially redacted Google Ads account number appears in the Line-by-Line report table on the right.

Billing Reports Added to Google Ads for Invoice Breakdown

Screenshot of a webpage titled "About the Google Ads Experiment Center," highlighting it as a new launch for validating strategies, with linked topics like benefits, experiment types, and methodology.

Google Ads Launches New Experiment Center

Screenshot of an ad campaign settings page with Data Exclusions options. A "Search" pop-up lets users browse 108 remarketing lists, helping to create a smarter Performance Max strategy. Other settings are partially visible.

Performance Max Gets Smarter With Data Exclusions

Screenshot of a webpage titled "About Campaign Mix Experiments (Beta)" explaining campaign testing in Google Ads Beta, with links to related topics and a section on the benefits of test campaign types.

Google Ads Adds Beta for Campaign Mix Experiments

A budgeting screen for a Search ad campaign setup. Options include selecting budget type, entering Total Budgets of $1,000, and setting campaign start and end dates. A blue “Next” button is at the bottom right.

Total Budgets Now Live for Search, Performance Max & Shopping

Google Merchant Center Next interface showing the "Experiments" tab under Products, highlighting Product Title A/B Testing for Shopping Ads with an illustration of a blue t-shirt and charts. Text encourages running A/B tests to boost sales, with a "Find out more" button below.

Shopping Ads Get Product Title & Image A/B Testing

Screenshot of Google Merchant Center Next. The left sidebar menu highlights “Business Agent.” The main section showcases AI Agents powering Business Agent features for Google Shopping, with “Claim now” and “Got it” buttons displayed.

Business Agent Rolls Out in Google Merchant Center

A smartphone screen displays tile suggestions from top retailers, showing three options: Apollo Tile Colorway Slate Grey for $110, American Olean Hillcrest Ridge for $83.74, and SUNWING White Honed for $59.73.

Google Launches Agentic Shopping Tools and AI Features for Retailers

Screenshot of a Google Search Ads result for 1Password, featuring a highlighted third-party endorsement from PCMag stating “Best for Frequent Travelers,” emphasized by a red arrow.

Google Tests Third-Party Endorsements in Search Ads

Google Shares Guide to Merchant Center for Agencies

A Google help chat page shows a user named Marcin assisting with a Google Ads account issue. The user is asked if help is needed with reactivating or accessing the account, and an AI Chat Support text box for typing a question is visible at the bottom.

Google Ads Replaces Support Form With AI Chatbot

A dashboard featuring a Google Ads mobile preview, a line graph with red and blue lines for conversions and clicks, plus a Product-Level Campaign View showing campaign statuses, product statuses, and eligibility issues in a detailed table.

Product-Level Campaign View Now in Google Ads

Illustration of a person with dark hair in a blue shirt holding a smartphone. Shopping icons like a store and cart appear around them, suggesting online shopping or browsing—ideal for promoting Google Call-Only Ads and Call Assets.

Google Ads Hints at Bulk Management for Callout & Snippet Assets

A data dashboard in Looker Studio shows how "ID Override" unifies fields from Google Analytics and Google Ads, allowing advertisers to access combined metrics like "Views" and "Clicks" for Czechia with cross-source filtering.

Looker Studio Adds Cross-Source Filtering for Advertisers

Screenshot of a Data Manager dashboard showing product connections at the top, recommendations in the middle, and featured products below, with highlighted sections and a yellow arrow pointing to “Connected products.”.

Data Manager Suggests Product Connections by Email

A Google Ads dashboard displays an alert about a missing GSTIN and a message stating "Advertiser verification page is now called Account," with a red arrow highlighting the message box under Advertiser Verification settings.

Advertiser Verification Renamed as “Account” in Google Ads

Two digital ad cards: the left features a purple gradient background, a person with headphones at a computer, and logos of news outlets; the right shows a partial computer screen on a blue background with cookie-related text.

Faulty Image Cropping Detected in Google’s Discover Ads

A computer screen displays a Google Ads dashboard with the "Asset groups" tab selected and a blue box highlighting a video thumbnail preview. The text above reads "EASY PMAX ADS PREVIEW," showcasing the new Asset Group Preview for Performance Max campaigns.

Performance Max Gets One-Click Ad Preview

Screenshot of a redesigned Google Play Console page titled "Earn rewards for growing your business," showcasing goals for new business and product adoption, a rewards progress tracker, and congratulatory messages from the Google Partner Portal.

Google Partners Rewards Website Gets an Overhaul

Google Launches Ads Decoded Podcast for Advertisers

A graphic with the text "Google Ads Demand Gen Drops" featuring a lightbulb icon in the "o" of "Drops," red sparkling stars, and subtle video elements. "January 2026" appears bottom left on a light pink background.

January Demand Gen Drop Expands Video, Search and Travel Features

A webpage provides instructions for enabling text guidelines in Google Ads, with links to related help topics. A red box highlights a note about support for all languages and a link to available languages in Google Ads.

Text Guidelines Now Support All Languages in Google Ads

A Google Ads interface titled "Data Transmission Control" shows options to manage data transmission, including settings for advertising and analytics data, with a "NEW" label highlighted and the name Thomas Eccel displayed.

Data Transmission Control Rolls Out In Google Ads

Screenshot of a Google Ads interface showing a list of placements with options to exclude selected ads from an ad group, campaign, or account. Several YouTube.com entries are selected and partially obscured for privacy.

Google Ads Adds Account-Level Placement Exclusions

A screen showing the "Choose up to 15 YouTube videos to use in your ad" dialog for a P-Max asset group, with tabs for Suggested, Asset library, YouTube, and Merchant Center. The page is mostly blank with an hourglass illustration and no video assets suggested.

Google Tests 15 Video Asset Slots in Performance Max

Screenshot of a webpage titled “About Performance Max optimization experiments: A/B Testing assets (Beta),” with highlighted text explaining Asset-Level A/B Testing that compares two different sets of assets within the same asset group.

Performance Max Gets Asset-Level A/B Testing

A Google Ads dashboard displays a notification stating “Eligible (Limited): Your website is missing a Google Tag,” with a prompt to install the tag for optimization and a link to view details about potential campaign limits.

Google Ads Limits Campaigns Without Google Tag Setup

A digital ad image shows Google search vehicle ads for Porsche Panamera cars, highlighting a new feature: call assets with phone call icons next to "Visita il sito" buttons. Green arrows and labels emphasize the enhanced call feature.

Call Extensions Now Showing in Vehicle Ads

Screenshot of a leveled up Creator Partnership Hub update, highlighting the “Creator search” tab and a pop-up explaining how to find creators by keywords or channel handle—perfect for optimizing your creator partnership strategy.

Creator Partnerships Enhanced With Creator Search And Management Hub

Two screenshots show a DraftKings Casino ad with a $1000 offer and "Get" button, highlighted by large red arrows. The second screenshot reveals the "Get" button overlays and may obscure the Skip Ad Button on YouTube.

YouTube Overlays Now Obscure Skip Ad Button

Diagram showing data flow: a laptop with "Tag Manager" on mydomain.com connects to a server labeled "GTG enabled to serve tag from here (Beta)," then sends data to Google & other 3P products. "With Google Tag Gateway" is at the top.

Google Tag Gateway Now Supports Akamai Integration

A smiling woman with blonde hair is featured on the right. On the left, text promotes "Ads Decoded," a Google Ads podcast and Ads Decoded Newsletter by Ginny Marvin, Ads Product Liaison. The words "Subscribe now" are in bold.

Google Launches Ads Decoded Newsletter on LinkedIn

A Google Support Form interface displays an option to use past cases on the left. A red arrow points from selected past details to the name field, highlighting how auto-fill details are added to the form automatically.

Google’s Support Form Now Auto-Fills Details From Past Cases

A screenshot of a Google Ads analytics dashboard displays line graphs comparing clicks and costs over time, with data points highlighted for January 21, 2026, showing 99 clicks and a cost of £42.90.

Google Ads Bug Temporarily Hides Notes for Some Users

Google Moves Logo Settings in Merchant Center

A website interface displays a message: “An error occurred. Please try again later. Value is required.” above options for asset group editing and details about an ad, possibly due to a Performance Max bug.

Performance Max Bug Prevents Asset Group Editing

Three smartphone screens display an online purchase process for a navy blue suitcase: product page, order review with payment options, and order confirmation—featuring a seamless flow similar to a Performance Max One-Click Preview experience.

Universal Commerce Protocol Now Live in Merchant Center

A promotions setup screen displays a 15% discount being set. The dropdown menu highlights "Subscribe & Save" for Subscription Promotions, with other options like first order, email, text, custom requirements, and Google Merchant Center.

“Subscribe and Save” Now Live in Google Merchant Center

Screenshot of the Google Merchant Center Next interface, showing the Data sources page. A red arrow points to "Content API," a Merchant API option under "Primary sources," displaying details like source type, products, and language for Shopping Ads.

Google Shopping API Migration Deadline Coming Soon

A table shows supported data sources and destinations for Data Manager. “Google Drive” is highlighted with a red box, indicating it as both a data source and destination. Other sources include Redshift, Customer Match, BigQuery, Sheets, and more.

Google Drive Now Supported for Offline Conversions and Customer Match

Illustration of a person holding a phone surrounded by network icons with abstract blue shapes in the background, symbolizing connectivity and communication in a digital or social media context.

Google Ads Publishes Official Enhanced Leads Checklist

A Google Ads Advisor dashboard displays a Conversion Summary with a line graph of campaign conversions from January 1–31, 2025. Several peaks are shown, with text above noting “Conversions are looking good,” and campaign details listed below the graphs.

Google Ads Advisor Adds AI Summary Below Graphs

Screenshot of a Google Ads campaign settings page showing the "Bidding" section. An arrow highlights the "Manually set bids" (Manual CPC) option, making it easier to set and control your ad bids directly.

Google Ads Simplifies Access to Manual CPC

A registration form on a website displays fields for name, signup type, country, time zone, currency, data protection contact, and invite user. A green arrow points to the "Create an account with campaign IDs from other tools" option.

Faster Google Ads Account Creation Coming to MCCs

Brand Linking Experiment Spotted in Google Ads Labs

A smartphone screen displays Google search results for a law firm, with a large orange arrow pointing to a clickable “Call” button beneath a sponsored listing, showcasing the power of Google Local Ads.

Local Ads Emphasize Clickable Links Over Text

Illustration of two people near a large percentage symbol. One holds a smartphone with a shopping cart icon, hinting at Black Friday deals appearing above it, while the other stands near shopping bags. The scene suggests online shopping and discounts.

Google Shopping Expands Promotion Policy for Subscriptions and Abbreviations

Diagram showing data flow: a laptop with "Tag Manager" on mydomain.com connects to a server labeled "GTG enabled to serve tag from here (Beta)," then sends data to Google & other 3P products. "With Google Tag Gateway" is at the top.

Google Tag Gateway Adds Google Cloud Platform Integration

Screenshot of an email from Google Ads announcing that Call Ads are deprecated, detailing the shift to responsive search ads with call assets. The email highlights key dates and reassures continued support for advertisers during this transition.

Google Reminds Advertisers Call-Only Ads Are Ending

A notification from Google Merchant Center instructs users to update 2,956 products by March 2026, detailing changes for multi-channel items and emphasizing separate product IDs for online and physical stores.

Google to Enforce Separate Product IDs for Multi-Channel Items

A screenshot of the Google Ads interface shows changes made to campaigns, with options for filtering by campaign or ad group. Debugging is easy with visible dropdown menus, Go-To Buttons, and a details panel highlighting two selected changes.

Jump to Edited Campaigns from Change History

Google Ads Introduces Channel-Level Reporting in API

An illustration of a laptop showcasing a webpage with a blue header and an "Ad" label, symbolizing testing in online advertising. In front, a yellow laboratory flask emphasizes experimentation, while subtly hinting at the integration of the new Sunset API schedule into your advertising strategy.

Google Ads API v23 Now Available

Screenshot of a Google support page titled "Update to Gambling and Games Policy: Gambling and Games Certification Eligibility Update (March 2026)," outlining new Google Gambling Certification requirements for advertisers effective March 23, 2026.

Google Tightens Gambling Certification Rules

Illustration of two people sitting on a couch using a tablet. Overlapping the scene is a large smartphone with icons representing a shopping cart, home, and email. A blue checkmark denotes an update crossing through the composition.

Online Gambling Ads No Longer Allowed in Ethiopia

An illustration of a clipboard with checklist items, a green shield, and a padlock symbolizing security and protection. The green shield is behind the clipboard while the padlock in front ensures consent for ads personalization, representing data security and privacy.

Canada Cannabis Pilot Program Gets Extension

Illustration of a person sitting with a laptop, surrounded by icons representing security elements like a padlock, password, shield, and checklist. The imagery emphasizes online privacy and protection.

Administrative Update to Google Ads Personalized Ads Policy

Abstract illustration featuring digital interfaces with a green megaphone, a gear icon, and web elements like tabs and buttons. The background includes geometric shapes and icons representing settings and navigation.

Google Ads Tightens Gambling Policy for India

Illustration of a person on a ladder placing a golden crown on a globe. Surrounding icons include a calculator, document with magnifier, and compass, representing global leadership and strategic planning themes.

Google Ads Opens Gambling Ads in Belarus for Licensed Operators

An illustration of a laptop showcasing a webpage with a blue header and an "Ad" label, symbolizing testing in online advertising. In front, a yellow laboratory flask emphasizes experimentation, while subtly hinting at the integration of the new Sunset API schedule into your advertising strategy.

Google Ads API to Restrict IP and Session Data Import

Illustration of two people sitting on a couch using a tablet. Overlapping the scene is a large smartphone with icons representing a shopping cart, home, and email. A blue checkmark denotes an update crossing through the composition.

Google Ads to Allow Prediction Market Ads in the US