July 2026 — PPC & Marketing news.
What changed, as it happens.
Tracked daily from primary sources. The items below are what we're watching for clients right now.
Google Analytics will now tell you when paid clicks are being filed as organic
On 30 July, Google Analytics added a data-quality diagnostic named "Campaign data accuracy is affected by missing URL parameters." It surfaces inside individual reports rather than as a global banner, and it triggers when landing-page URLs arrive carrying a GCLID but missing the GBRAID or gad_ parameters that Google Ads appends. GBRAID, introduced in March 2022, carries campaign data without linking to an individual user and acts as a fallback where GCLID cannot work, such as when a user denies ad_user_data consent; gad_source identifies the ad source and gad_campaignid identifies the campaign. Three mechanisms strip these before the analytics tag fires: redirect chains that drop parameters before the final landing page, CDN or security filters applying canonicalization rules mid-journey, and tags firing before the parameters are readable on the page. Google's documentation also requires gad_ parameters to sit before any hash fragment in the final URL. The loss produces two distinct reporting outcomes. One shows up as "(not set)", which looks broken enough to get investigated. The other credits the paid click to organic search, inflating measured organic performance and suppressing return on ad spend while generating no error anywhere. Every property role can view the diagnostic and Editor or above can act on it, a "View URLs" control lists the affected page paths, and Google says implementation fixes take 24 to 48 hours to register.Source: PPC Land →
Our take: The dangerous outcome is the second one. A paid click filed as organic does not look like an error, it looks like SEO working, and budget drifts toward the channel that did not earn it. If the diagnostic fires in your property, start with the redirect chain on your landing pages, which is where the parameters usually die.
Read our full take →ChatGPT is testing an ad that opens a chatbot built from your website
OpenAI appears to be building a ChatGPT campaign type in which clicking the ad opens a conversation with a business-specific AI agent rather than loading a landing page. The agent is assembled from a business profile ChatGPT generates automatically by crawling the advertiser's website, combined with advertiser-supplied custom instructions and data sources including product feeds, Model Context Protocol tools for live data, and lead-generation forms. It runs on the same infrastructure as Custom GPTs, and inside the conversation it can answer product questions, make recommendations, schedule appointments, troubleshoot, and qualify leads. Entrepreneur Juozas Kaziukenas spotted the capabilities in ChatGPT Ads Manager and posted them on LinkedIn; OpenAI has not announced the format. It is described as reaching a limited group of advertisers, and the shopper-side experience has not been widely observed, so how the ads render and how prominent they are remains unknown.Source: Search Engine Land →
Our take: If this ships, the crawl of your site stops being an SEO concern and becomes ad production. Whatever ChatGPT reads off your pages and your feed is what the agent will say about your products to someone who has already clicked. Thin specs and stale availability turn into answer-quality problems inside a paid conversation you are being billed for.
Read our full take →Microsoft is retiring Predictive Matching and folding it into AI Max
Microsoft Advertising's help documentation now states that "Predictive Matching is moving to Search term matching within AI Max. AI Max builds on existing matching capabilities with enhanced AI-powered intent understanding, improved transparency, and additional optimization features." Predictive Matching sat above keyword targeting in Search campaigns, reading the final URL, ad titles, ad text, and existing keywords to reach queries beyond the literal keyword list. It came with two constraints: it applied broad match to every keyword in the campaign, removing per-keyword match-type control, and it required a conversion-based bid strategy (Maximize Conversions, Target CPA, or Target ROAS), excluding portfolio strategies. Its rollout was uneven, with some advertisers still seeing "coming soon" language in the help docs. Microsoft gave no effective date and says "No action is required at this time." AI Max in Search campaigns covers query matching, asset personalization, and URL routing. The documentation change was first spotted July 29 and independently confirmed July 31.Source: PPC Land →
Our take: Microsoft hasn't said whether campaigns already running Predictive Matching migrate on their own or wait for an opt-in, whether both systems run in parallel through a transition, or whether AI Max carries the same conversion-bidding requirement. Those three answers decide whether this is a rename or a rebuild. Right now there is nothing to plan against.
Read our full take →Google is testing AI-generated product descriptions on Shopping ads
Google is testing AI-written product descriptions inside Shopping and product ads, extending a test already spotted on regular sponsored search results. Scope and rollout are unconfirmed. If it ships, the description a shopper reads next to your product may not be the one you wrote — which turns the feed’s description field into Google’s starting material rather than the final word, and makes the accuracy of what’s in there matter more, not less.Source: Search Engine Roundtable →
Our take: Your feed descriptions are about to become raw material rather than final copy. The defense is accuracy and completeness — a vague description gives Google's AI room to improvise about your product. Tighten the feed now and this test can only work in your favor.
Read our full take →July’s Demand Gen drop: Checkout Links in nine more markets, and a less cautious Target ROAS
Google expanded Demand Gen Checkout Links to Switzerland, Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, Mexico, France, Poland, Israel, and Argentina, saying advertisers who supply checkout URLs “boosted conversions by 6% on Demand Gen.” Target ROAS bidding was retuned so campaigns stop being over-cautious at launch and “hit their targets faster” — worth knowing if you have been writing off the first weeks of every Demand Gen test as learning-phase noise. The drop also deepens product-feed integration and adds Universal Commerce Protocol checkout for buying straight from YouTube ads, US only for now. The performance figures are Google’s own.Source: Google Ads & Commerce Blog →
Our take: Two things to act on: the retuned Target ROAS shortens the write-off-the-first-weeks window, so retest what you shelved. And if you sell in any of the nine new markets, Checkout Links deserves a controlled test, with the +6% treated as Google's number until your account produces its own.
Read our full take →Target CPA and Target ROAS are turning up as standalone bid strategies — unconfirmed
Advertisers are seeing Target CPA and Target ROAS offered as their own bidding-strategy options during campaign setup, instead of as settings tucked inside Maximize Conversions and Maximize Conversion Value. Natasha Kaurra spotted the new layout and posted it on LinkedIn; Google hasn’t confirmed anything. Google Ads trainer Charlotte Osborne reads it as groundwork for the August 17 bidding change, which is her interpretation rather than Google’s. Either way it’s a setup-screen change, not a behavior change — your live strategies are doing what they did last week.Source: Search Engine Land →
Our take: Nothing to change in live campaigns. But if the setup screens shift in your account, update the SOPs and screenshots your team trains on. The wrong bid strategy picked off an unfamiliar screen is an expensive typo.
Read our full take →Google Ads adds a Budget Panel with Low/Medium/High spend recommendations
A new budget panel in Google Ads shows Low, Medium, and High spend recommendations for Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns, each with its own performance forecast. The modelling is Google’s own, so read the forecasts as a sales pitch with math attached — but three scenarios side by side is a faster way into a budget conversation than arguing over a single number.Source: Search Engine Roundtable →
Our take: Use the three scenarios as conversation ammunition, not gospel — Google is modeling Google's upside. The useful move: save the Low/Medium/High forecasts at decision time, then hold the chosen tier to its own forecast a month later.
Read our full take →Some PMax advertisers can now switch off Search Partners and the Display Network
Google is running an alpha that gives selected Performance Max advertisers two checkboxes in the campaign console to deselect Search Partner Network and Google Display Network inventory. Both are checked by default, and both have been compulsory since Performance Max launched. A Google spokesperson confirmed the feature is in alpha and declined to say when broader availability might follow. Access is being handed out rather than announced: Crossmedia, Go Fish Digital, Moroch (which got in during the final week of June 2026), Duncan Channon, Roast, and PMG have confirmed access, some agencies found the checkboxes in their accounts with no notification, and three agencies said Google refused their requests. Digiday reported the story first, quoting Duncan Channon's Kyle Rovinski summarizing the long-standing advertiser objection as "the product could not be trusted."Source: PPC Land →
Our take: Years of advertisers asking Google to stop spending their budget on placements they never chose, and the answer arrives as an unannounced checkbox in a few dozen accounts. That is not a rollout, it is a pressure valve. And the concession is narrow: Search Partners and Display are the two networks nobody defends, while the budget allocation advertisers complain about most stays exactly where it was.
Read our full take →Google starts rolling AI content labels across Ads, DV360, CM360, Merchant Center, and Ads Editor
Google began a gradual rollout of AI content labelling across its advertising platforms. Advertisers can add text or visual AI labels directly to eligible image and video creatives, or switch on a new AI label setting, and Google may apply labels automatically to assets built with its own AI tools — the labels then appear as disclosure icons wherever the ad runs. It’s aimed at AI-transparency rules landing in the EU, India, and New York, and Google is explicit that using the setting alone “does not guarantee compliance with local regulations.” Treat it as a tool, not a legal shield.Source: Search Engine Land →
Our take: If you advertise into the EU or run AI-generated creative anywhere, start labeling before a platform or regulator picks the timing for you. Google saying the setting does not guarantee compliance means the legal review is still yours to do.
Read our full take →Google Ads splits Shopping clicks into product and non-product
Google Ads added two Shopping-ad metrics — Product Clicks and Non-Product Clicks — separating clicks on the product listing itself from clicks on other elements of the ad. It’s a reporting change rather than a bidding one, but it makes a Shopping click count you previously had to take at face value break down into something you can actually diagnose.Source: Search Engine Roundtable →
Our take: Re-baseline your Shopping CTRs when this reaches your account — some of what you've been calling product interest is shoppers tapping other parts of the ad. It changes which products look like creative problems versus pricing problems.
Read our full take →Google Ads lets you upload a reference image to steer its AI image generation
When generating AI images inside Google Ads, advertisers can now upload a reference image that the tool uses to guide the style of what it produces. For anyone who has watched asset generation drift off-brand, it’s the first handle on style rather than just prompt text — worth testing against your actual product photography before it goes into an asset group.Source: Search Engine Roundtable →
Our take: Test it against your actual product photography before generated assets enter an asset group. When style drifts, the reference image is now the first knob to turn, and it's cheaper than another round of prompt archaeology.
Read our full take →Microsoft brings its Ad Preview Hub to Performance Max
Microsoft Advertising extended Ad Preview Hub — previously Audience Ads only — to Performance Max. Open an asset group, hit “Preview ads,” and you can see eligible formats across devices and placements before launch, then generate a secure shareable link so clients and stakeholders can review the creative without an account login. The point is catching weak asset combinations before Microsoft’s AI assembles them live, instead of trading screenshots around for approval.Source: Search Engine Land →
Our take: The shareable preview link is the underrated part: client approval on the actually-assembled formats before spend starts, no account access required. Put it in the launch checklist and stop trading screenshots.
Read our full take →Passkeys become mandatory for new Google Ads API tokens on August 5 — and new passkeys can sit idle for a week
From August 5, generating a new OAuth 2.0 refresh token for the Google Ads API will require passkey authentication instead of a password, SMS code, or TOTP, rolling out to all users over the following weeks. The requirement reaches further than the API itself — Google Ads Editor, Scripts, BigQuery Data Transfer Service, and Looker Studio are all named. Existing refresh tokens keep working and need no reauthorization, and service accounts running automated workflows are unaffected. The detail to act on now: a newly created passkey can be subject to a seven-day security delay before it’s fully trusted, so set one up before you need to reconnect anything, not during the outage.Source: Google Ads Developer Blog →
Our take: Create the passkey this week even if you don't need a new token — the seven-day trust delay means the worst time to set one up is during the outage it would have prevented. Service-account automations are unaffected.
Read our full take →Google puts a number on the Smart Bidding learning phase: 7–14 days
Google added guidance to its conversion-measurement help documentation, including a stated 7–14 day Smart Bidding learning window, a requirement that GA-linked conversion imports be set up by someone with Admin or Edit permissions, clearer direction on configuring primary versus secondary conversion actions, and a reminder about EEA Consent Mode obligations. None of it changes how bidding works, but the learning-phase figure is the useful one — it’s the number to quote when a client wants to judge a bid-strategy change after four days.Source: Search Engine Roundtable →
Our take: Quote the number. When someone wants a verdict on a bid change after four days, Google's own docs now say 7–14. Set the review date when you make the change and skip the argument entirely.
Read our full take →From Aug 17, budget-capped tCPA/tROAS campaigns get held closer to their targets
Google published the details of the change: starting August 17, 2026, campaigns on a target-based bid strategy that sit in “Limited by budget” will bid more strictly toward their stated target instead of settling well below it. Scope covers Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Demand Gen; App and video reach/view campaigns keep the old behavior. A Bid Target Adjustment Tool has been live in Google Ads since July 6 so you can review historical performance and reset targets first. If a client’s campaign has been quietly beating its target while budget-capped, that cushion is what goes away — audit the targets now, not in September.Source: Google Ads Help →
Our take: Audit budget-capped target campaigns before mid-August. Any campaign quietly beating its target loses that free cushion on the 17th, so use the Bid Target Adjustment Tool to reset targets on your terms rather than Google's.
Read our full take →ChatGPT Ads adds conversion bidding, rolling budgets, and a bulk API
OpenAI added conversion-optimized (oCPC) bidding to ChatGPT Ads, plus average daily budgets that pace automatically across a rolling seven-day window, geographic exclusions, AppsFlyer and Adjust integrations for app measurement, advanced matching for website conversions, an async Bulk API for campaigns/ad groups/ads, and product-feed ad cards that now show pricing and star ratings. That’s most of the bidding, budgeting, targeting, and bulk-management machinery advertisers expect from a mature network — enough that a test budget is defensible if your buyers research purchases in ChatGPT.Source: Search Engine Land →
Our take: The tooling just crossed the defensible-test line. If your buyers research purchases in ChatGPT, especially B2B and considered purchases, a small conversion-bid pilot now beats learning the platform after competitors have set the benchmarks.
Read our full take →Google Ads Editor 2.13 brings AI Max to Shopping campaigns
Editor 2.13 adds full AI Max support for Shopping campaigns — automated text generation, URL expansion controls, brand lists, and URL exclusions — bringing Shopping to parity with Search and Performance Max inside the desktop editor. It also adds Performance Max Customer Retention Goals, Business Name and Logo fields for video ads, Maps placements for Demand Gen, Native Channel Performance reporting, and a user-attestation field disclosing AI-generated image and video assets. Creating new Video Action campaigns is retired, completing the move to Demand Gen.Source: Search Engine Land →
Our take: If you manage Shopping at scale, bulk AI Max work finally lives in the desktop editor. Note the user-attestation field for AI creatives, though. Disclosure is becoming a workflow step, not a preference.
Read our full take →AI Max features are turning up inside Standard Shopping campaigns
Advertisers are spotting AI Max behaviors — conversational-query matching, text customization, and Final URL expansion — appearing in Standard Shopping campaigns. Google hasn’t confirmed it and the sightings are screenshot-based, so treat it as an unannounced beta. If your Shopping campaigns start matching broader queries or expanding landing-page URLs, this is the likely cause — worth watching your search terms and final URLs.Source: Search Engine Roundtable →
Our take: Watch the search-terms report and your final URLs. If Standard Shopping starts matching broader queries, this unannounced test is the likely reason. Negatives and URL exclusions are your levers while Google stays quiet.
Read our full take →Google opens a form to extend Content API for Shopping past the Aug 18 sunset
Google published a request form letting Content API for Shopping users apply to keep access past the August 18, 2026 sunset, choosing an extension to either October 15 or December 31, 2026. Merchants who hit the deadline without an approved extension will see degraded ad and organic Shopping performance — so if you’re still running a product feed through the Content API, file for the extension before you’re forced onto the Merchant API.Source: Search Engine Roundtable →
Our take: Still running a feed through the Content API? File the extension request now — degraded Shopping performance after August 18 is the price of forgetting. Then schedule the real Merchant API migration; the extension buys months, not a pardon.
Read our full take →
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