Google will begin enforcing a minimum daily budget for Demand Gen campaigns starting April 1, 2026.
What’s happening: The Google Ads API will require a minimum daily budget of $5 USD (or local equivalent) for all Demand Gen campaigns. The change is designed to help campaigns move through the “cold start” phase with enough spend for Google’s models to learn and optimize effectively. The update will roll out as an unversioned API change, applying across all buying paths.
Technical details:
In API v21 and above, campaigns set below the threshold will trigger a BUDGET_BELOW_DAILY_MINIMUM error, with additional details available in the error metadata.
In API v20, advertisers will receive a generic UNKNOWN error, with the specific validation failure referenced in the unpublished error code field.
The rule applies when modifying budgets, start dates, or end dates in ways that push daily spend below the $5 floor — covering both daily and flighted budgets.
Impact on existing campaigns. Current Demand Gen campaigns running below the minimum will continue serving. However, any future edits to budgets or scheduling will require compliance with the new floor.
Why we care. For advertisers and developers, this adds a new compliance layer to campaign management workflows. Systems will need updating to catch and handle the new validation errors before deployment.
The bottom line. Google is standardizing a minimum investment threshold for Demand Gen — prioritizing performance stability, while requiring advertisers to adjust budgets and automation accordingly.
Meta is updating its ad measurement framework, aiming to simplify attribution in what it calls a “social-first” advertising world.
What’s happening. Meta is narrowing its definition of click-through attribution for website and in-store conversions. Going forward, only link clicks — not likes, shares, saves or other interactions — will count toward click-through attribution. The change is designed to reduce discrepancies between Meta Ads Manager and third-party tools like Google Analytics.
Between the lines. Social media has overtaken search as the world’s largest ad channel, according to WARC, but many attribution systems were built for search-era behaviors. On social platforms, engagement extends beyond link clicks. Historically, Meta counted all click types toward click-through conversions, while many third-party tools only counted link clicks — creating reporting misalignment.
What’s changing. Conversions previously attributed to non-link interactions will now fall under a renamed “engage-through attribution” (formerly engaged-view attribution). Meta is also shortening the video engaged-view window from 10 seconds to 5 seconds, reflecting faster conversion behavior — particularly on Reels. The company says 46% of Reels purchase conversions happen within the first two seconds of attention.
Why we care. This update makes it easier to see which actions actually drive conversions, reducing confusion between Meta reporting and third-party analytics like Google Analytics. By separating link clicks from other social interactions, marketers get a clearer view of campaign performance, while the new engage-through attribution captures the value of likes, shares, and saves.
This gives advertisers more confidence in their data and helps them make smarter, more impactful
Third-party tie-ins. Meta is partnering with analytics providers like Northbeam and Triple Whale to incorporate both clicks and views into attribution models, aiming to give advertisers a more complete performance picture.
The rollout. Changes will begin later this month for campaigns optimizing toward website or in-store conversions. Billing will not change, but reporting inside Ads Manager may shift as attribution definitions update.
The bottom line. Meta is attempting to balance clearer, search-aligned click reporting with better visibility into uniquely social interactions — giving advertisers cleaner comparisons across platforms while still capturing the incremental impact of engagement-driven conversions.
Google is rolling out Video Reach Campaign (VRC) Non-Skip ads, expanding how brands reach connected TV audiences on YouTube.
What’s happening. VRC Non-Skips are now live globally in Google Ads and Display & Video 360. Built for the living room experience, they run as non-skippable placements optimized for connected TV (CTV) screens.
Why we care. YouTube has been the No. 1 streaming platform in the U.S. for three straight years, making the TV screen a critical battleground for your brand budget. With guaranteed, non-skippable delivery, you can ensure your full message reaches viewers in premium, lean-back environments.
AI in the mix. Google AI dynamically optimizes across 6-second bumper ads, 15-second standard spots, and 30-second CTV-only non-skippable formats. Instead of manually splitting your budget by format, you can rely on AI to allocate impressions for maximum reach and efficiency.
Bottom line. Advertisers now have a simpler way to secure guaranteed, full-message delivery on the biggest screen in the house — using AI to maximize reach and efficiency across non-skippable formats without manually managing the mix.
Google is expanding its recurring billing policy to allow certified U.S. online pharmacies to promote prescription drugs with subscriptions and bundled services.
What’s happening. Certified merchants can now offer:
Prescription drug subscriptions — recurring billing for prescription medications.
Prescription drug bundles — combining drugs with services like coaching or treatment programs, as long as the drug is the primary product.
Prescription drug consultation services — recurring consults to determine prescription eligibility, either standalone or bundled with medications.
Requirements for eligibility. Merchants must maintain certified status, submit subscription costs in Merchant Center using the [subscription_cost] attribute, include clear terms and transparent fees on landing pages, and comply with all existing Healthcare & Medicine and recurring billing policies. Accounts previously disapproved can request a review once requirements are met.
Why we care. The update opens new revenue opportunities for online pharmacies, letting them leverage recurring models and bundled services while staying compliant with Google policies.
The bottom line. Certified U.S. online pharmacies can now run recurring prescription and bundled offers, giving them more flexibility to reach patients and scale subscription-based services.
Google published a new help page detailing how its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) works — offering merchants clearer guidance on how checkout flows operate across Google properties.
What’s happening. The documentation explains how UCP and its UCP-powered checkout enable a native “Buy” button that moves the transaction directly onto Google surfaces, while merchants remain the seller of record. To activate the feature, merchants must implement the native_commerce attribute in Merchant Center.
Payments run through stored Google Wallet credentials, and processors must support Google Pay tokens.
Why we care. UCP was first introduced as part of Google’s agentic shopping push and later confirmed as live in Merchant Center. UCP moves checkout directly onto Google surfaces, reducing friction between product discovery and purchase. That could improve conversion rates, especially in AI-driven experiences like Gemini and AI Mode.
The new documentation also clarifies implementation requirements, helping merchants prepare their feeds and payment systems to participate in Google’s evolving, agent-powered commerce ecosystem.
The bigger picture. By centralizing checkout while keeping merchants as the seller of record, Google is reducing friction in AI-assisted shopping and tightening its control over the transaction layer.
The bottom line. With formal documentation now live, UCP moves from concept to operational playbook — signaling that AI-driven, on-Google checkout is becoming a core part of Google’s commerce strategy.
First seen. The help document was spotted by PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzova.
Self-serve negative keyword lists are now live in Microsoft Advertising, according to Ads Liaison Navah Hopkins — giving advertisers long-requested control without submitting support tickets.
What’s happening. Advertisers can now create and manage shared negative keyword lists directly in the UI. Lists support up to 5,000 negative keywords (one per line) and can be applied at either the campaign or account level. Match types function the same way in Performance Max as they do in traditional Search campaigns.
Lists can also be edited, exported as CSV files, or removed from campaigns as needed.
Microsoft notes that match type formatting requires brackets for exact match and quotation marks for phrase match — not hyphens.
Why we care. Negative keywords are critical for filtering irrelevant traffic and protecting budgets. Making lists self-serve streamlines workflow, reduces reliance on support tickets, and gives advertisers faster control over search query exclusions.
The bottom line. Microsoft is handing more operational control back to advertisers — and eliminating friction in one of the most essential levers for campaign efficiency.
Google published a new help document outlining how passkeys work in Google Ads — a timely move as advertisers face a rise in account hacks and phishing attempts.
What’s happening. The new help page explains how passkeys function as a passwordless, phishing-resistant login method in Google Ads, and clarifies when they’re required — including for sensitive actions like user access changes and account linking updates.
The documentation walks advertisers through device requirements, setup steps and security considerations.
Why we care. Ad accounts are increasingly being targeted by attackers, with compromised logins leading to budget theft, campaign disruption and data loss. Clearer guidance from Google gives advertisers a straightforward path to strengthening account defenses at a critical moment.
The bottom line. As account takeovers become more common, better education around security tools like passkeys is a practical win for advertisers looking to lock down access and reduce risk.
You can now generate custom PPC tools in plain English. With GPT-5 enabling complete program generation, the competitive edge belongs to those who master AI-assisted automation.
Frederick Vallaeys is building tools in minutes, not days or months, with AI. Vallaeys spent 10 years at Google building tools like Google Ads Editor, then another 10 building tools at Optmyzr, where he’s CEO.
He’s watched automation evolve firsthand, and vibe coding is the next leap. At SMX Next 2025, he shared his journey with vibe coding.
The traditional script problem
If you work in PPC, automation has always been top of mind. In the early days, you relied on Google Ads scripts. Scripts are great because there’s always more work than fits in a day.
But here’s the problem: when Vallaeys asks who actually writes their own scripts, only three to five out of 100 raise their hands. Most people copy and paste scripts because they don’t know how to code.
This works, but it’s limiting. You’re stuck with what someone else built instead of implementing your own secret sauce.
GPT changes the game
A couple of years ago, GPT made it easy to write scripts without knowing how to code.
The best part? Large language models are multimodal. You can take a whiteboard flowchart of your campaign decision tree, give the image to AI, and it’ll write the full Google Ads script.
Vallaeys suggests rethinking meetings. Instead of seeing client meetings as more work, treat them as prompt-engineering sessions.
It’s easy to get frustrated when clients add more to your plate. But with a mindset shift, the meeting becomes the prompt that tells AI what to execute.
What is vibe coding?
Instead of writing lines of code, you describe what you want the software to do, and the AI handles the technical implementation. That’s vibe coding.
Imagine your team needs software that does X, Y, and Z. Write down what it needs to do, give it to a coding tool, and it builds the software. As Vallaeys says, it’s mind-blowing.
Scripts are old news. Vibe coding is the new frontier.
A live example: Building a persona scorer
Vallaeys showed how fast this works. He went to Lovable and said, “Build me a persona scorer for an ad that shows how well it resonates with five different audiences.”
In less than 20 seconds, the AI responded with its design vision, features, and approach. It explained exactly what it would build, so he could immediately say, “Actually, make it 10 audiences instead of five.”
You work with it like a human developer — without touching code. You just describe what you want changed.
The framework: What should you automate?
Traditionally, you automated two types of work: quick, frequent tasks (like reviewing search terms) and long, infrequent tasks (like monthly reporting with analysis).
Vallaeys advises you not to limit automation to what you already do. Think about what you wish you could do more often but haven’t because it’s too time-consuming. That’s prime automation territory.
The old way vs. The new way
The old process was painful. Launching something took at least a month.
You’d spend days writing specs. Engineers would spend days building. You’d find bugs, coordinate meetings, and repeat.
The other problem? Traditional code was deterministic — pure if/then logic. Great for reliability, but terrible for nuanced decisions like, “Is this a competitor term?” It’s nearly impossible to program every variation of competitor keywords.
The promise of on-demand software
Sam Altman announced GPT-5, leading with “on-demand software generation.” The industry is moving beyond software-as-a-service to true on-demand software.
The new way? Write a one-paragraph spec (five minutes), give it to AI (15-minute build), then review and iterate (three minutes per change). In under an hour, you have working automation.
This new code is flexible, not just deterministic. LLMs can answer nuanced questions like, “Is this a competitor term?” with high probability. It’s the best of both worlds.
The expanding scope of automation
With vibe coding, anything you can explain to a human, a machine can build. Landing pages that follow brand guidelines? Done. Custom audience tools? Done.
Here’s the radical shift: you can now automate tasks that take just 90 minutes by hand. Build throwaway software for one-time tasks. Even if it breaks next month, it saved you time today.
What can you build with vibe coding?
You can build landing pages, microsites, interactive web apps, Chrome extensions, browser extensions, and WordPress plugins — all through simple prompts.
Available tools
Start with Claude or ChatGPT — tools you likely already subscribe to. They’re great for data analysis, calculators, and quick visualizations.
For more complex apps that need databases or login systems, use Lovable, V0.dev, Replit, or Bolt. They handle the complexity, so you don’t have to.
If you’re more technical, try Codex, Bolt.new, or Cursor. But for most people, the simpler tools handle almost everything.
Case Study 1: Seasonality analysis tool
Vallaeys asked someone on his team who had never coded to build a seasonality analysis tool. She fed PPC Town Hall podcast videos into Claude.
The process was simple: gather resources, write a prompt, give it to AI, and test it in the browser. No installation required.
The team iterated on the fly, asking for different plots and forecasting methods. In minutes, they had advanced enhancements. The AI knew where to add help text and simplify the interface because it’s trained on millions of web apps.
Case Study 2: Panel of experts tool
Vallaeys wanted multiple custom GPTs to review his blog posts in sequence, each giving feedback from its persona. Then a consolidator GPT would summarize the most common feedback into three to five bullet points.
He vibe-coded this in V0.dev by describing what he wanted. It generated a clean tool with text input, the ability to add custom GPTs, and everything worked.
Case Study 3: Chrome extension for demos
For customer demos, Vallaeys needed to blur sensitive numbers. He wanted options:
Fully redact or just blur?
Include currencies or only numbers?
Handle different separators?
He built a Chrome extension with all those options using simple prompts. Problem solved.
Prompting tips for success
Always include the use case. Say “seasonality tool” instead of vague terms like “time series analysis.” The AI makes better assumptions and may suggest approaches you hadn’t considered.
Ask questions: “How did you approach this?” or “Where do you store data?” It helps you learn.
Use chat mode to explore alternatives without changing the code. Ask for three approaches, pick one, go deeper, then say, “Execute that.”
The PPC audience analyzer
The audience analyzer Vallaeys’ team built is available to try. You can grab the code, add your logo, turn insights into action items — whatever you need. Just tell it what to change, and it updates.
Final thoughts: Stay competitive
Vallaeys makes one point clear: you’re not competing against AI. You’re competing against people who use it better than you do.
Try vibe coding today. Go to one of these tools and give it a single prompt. See what happens. The first time Vallaeys tried it, his mind was blown.
Now that you’ve learned something new, use it to get better at AI. That’s how you stay ahead.
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