Looking to take the next step in your search marketing career?

Below, you will find the latest SEO, PPC, and digital marketing jobs at brands and agencies. We also include positions from previous weeks that are still open.

Newest SEO Jobs

(Provided to Search Engine Land by SEOjobs.com)

• Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/SEM)
  March 20, 2026
  Description: This role can sit in our Hayward, CA, Santa Clarita, CA, or Farmington, MI locations. Job Summary We are seeking a strategic and hands-on Digital Marketing Manager to own and run all aspects of our marketing campaigns from planning through execution and optimization. This role will lead our digital presence across paid, owned, and […]
• Head of Digital Marketing
  March 19, 2026
  Head of Digital Marketing   About the Company Top-tier organization in the consumer services industry Industry Consumer Services Type Privately Held   About the Role The Company is seeking a Head of Digital Marketing to spearhead the development and execution of comprehensive digital marketing strategies. The successful candidate will be tasked with enhancing brand awareness, […]
• SEO Strategist
  March 19, 2026
  At MERGE, we are Built Different. We are a marketing and technology agency purpose-built for the intersection of health and wellness—where human impact matters most. By weaving storytelling through technology, we move beyond traditional engagement to Whole Human Marketing. This approach recognizes that humans are multidimensional and complex, and uses AI to ensure every brand interaction […]
• Manager, Digital Marketing and Website Management (SEO/GEO)
  March 19, 2026
  About Electra: At Electra, we’re pioneering sustainable aviation by developing hybrid-electric Ultra Short Takeoff and Landing aircraft designed to transform regional air mobility, by making air travel more efficient, quieter, and environmentally friendly. Able to operate from soccer field-sized spaces, our Ultra Short unlocks a new era of aviation through what we call Direct Aviation […]
• Digital Marketing Specialist (SEO/Content Marketing)
  March 19, 2026
  Description: The Digital Marketing Specialist is responsible for executing creative marketing initiatives by producing content, copy, and digital assets that support campaigns, brand presence, and customer engagement. Requirements: Create marketing copy for ads, emails, blogs, landing pages, and social media Design digital assets including graphics, visuals, and basic video content Maintain brand consistency across all […]
• Digital Marketing Specialist (SEO/Link-Building)
  March 19, 2026
  Job Description Digital Marketing Specialist Salt Lake City, UT | Hybrid | $70,000 / year + discretionary bonus About the Role We are a fast-growing company looking for a driven, well-rounded, full-time Digital Marketing Specialist to join our expanding team. This is an exciting opportunity for a self-starter who thrives in a dynamic environment, embraces […]
• Digital Marketing Representative (SEO/Social)
  March 18, 2026
  Job Description Carter Services, Inc. in Torrance, CA is hiring a full-time Digital Marketing Representative to take charge of our outreach efforts and educate potential customers on the extensive range of services we offer. This is a great opportunity to support a local business while developing your marketing knowledge and sharpening your problem-solving skills! Here’s […]
• Senior SEO Specialist
  March 18, 2026
  SEO Project Manager · Temporary Position OPEN POSITION Now HiringTemporary · Contract (3-5 month engagement)Remote · US-Based POSITION SUMMARY We are seeking a Temporary Senior SEO Specialist / SEO Project Manager to support organic search initiatives across a portfolio of websites. This execution-focused role requires an experienced professional who can independently evaluate opportunities, execute improvements, […]
• Digital Marketing Coordinator (SEO/SEM)
  March 17, 2026
  Position Overview We are seeking a detail-oriented, data-driven, and creative Digital Marketing Coordinator to support and execute our digital marketing initiatives across multiple channels. This role plays a critical part in driving brand awareness, lead generation, customer engagement, and campaign performance. The ideal candidate is highly organized, analytically minded, and passionate about digital marketing trends, […]
• Digital Marketing Specialist (SEO/SEM)
  March 17, 2026
  Job Description Location: Madison, WI Reports To: Chief of Staff Position Overview The Digital Marketing Specialist is responsible for driving measurable leasing performance, strengthening brand visibility, and executing digital marketing initiatives across a portfolio of multifamily and student housing properties, as well as corporate-level (BMOC) marketing. This is a hands-on, performance-oriented role for a data-driven […]

Newest PPC and paid media jobs

(Provided to Search Engine Land by PPCjobs.com)

• Strategist, Paid Search
  March 20, 2026
  Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) – delivers transformational experiences for consumers, clients, and talent. Powered by the Omni marketing orchestration system, OMG connects best‑in‑class capabilities that enable our full‑service media agencies OMD, PHD, and Hearts & Science to deliver more relevant and actionable consumer experiences, more […]
• Paid Media Specialist
  March 20, 2026
  Overview We are seeking a talented and experienced Paid Social superstar to join our team. The ideal candidate will develop, implement, and optimize paid media campaigns to drive business growth, lead generation, and audience engagement. The successful candidate will have a deep understanding of social as well as search platforms, keyword strategy, ad copywriting, and […]
• Paid Media Specialist
  March 19, 2026
  Full-Time | Remote (May Transition to Hybrid in the Future) Power Couch Media is seeking a full-time Paid Media Specialist to join our growing team. This is not a contract role or short-term engagement. You will be a core part of our campaign strategy, execution, and optimization process. Meta is our primary platform, with Google […]
• Paid Media Specialist
  March 19, 2026
  Paid Media Specialist Department: Integrated Media Solutions Employment Type: Full Time Location: Remote or Hybrid, US Compensation: $60,000 – $70,000 / year Description The Paid Media Specialist is an entry-level media professional responsible for executing and optimizing paid media campaigns across digital channels. This role supports cross-functional teams with day-to-day campaign management while focusing on […]
• Google / YouTube PPC Strategist
  March 19, 2026
  Overview Freebird is a high-growth DTC brand redefining shaving for millions of people. We’ve scaled to 9-figures in revenue, served over 1 million customers, and built a reputation for award-winning electric shaving kits that actually deliver. Our team is fast-moving, experiment-driven, and deeply focused on growth. We test relentlessly, analyze performance obsessively, and turn insights […]

Other roles you may be interested in

Digital Marketing Manager 10x Health System (Scottsdale, AZ)

• Salary: $110,000 – $120,000
• Measure and report on the performance of all digital marketing campaigns against goals (ROI and KPIs).
• Document and streamline digital marketing processes to scale the team and improve operations.

Paid Ads/Growth Manager, Robert Half (Hybrid, Atlanta Metropolitan Area)

• Salary: $65,000 – $85,000
• Manage, optimize, and scale paid campaigns across Google Ads (Search, Display, YouTube) and Meta Ads (Facebook/Instagram).
• Continuously refine targeting, bidding strategies, and creative to improve CPL, conversion rates, and overall ROAS.

SEO Manager, Clutch (Remote)

• Salary: $60,000 – $75,000
• Execute day-to-day SEO tactics across multiple client accounts, ensuring alignment with predefined campaign objectives.
• Implement optimization strategies, including technical SEO audits and recommendations.

Marketing Manager – SEO & GEO, Care.com (Hybrid, Austin Texas)

• Salary: $85,000 – $95,000
• Organic Growth: Build and execute the SEO roadmap across technical, content, and off-page. Own the numbers: traffic, rankings, conversions. No handoffs, no excuses.
• AI-Optimized Search (AIO): Define and drive CARE.com’s strategy for visibility in AI-generated results — Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and whatever comes next. Optimize entity coverage, content structure, and schema to ensure we’re the answer, not just a result.

Digital Marketplace Manager, Venchi (Hybrid, New York, NY)

• Salary: $120,000 – $130,000
• Define and execute channel-specific and cross-marketplace strategies, balancing brand positioning, commercial performance, and operational efficiency.
• Manage Amazon advertising across Sponsored Products, Brands, and Display campaigns.

Advertising Media Manager, Vetoquinol USA (Remote)

• Salary: $100,000 -$110,000
• Develop and implement strategic advertising plans for Etail (Ecomm/Retail) accounts.
• Analyzing advertising performance data with related ROAS & TACoS evaluations.

Programmatic Advertising Manager, We Are Stellar (Remote)

• Salary: $75,000
• Manage the day-to-day programmatic campaign approach, execution, trafficking optimization, and reporting across the relevant DSPs for your clients.
• Build and present directly to client stakeholders programmatic campaign performance, analysis, and insights.

Marketing Manager, Backstage (Remote)

• Salary: $100,000 – $140,000
• Manage and optimize campaigns daily across Meta Ads, Google Ads, and other kay partners
• Own forecasting, pacing, budget allocation, and optimization for high-scale monthly budgets..

Demand Generation Manager, Shoplift (Remote)

• Salary: $100,000 – $110,000
• Design and execute inbound-led outbound campaigns—reaching prospects who’ve shown intent (visited pricing page, downloaded resources, engaged with content) at precisely the right moment
• Build and optimize Apollo sequences, LinkedIn outreach, and multi-touch campaigns that book qualified demos for AEs

Search Engine Optimization Manager, Confidential (Hybrid, Miami-Fort Lauderdale Area)

• Salary: $75,000 – $105,000
• Serve as a strategic SEO partner for client accounts, translating business goals into actionable search initiatives
• Communicate SEO insights, priorities, and performance clearly to clients and internal stakeholders

Note: We update this post weekly. So make sure to bookmark this page and check back.

As AI agents reshape how advertising platforms are used, Google is bringing focus toward the developers behind the systems and create content specifically for them.

What’s happening. Google’s Advertising and Measurement Developer Relations team has launched Ads DevCast, a bi-weekly vodcast and podcast hosted by Cory Liseno. The show focuses on technical deep dives across Google Ads, Google Analytics, Display & Video 360 and related tools.

Zoom out. This is a companion to Ads Decoded, hosted by Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin, which focuses on campaign strategy. Ads DevCast is explicitly built for developers and technical practitioners.

Driving the news. Episode 1 — “MCPs, Agents, and Ads. Oh My!” — centers on what Google calls the “agentic shift,” where AI agents are becoming primary users of advertising APIs.

Why we care. Ads DevCast gives developers a direct line to the engineers building Google’s ad tools, which should help stay ahead of technical changes, discover new capabilities faster, and build more efficient integrations in an increasingly AI-driven ecosystem.

The big picture. AI is expanding who can work with ad tech systems. Google is seeing a shift from a narrow “Ads Developer Community” to a broader “Ads Technical Community,” where marketers can execute technical tasks without full development cycles.

What’s next. Ads DevCast is a pilot, and Google is collecting feedback to shape future episodes.

Bottom line. Google is positioning Ads DevCast as a tool to give developers a front-row seat to Google’s latest ads innovations, with practical insights to build, test, and adapt faster in an AI-first landscape.

A new Google Merchant Center update changes how e-commerce sites must handle out-of-stock products, with direct implications for product approvals and ad performance.

What’s happening. Google now requires that out-of-stock products must still display a buy button, but it can no longer be active or hidden. Instead, the button must be visibly disabled and appear grayed out. In other words, users should be able to see the button, but not click it.

This marks a clear shift from common practices where retailers either left the “Add to Cart” button clickable or removed it entirely. Both approaches are now non-compliant.

How it works. In practical terms, the requirement is simple. The buy button must remain on the page, but its functionality needs to be turned off. Typically, this is done by applying a disabled state so the button becomes unclickable and visually subdued.

The catch. The button change is only part of the update. Google also expects clear availability messaging on the product page, such as “in stock,” “out of stock,” “pre-order,” or “back order.” This information must match exactly with what is submitted in the product feed.

Any inconsistency between the page and the feed can lead to disapprovals.

The bigger shift. This update removes a long-standing workaround used by many retailers. Previously, it was possible to keep selling out-of-stock products by leaving the purchase button active. That approach is no longer allowed.

If a retailer still wants to accept orders for unavailable items, the product must now be labeled as “back order.” This status needs to be reflected consistently across both the landing page and the feed.

Bottom line. What looks like a small UI requirement is actually a meaningful policy change. Retailers will need to review how they manage out-of-stock products and ensure their pages and feeds are fully aligned to avoid disruptions.

First seen. This update was spotted by Google shopping specialist who shared the his how to video on LinkedIn.

Dig deeper. About landing page requirements

Microsoft is changing how advertisers configure automated bidding, aiming to reduce complexity while keeping performance outcomes the same.

What’s happening. The platform is streamlining its bidding options by folding familiar targets like Target CPA and Target ROAS into broader automated strategies rather than standalone campaign settings.

Going forward, advertisers will choose between two core approaches: Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value, with optional targets layered on top.

How it works. For conversion-focused campaigns, advertisers select Maximize Conversions and can optionally set a target CPA. For value-focused campaigns, they select Maximize Conversion Value and can optionally set a target ROAS.

Microsoft says the underlying bidding behavior has not changed — only the way advertisers configure it has been simplified.

Why we care. This update makes automated bidding simpler and more standardized, which lowers the barrier to using Microsoft Advertising’s performance tools at scale. By consolidating Target CPA and Target ROAS into broader strategies, it reduces setup complexity while still keeping key performance controls available as optional targets.

In practice, this means faster campaign setup, more consistent optimization behavior across accounts, and fewer structural differences between how advertisers manage conversion and value-based bidding.

What’s staying the same. Existing campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS will continue to run normally without any required updates. Portfolio bid strategies also remain unchanged.

The bigger picture. The change is part of a broader push to make automated bidding more accessible, reducing setup decisions while maintaining control over performance goals.

Bottom line. Microsoft is consolidating bidding options into simpler frameworks, keeping familiar optimization controls available but moving them into a more streamlined setup experience.

Google is doubling down on the infrastructure behind “agentic commerce,” introducing new capabilities to its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) while making it easier for retailers to plug in.

Google says UCP — its open standard for connecting retailers to AI-powered shopping experiences — is getting new features designed to make online buying feel more like a traditional storefront, even when handled by automated agents.

What’s new. The latest updates focus on making shopping via AI agents more functional and flexible.

• A new cart capability allows agents to add or save multiple products from a single retailer in one go, mirroring how a typical shopper builds a basket.
• There’s also a catalog feature, giving agents access to real-time product data such as pricing, inventory and variants when needed. The goal is to make interactions more accurate and responsive.
• Another addition is identity linking. This lets shoppers carry over logged-in benefits — like member pricing or free shipping — when using platforms connected through UCP, rather than losing those perks outside a retailer’s own site.

Why we care. This update accelerates the shift toward AI-driven, agent-led shopping, where platforms like Search and the Google Gemini app may choose, compare and even purchase products on users’ behalf. That makes product data quality — pricing, inventory and feeds — very important for visibility, while simplified onboarding and support from platforms like Salesforce and Stripe suggest rapid adoption, giving early movers a competitive edge.

Zoom out. UCP is designed as a modular system. Retailers and platforms can choose which capabilities to adopt, rather than implementing everything at once.

That flexibility is key as the industry experiments with how much control to hand over to AI-driven shopping experiences.

What Google is doing. Google plans to bring these capabilities into its own ecosystem, including AI-powered experiences in Search and the Google Gemini app.

The company is also working to expand adoption by lowering the barrier to entry. A simplified onboarding process inside Merchant Center is expected to roll out over the coming months.

Bottom line. UCP is evolving from a concept into a broader ecosystem play. By adding more capabilities and simplifying onboarding, Google is pushing to make agent-driven commerce easier to adopt — and harder to ignore.

As conversational search gains traction, the bigger question isn’t who has more users, but who can monetize them.

Google enters this phase with a massive advantage: mature ad systems, deep advertiser adoption, and decades of optimization. Early AI Mode signals point to a measured rollout.

The panic phase is over

After a period of panic within the company, Google’s built-in advantages, coupled with massive capital expenditures, have helped it regain ground on category leader ChatGPT in LLM search.

In December 2025, Google’s own code red became OpenAI’s code red.

The dust will continue to settle, and analysts have different takes. But one signal stands out: in a major validation, Apple has chosen Google to power its own AI.

It was perhaps premature to assume Google Search would simply lose to ChatGPT on product. That was the consensus at the start of 2025. Google shares fell about 30% from peak to trough before rallying 130%. Today, the company is valued at roughly $3.6 trillion, just behind Apple.

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Why monetization will decide the winner

Why did Google’s recent progress in LLM conversational queries — in the form of AI Overviews and AI Mode — have such a large impact on the company’s valuation in such a short time?

Ultimately, it comes down to visibility of financial projections. In a company with so much to defend, Google’s CFO and leadership team needed to determine whether shifts in user behavior — in how search works and how it makes money — would weaken the business model or reinforce it.

Net-net: Google before the shift: huge. Google after the shift: ditto.

Visibility — in the sense of financial planning, not in the SERP — means a great deal to Google’s advertisers, too.

A large proportion of your annual digital advertising budget is likely allocated to Google. You also still care about how you appear in organic results and increasingly, how your company appears in AI Mode, ChatGPT, Claude, and similar environments.

“I’m fine with 30% less of my business coming in from Google, and figuring out lots of complicated ways to replace it,” … said no advertiser ever.

How monetization will play out in AI search

The competition between monetization models in LLM conversations — especially between the two leaders, ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode — will play out differently from the broader race for overall user share. There are several moving parts to keep an eye on:

• Overall assumptions about ad formats and “how to monetize.”
• Pace of rollout.
• Whether users and public opinion recoil at ads.
• Advertiser success rates based on performance measurement.
• Advertiser adoption, including adoption by the agency ecosystem.
• Platform targeting options.
• Advantages of fuller-funnel ad journeys and data collection.
• Privacy, safety, policies, and enforcement.
• An all-encompassing consumer brand vs. a better mousetrap.
• And a few other factors.

Right now, OpenAI is at a critical moment because it’s still so early in its monetization. It’s still testing an inefficient auction model confined to a small group of large advertisers. (Some ads, from their pilot, spotted here.) It may be some time before more mature tools and reporting emerge.

Most recently, OpenAI brought ad platform Criteo (often used for retargeting) on as a partner. The Trade Desk, the world’s largest non-Google DSP for programmatic, is also in the mix. Some observers have speculated about deeper partnerships or even an acquisition of The Trade Desk, though that seems unlikely.

In any case, outsourcing inventory to programmatic partners is a pragmatic step in OpenAI’s monetization strategy. It also underscores how early the company is in building a scalable ads business.

Despite a broad rollout with partners, OpenAI is stepping back from “checkout in chat” integrations after limited adoption from both merchants and consumers. When your primary competitor has a 25-year head start, the learning curve is steep.

So does it make sense now for advertisers to lean into evolving Google user behavior and figure out how to ride the wave?

AI Mode considerations for Google advertisers

Expect the transition to more AI Mode sessions — and eventual monetization — to be smoother than initially anticipated. If you’re an advertiser, AI Mode need not equal panic mode.

How do these LLM sessions look to users? Obvious to you and me, but likely less so for many searchers.

Depending on how you search, AI Overviews may appear above other results on the SERP. That’s becoming a natural extension of Google Search sessions.

But that’s not the real conversational layer. The LLM workflow happens in AI Mode. How often users go there remains to be seen.

It’s improving quickly. Unlike ChatGPT, Google AI Mode downplays how it finds information, whether it is “reasoning,” and which model is being used. The experience feels relatively seamless.

It’s still early, but ads are already appearing in some cases. The key question is how this evolves, and what advertisers should be paying attention to.

The key areas to watch are:

• Extent of monetization.
• Different ways to monetize.
• Advertiser control and campaign types.
• Reporting.
• Funnel stage.

1. Extent of monetization

AI Mode is in a popularity contest and a price war with ChatGPT. Google will likely try to grind down competitors in LLM conversations by monetizing lightly and gradually. Perplexity and Anthropic, for their part, are completely shunning ads.

The result will be less ad volume in this space than you might expect. It may also increase the commercial value of organic visibility in LLM-driven results, leading to renewed focus on content and reputation fundamentals.

Forget ad campaign FOMO, then. It will be interesting to place ads alongside AI-driven sessions, but don’t break the bank. Implement, watch, and learn at your own pace.

2. Different ways to monetize

Experienced advertisers know there are a few ad formats to consider in any situation like this. The main ones would be: text ads triggered by keywords or similar signals, in a reasonably native format, and feed-based Shopping type ads.

Another way to make money is to allow direct checkout — to take a cut of transactions. As noted above, OpenAI is backtracking on this approach, though not eliminating it entirely. How important it will be for Google merchants (and Google itself) remains to be seen.

Google’s experience likely allows it, again, to play the long game, study the data, and bring partners and advertisers along for the ride, on an impressive scale.

Recently, Loblaw inked an integration deal with OpenAI. A week later, it made a similar deal with Google.

3. Advertiser control and campaign type

In terms of execution, we’ll want to be on the lookout for which kinds of campaign types in Google Ads make your ads eligible to show in AI Mode.

You can learn everything you want about how ads will show in AI Overviews in Google’s help files. Unsurprisingly, text and shopping campaigns from Performance Max, standard shopping, and keyword campaigns make your ad eligible to show in AI Overviews.

Google says less about AI Mode in its documentation, for now.

Our agency recently received a Google deck outlining a “Shopping Expansion” beta. There’s little mention of AI Mode, though one table, in a subtle way, refers to both AI Overviews and AI Mode.

My expectation is that Google will gradually ease users into AI Mode and test ads sparingly. Even if ads appear in a small share of sessions — say 0.5% — that will still generate significant data and feedback.

Advertiser control will likely be even more limited than it is today. In the world of feed-based ads, you have some levers, but the massive machine learning that controls matching is held by Google and the real-world behavioral ecosystem.

To a lesser extent, that’s also how keyword matching works. Micromanagers won’t be too comfortable, but the impact of the ads could still be powerful, especially with data-driven attribution.

Here’s hoping new signals, new reporting breakouts, and new levers become available to advertisers. Namely: audiences including cool personas; demographics; novel larger buckets around life stages; novel characteristics we haven’t even dreamt of yet, such as their language ability level or aspects of how they interact with the LLM.

4. Reporting

The real question is: will reporting be transparent and insightful? We need to at least be able to look at all available metrics for ads that showed in AI Mode specifically. Time will tell. 

Microsoft seems to be the first out of the gate with AI-conversation-specific reporting breakouts. We expect no less from Google and are impatiently awaiting further guidance on this front — primarily on what kind of reporting will be directly available in the Google Ads interface.

It would be easy for the casual observer to blindly believe that somehow, you’ll never be eligible to show up in AI Mode or AI Overviews unless you adopt certain Google Ads campaign types. There’s a lot of rhetoric around AI Max. 

I’d advise advertisers to do their own research and run their campaigns to suit themselves. Hint: AI Max isn’t the only magical gateway to AI-using users and might not even be a good or appropriate one for many advertisers.

Once reporting is beefed up, you’ll want to know how well the AI-specific inventory is doing, however your campaigns wind up serving there.

5. Funnel stage

But that leads us to a wrinkle. Although ads appearing astride AI Mode conversations could certainly be low-funnel (think Shopping ads in high-intent situations), much of the opportunity here is thematic. Your company may now enjoy new opportunities to associate itself with higher-order thinking, new audience definitions, and new intent characteristics.

This opportunity probably comes to your door dressed up as “lower ROAS.” It may be tempting, therefore, to shy away.

That’s a mistake.

Why?

Like what happened when everyone started using mobile phones, that’s where the consumer will be. Ugly early numbers shouldn’t blind us to the imperatives associated with scale.

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When the funnel moves, everything moves

Midsized to larger advertisers should step back and reimagine how they approach growth and market impact. There are meaningful opportunities for companies to align more closely with their audiences.

This has little to do with AI Max, and everything to do with how LLM-driven research works. Compare how publishers have traditionally assembled consumer personas — often from fragmented behavioral signals — with the much richer context that can emerge from ongoing interactions with an LLM.

A net shift up-funnel could follow. Imagine a world where a significant share of Google search sessions takes place within conversational experiences. Your ads will need to show up there, where appropriate. If that happens, your funnel — and your competitors’ — will move with it.

Will you be ready?

Google is cleaning up outdated requirements in Google Ads, reflecting how legacy ad formats have evolved into newer, more automated products.

What’s happening. As of March 17th, Google discontinued multiple ad format policies, including those related to form ads, image quality, responsive ads, and text ads.

What changed. These requirements are being removed because the original formats have transitioned into newer campaign types and ad experiences, making the old policy frameworks no longer relevant.

Why we care. This update simplifies the policy landscape in Google Ads, reducing confusion around outdated requirements tied to legacy formats.

What advertisers should do. Advertisers are now expected to rely on current Google Ads policies and ad format requirements, which govern newer formats like automated and AI-driven campaigns.

The bottom line. By removing legacy requirements, Google is streamlining policies in Google Ads — signalling a continued move toward fewer, more unified standards for modern ad formats.

Google is expanding how inventory appears in Google Ads Search campaigns, giving automotive advertisers a more visual, product-rich format directly in text ads.

What’s happening. Google Ads now supports vehicle feed integration on Search ads, allowing advertisers to pull inventory from Google Merchant Center and enhance existing text ads with details like make, model, price, and images.

How it works. Vehicle listings appear as clickable assets alongside standard Search ads, either below or beside the main text. Users can click through to a specific vehicle detail page or a broader landing page, depending on the interaction.

Why we care. This update lets automotive advertisers bring real inventory directly into Search ads, making them more engaging and useful for high-intent users. It also means richer visibility without extra campaign setup, while potentially driving more qualified leads by showing key details upfront within Google Search.

Why it’s notable. The update brings Shopping-style visual elements into Search campaigns, helping advertisers showcase real inventory without needing separate campaign types.

For advertisers. Key benefits include a more engaging ad experience, the potential for higher-intent leads, and the ability to use existing Merchant Center feeds without duplicating setup.

Measurement. Performance can be tracked using the “Click type” segment, allowing advertisers to understand how users interact with vehicle listings versus standard ad components.

Matching. Google’s automation determines which vehicles appear based on user intent and query context, continuing the shift toward less manual control and more AI-driven ad assembly.

The bottom line. Vehicle feeds in Search campaigns give automotive advertisers a way to blend inventory with intent-driven queries, turning standard text ads into more dynamic, product-led experiences within Google Search.

For many advertisers, a 30-day click attribution is the default conversion window setting in Google Ads. Once that’s set, it’s rarely revisited. But what if your customers convert within a week, or even two days?

One of my clients, a DTC retailer in an intensely competitive industry, has an average conversion window of 2.2 days. Yet we were optimizing campaigns using a 30-day click window, which meant conversions were credited weeks after the initial interaction. This muddied the waters when assessing the true incremental impact of different advertising efforts, especially when trying to capture that impulse-buying behavior.

With that in mind, we transitioned the account from a 30-day click window to a 7-day click window in January. Here’s what changed and what we learned.

Inside the 7-day attribution test

This client allocates the majority of its marketing budget to Meta Ads. So, when looking at platform reporting, Meta Ads (unshockingly) accounted for the majority of sales. Since Google Ads operated on a 30-day click window at the time, that platform also accounted for a large percentage of sales.

When your average conversion lag is about two days, allowing 30 days of click credit can inflate perceived contribution in-platform. Because of this, neither platform’s incremental impact was clear, making it difficult for our client to know where to invest the majority of their advertising dollars.

Before making any changes, we analyzed conversion path data to understand how long customers were actually taking to purchase. Over the last three months, users converted in an average of 2.2 days, with the majority of conversions happening in less than a day:

We didn’t just flip the switch. We hypothesized that since the average conversion window was 2.2 days, we shouldn’t see too much volatility. To be safe, we first set up this new conversion action as a secondary conversion.

So it looked like this:

• Step 1: Duplicate the primary purchase conversion with a 7-day click window and set it as a secondary conversion action.
• Step 2: Monitor performance for two weeks.
• Step 3: Transition it to primary optimization on January 12, 2026.

When you change a primary conversion action, smart bidding recalibrates, and learning phases reset. This phased approach allowed us to compare reporting side by side and prepare for any volatility.

Dig deeper: How to tell if Google Ads automation helps or hurts your campaigns

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What happened after the switch

We compared the 30 days post-conversion action change to the previous period, which included peak holiday shopping season.

Results (in-platform)

• Cost: Down 6.3%
• Conversions: Up 42.9%
• Conversion value: Up 52.1%
• ROAS: Up 62.3%

Initial results looked great, but we wanted to see if there was any measurable impact on the business.

Using Shopify sales data, we saw that total sales increased 20%, and net profit increased 30%.

More importantly, marketing mix modeling (MMM) data showed a shift in incremental contribution:

• Google’s incremental ROAS increased 10% to 1.82
• Meta incremental ROAS dropped 25% to 0.59.

This was the strongest indication that shortening the attribution window helped clarify channel contribution.

Now, in full transparency, we were also restructuring campaigns, adjusting budgets, and refining bidding during this time. So, we can’t give all the credit to the shorter attribution window. But we can say performance wasn’t negatively affected, and the contribution percentage improved.

How a 7-day window improved signal quality

With overlapping attribution between Meta and Google, both channels looked over-credited in-platform. By shortening Google’s click window, we limited its ability to claim delayed conversions that were likely influenced by other touchpoints. Tightening this window reduced cross-platform duplication and gave us a clearer view of incremental impact.

Additionally, instead of waiting weeks to understand campaigns’ actual ROAS, we could evaluate performance within days and make adjustments more confidently.

By reducing to a 7-day click window, we:

• Decreased delayed attribution.
• Tightened optimization feedback loops.
• Improved performance diagnostics.

This change also significantly affected Smart Bidding behavior. Automated bidding strategies, such as target return on ad spend, optimize based on conversion signals. With a 30-day window, those signals are extended, meaning the algorithm reacts more slowly to performance shifts, such as bid adjustments, seasonality shifts, and budget reallocations.

Moving to a 7-day window continuously feeds fresher signals to Smart Bidding strategies. This created tighter alignment between spend and actual buying behavior. Combined with Marketing Mix Modeling data, the picture became even clearer.

\The cleaner attribution structure gave us stronger confidence in making account optimizations and, even better, helped our client make more informed business decisions about where to invest ad dollars.

In short, tightening the conversion window didn’t just change reporting. It improved the quality of the signal driving optimization decisions.

Dig deeper: In Google Ads automation, everything is a signal in 2026

The downside (and why this isn’t a universal fix)

Shortening an attribution window could work for you, but you should consider the trade-offs.

Reported conversion volume will likely drop, at least initially. Removing delayed conversion credit can make performance appear weaker overnight, even if actual sales haven’t changed. That can create internal concern if your client or other stakeholders aren’t prepared.

Smart Bidding will need to recalibrate. Changing a primary conversion action is a significant change to an account. This will trigger a learning phase and short-term volatility, especially in accounts using automated bid strategies such as target ROAS and Max Conversion Value.

Most importantly, this approach only works if it aligns with your sales cycle. For high-consideration or longer purchase journeys, a 7-day window may undercount legitimate conversions, suppress ROAS, and limit optimization data. A shorter attribution window is only better if it reflects how your customers are actually buying.

Adjusting attribution wasn’t the silver bullet here. In this case, other account improvements were happening simultaneously, and this was just one lever.

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When attribution reflects reality

Ultimately, this change wasn’t about improving platform metrics. It was about improving business insights.

For this client, aligning the attribution window with a 2.2-day conversion cycle improved conversion signal quality, enhanced Smart Bidding, clarified cross-channel impact, and gave leadership stronger confidence in where to invest.

Whether a 7-day click model makes sense depends on how closely your attribution settings reflect your account’s buying cycle.

YouTube is experimenting with a format that keeps ads visible even after users skip — potentially reshaping how advertisers think about skippable inventory.

What’s happening. YouTube is testing a sticky banner overlay that appears once a user skips an ad. Instead of the ad disappearing entirely, a branded card remains on-screen until the viewer actively dismisses it.

How it works. After hitting “skip,” users return to their video as normal, but a persistent banner tied to the original ad stays visible within the player, extending the advertiser’s presence beyond the initial skip.

Why we care. This test from YouTube creates a way to maintain visibility even when users skip ads, potentially increasing brand recall without requiring full ad views.

It also changes how skippable performance may be evaluated, as impressions and engagement could extend beyond the initial ad, giving brands more value from the same inventory within Google’s ecosystem.

Why it’s notable. Skippable ads have traditionally meant lost visibility once skipped. This format changes that dynamic by offering a second chance for exposure, even when users opt out of the full ad experience.

Impact for advertisers. The update creates an opportunity for extended brand visibility and recall, but could also influence engagement metrics and how users perceive ad interruptions.

The bottom line. If rolled out widely, the sticky banner test could redefine what a “skipped” ad means — turning it into continued, lower-friction exposure rather than a full exit for advertisers on YouTube.

First seen. This update was first spotted by Founder & CEO of Adsquire Anthony Higman who shared spotting it on LinkedIn.

Google is incrementally improving metric visibility in Performance Max, giving advertisers more insight into how creative choices — particularly video — impact performance.

What’s happening. Google Ads has introduced a new “Ads using video” segment within Performance Max channel performance reporting, allowing advertisers to break down results based on whether video assets were included.

Why we care. Marketers can now compare performance across placements that used video versus those that didn’t, offering a clearer view into the role video plays across Google’s automated inventory.

It helps answer a key question in an automated environment: whether investing in video assets is driving better results, allowing you to make more informed creative and budget decisions inside Google Ads.

Between the lines. As video becomes more central across surfaces like YouTube and beyond, this update gives advertisers a way to validate the impact of investing in video assets within automated campaigns.

The bottom line. The new segment adds a layer of clarity to Performance Max, helping advertisers better evaluate video’s contribution without changing how campaigns are run inside Google Ads.

First spotted. This update was first spotted by PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzova.

Although Google continues to test ads in AI Mode, users who connect apps to enable Personal Intelligence won’t see ads — and that isn’t changing right now, a Google spokesperson confirmed.

What’s happening. Google has been testing ads inside AI Mode in the U.S.

• Early results: users find these business connections “helpful,” per Google.
• But there’s a clear carveout: no ads for users who opt into app-connected, highly personalized experiences.

The details. Google today expanded Personal Intelligence in AI Mode as a beta to anyone in the U.S., allowing Gemini to generate more tailored responses by connecting data across its ecosystem, including Google Search, Gmail, Google Photos, and YouTube.

• Opting into Personal Intelligence creates an ad-free experience inside AI Mode.

Why we care. Ads are coming to AI Mode, but Google is moving cautiously where personal data is deepest. Personal Intelligence experiences stay ad-free for now while Google works out the right balance.

What Google is saying. A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land:

• “There are currently no ads for people who choose to connect their apps with AI Mode. That isn’t changing right now.
• “Over the past few months, we’ve been testing ads in AI Mode in the US. Our tests have shown that people find these connections to businesses helpful and open up new opportunities to discover products and services.
• “In the future, we anticipate that ads will operate similarly for people who choose to connect their apps with AI Mode. Ads will continue to be relevant to things like your query, the context of the response and your interests.”

Bottom line. Personal Intelligence positions Google’s Gemini app as a more personalized assistant, setting the stage for future ad experiences built on richer, cross-platform user context.

Google is expanding capabilities in Google Ads Editor to give advertisers more creative flexibility, automation control, and budget precision — especially as AI-driven campaign types continue to evolve.

What’s new. The 2.12 release introduces a wide set of updates across Performance Max, Demand Gen, and video campaigns, with a clear focus on scaling creative assets and improving workflow efficiency.

Creative expansion. Performance Max campaigns now support up to 15 videos per asset group, allowing advertisers to feed more variations into Google’s AI for testing. The addition of 9:16 vertical images also reflects growing demand for mobile-first formats, particularly across surfaces like short-form video.

Campaign upgrades. Demand Gen campaigns get several enhancements, including new customer acquisition goals, brand guideline controls, and hotel feed integrations. A new minimum daily budget and a streamlined campaign build flow aim to improve stability and setup.

Video & AI control. Updates to non-skippable video formats and real-time bid guidance give advertisers more control over performance, while new text and brand guidelines help ensure AI-generated assets stay on-brand and compliant.

Budgeting shift. A new total campaign budget feature allows advertisers to set a fixed spend across a defined period — ideal for promotions or seasonal bursts — with Google automatically pacing delivery.

Workflow improvements. Account-level tracking templates, better visibility into Final URL expansion performance, clearer campaign status filters, and bulk link replacement tools are designed to reduce manual work and improve account management at scale.

Why we care. This update to Google Ads Editor gives them more creative flexibility and control over AI-driven campaigns, especially in Performance Max and Demand Gen. Features like increased video limits, vertical assets, and total campaign budgets help you test more, scale faster, and manage spend more efficiently.

It also improves workflows and brand safeguards, making it easier to guide automation while maintaining consistency and performance across Google Ads.

Between the lines. The update continues a broader trend: as automation increases, Google is giving advertisers more ways to guide AI rather than manually control every input.

The bottom line. Google Ads Editor 2.12 is less about one standout feature and more about incremental gains across creative, automation, and control — helping advertisers better manage increasingly AI-driven campaigns within Google Ads.

New SMEC study analyzes AI Max in Google Ads Search campaigns, showing a 13% conversion value lift but higher CPA and unpredictable ROAS results.

The post What SMEC’s Data Reveals About AI Max Performance appeared first on Search Engine Journal.