YouTube is where all sports come to life — because no sporting event or game would be complete without the commentary, breakdowns and analysis surrounding it. In 2025 al…Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) releases new capabilities, and Google shares a new onboarding experience to simplify UCP integration.Google and DocMorris have announced a partnership to create a more intuitive and supportive digital health experience.Google is cleaning up outdated requirements in Google Ads, reflecting how legacy ad formats have evolved into newer, more automated products.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 This update simplifies the policy landscape in Google Ads, reducing confusion around outdated requirements tied to legacy formats.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.
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:
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
We compared the 30 days post-conversion action change to the previous period, which included peak holiday shopping season.
Results (in-platform)
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:
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.
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:
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
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Ads Decoded features a conversation on bidding and budgeting with product managers Kristina Park and Carlo Buchmann.
Login