Google is enforcing a hard cutoff for older API versions, meaning advertisers and developers who don’t upgrade risk losing access to critical campaign management tools.
What’s happening. Google Ads API v20 will officially sunset on June 10, 2026. From that date onward, all requests to v20 will fail, requiring migration to a newer version to maintain uninterrupted API access.
Why we care. If you rely on the Google Ads API and don’t upgrade in time, automated workflows — including reporting, bidding and campaign management — could suddenly stop working. This could lead to data gaps, performance issues and operational disruption. Migrating early ensures continuity and avoids last-minute fixes that can impact campaign performance.
What to do. Google is urging users to upgrade as soon as possible and provides resources like release notes and upgrade guides to support the transition. Developers can also use the Google Cloud Console to review recent API activity, including which methods and versions their projects are calling.
Between the lines. API sunsets are routine, but the impact can be significant for advertisers relying on custom scripts, tools or third-party platforms. Missing the deadline could disrupt reporting, bidding or campaign automation workflows.
Over the past few years, Performance Max has gone from an opaque experiment to a more capable — though still imperfect — campaign type for B2B marketers.
The fundamentals haven’t changed: skepticism still matters, first-party data is critical, experimentation is non-negotiable, and actionable reporting drives optimization. What has changed is how much better Google has gotten at operationalizing those inputs.
That means your Performance Max strategy needs to adapt. Here are five best practices for running more effective PMax campaigns for B2B today.
1. Guide AI with the right inputs
In 2022, given the automated nature of PMax campaigns and the aggressive way Google reps were pushing them, I predicted we’d see an accelerated move toward AI integration. That’s certainly played out, probably in part because of competitive pressures introduced by ChatGPT and the like.
AI Max for Search (launched in 2025) and PMax are both being prioritized by Google, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing since Google hasn’t deprecated standard Search campaign for B2B and has provided a slew of helpful updates that make PMax more viable for B2B.
Three updates worth using include:
Search themes, which are useful for more precise targeting.
Brand exclusions, which help minimize CPC inflation and over-investment on less-incremental queries.
Account-level channel reporting, which gives you a single dashboard look at performance across campaigns. For this feature, segment by conversion metrics to drill down on ROI by channel. You’ll quickly see overperformers where you can increase investment and underperformers that cry out for further optimization or reduced budget.
B2B lead quality in search campaigns has always been a challenge, and PMax’s relative lack of advertiser control makes that challenge tougher. I’ve pushed offline conversion tracking (OCT) since we’ve had that capability, but it’s an absolute non-negotiable for B2B campaigns.
Citing the phase-out of third-party cookies that still hasn’t happened (!), Google officially sunsetted Similar Audiences in 2023, which — well, it was a big loss for advertisers.
To compensate, understand and adapt according to the nature of PMax targeting, which is based on audience signals. Feed the AI high-quality first-party data (CRM lists) and let the algorithm find “lookalikes” through its own internal signals.
CRM lists for B2B are obviously critical, and this should give you even more incentive to clean up and segment CRM data, with audience lists closest to the point of revenue (e.g., SQLs or revenue if you don’t have enough closed-won data to send strong signals), especially valuable for finding high-value new users.
Creative is an important part of the puzzle for PMax. Good creative can prompt the right audience to engage, and great creative can deter the wrong audience from engaging.
Because YouTube is now a massive part of PMax campaigns, video — which has never been a B2B strength — should be prioritized more than ever for performance marketing.
Google has made this easier by adding the ability to build AI-generated assets right in the Google Ads interface. Just recently, they launched an important complementary feature in beta: PMax A/B creative testing to help advertisers understand which creatives are actually driving performance, and to use test-and-control structures to surface winning (and losing) elements.
A major source of frustration with PMax has been a lack of transparency into results. Over the last few years, Google has introduced reporting updates to address some of those concerns.
Search term insights and auction insights in the Insights tab provide more visibility into performance. Search term insights show how your ads perform for the queries users actually type, including how those ads are being matched and served. This added nuance makes optimization more precise.
Auction insights add competitive context, showing how your campaigns perform against others in the same auctions through metrics like impression share and outranking share.
Finally, asset-level reporting brings visibility to creative performance, with data on impressions, clicks, cost, and conversions for each asset.
Together, these updates give you a clearer view into what’s driving performance — and where to focus optimization efforts.
Taken together, recent updates make PMax more viable for B2B marketers than it used to be, especially for those with strong first-party data to train bidding algorithms and a need to find new customer pockets.
After more than 10 years in marketing, I still prefer having controllable levers — and I’m not willing to fully trust Google to act more in my (or my clients’) best interests than its own. Use everything at your disposal to make PMax campaigns work for you, and keep an eye out for new features Google releases that can give you more visibility and control over your account performance.
Google is filling a key measurement gap between awareness and consideration, giving advertisers a clearer view of how their brand is actually perceived — not just remembered.
What’s new. Google Ads has introduced a new “Association” metric within Brand Lift Studies. Advertisers can define a concept, category or attribute, and Google will ask users a survey-style question: which brands they associate with that specific idea.
How it works. Instead of measuring simple recall, the metric evaluates whether audiences connect your brand to a desired positioning. That could mean “premium,” “sustainable,” or even a product category — offering a more nuanced read on brand perception.
Why we care. Google is giving you a way to measure brand positioning, not just awareness or recall. The new Association metric helps determine whether campaigns are actually shaping how consumers perceive a brand — a critical step between being known and being chosen. It also enables more strategic optimization of creative and messaging, especially for brands trying to own specific attributes or categories.
Between the lines. Brand Lift has traditionally focused on awareness, recall and consideration. Association sits in between, helping advertisers understand whether their messaging is shaping how people think about the brand, not just whether they recognize it.
The catch. There’s still a constraint: advertisers can only select three Brand Lift metrics per study, so adding Association means making trade-offs with existing KPIs.
The bottom line. Association gives advertisers a more strategic lens on brand building — measuring not just visibility, but whether campaigns are landing the intended message.
First seen. This update was first spotted by Google Ads expert, Thomas Eccel who shared the update on LinkedIn.
Google is doubling down on AI-driven ads just as search behavior shifts toward conversational queries, giving advertisers more automation while trying to preserve control.
What’s new.
AI Max expands beyond Search: Now rolling out to Shopping campaigns and travel-specific formats, broadening reach across more advertiser types.
AI Brief (powered by Gemini): A new interface that lets advertisers steer AI using natural language inputs.
Text disclaimers + URL automation: Compliance-friendly updates to pair with automated landing page selection.
Why we care. Google is making AI Max a core layer across Search, Shopping and Travel, meaning automation will increasingly determine how ads are matched to user intent. This update expands reach into more conversational, high-intent queries that traditional keyword strategies miss, helping brands capture demand earlier in the journey.
At the same time, tools like AI Brief and new compliance features give advertisers more control over messaging and targeting, reducing the risk of fully automated campaigns feeling like a “black box.”
Shopping gets smarter. For retailers, AI Max for Shopping uses Merchant Center data to generate more adaptive ads that can respond to long-tail and exploratory queries, helping brands appear earlier in the discovery phase rather than only at the point of purchase. The rollout is positioned as a simple upgrade for existing Shopping campaigns, suggesting Google wants rapid adoption.
Travel gets consolidated. Travel advertisers get a consolidation play. Search Campaigns for Travel bring previously fragmented formats into a single interface with unified reporting and integrated AI Max capabilities. The move reduces operational complexity while reinforcing Google’s push toward centralized, AI-driven campaign management.
More control with AI Brief. The most notable addition is AI Brief, which attempts to solve a long-standing advertiser concern: lack of compliance control in automated systems. Advertisers can define messaging rules, specify which queries to prioritize or avoid, and shape how different audiences are addressed. The system then generates previews, allowing feedback before campaigns go live.
Automation meets compliance. Google is refining how traffic is directed to websites. Final URL expansion uses AI to select the most relevant landing page for each query, and the new text disclaimer feature ensures required legal messaging remains intact even when automation is active. This signals a push to make AI usable in more regulated industries without sacrificing compliance.
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