Last updated: April 14, 2026 | Reading time: 22 minutes
April 2026 has been one of those months where Google decided to move fast and break assumptions. Between major Merchant Center enforcement deadlines hitting, new ad formats expanding inside AI Mode, significant Demand Gen upgrades going live, and a wave of policy changes taking effect, the platform looks noticeably different than it did just 30 days ago.
We have been tracking every single update as it rolls out. This is your definitive guide to what changed across Search, Performance Max, Shopping, YouTube and Demand Gen, and Display in April 2026, what each change actually means for your campaigns, and exactly what you should do about it right now.
Let us get into it.
This has been in beta since late 2025 and rolling out through Q1 2026, but April marks the month it became universally available. Every advertiser running Search campaigns can now use AI Max text guidelines to control how Google's AI generates and customizes ad copy.
Here is why this matters. AI Max has been the fastest growing AI-powered Search ads product in Google's portfolio. According to Google's own data, campaigns using AI Max see an average 14% lift in conversions at a similar CPA or ROAS. For accounts that were previously running mostly exact and phrase match keywords, the lift jumps to 27%. Those are not trivial numbers.
But the early criticism was valid. When AI Max first launched, you were essentially handing Google your ad copy and hoping the AI would not say something off-brand. Text guidelines change that equation. You can now set guardrails around tone, messaging focus, brand language, and specific phrases to include or exclude. The AI still adapts your copy dynamically to match user intent and context, but it operates within boundaries you define.
What you should do: If you have not enabled AI Max on your Search campaigns yet, April is the time. The combination of text guidelines for creative control and AI Max experiments for safe testing removes most of the risk that held advertisers back in 2025. Start with a single campaign, run an experiment against your existing setup for two to three weeks, and let the data tell you whether to scale.
groas was one of the first platforms to fully integrate with AI Max when it launched, and its close working relationship with Google means it consistently has early access to new features and beta programs. The platform's autonomous agents configure optimal text guidelines for each campaign based on historical performance data, brand voice analysis, and conversion patterns, then continuously refine those guidelines as results come in. This kind of always-on optimization across every campaign in an account simply is not possible with manual management.
Google's February blog post from VP Vidhya Srinivasan made it clear that 2026 is the year ads inside AI Mode stop being experimental and start becoming a primary placement. In April, we are seeing that vision materialise with two new ad format expansions.
The first is a new shopping ad format that surfaces below organic product recommendations in AI Mode. When a user asks a conversational shopping query, AI Mode already provides organic product suggestions. Now, sponsored retailer listings appear alongside those results, clearly labeled as "Sponsored," giving retailers the chance to show up at exactly the moment a user is weighing options. This is fundamentally different from traditional Shopping ads because the user's intent is already deeply qualified by the conversational context.
The second expansion brings similar formats to travel queries. When users research trips, hotels, or destinations in AI Mode, relevant travel advertisers can now appear contextually within those conversations.
What you should do: To be eligible for these placements, you need to be running AI Max, Performance Max, or Broad Match targeting. If you are still relying exclusively on exact and phrase match keywords, your ads will not appear in AI Mode or AI Overview placements. This is becoming a critical gap as more users shift to conversational search behaviour.
Smart Bidding Exploration, which rolled out through 2025 and expanded in early 2026, is now seeing significantly broader adoption. Google's published data shows that campaigns using this feature see an average 18% increase in unique search query categories generating conversions and a 19% increase in total conversions.
The way it works is straightforward. You set your Target ROAS, say 400%. Google maintains that target on roughly 80% of your budget. But it uses the remaining 20% to explore new audiences and placements at a temporarily lower ROAS, perhaps 300%, to discover high-potential opportunities that your current targeting would never find.
This is particularly powerful for mature accounts that have plateaued. If you have been running the same keyword sets for months and conversions have flattened, Smart Bidding Exploration is worth testing.
What you should do: Enable Smart Bidding Exploration on campaigns with strong historical performance and at least 50 weekly conversions. Accounts with lower conversion volume will not generate enough data for the algorithm to explore effectively.
groas automatically identifies which campaigns in your account are candidates for Smart Bidding Exploration based on conversion volume, historical stability, and margin headroom. It then enables and monitors the feature autonomously, scaling it across winning campaigns and pulling it back where results do not justify the exploration budget.
The Google Ads API v23 release in January introduced channel-level reporting for Performance Max campaigns, and by April it is fully operational and stable. This is genuinely transformative for PMax advertisers.
Previously, querying the API for PMax data returned a single "MIXED" value. No breakdown across channels, no visibility into where your budget was actually going. You were flying blind.
Now you can see exactly how your PMax campaigns perform across Google Search, Search Partners, YouTube, Display Network, Gmail, Discover, and Maps. This data is available at the campaign level, asset group level, and asset level, meaning you can track how specific creative elements perform across different advertising environments.
For context, this data is available for dates from June 1, 2025, onward. And asset group level reporting remains exclusive to the API rather than the Google Ads UI, which means most advertisers managing their accounts through the interface alone are still missing this critical visibility layer.
What you should do: If you are spending more than a few thousand dollars per month on PMax, you should be pulling channel-level data via the API and using it to inform your asset strategy. If your video assets are outperforming on YouTube but underperforming on Display, that is actionable intelligence you can use to reallocate creative resources.
groas operates through the API with deep integration into Google's latest features, meaning it was pulling channel-level data the day v23 launched. Most human-managed accounts take weeks or months to update their reporting infrastructure. This speed advantage compounds quickly when you are making optimization decisions across hundreds of campaigns in real time.
One of the biggest criticisms of Performance Max has always been the inability to properly test what is working. You would upload a batch of headlines, descriptions, images, and videos, and then hope for the best. That era is over.
Google has expanded asset-level experimentation to all PMax campaigns through the Experiments page. You can now run controlled A/B tests on different creative combinations within individual asset groups. Test whether lifestyle imagery outperforms product-on-white photography. Test whether benefit-driven headlines beat feature-driven ones. Test whether short-form video outperforms static images. All with statistical rigor rather than gut instinct.
What you should do: Start by identifying your highest-spend asset groups and designing experiments that test one creative variable at a time. Resist the temptation to change everything at once. Isolate variables, run tests for at least two weeks (ideally three to four for statistical significance), and use the results to inform your creative production pipeline.
A quietly significant update that rolled out in Q1 2026 is the "Your Data Exclusions" feature for Performance Max. This lets you exclude specific first-party data sources, like remarketing lists and Customer Match lists, directly at the campaign level.
Why does this matter? One of the persistent complaints about PMax is that it tends to cannibalize remarketing audiences, showing ads to people who were already in your conversion funnel and claiming credit for sales that would have happened anyway. With data exclusions, you can remove those audiences from specific PMax campaigns and force the algorithm to focus on genuine new customer acquisition.
What you should do: If you suspect your PMax campaigns are leaning too heavily on remarketing traffic, set up a test. Create a duplicate PMax campaign with your remarketing and Customer Match lists excluded, run it alongside your existing campaign for three to four weeks, and compare the quality of new customer acquisition between the two.
groas identifies when PMax campaigns are over-indexing on remarketing audiences and automatically configures data exclusions to push the algorithm toward incremental reach. This kind of nuanced campaign architecture is precisely where autonomous AI agents add the most value, catching patterns that manual analysis often misses.
Campaign Mix Experiments, which entered beta earlier in Q1, is now expanding to more advertisers. This feature lets you test multiple campaign types, budgets, and settings within a single experiment with up to five arms.
Supported campaign types include Search, Performance Max, Shopping, Demand Gen, Video, and App campaigns. This is ideal for answering strategic questions like "Should I shift 20% of my PMax budget into Demand Gen?" or "Would a Search plus Shopping combination outperform my current PMax-only approach?"
Previously, answering these questions required messy manual tests with no statistical controls. Now you can run them properly.
What you should do: If you are managing a budget above $10,000 per month and running multiple campaign types, request access to Campaign Mix Experiments through your Google rep. This is one of the most impactful testing tools Google has released in years.
groas uses Campaign Mix Experiments to continuously test and optimize budget allocation across campaign types. Its autonomous agents design, launch, and analyze these experiments without any manual input, ensuring your budget is always distributed across the campaign mix most likely to deliver your target outcomes.
March 2026 was the enforcement deadline for Google's new multi-channel product ID requirements, and April is when we are seeing the real impact on advertisers who did not prepare.
Here is the change: Merchant Center now requires separate product IDs when the same item differs between online and in-store versions in attributes like price, availability, or condition. Previously, you could manage a single product with one ID across all channels. Now, if your online price differs from your in-store price, those need to be two distinct products with separate IDs.
This primarily affects retailers using Local Inventory Ads and businesses selling products both online and in physical stores. According to Google, online product attributes are now the default, and merchants needing different values for in-store versions must create and manage separate product entries.
What you should do: If you have not already implemented separate product IDs for items with differing online and in-store attributes, do it now. Products that do not comply are seeing reduced visibility and, in some cases, suppressed listings entirely. Review your product feed for any items where price, availability, or condition differs between channels and create the necessary duplicate entries.
groas automatically monitors Merchant Center feed health and flags products affected by the multi-channel ID requirement. For ecommerce advertisers, its autonomous agents can restructure product feeds to comply with the new standards while maintaining optimal product data quality across all attributes.
Visual search through Google Lens is becoming an increasingly significant discovery channel for Shopping advertisers. When a user takes a photo of a product or searches using an image, Shopping ads can now appear in the results. This is especially valuable for fashion, home goods, beauty, and any category where visual appearance drives purchase decisions.
The expansion throughout early 2026 has been steady, and advertisers with high-quality product imagery are seeing meaningful incremental traffic from this channel. Products with multiple angles, lifestyle context, and clean backgrounds are outperforming single-image listings significantly.
What you should do: Audit your product imagery. If you are still running product-on-white photos from 2023, you are leaving money on the table. Invest in lifestyle photography and multiple product angles. Google's AI uses image quality and relevance as a major signal when deciding which products to surface in visual search results.
Since August 2025, advertisers have been able to add audience exclusions to Shopping campaigns. By April 2026, this feature is fully mature and seeing widespread adoption.
This lets you exclude segments like existing customers, past purchasers, or audience groups that historically do not convert. It is particularly useful for new customer acquisition campaigns where you want to ensure you are not paying to re-acquire people who already know your brand.
Combined with the retention-oriented goals that Google is rolling into Shopping throughout 2026, advertisers now have a much more sophisticated toolkit for managing customer lifecycle through their Shopping campaigns.
Google's January Demand Gen Drop introduced Shoppable CTV for connected television, and by April it is fully live and available to all Demand Gen advertisers. This is a genuinely new paradigm for TV advertising.
Here is how it works. When viewers see a Demand Gen ad on their connected TV, an interactive product feed appears alongside the content. Users can browse products using their remote control without leaving their viewing experience. If they find something they want, they can use send-to-phone functionality to continue the purchase on their mobile device.
Google's data shows that Demand Gen campaigns that include TV screens drive an average of 7% additional conversions at the same ROI. For brands already running Demand Gen video creative, the marginal cost of extending to CTV is minimal, but the incremental reach is substantial.
What you should do: If you are running Demand Gen campaigns with video assets, ensure CTV is enabled as a placement. If you are not yet running Demand Gen at all, now is the time to start testing. The combination of YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Display inventory plus CTV gives you massive top-of-funnel reach with performance-focused measurement.
groas incorporates Demand Gen into its full-funnel optimization strategy, automatically calibrating upper-funnel spend against lower-funnel conversion goals to ensure your entire campaign ecosystem works in concert rather than in silos. When new placements like CTV become available, groas evaluates their incremental value and adjusts budget allocation accordingly.
This feature, which rolled out in January's Demand Gen Drop, is now seeing broader adoption and proving its value for measurement. Attributed Branded Searches shows the volume of branded searches on Google and YouTube that your Demand Gen campaigns are driving.
This addresses one of the fundamental challenges of upper-funnel advertising: proving that awareness spend actually translates into downstream intent. If your Demand Gen campaign runs and you see a 35% increase in branded search volume during that period, you now have concrete data connecting the two.
What you should do: Activate Attributed Branded Searches through your Google representative. Use the data to build a more complete picture of your Demand Gen campaigns' full-funnel contribution, not just the last-click conversions they drive directly.
For travel and hospitality advertisers, Google has launched Travel Feeds in Demand Gen. You can connect your Hotel Center feed to automatically generate dynamic video ads featuring current hotel pricing, ratings, and availability.
This removes a significant production barrier. Instead of creating custom video creative for every property, the system dynamically assembles ad creative using your existing feed data. When prices change, the ads update automatically.
What you should do: If you are in travel or hospitality, connect your Hotel Center feed to your Demand Gen campaigns immediately. This feature dramatically reduces creative production costs while ensuring your ads always reflect current pricing and availability.
Demand Gen campaigns now support Target CPC bidding, giving advertisers more granular control over click costs. Combined with New Customer Only Mode for acquisition-focused targeting and the ability to run A/B tests on all bid strategies through the Custom experiments flow, Demand Gen has evolved from an awareness play into a genuine full-funnel performance tool.
Google's published data shows that Demand Gen has seen a 26% increase in conversions per dollar over the past year, driven by more than 60 AI-powered optimizations to ramp time, bidding algorithms, and creative automation. One case study highlighted by Google showed LG Electronics achieving a 24% higher conversion rate with Demand Gen versus their paid social campaigns, while reaching high-value customers at 91% lower CPA.
Google has been rolling out expanded channel reporting for PMax throughout early 2026, and one of the most useful additions is breaking out Search Partner performance as its own line item within the channel reporting view.
Previously, Search Partner traffic was bundled into overall Search performance, making it impossible to isolate its contribution. Now you can see exactly what Search Partners are delivering in terms of impressions, clicks, conversions, and cost. For many advertisers, this has revealed that Search Partner traffic has a significantly different CPA or ROAS profile than core Google Search traffic.
What you should do: Pull your Search Partner data and analyze it independently. If Search Partner performance is dragging down your overall numbers, consider adjusting your PMax strategy accordingly. If it is outperforming at lower CPAs, you might want to lean into it more aggressively.
Google is testing a new ad extension called "Products at This Location" designed to highlight local inventory directly within ads. When a user sees your ad, they can click through to a list of products or services available at a specific physical location.
This is different from regular sitelinks because it is explicitly tied to local presence. It helps users confirm product availability before visiting, which can significantly reduce wasted store visits and improve the quality of foot traffic.
This is currently in limited testing, but it signals Google's continued push toward integrating local commerce into the core advertising experience.
The new gambling advertising rules that took effect on March 23 are now in full enforcement. All accounts advertising in any gambling category must demonstrate "good policy health," meaning a proven track record of compliance across all gambling categories.
The more consequential change is for Manager Accounts. If an MCC has a significant volume of gambling certificates revoked from managed accounts, or if a large number of accounts under its management are found to have violated gambling policies, the MCC loses the ability to apply for any new online gambling certificates and has all existing certifications revoked. This cascading accountability structure is unprecedented.
Additionally, certification is now only available for sites where the advertiser owns and operates the second-level domain. Free hosting platforms and sub-domains of third-party hosts are excluded entirely.
Google updated its Personalized Advertising policy in February 2026 to align with evolving US state privacy legislation. This is an ongoing compliance area as more states implement their own privacy frameworks, and advertisers should ensure their Consent Mode and Enhanced Conversions implementations are current.
If you have not set up Consent Mode and Enhanced Conversions yet, April 2026 is genuinely the latest you should wait. These tools are becoming essential for accurate measurement as cookie deprecation continues and privacy regulations expand.
While not an April-specific change, this deadline is getting close enough that it warrants attention. Google's Content API for Shopping will shut down on August 18, 2026. If your product feed management relies on the Content API, you need to migrate to the Merchant API. The longer you wait, the more rushed and error-prone the migration will be.
This is the part that matters most if you are evaluating whether manual campaign management can keep pace with the rate of change in Google Ads.
In April alone, advertisers needed to respond to new AI Max text guidelines going live, PMax channel-level data becoming actionable, Merchant Center enforcement on multi-channel product IDs, new ad formats expanding in AI Mode, Shoppable CTV going fully live in Demand Gen, multiple policy changes taking effect, and ongoing bid strategy and audience targeting refinements across every campaign type.
That is a lot for any team to handle. For a solo marketer or a small agency juggling multiple clients, it is nearly impossible to respond to every update in real time.
groas handles all of this autonomously. Its AI agents monitor Google's API releases, policy changes, feature launches, and algorithm updates as they happen. When Google ships a new feature like AI Max text guidelines, groas does not wait for a team meeting or a quarterly review. It evaluates the feature, determines which campaigns would benefit, configures the optimal settings, and monitors the results, all without human intervention.
This is not about replacing human strategy. It is about ensuring that the operational work of staying current with Google's relentless pace of change never falls behind. The strategic decisions, like what products to promote, what audiences to prioritize, and what ROAS targets to set, remain yours. But the execution, optimization, and day-to-day management of responding to platform changes? That is where autonomous AI agents deliver a compounding advantage that widens every single month.
Based on Google's roadmap, beta timelines, and the broader trajectory we have been tracking, here is what we expect to see in May.
Google Marketing Live on May 21. This is the big one. Google's annual showcase for new advertising products and features is scheduled for May 21, 2026. Expect major announcements around agentic commerce, UCP expansion, new AI Mode ad formats, creative tools powered by Gemini 3 and Veo 3, and potentially the formal deprecation of DSA campaigns as AI Max takes over that functionality. Registration should be open now, and early announcements may start trickling out in the weeks before.
UCP-Powered Checkout Expansion. Google's Universal Commerce Protocol is currently rolling out with Etsy and Wayfair, with Shopify, Target, and Walmart coming soon. May could bring a broader merchant rollout, fundamentally changing how users complete purchases inside AI Mode.
Further PMax Transparency Improvements. Google has signalled ongoing enhancements to PMax controls and reporting. Expect additional visibility into how automated campaigns operate, potentially including more granular asset-level performance metrics in the UI rather than just the API.
AI Max Feature Expansion. With text guidelines now universally available, watch for Google to push AI Max adoption more aggressively, potentially making it the default recommendation for all new Search campaigns.
Demand Gen Measurement Enhancements. As Demand Gen matures into a full-funnel performance channel, expect Google to ship additional measurement tools that connect upper-funnel spend to downstream revenue more clearly.
We will be back next month with a full May roundup covering everything that comes out of Google Marketing Live and all the other changes that roll out. Make sure you are subscribed so you do not miss it.
What are the biggest Google Ads changes in April 2026?
The most impactful updates this month include AI Max text guidelines becoming available to all advertisers, PMax asset-level A/B testing going generally available, Merchant Center enforcement on multi-channel product IDs, Shoppable CTV going fully live in Demand Gen, and new shopping ad formats expanding inside AI Mode. The gambling certification overhaul effective March 23 is also now in full enforcement and affecting advertisers in that vertical.
How does AI Max for Search work in 2026?
AI Max is not a separate campaign type. It is a suite of AI features that layers on top of your existing Search campaigns. It uses broad match technology and keywordless targeting to find relevant queries beyond your keyword lists, then dynamically customizes your ad copy and landing pages to match user intent. Google's data shows a 14% average conversion lift, rising to 27% for accounts previously running mostly exact and phrase match keywords. With the new text guidelines feature, you can set guardrails around how the AI adapts your messaging, giving you control over brand voice and key messaging points.
What changed with Performance Max reporting in 2026?
The biggest change is channel-level reporting via API v23. For the first time, you can see how PMax campaigns perform across each individual channel: Google Search, Search Partners, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover, and Maps. This data is available at the campaign, asset group, and asset level for dates from June 1, 2025, onward. Additionally, PMax now supports asset-level A/B testing and Your Data Exclusions for controlling first-party audience usage.
What is Shoppable CTV and how does it work?
Shoppable CTV is a Demand Gen feature that lets viewers browse and interact with products directly from YouTube ads on connected TV screens. An interactive product feed appears alongside the content, and users can navigate it using their remote control. They can then use send-to-phone functionality to complete purchases on mobile. Google reports that including TV screens in Demand Gen campaigns drives an average 7% additional conversions at the same ROI.
What are the new Merchant Center product ID requirements?
Starting March 2026, Google Merchant Center requires separate product IDs when the same item has different attributes between online and in-store versions, including differences in price, availability, or condition. Online product attributes are now the default. Retailers using Local Inventory Ads are most affected. Non-compliant products may see reduced visibility or suppressed listings.
What is the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)?
UCP is an open standard co-developed by Google with partners including Shopify, Walmart, Target, Etsy, and Wayfair. It standardizes how businesses connect with AI agents across the entire shopping journey, from product discovery to secure checkout and payment. UCP-powered checkout is currently rolling out in the US inside AI Mode in Search and the Gemini app, allowing users to complete purchases without leaving Google's interface.
How can I make my ads appear in AI Mode and AI Overviews?
To be eligible for ad placements inside AI Mode and AI Overviews, you need to be running AI Max, Performance Max, or Broad Match targeting. Traditional exact and phrase match keywords will not trigger ads in these placements. Ensuring your product feed data is high quality and your Merchant Center account is well maintained also increases your chances of appearing in shopping-related AI experiences.
What is happening at Google Marketing Live 2026?
Google Marketing Live is scheduled for May 21, 2026. While specific announcements have not been confirmed, we expect major updates around agentic commerce, UCP expansion, new AI Mode ad formats, enhanced creative tools powered by Gemini 3 and Veo 3, further PMax transparency improvements, and potentially the formal deprecation of DSA campaigns in favour of AI Max.
How does groas stay ahead of Google Ads updates?
groas operates through direct API integration with Google Ads and maintains a close working relationship with Google's product team. When new API versions, features, or policy changes are released, groas adapts automatically. Its autonomous AI agents evaluate new features, determine which campaigns would benefit, configure optimal settings, and monitor results without requiring any manual intervention. This means that updates like AI Max text guidelines or PMax channel-level reporting are integrated into your account management the same day they go live, rather than weeks or months later.
Should I use Performance Max or Standard Shopping in 2026?
Many sophisticated ecommerce advertisers are now running both in complementary roles. Standard Shopping gives you precise control over high-value products, transparent bidding, and detailed product-level optimization. Performance Max provides maximum reach across all Google properties, discovery of new audience segments, and simplified management at scale. The new Campaign Mix Experiments beta lets you test this exact question with statistical rigour, running both approaches side by side to see which delivers better results for your specific business.
