Today in Google Ads news for May 13, 2026: Google Marketing Live 2026 is confirmed for May 20, making it the single biggest Google Ads event on the calendar this week. But that is not the only deadline advertisers need on their radar. A Google Ads API shutdown, a major data retention policy change, and the DSA-to-AI Max migration are all converging in the next four weeks. Here is everything that matters today.
Google Marketing Live 2026 is set for May 20, 2026, overlapping with the second day of Google I/O (May 19-20). Google is positioning the keynote around translating its "Gemini advantage" into direct advertiser value, with expected reveals around AI-powered campaign formats, agentic commerce capabilities, and YouTube performance features.
As reported by Search Engine Land, GML is the event that typically defines Google Ads strategy for the rest of the year. Last year's announcements around Performance Max and AI creative tools took months to fully roll out, but the signals from GML shaped how smart advertisers and agencies prepared their accounts.
With exactly one week to go, this is the time to audit your current campaign structure so you are ready to act on whatever Google announces. The overlap with I/O also means broader Gemini model updates could have downstream effects on ad targeting, bidding, and creative generation. We will cover every announcement as it lands.
Google Ads API version 20 will stop functioning on June 10, 2026. Any team running scripts, automated bidding workflows, or third-party tool integrations on v20 will see those break completely on that date.
The current supported version is API v24, released April 22, 2026. It includes cart data sales view, lead gen conversion support, and new retail filters. If your account relies on any custom scripting or external automation, verify your API version now.
This is especially urgent for agencies managing multiple client accounts where legacy scripts may have been set up years ago and never updated. A single overlooked integration on v20 could disrupt reporting, bid management, or conversion tracking across an entire portfolio. As reported by Search Engine Land, this deadline is firm with no announced extension.
Starting June 1, 2026, Google will only make hourly, daily, and weekly granular reporting data accessible for 37 months. This replaces what was previously an 11-year retention window, a dramatic reduction first confirmed in policy documents published May 1.
As reported by PPC Land, the change affects the Google Ads API, Google Ads scripts, and BigQuery Data Transfer Service. Monthly and quarterly aggregate data remains unaffected, but advertisers who rely on granular historical data for trend analysis, seasonality modeling, or long-horizon bidding strategies need to act before the deadline.
The practical step is straightforward: export your historical granular data into your own data warehouse before June 1. If you use BigQuery, set up scheduled exports now. If you rely on Google Ads scripts for historical pulls, run those extractions this week. Once the window closes, that data is gone from Google's systems permanently.
For teams running year-over-year comparisons going back more than three years, this is a meaningful loss of analytical depth.
AI Max for Search campaigns has officially exited beta. Google reports an average 7% increase in conversions at similar CPA/ROAS versus search term matching alone. Upgrade tools for Dynamic Search Ads users started deploying this week, letting advertisers port their historical DSA settings into the new AI Max format.
The critical detail: if you do not manually migrate your DSA campaigns before September 2026, Google will auto-upgrade them. As reported by the Google Ads blog, campaigns currently using DSA, automatically created assets, and campaign-level broad match are all in scope for the automatic migration.
Manual migration gives you control over how settings transfer. Auto-upgrade means Google makes those decisions for you. For any advertiser running significant DSA volume, the recommendation is clear: migrate now while you can verify the output, rather than waiting for September and hoping Google's defaults match your strategy.
Starting May 2026, advertisers in regulated verticals like healthcare, financial services, and other policy-sensitive categories can apply for ad certifications directly within their Google Ads account. Previously, this required navigating to the Help Center and submitting applications through a separate workflow.
Existing certifications and pending applications are not affected by this change. The update is a quality-of-life improvement for compliance teams who manage certifications across multiple accounts. It reduces friction in the approval process and keeps the entire workflow inside the Ads interface.
While this is not a performance-impacting change, it signals Google's continued push to consolidate workflows inside the platform, reducing the number of external touchpoints advertisers need to manage.
Search Engine Land reported on May 8 that Google Ads is testing the ability for advertisers to manage tags directly inside the platform. If fully rolled out, this would reduce dependency on Google Tag Manager and other external tagging tools.
Google has also teased a new visual "map view" inside Data Manager that shows how data flows across connected platforms. This is part of a broader 2026 effort to simplify measurement infrastructure.
For advertisers who have struggled with tag implementation, especially smaller teams without dedicated developers, this could meaningfully lower the barrier to accurate conversion tracking. It is still in testing, so do not rip out your GTM setup yet, but it is worth monitoring.
Microsoft Ads PMax Placement Reports now show conversions, clicks, and spend. As reported by PPC Land on May 7, Microsoft expanded its Performance Max reporting beyond impressions-only data. Custom columns with full conversion metrics are also supported, and auction insights for PMax are coming soon. This gives Microsoft PMax users significantly more transparency than Google currently offers in its own PMax placement reports.
Microsoft Advertising Activate is set for May 19. That is the day before Google Marketing Live, creating a back-to-back paid media news cycle. Speakers include Navah Hopkins on product innovations and Eric Couch on AI-driven performance. If you run campaigns across both platforms, plan to monitor both events.
The DSA auto-upgrade September deadline is something we will continue tracking as more advertisers go through the manual migration process and report on how well settings transfer.
This week alone, advertisers face an API deprecation deadline, a data retention policy change, a campaign format migration, and the biggest Google Ads event of the year approaching. For most in-house teams and agencies, each of these requires manual investigation, planning, and execution.
groas handles all of it. As a full-service Google Ads management service, groas pairs AI agents that run campaigns 24/7 with a dedicated human account manager who oversees your strategy. When API versions deprecate, groas migrates automatically. When data retention policies change, your account manager ensures historical data is preserved. When campaign formats like DSA get replaced, groas runs the migration on your behalf and validates performance before and after.
You do not need to read release notes or scramble before deadlines. Your account manager flags what matters in your bi-weekly call, and the AI agents execute the technical work around the clock.
May 13, 2026 is a planning day. The biggest action items are all in the next four weeks: export your granular data before June 1, confirm your API version before June 10, start your DSA-to-AI Max migration before September, and block time for Google Marketing Live on May 20. Next week will almost certainly bring the biggest wave of Google Ads announcements we have seen all year. We will be here covering every one of them. See you tomorrow.
Google Marketing Live 2026 is Google's flagship annual advertising event, confirmed for May 20, 2026. It overlaps with the second day of Google I/O 2026 (May 19-20). The keynote is expected to focus on turning Google's Gemini AI capabilities into advertiser-facing products, with anticipated announcements around AI-powered campaign formats, agentic commerce features, and YouTube performance tools. For advertisers and agencies, GML typically sets the strategic direction for Google Ads for the rest of the calendar year. The event streams live and recaps are usually available immediately after.
Google Ads API version 20 will be shut off on June 10, 2026. Any scripts, automated workflows, or third-party integrations still running on v20 will break on that date. The current version is API v24, released April 22, 2026. Teams should audit their integrations immediately and migrate to a supported version. If you use groas for Google Ads management, API migrations like this are handled automatically by the AI agents and your dedicated account manager, so you never face downtime from deprecated infrastructure.
Starting June 1, 2026, Google will only retain hourly, daily, and weekly granular reporting data for 37 months. This is a major reduction from the previous 11-year retention window. The change impacts the Google Ads API, Google Ads scripts, and BigQuery Data Transfer Service. Monthly and quarterly aggregated data is not affected. Advertisers who rely on long-horizon trend analysis should export and warehouse their historical data before the June 1 cutoff.
AI Max for Search is Google's replacement for Dynamic Search Ads (DSA). It has exited beta and is reportedly delivering an average 7% more conversions at similar CPA/ROAS compared to search term matching alone. Upgrade tools are rolling out now so DSA users can manually migrate their historical settings. If you do not migrate manually, Google will auto-upgrade DSA campaigns to AI Max in September 2026.
groas is a full-service Google Ads management service where AI agents run campaigns 24/7 and a dedicated human account manager oversees your strategy. When Google rolls out changes like API deprecations, data retention policy shifts, or campaign format migrations (such as DSA to AI Max), groas handles everything proactively. Your account manager audits the impact, the AI agents implement the technical migration, and you get a summary in your next bi-weekly call or via your private Slack channel. You never need to monitor release notes or scramble to meet deadlines yourself.
Yes. As of May 7, 2026, Microsoft Advertising expanded its Performance Max placement reports to include conversion data, clicks, and spend metrics in the Website URL publisher report. Previously, these reports only showed impressions. Microsoft also added support for custom columns with all conversion metrics and announced that auction insights for PMax campaigns will arrive soon. This gives Microsoft PMax advertisers significantly more transparency than they had before.
