Hi,

Twelve changes were logged this week across Google Ads, Google Analytics, the Google Ads API, Search Console and ChatGPT Ads. Here is what matters most.

The big ones

• Customer Match now accepts raw IP addresses and interaction timestamps. Two new upload columns, both sent unhashed, and a list can be built on IP addresses alone with no email or phone number. IP matching is not supported for users in the EEA, UK or Switzerland, so you have to exclude those users from IP sharing yourself. Test a small upload first: the help page was reported as inconsistent, naming the timestamp column three different ways. Details
• Search Console added a multimodal search type filter, and it is new data. Web results now split into Text-based and Multimodal, covering Google Lens, Circle to Search, image uploads and Chrome's "Search this image". Google confirmed these impressions were not previously in the counts, so a jump in your totals is the reporting change and not a traffic change. Query data is not available for this traffic. Details
• Investment strategy recommendations gained Holistic and Growth modes. Holistic moves spend out of underused or less efficient campaigns into your top performers. Growth only adds budget and never cuts anything. Read the diff before accepting either one, because applying a recommendation can move your Target CPA and Target ROAS as well as your budgets. Details
• Performance Max started accepting fixed-size Display image ads in some accounts. A new "Image ads" section in asset groups takes up to 15 finished banners in classic Display sizes such as 300×250 and 336×280, next to the usual 1.91:1, 1:1 and 4:5 image assets. Google has not documented or announced it. If you see it, it is the first way to hand Performance Max a designed banner instead of letting it assemble one. Details
• Google announced one unified AI Max report for the Search ads journey. It puts the search term that triggered the ad, the assets the user saw and the landing page they reached into a single report. Announced at the Cologne marketing conference on September 23 with no launch date; Google said availability details come later in 2026, so there is nothing to open yet. Details
• There is now a documented way to test AI Max against Dynamic Search Ads. Either expand the DSA settings in a draft and choose Upgrade campaign, or use the AI Max experiment template. Campaigns made entirely of dynamic ad groups cannot use the template, and in mixed campaigns only the non-DSA ad groups upgrade, so a mixed test is not a clean read. DSA auto-migration is set for February 2027, which leaves time to measure the swap rather than accept it. Details
• ChatGPT Ads opened in seven more Asian markets. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan, taking the platform past 60 countries. Self-serve buying through Ads Manager is available immediately for eligible businesses, unlike the managed-only India launch in August. Ads show only to users on the Free and Go plans. Details
• Google Analytics added hostname allowlist filters. You can now define a list of approved domains allowed to send event data to a property, instead of only excluding bad ones as they appear. Worth setting up if you have been playing catch-up with referral spam. The filters do not apply to Measurement Protocol events. Details
• Google Ads opened a six-month US Search pilot for some gun accessory ads. Bipods, sights, slings, mounts and braces, on Search in the United States only, from October 2026. Firearms, ammunition, regulated parts and anything requiring a permit stay prohibited everywhere. Details

Also this week

• Google Ads API v25.2 shipped with asset group level URL configuration, percentile metrics in the benchmarks service, hotel itinerary report segments, and new recommendations to raise Target CPA and lower Target ROAS on Search. Note that v22 sunsets on October 7. Details
• AI Brief's closed beta added Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish, the first time non-English advertisers can steer AI Max in their own language. Details
• A bug made Local Services Ads show the Business Profile phone number instead of the call asset tracking number, which understates call conversions. Google confirmed the behaviour and the advertiser who reported it later said it was fixed. Details

Took effect this week

• Sep 23: Creation of new Smart Campaigns via the Google Ads API ends. Details

Coming up

• Sep 30: Alcohol policy rewritten as a unified global framework. Details
• Sep 30: Campaign-level language targeting removed for Search and AI Max campaigns. Details
• Sep 30: Third-party rates for hotel ads retired; affected Hotel campaigns stop serving. Details
• Sep 30: pickup_cost and minimum_order_value mandatory for in-store pickup products in the UK, Switzerland and EEA. Details
• Oct 1: Google Ads six-month US Search pilot for some gun accessory ads begins. Details
• Oct 1: Gambling ads allowed in Slovenia for concession holders. Details
• Oct 1: Local Services Ads start charging for missed calls over 20 seconds and follow-up calls. Details
• Oct 1: Microsoft Ads removes Max CPC for new non-portfolio conversion, value and clicks campaigns. Details
• Oct 2: gtm.js snippets stop honoring gtag('config') commands; sites must use gtag.js. Details
• Oct 5: Government documents policy requires government-linked proof of authorization. Details
• Oct 5: Government documents and services ads limited to authorized providers. Details
• Oct 7: Online gambling ads disallowed in Croatia; existing certifications revoked. Details
• Oct 7: Google Ads API v22 sunset. Details
• Oct 30: Personalized advertising policy allows personalized alcohol ads on YouTube where locally permitted. Details

See every change with filters, sources and effective dates at https://gadschangehistory.com. Reply to this email if you spot something we missed.

From Google Ads Change History by Brandon Mangan. Not affiliated with Google.