On October 14, 2026, Google announced two new Google Ads controls: channel prioritization (high or low priority) and a percentage budget cap for low-priority channels. They apply to Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns. The rollout is gradual and global, and the cap is “best effort,” not a guaranteed ceiling.
What changed in Google Ads?
Until now, the choice for channels such as Search partners and the Display Network was binary: on, with Google spreading budget as it saw fit, or off. The two new controls add a middle ground.
- Channel prioritization: you label each channel as High or Low priority. Google funds High priority channels first, within the campaign’s target CPA or ROAS, and only then sends what is left to Low priority channels.
- Budget allocation: for a Low priority channel, you can set a maximum share of the daily budget. Google says it will aim to keep spend within that limit “on a best-effort basis,” so it is not a hard cap.
The controls work at account and campaign level. CPA is cost per acquisition, and ROAS is return on ad spend, the revenue earned for each dollar spent.
How do channels show up in each campaign type?
According to PPC Land’s reporting on explanations from Ginny Marvin, Google Ads Product Liaison, the split depends on the campaign:
| Campaign type | Channels you can prioritize |
|---|---|
| Search | Google Search, Search partners and the Google Display Network |
| Shopping | Google Search and Search partners |
| Performance Max | “Google channels” (Search, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Maps, treated as one), Search partners and the Display Network |
| Demand Gen | “Google channels” and the Display Network |
On Search campaigns, the cap option only appears after you opt into the Display Network or Search partners and move that channel to Low priority.
What does a cap look like in dollars?
The cap is a percentage of the average daily budget. Here is our own example to show the math: with a $50 average daily budget and Search partners at Low priority with a 10% cap, Google would try to spend up to $5 a day there and the rest on High priority channels. At 0%, it tries to spend nothing on that channel.
For Performance Max, Marvin said advertisers can set Search partners to 0%, as long as the channel is first marked Low priority. PPC Land notes this is a different tool from the Search partner opt-out Google confirmed as a limited pilot in July.
Who benefits most?
In our view, this matters most to advertisers who already have conversion history and suspect part of their budget goes to lower-quality traffic. Small accounts often have too little volume to compare channels reliably, and the change will barely move results.
Two caveats from Google’s help page, as reported by PPC Land:
- On Target CPA or Target ROAS campaigns that are not budget-limited, priority alone generally does not change how spend is distributed. The percentage allocation is the lever that matters.
- The controls cannot be set from a manager account, so agencies have to configure each client account separately.
What is still unclear?
Coverage points to conflicts between the help page and Marvin’s statements. The help page is the more conservative source.
- API and Editor. Marvin said the Google Ads API supports the controls at launch. The October 14 help page said both the API and Google Ads Editor were “coming soon.”
- Shared budgets. Marvin called the controls fully compatible. The help page is narrower: campaigns must be the same type, and Performance Max is listed as incompatible.
- Rollout pace. Statements ranged from “coming weeks” to “coming months.” There is no date for your account yet.
- The cap as a promise. It remains best effort. Do not read the percentage as an exact maximum.
What changes in February 2027?
For Search campaigns with the Display Network turned on, the current spend allocation setup will be removed starting in February 2027, and spend by channel may shift. To keep today’s behavior, Google says to set the Display Network to Low priority with a 50% budget allocation.
What should you do now?
- Check whether the control has reached your account, in the budget settings of a Search or Performance Max campaign.
- Look at the channel or network report before changing anything. A channel with a clearly worse cost per conversion is the candidate for a cap.
- Test one channel at a time with a low cap and compare for at least two weeks. Changing everything at once hides what worked.
- Write down your current setup for any campaign using the Display Network, because of the February change.
If you are still building your first campaigns, do not start here. Get conversion tracking and a realistic CPA target right first, then split budget by channel. Google’s announcement post has the official wording and the limits for each campaign type.
