If you run Google Ads, you know the problem: a campaign runs across several channels, and the budget ends up where Google’s algorithm sees the best opportunities. Whether these are the channels that really move your business forward could, until now, only be roughly controlled. On 14 October 2026, Google released new settings for this: Channel Prioritization and Budget Allocation.
We summarise what is confirmed according to the information available so far, where the statements still diverge and what small and medium-sized businesses should do now in concrete terms.
1. What Google released on 14 October 2026
Google presented the feature in a blog post and on help pages. On 16 October 2026, Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Product Liaison, answered advertisers’ questions in her “Ads Decoded” newsletter on LinkedIn. The industry portal PPC Land has compiled the details.
The basic idea: you mark the channels of a campaign as high or low priority. Optionally, you can also cap the share of the daily budget that a low-priority channel may receive. This gives Google’s automation a direction without switching it off.
In short: you no longer only determine how much budget a campaign has, but also which channels get it first and which only receive a limited share.
2. The new feature at a glance
Which channels you can control depends on the campaign type. The following overview compares the combinations reported by PPC Land.
Our own presentation based on PPC Land. As of: 20 October 2026. For Search and Shopping, “Google channels” means Google Search.
3. How priority and budget share work
3.1 Priority: who gets funded first?
High-priority channels are funded first, within your target CPA or target ROAS settings. The remaining budget flows into the low-priority channels. Priority is therefore a ranking for distribution, not an exclusion list.
3.2 Budget share: how much can a low-priority channel receive?
For low-priority channels, you can set a percentage share of the daily budget. Google describes the allocation as best-effort and explicitly not as guaranteed. The share only applies to low-priority channels. According to Common Thread Collective, the settings can be applied at account, campaign or shared-budget level, with the campaign setting overriding the account default.
3.3 Technical availability
According to Ginny Marvin, the settings are already supported by the Google Ads API at launch, whereas the help page still described this as “coming soon”. According to both sources, support in Google Ads Editor is still pending. Marvin also mentions compatibility with shared budgets as well as drafts and experiments, while the help page lists restrictions here. If you work with experiments, you should test this in advance.
4. Which channels you can control per campaign type
- Search: Google Search, search partners and the Display Network.
- Shopping: Google Search and search partners.
- Performance Max: Google’s own channels as a single shared switch, plus search partners and the Display Network.
- Demand Gen: Google channels and the Display Network. The existing channel switches remain in place.
Important for Performance Max: Google’s own placements such as Search, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Maps cannot be prioritised individually, only together. Separating, for example, YouTube and Search into different priority levels is not possible. Channel reporting in Performance Max shows you in advance which channels actually deliver results in your account.
5. Performance Max: setting search partners to 0%
The most important statement for many accounts comes from Ginny Marvin: Performance Max advertisers can set the budget share for search partners to 0%. According to the help page, Google then spends no budget on this channel. This was previously not possible in this form in PMax.
Why this is relevant for SMEs: search partners are websites and apps outside Google on which ads can appear. Whether this reach brings enquiries or merely clicks in your account only becomes apparent in reporting. Before setting a channel to 0%, you should therefore check the figures rather than cutting across the board. A look at the search terms report also helps.
6. Limitations and pitfalls
- Best-effort rather than guarantee: the budget share is not a hard limit. Overspending cannot be ruled out.
- Priority without a budget share often has little effect: Common Thread Collective points out that priority has hardly any effect in target CPA or target ROAS campaigns without a budget constraint, unless it is combined with a budget share.
- Inconsistent rollout: the help page names 15 October 2026 as the start of gradual availability, the newsletter speaks of “the coming months” and a post on X of “the coming weeks”. Exactly when your account will receive the feature is open.
- No Editor support at launch: if you mainly manage campaigns in Google Ads Editor, you will have to wait for support.
In the same newsletter, Marvin mentioned further points: Smart Bidding Exploration has fully launched for feed-based Performance Max and Shopping and requires unlimited budgets. There are also total campaign budgets for fixed amounts over 3 to 90 days. Read more about Exploration in our article on Smart Bidding Exploration.
7. Deadline February 2027: Search campaigns with the Display Network
One specific date affects Search campaigns that have the Display Network switched on: in February 2027, they will lose their existing spend allocation set-up. Marvin recommends setting the Display Network to low priority with a budget share of 50% if you want to keep the existing configuration. Whether this suits your account depends on your results. The Common Thread source makes clear that this deadline does not relate to Performance Max.
Tip: before February 2027, note down in which Search campaigns the Display Network is active and check its results separately. Then you can decide on the setting based on data rather than under time pressure.
8. Checklist: what SMEs should check now
Would you like to align your Google Ads accounts with the new channel controls? Arrange a free initial consultation with our team.
9. Conclusion: more control, but no free pass
Channel prioritisation is a sensible step because it gives advertisers back a lever that many have missed in automated campaigns. But it does not replace analysis: if you do not know your channel results, you cannot prioritise sensibly.
For SMEs, the practical order is: measure first, then intervene in a targeted way, then monitor. And because Google still describes the rollout inconsistently, it is worth not firmly planning on the feature too early.
Our assessment: the greatest benefit arises where a channel visibly ties up budget without delivering enquiries. There, a budget share – or, in PMax, 0% for search partners – is a quick, verifiable test.
Read also: Google Ads: the AI Max mandatory update in September 2026 and Performance Max directs budget specifically towards nearby customers.
Sources: PPC Land and Common Thread Collective.
10. FAQ: the most important questions about channel prioritisation
What is channel prioritisation in Google Ads?
You can mark the channels of a campaign as high or low priority. Google funds high-priority channels first while trying to maintain your target CPA or target ROAS. The remaining budget goes to the low-priority channels. Google released the feature on 14 October 2026.
Can I switch off a channel completely in Performance Max?
For search partners and the Display Network in Performance Max, yes: according to Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Product Liaison, the budget share for search partners can be set to 0%. According to the help page, 0% means that Google spends no budget on this channel. Google’s own channels are treated as a single shared switch in Performance Max.
Is the budget share a fixed limit?
No. Google describes the allocation as best-effort and does not call it guaranteed. In addition, the share only applies to low-priority channels. Plan it as a steering aid, not as a hard spending limit.
When will the feature be available in my account?
The rollout is gradual, and Google’s statements on it are inconsistent: the linked help page names 15 October 2026 as the start of progressive availability, while communications speak of the coming weeks or months. Check your account several times over the next few weeks.
