Google Ads product updates · 23 October 2026
Google Ads adds channel priority and budget caps
Google announced channel prioritization and budget allocation controls on 14 October, rolling out across Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen. We missed it at the time; it is about nine days old.
Advertisers mark channels High or Low priority. Per the coverage of Google's announcement, a campaign fully funds High-priority channels (within target when using tCPA or tROAS) before the rest goes to Low-priority ones. A cap, set as a maximum percentage of daily budget, applies only to Low-priority channels, and Google says it aims to hold to it on a best-effort basis, not as a hard limit. Settings work at account and campaign level and apply to shared budgets.
What it means for healthcare search accounts
- In Performance Max, Search partners and the Display Network can be ranked separately. Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Discover are treated together as "Google channels", so YouTube cannot be placed below Search.
- Setting Search partners to Low priority with a 0% allocation is reported to stop spend there. That is the first direct lever over Display and partner spend in PMax for accounts that want it kept tight.
- Priority alone may change little when a campaign is not budget-constrained, or on tCPA/tROAS; the percentage caps still apply.
- For Search campaigns using Display Expansion, reports say they migrate automatically from February 2027, and that Low priority at 50% keeps today's Display behaviour.
API support is unclear. Google's Ads Liaison reportedly said the controls are in the API at launch, but Google's help page still said "coming soon" when checked on 18 October.
No source found offers healthcare-specific guidance. Most detail here comes from trade press and Google's own blog post summarised in search extracts, not the help page, so check the help page before changing live accounts.
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