On October 14, 2026 Google announced two optional Google Ads controls, channel prioritization and budget allocation, rolling out from October 15. You can mark channels like Search partners or the Display Network as low priority and limit them to a percentage of the daily budget, or 0% to stop spend there. For local businesses whose leads come from Google Search, it is a simple way to keep budget on the clicks that call.
What Google Ads added
Google Ads now lets you decide which channels get your budget first. In an October 14 post on its Ads & Commerce Blog, Google introduced channel prioritization and budget allocation. Its help documentation, as reported by PPC Land, says the rollout began October 15 and is gradual, so not every account has it yet.
Two pieces:
- Prioritization. Mark each channel High or Low. High gets funded first; Low gets what's left. Everything starts at High.
- Allocation. For Low channels, cap daily spend as a percentage of the campaign's average daily budget. Google calls it best-effort. 0% stops spend there.
On Search campaigns, the channels are Google Search, search partners and the Display Network. Performance Max groups Google's own properties, then partners and Display. You'll find a Channel Prioritization card in account settings, and campaigns can override it.
Why local businesses should care
Every Packers fan knows special teams can quietly cost you a game nobody thought you'd lose. For a local ad budget, search partners and Display are special teams. They're cheaper per click and full of people browsing, not people who need a plumber today. With a small shared budget, those clicks can take a bigger slice than you'd ever choose.
A reasonable starting point for a lead-focused account:
- Google Search at High.
- Search partners at Low with a modest cap, then compare their leads after a few weeks.
- Display on Search campaigns at Low with a small cap, or 0% if you never meant to run display.
Test it; don't treat it as a rule. If partners send real calls at a good cost, give them room.
When it won't matter
Prioritization only kicks in when a campaign is limited by budget. If you're on Target CPA or Target ROAS and not budget-limited, Google says it has little effect, though a cap still applies.
Search campaigns with the Display Network setting on will migrate to this system in February 2027. Plenty of small accounts have that setting on only because it was the default. Decide on purpose.
One more default
Search Engine Roundtable reported that from October 12, Google began pulling promotions it finds on advertisers' websites into eligible Search and Performance Max ads. Helpful, if your offers are current. An expired "spring special" in a fall ad isn't. Check what's live on your site, or turn Automated Promotions off in account-level automated assets.
My take: none of this makes clicks cheaper. It lets a small business tell Google what it actually values, and that's worth a 15-minute settings review this month.
Questions we hear a lot
Is the budget allocation percentage a hard cap?
No. Google describes it as best-effort and calculates it from the campaign's average daily budget, not actual spend. Google says setting a channel to 0% stops spend on that channel.
Do I have to change anything if I do nothing?
Not today. Every channel defaults to high priority, so campaigns behave as before. The exception is Search campaigns with the Display Network turned on, which Google says will migrate in February 2027; check that setting before then.
Does this work with Performance Max?
Yes. In Performance Max, Google's own surfaces such as Search, YouTube and Maps are ranked as one group, with search partners and the Display Network as separate channels you can lower.
Sources
- Google Ads & Commerce Blog: Channel prioritization and budget allocation (Oct 14, 2026)
- PPC Land: Google Ads lets advertisers limit Display and partner spend by percentage
- Search Engine Roundtable: New Google Ads controls, channel prioritization and budget allocation
- MediaPost: Google unveils new marketer controls for campaign spending
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google Ads automated promotions for some campaigns on October 12
Filed under Ads & PPC
Evan Walker
Founder & Creative Director at Satellite Black, with experience across a broad range of industries working as a Creative Director, Developer, and strategist.
