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 did Google Ads change?
Google Ads added two optional settings that decide where your budget goes first. In an October 14 post on the Google Ads & Commerce Blog, Google introduced channel prioritization and budget allocation, describing them as giving advertisers more control than all-or-nothing opt-outs. Google's help documentation, as reported by PPC Land, says the rollout began October 15 and is progressive, so some accounts and campaign types will see it before others.
Until now, the choice for something like Search partners was mostly on or off. If you left it on, Google decided how much of your budget it took. These controls add a middle ground.
How do channel prioritization and budget allocation work?
There are two pieces:
- Prioritization. Each channel is marked High or Low priority. Google funds high-priority channels first and sends whatever budget is left to low-priority ones. Every channel starts as High, so nothing changes until you move one down.
- Allocation. For low-priority channels only, you can set a daily limit as a percentage of the campaign's average daily budget. Google says the limit is best-effort, not a guarantee. A 0% allocation stops spend on that channel.
What counts as a "channel" depends on the campaign type, according to coverage of Google's help page:
- Search: Google Search, search partners, Google Display Network
- Shopping: Google Search, search partners
- Performance Max: Google's own channels as one group (Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Discover), search partners, Display Network
- Demand Gen: Google channels and the Display Network (prioritization only; the help page says allocation isn't supported there)
You'll find it as a Channel Prioritization card in account settings, with a separate default for each campaign type, and each campaign can override the account setting. It works in the Google Ads interface and Search Ads 360; Google says API and Editor support is coming soon.
Why does this matter for a local business?
Most local service businesses run Google Ads for one reason: to show up when someone nearby searches for what they do and is ready to call. Those are Google Search clicks.
Display placements and search partner sites can reach people too, but they behave differently. They often cost less per click and bring in visitors who are browsing rather than looking for a plumber today. When a small budget is shared across all of them, it's easy for the cheaper, lower-intent clicks to take a bigger slice than you'd choose.
Now you can choose. A typical starting point for a lead-focused local account:
- Keep Google Search at High priority.
- Set search partners to Low with a modest cap, then compare their leads to Search after a few weeks.
- Set the Display Network on Search campaigns to Low with a small cap, or 0% if you never meant to run display in the first place.
Those are starting points to test, not rules. If your reports show partners producing real calls at a good cost, give them more room.
When doesn't it change anything?
Prioritization only matters when a campaign is limited by budget, meaning Google would spend more if you let it. If your campaign uses Target CPA or Target ROAS and isn't budget-limited, Google says prioritization generally has little effect, although an allocation cap still applies. Coverage notes Google's blog and help page disagree slightly on whether Target CPC belongs on that list, so check the help page in your account.
What's the February 2027 deadline?
If you have Search campaigns with the Display Network setting turned on (sometimes called Display Expansion), Google says they'll migrate to the new system in February 2027. Google's suggested way to keep roughly today's behavior is to set the Display Network to Low priority with a 50% allocation. Many small accounts have this setting on simply because it was the default when the campaign was created. This is a good moment to decide on purpose.
One more default to check: automated promotions
Separately, Search Engine Roundtable reported that starting October 12, Google Ads began automatically finding promotions on advertisers' websites, such as coupons and deals, and adding them to eligible Search and Performance Max campaigns. Per that report, it applies to campaigns with linked location assets that don't already have promotion assets, which describes a lot of local businesses.
That can help, but only if the offers on your site are current. An expired "spring tune-up special" showing in an ad isn't a great first impression. The report says you can turn it off under account-level automated assets settings by setting Automated Promotions to Off.
Action checklist
- Open Google Ads and look for the Channel Prioritization card in account settings (it may not be in every account yet)
- Check your Search campaigns' networks settings: is the Display Network on, and did you mean it to be?
- Pull a report of conversions by network and compare Google Search to search partners
- Set channels you don't trust yet to Low with a small cap, and note the date so you can review results in 3–4 weeks
- Check which promotions and coupons are live on your website, then decide whether to keep Automated Promotions on
The bottom line
These controls don't make ads cheaper on their own. They let a small business tell Google what it actually values and keep a limited budget pointed at the searches most likely to turn into calls. A 15-minute settings review is worth doing this month.
Want a second set of eyes on your Google Ads account? We run digital marketing and PPC ads for businesses across Michiana. Ask us for an ads review.
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
Evan Walker
Founder & Creative Director at Satellite Black, with experience across a broad range of industries working as a Creative Director, Developer, and strategist.