Google has announced a significant update to its advertising platform, introducing new controls that allow marketers to prioritise individual advertising networks and place spending limits on lower-priority inventory.
The changes, which will roll out globally over the coming months, apply to Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns.
For advertisers managing substantial media budgets, the update addresses a longstanding frustration with Google's increasingly automated advertising products: the limited ability to influence where budgets are actually spent.
Until now, advertisers have often faced a relatively binary decision when it comes to certain networks, particularly Search partners and the Google Display Network. They could either enable the inventory or exclude it entirely.
Google's latest update introduces a more flexible approach.
Advertisers Can Now Decide Which Channels Receive Budget First
At the centre of the announcement is a new channel prioritisation feature.
Advertisers will be able to classify eligible channels or channel groupings as either "High priority" or "Low priority", giving Google's bidding systems clearer instructions about where campaign investment should be directed.
Under the new framework, campaigns will prioritise funding higher-priority inventory before allocating remaining available budget to lower-priority channels.
For campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS bidding, this prioritisation operates within the advertiser's performance targets.
In Search campaigns, for example, advertisers can assign different priorities to Google Search, Search partners and the Google Display Network.
Performance Max and Demand Gen will also support prioritisation, although Google's owned surfaces, including Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Discover, are grouped together rather than offering individual controls over every placement.
The distinction is important. While the update provides greater control over channel allocation, it does not give Performance Max advertisers complete freedom to determine spending across individual Google properties.
New Budget Caps Offer Greater Protection Against Inefficient Spend
Alongside prioritisation, Google is introducing channel-level budget allocation controls.
Advertisers will be able to specify the maximum percentage of their daily campaign budget that can be allocated to lower-priority inventory.
This creates an opportunity to test additional advertising networks without exposing an unrestricted proportion of the campaign budget.
For example, an advertiser could prioritise Google Search while allowing a limited share of spending to flow into Search partners.
Rather than excluding potentially valuable inventory, brands can evaluate its incremental contribution within defined spending boundaries.
There is, however, an important qualification.
Google describes these allocation limits as operating on a "best-effort" basis, meaning they should not be interpreted as guaranteed hard spending caps.
The controls may also prove particularly useful for campaigns that are not constrained by budget, where channel prioritisation alone may have little practical impact.
What This Means for Performance Max Advertisers
Performance Max has become a central component of Google's advertising proposition, particularly for e-commerce retailers looking to scale across multiple channels through a single campaign type.
However, the product has attracted criticism over the level of transparency and control available to advertisers.
While Google has progressively expanded reporting and campaign management capabilities, budget distribution across its inventory has remained heavily dependent on automated decision-making.
The latest announcement represents another step towards providing advertisers with more influence over that process.
Nevertheless, the new controls should not be confused with full channel-level budget management.
Advertisers will still need to understand how Google's grouped inventory operates, particularly within Performance Max, before making assumptions about where additional investment will be directed.
For retailers, the bigger opportunity lies in combining the new controls with stronger campaign segmentation, first-party data and product-level performance analysis.
A campaign that generates an acceptable aggregate ROAS may still contain significant differences in profitability between product categories, customer segments and advertising inventory.
Greater budget control creates an opportunity to address some of those inefficiencies, but only when advertisers have the reporting and commercial data needed to make informed decisions.
Google Display Network Changes Coming in February 2027
Google has also confirmed an important upcoming change for Search campaigns using the Google Display Network.
From February 2027, the existing spending allocation configuration will be retired, potentially changing how budgets are distributed between Search and Display inventory.
Advertisers wishing to preserve their current configuration will need to classify the Google Display Network as "Low priority" and apply a 50% budget allocation.
This is a particularly relevant consideration for brands running established Search campaigns with Display expansion enabled.
Without reviewing their settings, advertisers could experience changes in channel spending once the transition takes effect.
360 OM Perspective: More Control Is Welcome, but Allocation Must Follow Commercial Performance
For performance marketers, the announcement is a positive development.
Google has spent much of the past decade moving advertisers towards increasingly automated campaign management. While this has delivered improvements in bidding sophistication and scalability, it has also reduced the level of control available to practitioners.
These new features suggest a more balanced approach, where automation continues to optimise delivery but advertisers have greater influence over the commercial priorities guiding that automation.
At 360 OM, we see particular value in the ability to introduce secondary inventory without committing unrestricted budget to it.
For e-commerce brands, that creates opportunities to test incremental reach while maintaining a stronger focus on proven, high-intent demand.
However, greater control does not automatically translate into stronger performance.
The priority should remain understanding which channels, campaigns and products generate profitable incremental revenue, rather than simply directing more budget towards inventory that reports the highest ROAS.
Advertisers also need to distinguish between genuine incremental growth and conversions that may have occurred through existing demand.
The strongest results will come from combining Google's automated bidding capabilities with disciplined budget allocation, accurate measurement and a clear understanding of business profitability.
What Advertisers Should Do Next
With the features rolling out over the coming months, advertisers should review their current campaign structures and identify where additional channel-level controls could improve efficiency.
Particular attention should be given to Search partner and Display performance, existing budget constraints and the relationship between campaign ROAS targets and available spending.
For Performance Max advertisers, understanding the limitations of Google's channel groupings will be equally important.
Brands should also prepare for the February 2027 changes affecting Search campaigns with the Google Display Network enabled.
As Google's advertising ecosystem continues to evolve, the ability to combine automation with deliberate commercial decision-making will become increasingly important.
The opportunity is not simply to spend more efficiently, but to direct investment towards the areas of the business where it can generate the greatest return.
360 OM is a performance marketing and e-commerce growth agency specialising in Google Ads, paid social, customer retention and proprietary marketing technology.
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