Google Ads adds channel priority: check your Display setting

Google Ads is introducing two optional controls for Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns that decide which channel the budget reaches first: channel prioritisation and budget allocation. According to Google's announcement the features roll out globally over the coming months. For account managers stuck with an "on or off" choice for partner networks, this is the first middle option.

What does channel prioritisation actually do?

It lets advertisers sort channels into "High priority" or "Low priority". Google says that once configured, a campaign fully funds the high-priority channels first (within the target when Target CPA or Target ROAS is used) and passes the remaining budget to lower-priority channels.

In Search campaigns, Google Search, Search partners and the Google Display Network can be placed on different priority levels. In Performance Max and Demand Gen, Google surfaces such as Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Discover are prioritised together as "Google channels". The controls work at account and campaign level, and also apply to shared budgets.

What does budget allocation limit?

When a channel is marked "Low priority", advertisers can set the maximum percentage of the daily budget that may go there. Google says it will keep spend within that limit on a best-effort basis, so it is a target boundary rather than a hard cap. According to the source it is especially useful for Target CPA or Target ROAS campaigns that are not budget-limited, because prioritisation alone generally has no effect there.

What must you not miss in February 2027?

From February 2027 the current spend allocation setup for Search campaigns with the Google Display Network turned on goes away, and channel spend may shift. Advertisers who want to keep their current configuration can set Display to "Low priority" with a 50% budget allocation. Search Engine Journal reports the same change and timeline.

What should advertisers do?

The sources give no Turkey-specific data or dates, but because the features affect every account running Search and Performance Max, preparing now is sensible. In Google Ads management that steers budget by conversion data, these steps stand out:

• List the Search campaigns where Display and search partners are on, and identify which could see a shift before February 2027.
• For campaigns where you want to keep today's split, plan to set Display to "Low priority" with a 50% budget share, and note the date of the change.
• If you once switched partners off entirely, test a low share in one campaign and track conversions and cost by channel separately.
• Remember that the limit is best-effort: check spend by channel weekly and report any deviation from the target.
• Test changes in a single campaign and read the results before rolling them out account-wide, especially ahead of the year-end peak.

Reading channel-level tests properly needs a single measurement set-up: being able to read channel conversions from the same source shows whether a priority setting actually works.