Google Ads Introduces Channel Prioritization and Budget Allocation Controls

On October 14, 2026, Google announced the launch of two new tools: Channel Prioritization and Budget Allocation. Advertisers will now be able to determine the priority of advertising channels and limit the share of the budget directed to lower-priority networks.

The features are being gradually rolled out starting October 15 across Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Demand Gen.

What Is Channel Prioritization?

Channel Prioritization allows advertisers to assign one of two priority levels to advertising channels:

• High Priority — the primary channel to which the budget is directed first.
• Low Priority — an additional channel that receives the remaining budget after higher-priority channels.

For example, in a Search campaign, Google Search can be set as High Priority, while Search Partners and the Google Display Network can be set as Low Priority.

If a campaign is limited by budget, Google first aims to deliver impressions in high-priority channels while maintaining target CPA or ROAS, and then directs the remaining funds to lower-priority networks.

By default, all channels have High Priority.

What Is Budget Allocation?

Budget Allocation complements prioritization by allowing advertisers to set a desired maximum share of the daily budget for Low Priority channels.

For example, an advertiser runs a Search campaign with a daily budget of $1,000 and wants to test Search Partners.

The advertiser can set Search Partners as Low Priority and assign a Budget Allocation of 10%.

Google will aim to limit spending on the partner network to $100 per day.

However, the limit operates on a best-effort basis: the system attempts to comply with the specified percentage but does not guarantee an absolute spending cap.

The percentage is calculated based on the campaign's average daily budget, not the amount actually spent. The limit is recalculated daily.

How It Worked Before

Previously, advertisers had relatively limited options for managing spending between networks within a single campaign.

For example, in Search campaigns, it was possible to enable or disable Search Partners and the Google Display Network, but it was not possible to flexibly set budget priorities for them.

The allocation of spending across the selected networks was determined by Google's algorithms.

This created difficulties when testing additional inventory: an advertiser might want to receive conversions from Search Partners but not be ready to allocate a significant share of the budget to that network.

In Performance Max, the distribution of spending across available Google surfaces also remained largely automated.

What Exactly Changed?

The new settings allow advertisers to manage priorities at three levels:

• Account Level. Unified priorities for all campaigns of the selected type within an advertising account.
• Campaign Level. Individual settings for a specific campaign that take precedence over account-level settings.
• Shared Budget Level. Unified rules for distributing a shared budget between campaigns of the same type.

Different groups of channels are available for different campaign types:

• Search: Google Search, Search Partners, Google Display Network.
• Shopping: Google Search, Search Partners.
• Performance Max: Google Channels, Search Partners, Google Display Network.
• Demand Gen: Google Channels and Google Display Network, but without the Budget Allocation feature.

In Performance Max and Demand Gen, Google Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, and Discover are combined into the Google Channels group. It is not possible to assign individual priorities to each of these surfaces within the group.

How to Configure Channel Prioritization

To set priorities at the account level:

1. Open Google Ads → Account Settings.
2. Find the Channel Prioritization section.
3. Select the campaign type.
4. Assign High or Low Priority to the channels.
5. For Low Priority channels, specify the desired Budget Allocation percentage.
6. Save the settings.

To change the rules for an individual campaign, open Campaigns → Settings → Channel Prioritization and select Use campaign-level settings.

If Budget Allocation is set to 0%, spending on the corresponding Low Priority channel will be disabled.

The features are also supported in Search Ads 360. Support for the Google Ads API and Google Ads Editor has been announced but was not yet available at the time of launch.

How Does This Affect Smart Bidding?

The impact of Channel Prioritization depends on the bidding strategy and budget limitations.

For campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS that are not limited by budget, priorities generally do not affect the distribution of spending. The algorithm continues to look for conversions that meet the established target across all available channels.

However, Budget Allocation continues to apply even in such campaigns.

If the budget is limited, the system first aims to use opportunities in High Priority channels within the target CPA or ROAS, and then may direct the budget to Low Priority channels.

Therefore, the new settings do not replace Smart Bidding but establish additional conditions for allocating spending.

An Important Change Coming in February 2027

Google also announced a change to the Display Expansion mechanism for Search campaigns.

Starting in February 2027, the previous method of distributing the budget between Google Search and the Display Network will be replaced by the new system.

To preserve the existing logic, Google recommends setting the Google Display Network as Low Priority with a Budget Allocation of 50%.

If no changes are made, the actual distribution of spending between networks may change after the transition.

In addition, GDN will no longer participate in Search campaigns using the Target Impression Share strategy.

Why This Matters for Advertisers

The main advantage of the update is the ability to test additional advertising networks without completely abandoning automated bid management.

Agencies will be able to gradually enable Search Partners and the Display Network while setting desired spending limits.

However, the new settings do not guarantee an increase in ROAS or a reduction in CPA. Overly strict limits may reduce available advertising inventory and the number of conversions.

Because the rollout only began in October 2026, there are not yet sufficient reliable large-scale results from using these new tools.

Sources

1. Google: Guide Your Campaign Spending With New Priority and Allocation Features, October 14, 2026. Google Official Blog
2. Google Ads Help: About Channel Prioritization and Budget Allocation. Google Ads Help Center