Google gives advertisers greater control over campaign budget allocation

MUMBAI: Google is putting advertisers in the driving seat of their ad budgets, allowing them to decide which channels get the lion’s share of spending and which must make do with less.

The company is rolling out two new controls, channel prioritisation and budget allocation, globally over the coming months across Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns. The features are designed to give advertisers greater say over how their budgets are distributed across Google’s advertising networks.

Under channel prioritisation, advertisers can classify channels as high or low priority. Google will direct campaign budgets towards high-priority channels first before allocating any remaining funds to lower-priority ones, subject to campaign bidding targets where applicable.

For Search campaigns, advertisers can assign separate priority levels to Google Search, search partners and the Google Display Network. In Performance Max and Demand Gen, inventory across Google Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Discover is grouped under a single category called Google channels.

The settings can be applied at both account and campaign levels and are also available for shared budgets, giving advertisers more flexibility in managing spending across different campaign types.

The second feature, budget allocation, allows advertisers to specify the maximum share of their daily budget they want to direct towards a low-priority channel. Google will attempt to keep spending within the specified limit, although it does not guarantee that the allocation will be met.

The controls offer an alternative to completely excluding certain networks from campaigns. Advertisers that have previously opted out of search partners or the Google Display Network can use the settings to test these channels while keeping a closer watch on expenditure.

Google has also outlined a change for Search campaigns using the Google Display Network. From February 2027, the existing spending allocation arrangement for these campaigns will be discontinued, potentially changing how budgets are distributed across channels.

Advertisers seeking to maintain their current configuration can mark the Google Display Network as low priority and assign it a 50 per cent budget allocation, the company said.

The new features are optional and will be rolled out progressively across eligible campaign types. They build on Google’s earlier updates aimed at giving advertisers greater control over campaign spending, allowing them to balance channel reach with their budget priorities.