In The Know | Google Ads Alert, AI Search & Media Intel
THE MEDIA PULSE DECODED BY YOUR AGENCY
Contents: This month’s edition looks at the developments shaping marketing and advertising strategy right now, from Google’s Smart Bidding deadline and the convergence of AI search + SEO + brand, to fresh insights into First Nations audiences.
Google Ads update: The one deadline that deserves your attention
– by James McDonald, MD, Audience Group
Google has shipped a batch of updates. Most fall into the “worth testing” category. One deserves immediate attention.
The Smart Bidding change is the only update this month with the potential to materially affect campaign performance if left unchecked. Tighten targets on any budget-limited campaign before 17 August or it will quietly stop over-delivering.
Summary of Changes
YouTube: one frequency goal across campaigns
Video campaign groups now let you set a single reach or frequency goal across multiple YouTube campaigns while keeping separate budgets and creative. You also get one combined view of unique reach instead of stitching reports together.
AG Take: Overdue, but welcome.
Measurement got broader too. Reporting can now pick up branded searches your ads trigger, and what people do with your Shorts.
AG Take: Handy for showing brand campaigns actually do something.
Demand Gen keeps getting toys
New in Demand Gen: AI creative suggestions during campaign setup, and measurement of app installs driven by web campaigns. Plus more automatic video resizing.
AG Take: Nothing revolutionary. All worth testing.
AI-made ads now come with a label
Ads created or materially edited with generative AI now carry a disclosure. You’ll find it under ‘How this ad was made” on Search, YouTube and Discover. If you used Google’s AI tools, the label is automatic. If you used anyone else’s, you’re on the honour system and have to declare it yourself.
AG Take: With the EU’s AI transparency rules enforceable from August, declare it.
Action Needed by 17 AUG: Smart Bidding
Target CPA and Target ROAS are becoming standalone strategies. That’s a rename. Ignore it.
The real change: from 17 August, campaigns marked “Limited by budget” will optimise to the target you’ve set, rather than continuing to outperform it when conditions allow. In other words, your target becomes the destination, not just the ceiling. If your target CPA is $10 and you’ve actually been getting $5, Google will start delivering $10.
If your campaigns have been consistently outperforming their Target CPA or Target ROAS, that advantage could disappear unless those targets are reviewed and tightened before 17 August.
AG Take: This is a reminder that bid targets shouldn’t be set and forgotten. Advertisers who regularly review campaign performance will know whether Google has been consistently outperforming their Target CPA or Target ROAS, and by how much. Without that baseline, it’s much harder to assess the impact of platform changes like this.
Google’s Bid Target Adjustment Tool (live since 6 July) identifies campaigns likely to be affected, making it a useful place to start. But platform recommendations should always be considered alongside your own objectives, performance history and broader advertising strategy.
AI Max: more time, but not for everything
The forced migration of Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max has been pushed back from September 2026 to February 2027. AG Take: That provides more time to test AI Max properly before the switch. But read the fine print: campaigns using automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match still start moving in September 2026.
Overall Assessment
Most of Google’s July updates fall into the “worth testing” category. The Smart Bidding change is the exception. It has a firm deadline and the potential to increase acquisition costs for affected campaigns if targets aren’t reviewed beforehand. For our clients, that’s already underway. We’re assessing affected campaigns and will reach out directly where action is required.
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In Case you Missed it: IAB AI & Search Summit 2026
Our MD attended the IAB Australia AI & Search Summit 2026 and came away with one overriding conclusion: the biggest story wasn’t AI. It was convergence.
James McDonald’s resulting blog connects the themes that emerged across the day, challenges the concept of Total Search, proposes a different mental model for AI’s role in search, and explores the idea that AI search is bringing SEO, PR, content and brand back together.
Read: AI Search is Making Brand Building More Valuable
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Spotlight on First Nations Audiences
– By Fatima Mazhar, Strategy Executive, Audience Group
Several data points shared at SCA’s recent Big Yarn Good Allies breakfast highlighted the scale of the First Nations consumer market and the role First Nations media can play in reaching it.
First Nations Australians spend an estimated $56 billion a year.
Purchasing decisions are often made at a family or community level, extending the influence of a single consumer.
The audience is also experiencing strong growth in home ownership, with significant demand for products including car insurance, home and contents insurance, and financial services.
One in five people is considering switching their main financial institution in the next six months.
The event also highlighted the strengths of First Nations media. NITV stood out for its national reach, high levels of trust and just five minutes of advertising per hour, creating the potential for strong brand recall.
The standout example was NRMA, the first brand to commit 3% of its media budget to First Nations media. It co-created a branded weather segment with NITV, blending traditional language and knowledge into the forecast. It demonstrated what allyship can look like when it’s woven into the work itself, rather than sitting alongside it as a performative gesture. That’s the same thinking behind Beyond 3%, an industry initiative encouraging more brands to invest in First Nations media.
We also heard from Desmond Campbell, CEO of Welcome to Country, a First Nations-led marketplace that has generated $4.1 million in sales of First Nations-made goods while supporting more than 200 businesses.
Keeping up to date with market data like this enables media planners to make evidence-based decisions about where First Nations media fits within the broader media mix.
