The Biggest Google Ads News from 2024 (+What It Means for 2025)

The Google team was very busy in 2024. Almost no aspect of the Google Ads platform was left untouched when it came to updates throughout the year.

Whether you like the changes or not, you can’t get around the fact that it can be hard to keep up with everything that’s being adjusted behind the scenes.

Let’s take some time to go through the biggest changes (read: not all the changes) that happened to Google Ads in 2024 and discuss what they mean for 2025.

Content

1. Increased and improved control over Google search campaign placements
2. More transparency for Google Ads Performance Max campaign insights
3. Changes to Demand Gen audience size and placement controls
4. AI improvements for Google Display Ads
5. Multiple options are available for using first-party data
6. New tools for generating image and video materials in campaigns

The biggest Google Ads news from this year and what they mean for 2025

These are the most important news from Google Ads this year.

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1. Increased and improved control over Google search campaign positions

There have been several updates to the Google Search user experience and location, such as enforcement Google Shopping search with Google Lens and displaying ads in Google AI overview.

But for us die-hard marketers, there have been a few updates that seem more technical and a bigger win for campaign management.

First, we have brand opt-ins that help keep your branded search campaigns focused on the right brands and only those brands. Doorknob? Your campaign must be included in the broad match at the campaign level setting. Personally, I’m not a big fan of this for non-brand campaigns, but if you’re using brand inclusion to focus and still have access to negative keywords (which you do), then this is a good option for campaign brand searches.

The same ones brand lists they can also be used as exceptions for dynamic search ad campaigns, helping you control that your DSA campaigns aren’t hitting branded search queries, which is great, especially if you’re using the brand campaign strategy above.

Speaking of search queries, Google has announced a slight easing of controls that prevent advertisers from seeing all search terms in their reports. Spelling errors will now be grouped under their correctly spelled query unlock a little more insight. Google expects this to increase the percentage of search terms that are visible by about 9% on the average account. It may not be a huge number, but anything that gives us more insight is more than welcome.

Finally, Google didn’t stop with spelling changes in search terms. Negative keywords now include misspellings. Again, this news is more than welcome from a marketer who added dozens and hundreds of negative keywords simply because they were incorrectly spelled differently than any previous query. With the new logic, we will now only need to add the correctly spelled version of the negative keyword we want, and Google will also block the misspelled version of those terms.

2. More transparency for insights into the Google Ads Performance Max campaign

Google Ads has been introduced Campaign updates for maximum performance often over the past year, but for me the biggest impacts have been based on better insights and controls for PMAX campaigns.

First, there’s a bunch of new insights into different aspects of your PMAX campaigns to help you understand what’s working and what’s not. Whether you need to know which elements have the best performance, understand how your budget movessee which ones audience segments respond well, or determine if you’re losing impression share on search and buy competitors, there is a new section with insights for each of them.

Plus, we now have a better look at the black box that was (and still is to some extent) the ad service for maximum performance.

With the Content Eligibility Center, advertisers can now see the placements of ad services on YouTube and the search partner network. What’s more, we can now use account-level placement exclusions to also block our ads from appearing on specific placements.

3. Changes in Demand Gen audience size and placement controls

There have been a handful of Demand Gen campaign updates, but here are two that stood out to me.

First, the minimum audience size for lookalike audiences has been reduced from 1000 to 100 users. I’m often frustrated with how Google’s controls make it difficult for smaller businesses to advertise on the platform and this was a very direct step in the right direction. Now the barrier to entry is lower for SMEs, which is a win for me, even if Demand Gen not the kind of campaign I would start with.

The second update to Demand Gen was another check mark in the Advertiser Control column of the scoreboard. WITH creative preferencesadvertisers can control which placements their videos appear on instead of all videos showing on all placements. This means that if you have elements that don’t look quite right in one position, you can prevent them from showing there and prioritize other elements instead.

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4. AI improvements for Google Display Ads

There is a good amount of artificial intelligence embedded in the screen for creatives. With the new solutions, advertisers will be able to animate static images, expand and adjust the aspect ratio of existing images, as well as improve resolution and sharpness. All in all, these are some pretty great options in a world where creative ones are hard to come by.

Also, Google display ads have expanded their network and will now have inventory on X (formerly known as Twitter), so if your audience is there and you want to reach them without using the actual X Ads interface, you can do so through GDN.

5. Multiple options available to use first party data

First-party data has been a hot topic ever since Google promised to get rid of third-party cookies in January 2020. Since then, many deadlines have moved and moved, eventually resulting in Google is changing course in 2024 and stating that third-party cookies are here to stay (for now).

But even with that upheaval, marketers (and Google) have realized how valuable this data is and how it can enrich your marketing.

Additionally, Google has had two changes this year to improve your first-party data. First, they simplified Google Ads data manager to centralize all data integrations in one place and control all access to third-party platforms such as Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot and others.

For anyone trying to enrich their data with first-party insights, this is a much simpler interface to work with that helps minimize steps from one part of the platform to another.

The second update is a bit more technical. Confidential Match allows advertisers to leverage their first-party data with Google’s measurement and audience solutions. Details can be found herebut essentially your first-party data will remain secure despite also being used in your Google Ads account. Profitable profit.

6. New tools for generating image and video materials in campaigns

The latest set of updates is also not specific to a specific campaign type, but affects several types of campaigns you have around the Google Ads system.

Generating new ads for your campaigns just got a whole lot easier with new tools for generating content and images right inside the Google Ads interface.

It’s also now easier to take existing assets like images and videos and edit them to change the image, enhance your videos, and highlight products in a different way than they’re shown in your Merchant Center Feed.

After all, you don’t have to rely solely on Google Ads for fundraising and collaboration. They have partnered with third party design platforms like CanvaSmartly, Pencil and Typeface for direct integration with Google Ads and a much easier loading process.

What this Google Ads news means for your business next year

Google is constantly making new updates to the Google Ads platform. While we’re still seeing a lot of AI and automated solutions emerging, I’m encouraged to see more controls for advertisers as well. As I mentioned earlier, these aren’t all of the 2024 updates, but hopefully this list of updates will get you to pay attention to the new options we have and get you excited to try out some of the new solutions from the Google Ads platform. For help getting the most out of all the latest Google Ads features next year, see how our solutions can maximize your 2025 search campaign strategy.