Advertising Technology Blog

Starting in October, Google unifies LSA badges into a single 'Google Verified' badge. It shows verification checks passed and appears dynamically to aid decisions, replacing Guaranteed, Screened, and other badges.

Google releases updates for iOS app marketers: new ad formats (co-branded partnership ads, playable end cards), AI-powered bidding (tROAS, maximize conversions), and privacy-centric measurement (on-device conversion, ICM).

IVT wastes ad budgets and erodes trust. Google uses AI, including LLMs, to combat it, reducing IVT from deceptive practices by 40% and ensuring advertisers aren't charged for invalid traffic.

Google Ad Manager launches Offerwall, a tool for publishers to monetize content through ads, surveys, micropayments, and more. It uses AI to optimize when to show, benefiting small businesses.

Google's Commerce Media solutions now integrate with Search Ads 360, Display & Video 360, and Google Ads, offering AI-driven performance and transparency. Roundel enables offline sales measurement in Performance Max. YouTube supports retail media via Display & Video 360.

YouTube BrandConnect's new open call feature lets brands post campaign briefs for creators to submit video responses, enabling scalable partnerships and ads. Available for select advertisers.

YouTube received MRC brand safety accreditation for in-stream ads for the fifth year, becoming the first streaming platform in 2021. The accreditation covers three inventory suitability tiers and confirms AI and human review systems ensure brand-safe placements.

Google updates AI-driven measurement with lower spend thresholds for incrementality testing, cross-channel insights in Analytics, and Data Manager with privacy-preserving data activation.

Smart Bidding Exploration, Google's biggest bidding update in a decade, uses flexible ROAS targets to bid on less obvious queries, increasing unique search query categories with conversions by 18% and conversions by 19%.

Google introduces AI-powered ads for Search and YouTube, expanding to AI Overviews and AI Mode, with tools like Veo and Imagen for creative generation, and Smart Bidding Exploration for untapped searches.

Google launches agentic capabilities for Google Ads and Analytics, plus Marketing Advisor in Chrome, to automate campaign creation, optimization, and troubleshooting.

Google AI helps brands create visuals via Veo-powered image-to-video, outpainting in Google Ads, and Asset Studio. Product Studio suggests campaigns and optimizes content. Brand profiles and video management in Merchant Center unify brand identity.

AI Overviews boosts Google Search usage by 10%, improving user satisfaction and commercial queries. Ads in AI Overviews expand to desktop in the US, with global rollout planned.

YouTube NewFront introduces tools for brands to leverage creator partnerships: creator hub, APIs, Insights Finder, Partnership ads in DV360, and Takeovers for deeper engagement.

AI Max for Search campaigns enhances Google Search with broad match, keywordless tech, and text customization, expanding reach and improving ad relevance. Advertisers see 14% more conversions on average.

Google introduces Google tag gateway for advertisers to improve tag performance and data resilience. New diagnostics help maintain first-party data. On-device conversion measurement now supports deidentified app event data for better iOS campaign optimization and privacy.

Performance Max introduces channel-level reporting, search terms reporting, and richer asset metrics. These features improve visibility and optimization, helping advertisers boost conversions and ROI across Google's inventory.

AI enhancements in 2024 improved fraud detection, blocking billions of policy-violating ads. Over 700,000 accounts suspended for impersonation scams, reducing reports by 90%.

Immersive Ads expand to more publishers via AdMob and Ad Manager, with a Roblox partnership. They blend naturally into games, enhancing experiences and monetization. Improvements include streamlined implementation and video formats.

YouTube BrandConnect helps brands leverage creator trust for effective campaigns. Partnership ads amplify reach, with MAC Cosmetics achieving 2.5x better view-through rate and 66% lower cost per view using creator content on YouTube Shorts.