Google Ads Now Lets You Cap How Much Goes to Display and Search Partners
- Since 15 October 2026, Google has been rolling out channel prioritization (High or Low) and budget allocation, a percentage cap on Low priority channels.
- In practice you can now limit how much of your daily budget goes to the Display Network and search partners, including in Performance Max. A 0% setting stops spend on that channel.
- For a brand entering Czechia, where search volume is smaller and Google shares the market with Seznam, every koruna that leaks to low-intent placements is a koruna missing from the searches that bring buyers.
- Limits apply: the cap is best-effort, and on Target CPA or ROAS campaigns that are not budget-limited, priority alone does little. In February 2027 Google will reset Search campaigns with Display turned on.
What actually changed
Google added two optional settings to Google Ads. Channel prioritization lets you mark each channel where your ads can run as High or Low priority. Budget allocation lets you set the maximum share of the daily budget that a Low priority channel may take.
Tal Akabas, Director of Product Management at Google Ads, announced both on Google’s Ads & Commerce blog on 14 October 2026. The help center puts availability as progressive from 15 October; the blog says the rollout runs over the coming months, so your account may see it sooner or later.
On a best-effort basis, our tools will aim to keep spend on those channels within that limit.
What you can set depends on the campaign type:
| Campaign type | Channels you can rank | % cap available? |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Google Search, search partners, Display Network, each separately | Yes |
| Shopping | Google Search, search partners | Yes |
| Performance Max | “Google channels” (Search, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps as one group), search partners, Display Network | Yes |
| Demand Gen | “Google channels”, Display Network | No, priority only |
The cap is a percentage of the campaign’s average daily budget, not of actual spend, and it resets every day. On a 10,000 CZK daily budget, a 5% cap on the Display Network means Google aims for roughly 500 CZK a day there. At 0%, Google says it will not spend on that channel at all.
Why Google is doing this
Because advertisers kept switching low-return channels off entirely. Until now the choice was all or nothing: in Search you could tick Display and partners on or off, and in Performance Max you could not even do that. Google’s own framing is that the controls are meant for advertisers who opted out, so they can test those networks again with clearer limits.
These are budgeting controls and not bidding controls.
That sentence matters. Google still decides what it bids for each impression. You now decide how much money is allowed into those channels at all.
The market-entry angle
For a foreign brand launching in the Czech Republic, this lands on a sensitive spot. Czechia is a market of about 10.9 million people, and Google shares search with Seznam, so the pool of high-intent Czech searches for your category is smaller than you may be used to. We cover the split in Google vs. Seznam in Czechia.
A new account usually runs on a cautious, budget-limited test. That is exactly where channel priority bites hardest: once the daily budget is spent, no more searches get bought. If part of it already went to banner impressions on apps and news sites, you paid for reach while the Czech buyer typing your product name saw a competitor. Cheap Display clicks also flatter your average CPC, which makes a launch report look healthier than the pipeline behind it.
Where we see risk and opportunity
- The cap is best-effort. Google says spend “may occasionally exceed” the allocation. Set it, then check spend by channel weekly.
- Priority alone rarely moves Target CPA or ROAS campaigns that are not budget-limited. Google says so directly. There, the percentage cap is the real lever.
- You cannot split YouTube from Search in Performance Max. If you need that control, Google points to separate Search and Demand Gen campaigns.
- Campaign total budgets do not combine with priorities outside Demand Gen. If you plan a total budget for a Black Friday push in Search or Performance Max, the channel tiers will not apply there.
Our view: a blanket 0% everywhere is not a strategy, just the opposite extreme. Display and search partners can bring cheap, real customers for some accounts, especially remarketing and lower-priced e-commerce. The problem was never that these channels exist; it was that they received money automatically and without a ceiling.
How we’d approach it
- Pull a channel breakdown first. Segment Search campaigns by network and use the Performance Max channel report. Judge channels on real orders and qualified leads, not platform-reported conversions.
- Start with budget-limited campaigns. That is where priority decides what the last koruna buys.
- Set Display and partners to Low with a deliberate cap. For lead-gen Search campaigns we usually start Display at 0–10%, and set partners from what the breakdown shows.
- Test, then roll out. Google confirms the settings work in Drafts & Experiments. Evaluate over at least two conversion cycles or two weeks, whichever is longer, as Google’s Smart Bidding guidance recommends.
- Decide before February 2027. Priorities you set earlier apply immediately, so the automatic migration will not catch you out.
Worried a change will knock campaigns into a learning phase? Google’s Smart Bidding help says budget and target updates take effect in the next auction and “never trigger” a Learning status. It has not described how the new priority settings behave in that respect, which is one more reason to run an experiment first.
FAQ
What are channel prioritization and budget allocation in Google Ads?
They are two optional controls Google began rolling out on 15 October 2026. Channel prioritization lets you mark each channel, such as Google Search, search partners or the Display Network, as High or Low priority; campaigns fully fund High priority channels first. Budget allocation lets you cap a Low priority channel at a percentage of the campaign's average daily budget. All channels default to High, so nothing changes until you act.
Does it work in Performance Max?
Partly. In Performance Max you can set search partners and the Display Network separately. Search, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Maps are grouped together as Google channels and cannot be split. Google's Ads Liaison has confirmed you can set search partners to 0% in Performance Max.
Is the percentage cap guaranteed?
No. Google describes it as best-effort: it will aim to keep spend within the limit, but daily spend may occasionally exceed it, for example on days the campaign spends above its average daily budget. Setting 0% is the exception, where Google says it will not spend on that channel. Check actual spend by channel after you change it.
Should a new advertiser in Czechia set Display and search partners to 0%?
Not by default. For lead-generation Search campaigns, a low cap between 0% and 10% on the Display Network is often a sensible start. For e-commerce or remarketing these channels can bring cheap, real customers. Decide from your channel-level results against real sales or qualified leads, and test the change with a campaign experiment.
What changes in February 2027?
For Search campaigns with the Display Network turned on, Google will remove the current spend allocation setup in February 2027 and warns advertisers may see a shift in channel spending. To keep today's behaviour, Google suggests setting the Display Network to Low priority with a 50% allocation. Priorities set before then apply immediately.
Sources
- Google Ads & Commerce Blog, Tal Akabas, “Guide your campaign spending with new priority and allocation features” (14 October 2026). blog.google
- Google Ads Help, “About channel prioritization and budget allocation” (availability from 15 October 2026), as summarised by PPC Land. ppc.land
- Ginny Marvin, Ads Decoded newsletter (16 October 2026), as reported by PPC Land. ppc.land
- Google Ads Help, “About Smart Bidding learning”. support.google.com
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