Key takeaways
- Google Ads channel prioritisation lets advertisers mark channels as High or Low priority, so Google Search can be funded before Search partners or the Display Network.
- You can cap Low priority channels at a percentage of the average daily budget, but Google treats the cap as best-effort rather than a hard limit.
- The controls cover Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen, although Demand Gen only gets prioritisation, not budget caps.
- Priority tiers only move spend when a campaign is limited by budget. For Target CPA or Target ROAS campaigns that are not budget-limited, the percentage cap is the lever that matters.
- Search campaigns with the Display Network switched on move to the new system from February 2027, so review them now rather than finding a spend shift in your reports later.
Google Ads channel prioritisation ends one of the oldest frustrations in paid search: the all-or-nothing tick box. Until now, adding Search partners or the Display Network to a campaign meant handing Google an open-ended share of your budget. Leaving them off meant you never found out whether they could have worked.
On 14 October 2026, Google announced two optional controls that sit between those extremes. You can now tell Google which channels to fund first, and put a ceiling on how much the lower-priority ones can spend. For advertisers who have kept partners and Display switched off for years, that makes a controlled test possible for the first time.
If you have already looked at Performance Max channel prioritisation, this update goes further. It reaches beyond PMax into standard Search and Shopping campaigns, and it adds a spending limit, not just an order of preference.
What Google has changed with channel prioritisation
Google has added two settings, and they work together.
- Channel prioritisation. You label each eligible channel High or Low priority. Google spends on High priority channels first, then passes any remaining budget to the Low priority ones. Every channel starts as High priority, so nothing changes until you choose to change it.
- Budget allocation. For any channel set to Low priority, you can set the maximum percentage of the campaign’s average daily budget it is allowed to use. Setting it to 0% stops spend on that channel altogether.
You can apply the settings at account or campaign level and to shared budgets. They are rolling out globally over the coming months, so not every account will see them yet. At launch they are available in the Google Ads interface and Search Ads 360. Google Ads Editor and API support is promised but has no date.
Which channels you can prioritise
The channels on offer depend on the campaign type.
In Search campaigns, you can rank Google Search, Search partners and the Google Display Network separately. Shopping offers Google Search and Search partners. Performance Max covers Google channels, Search partners and the Display Network, while Demand Gen covers Google channels and the Display Network.
“Google channels” is a bundle. In Performance Max and Demand Gen it groups Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Discover together, so you cannot, for example, rank YouTube below Search inside a PMax campaign. If you need that level of separation, campaign structure is still the tool for the job.
How Google Ads channel prioritisation works in practice
The detail that will catch most advertisers out is this: priority only changes anything when a campaign is limited by budget. If a campaign can already spend everything it wants, there is nothing left to rank.
How the two controls behave depends on your bid strategy:
- Target CPA, Target ROAS or Target CPC, not budget-limited. Priority tiers make no difference. The percentage cap still applies, so it is the only lever that moves spend.
- Target CPA, Target ROAS or Target CPC, budget-limited. Google funds High priority channels first, within your target. Low priority channels only receive budget where they can also hit the target, up to the cap.
- Maximise Conversions, Maximise Conversion Value, Maximise Clicks, Manual CPC and Target Impression Share. High priority channels spend first and any leftover budget flows to Low priority channels.
Google works out the cap from your average daily budget, not your actual spend. On a £1,000 average daily budget, a 10% cap on Search partners aims to hold partner spend at around £100 a day. It resets each day, and unused or overspent amounts do not roll over.
Two caveats matter here. First, the cap is best-effort. Google aims to stay inside it, but spend can go over, particularly on days when the campaign spends above its average daily budget. Second, there are structural limits:
- Campaigns on a shared budget must all be the same type for the settings to apply, and the cap then covers the whole pool.
- Campaign total budgets only work with prioritisation in Demand Gen.
- Settings cannot be pushed from a manager (MCC) account. You need to set them per account or per campaign.
The February 2027 Display Network change
This is the part with a deadline. From February 2027, Google will remove the current spend setup for Search campaigns that have the Display Network switched on (often called Display Expansion) and move them onto prioritisation and allocation automatically. Google has warned that spend may shift between Search, Search partners and Display as a result.
If you want Display to keep behaving roughly as it does today, Google’s suggested setting is Display Network at Low priority with a 50% budget allocation. Bear in mind that this is also best-effort, so it is a close match rather than an exact copy.
Two more points are worth knowing before you plan. Search campaigns using Target Impression Share will stop serving on the Display Network after the change. And any campaign where you set priorities before February moves to the new behaviour straight away, so testing early is not a dry run.
PPC Geeks’ View
The risk with Google Ads channel prioritisation is false comfort. A percentage cap looks like a hard guardrail, so advertisers will switch Search partners and Display back on, set a small cap and assume the problem is solved. It is not. The cap controls how much those channels can spend. It says nothing about whether the leads or sales they bring in are any good.
That matters most for lead generation accounts, where partner and Display traffic can produce cheap form fills that never turn into revenue. A low cost per lead on a Low priority channel is not a win until the CRM confirms it.
A budget cap is a guardrail, not a strategy. The value comes from deciding what each channel has to prove before it earns a bigger share.
— May Dayang, Digital Marketing Coordinator, PPC Geeks
Used well, this is a testing tool more than a cost-saving tool. It lets you give a channel a small, fixed allowance, measure it properly and then decide. That is exactly the type of question we work through in a Google Ads audit, and it is how our Google Ads agency team will approach the new settings for clients.
What advertisers should do next
1. List every Search campaign with the Display Network switched on
These are the campaigns February 2027 will change whether you act or not. For each one, decide whether Display is earning its place. If it is, set it to Low priority with a cap you are comfortable with. If it is not, switch it off now rather than letting the migration choose for you.
2. Work out which campaigns are actually limited by budget
Priority tiers do nothing for campaigns with headroom. Check the budget status column and impression share lost to budget before you spend time setting tiers. For Target CPA and Target ROAS campaigns with room to spare, focus on the cap instead.
3. Use budget allocation to test partners and Display, not on/off switches
If you turned Search partners or Display off years ago, this is a chance to test them again with limited risk. Start with a modest cap, such as 5 to 10% of the daily budget, on a single campaign, and give it enough time to gather meaningful conversion data.
4. Judge each channel on lead quality and revenue, not cheap clicks
Segment results by network and compare them with what your CRM says happened next. If you import offline conversions, use them. A channel that only looks good on cost per lead should not move up to High priority.
5. Plan for account-by-account setup
There is no MCC control and no Editor or API support yet, so you have to make changes in the interface or Search Ads 360. Change one campaign type at a time and watch total spend for several days, given that caps can be exceeded. If you are already working on your Google Ads budget for 2027, build the February change into that plan.
What Google Ads channel prioritisation means for your campaigns
Google Ads channel prioritisation gives advertisers more say over where automated campaigns spend, without taking automation away. The upside is a safer way to test inventory that many accounts have avoided. The downside is that best-effort caps and budget-dependent tiers are easy to misread, and the February 2027 Display change will alter spend in some Search campaigns whether anyone has looked at them or not.
The advertisers who benefit will be the ones who treat each channel as something to prove, not something to tick or untick. If you are not sure how much of your budget is going to Search partners and Display today, book a free PPC audit and we will show you where it is going.
For Google’s own details, see the official Google Ads announcement.
Frequently asked questions
What is Google Ads channel prioritisation?
It is an optional setting that lets you label channels such as Google Search, Search partners and the Display Network as High or Low priority. Google funds High priority channels first and passes any remaining budget to Low priority channels.
Is the budget allocation cap a hard limit?
No. Google describes it as best-effort. It aims to keep Low priority channels within the percentage you set, but spend can occasionally go over, especially on days when the campaign spends more than its average daily budget.
Which campaign types can use the new controls?
Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen can all use channel prioritisation. Budget caps are available for Search, Shopping and Performance Max, but not for Demand Gen.
Why has channel prioritisation made no difference to my campaign?
Priority tiers only change spend when a campaign is limited by budget. If your Target CPA or Target ROAS campaign is not budget-limited, use the percentage cap on Low priority channels instead.
What happens to Display Expansion in February 2027?
Google will move Search campaigns with the Display Network switched on to the new prioritisation and allocation system, and Google warns spend may shift between channels. To keep something close to your current setup, set the Display Network to Low priority with a 50% budget allocation.
