PPC News - July 2025

AI Max campaigns now support audience and creative segmentation

Google Ads is making automation more actionable with the rollout of audience and creative segmentation for AI Max campaigns. Advertisers can now see detailed reporting on which audiences, signals, and creative combinations are actually driving conversions, rather than viewing results as a single black-box outcome.

This means you can finally break down AI Max performance by product line, region, audience persona, or creative variant. For large-scale or multi-market brands, it’s a game-changer, enabling decisions like shifting budget to high-converting audience segments or quickly rotating out underperforming creatives.

As this feature continues rolling out, Google has hinted that more controls, including negative keyword management and custom reporting dimensions, are in the pipeline for late 2025. For those who have been hesitant to let go of manual levers, this update brings AI Max closer to the level of insight available in traditional campaign types.

Dangerous Products policy update: pill press and capsule machine ads banned

A crucial policy deadline is looming. On 1st September, Google will fully enforce its updated Dangerous Products policy, banning ads for pill presses, capsule-filling machines, and related manuals or guides. These items have come under global regulatory scrutiny for their links to unregulated or illicit pharmaceutical manufacturing.

What’s the real-world impact? If you operate in health, wellness, or supplements, even if you’re just selling innocuous capsules or equipment, you need to audit both your product feeds and any long-tail content. Google will be using both automated and manual reviews, and policy violation could result in disapprovals, account suspensions, or even blacklisting.

The move is part of a broader trend: expect similar restrictions soon for other sensitive product areas like vaping devices, CBD, certain herbal supplements, and unlicensed health tech. Google is also working on automated policy “pre-checks” to warn advertisers of possible violations before launch.

Microsoft Ads retires tCPA and tROAS strategies

Microsoft Ads is aligning with Google by retiring Target CPA and Target ROAS as standalone bidding strategies starting in August. Advertisers will need to migrate to fully automated, goal-based bidding at the campaign level. Legacy campaigns will be auto-migrated unless updated.

Why does this matter? Many advertisers have relied on tCPA and tROAS for granular control, especially in competitive B2B and ecommerce spaces. Microsoft’s new approach aims to free up resources for innovation, multi-account portfolio bidding, and smarter predictive budget pacing are already in advanced testing. Expect these new tools (plus broader AI-powered creative testing) to roll out before the end of the year.

If you haven’t yet reviewed your Microsoft campaign structure, now is the time to test automation and monitor results before legacy support ends.

Certification is now required for personalised drug-related ad targeting

Advertisers targeting drug-related terms in the U.S., Canada, or New Zealand must now be certified to use personalised or interest-based targeting. This covers both prescription and OTC products and applies to all campaigns using Customer Match, similar audiences, or affinity-based signals.

Google will now proactively restrict audience targeting for unverified advertisers, so healthcare and pharma brands must secure certification or risk losing campaign reach. In the near future, Google plans to introduce in-platform certification and auto-reminders for all high-risk ad categories, streamlining compliance for sectors like insurance, medical devices, and supplements.

Feed optimisation, diagnostics & compliance tools ramp up

With Shopping ads powering more inventory across Google (including Performance Max, YouTube, and AI-driven search), feed quality and optimisation is the single most important lever for sustained results. Merchant Center has expanded its diagnostic tools, now flagging attribute mismatches, out-of-date inventory, and schema errors with new automated alerts.

What’s planned? Google is piloting “auto-suspend” for non-compliant listings, meaning a bad feed could see products temporarily paused until fixed. Enhanced attribute suggestions and product groupings are also coming, helping advertisers structure feeds for maximum relevance and reach. The push for perfect data will only accelerate as Shopping gets more tightly integrated with visual and generative ad surfaces.

Shopping feeds: member-only pricing rules tighten

Google’s crackdown on pricing transparency continued in July. Member-exclusive pricing is now banned from Merchant Center feeds, meaning prices in the price or sale_price fields must be visible to every site visitor, not just logged-in members, subscribers, or loyalty club users.

This targets “bait-and-switch” tactics that led to rising disapprovals, especially in apparel, beauty, and lifestyle verticals. The compliance push is supported by automated feed validation and “auto-suspend” tools currently in pilot.

As detailed in the latest Merchant Center feed specification update, further penalties for inaccurate pricing or hidden shipping are being tested, with AI-powered feed scanning likely to roll out across all Shopping accounts by Q4. To stay ahead, brands should audit their feeds, ensure price parity between ad and landing page, and avoid dynamic on-site discounts leaking into Google Shopping data.

Bing tests hover effect on business names in ads

Microsoft is experimenting with a new hover effect for business names in Bing Ads, aiming to improve brand visibility and trust in paid results. When users hover over a business name in the ad, the ad displays more detailed business information, such as company background, reviews, or direct website links, without requiring an additional click. This test is currently limited to select markets, but if successful, it could enhance ad credibility and drive higher engagement for brands. It’s also a step toward aligning Bing’s ad experience with the expectations users have from organic and local results, and signals a renewed focus on business transparency in Microsoft Advertising.

Google tests headline separators in search ads

Google is actively testing headline separators in search ads, introducing a subtle visual distinction between different ad headlines on the same results page. Rather than displaying all ad headlines as a continuous block of text, the new separator format divides each headline, making individual ads easier to scan and compare. Early observations suggest this may improve ad clarity and CTR by reducing user confusion, especially in competitive verticals where multiple advertisers are bidding on similar keywords. As Google gathers feedback, advertisers should watch for potential changes in ad impression or click patterns.

Video analytics now available in Google Ads

Google Ads has rolled out a dedicated video analytics dashboard for video ad campaigns, giving marketers access to more granular performance metrics like play-through rates, average view duration, and detailed audience engagement signals. This new analytics suite makes it easier to evaluate and optimise creative performance, measure brand lift, and refine targeting strategies for YouTube and other video inventory. The update also integrates with broader Google Ads reporting, allowing for side-by-side analysis with search, shopping, and display campaigns. For brands investing in video, this means clearer insight into what content drives engagement and conversions, unlocking new opportunities for A/B testing and creative iteration.

Wrapping up

July’s updates prove that transparency, control, and compliance are the new table stakes for paid media. Stay tuned for August’s PPC news round-up, with more automation, diagnostics, and creative tools on the horizon!