PPC is constantly evolving, with new strategies and trends emerging all the time, so there’s a lot to keep up with. In this roundup, we’ve gathered the most important news and feature updates to help you stay informed and ahead.
How Has Paid Search Evolved This Quarter?
About auto end screens for video ads:- Auto end screens make video ads more interactive by automatically showing a final screen with details about your products or services. This creates an extra opportunity for engagement. For now, it’s available only for in-stream ads in mobile app install campaigns.
AI shopping gets simpler with Universal Commerce Protocol updates:- Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open standard to make online shopping easier for everyone. Google has shared updates on new UCP capabilities and how to make it simpler to get started with UCP across Google surfaces. These updates are:
- A new cart option which can make online shopping more intuitive and convenient
- A new catalog feature allows agents to pull in specific, real-time product details directly from a retailer’s catalog whenever needed.
- Identity Linking lets shoppers on UCP platforms get the same loyalty and member benefits as they would on a retailer’s site.
Negative keywords for PMax and other product news for March 2026:- Microsoft Advertising’s March updates offer:
- self-serve negative keywords for Performance Max
- automated bidding easier to set up and manage due to streamlined bid strategies
- Health check diagnostics in Property Centre to easily identify and resolve issues with your Lodging campaign feeds
Upcoming Improvements to Offline Conversion Imports: Starting in April 2026, the Google Ads API will roll out a set of infrastructure updates to improve the Offline Conversion Import experience.
- Improved attribution and fallback recovery (April, 2026)
- Flexible import requests (April – May, 2026)
Resonate with the YouTube audiences that matter most to you, with Veo in Google Ads:- Veo, Google’s advanced video model, is now in Asset Studio in Google Ads. It lets you turn images into videos, and with Nano Banana, you can easily adapt assets to fit your audience better.
Build real-world Performance Max expertise with the new Microsoft Advertising learning path:- Microsoft Advertising has launched a new Performance Max learning path in its Learning Lab to help marketers gain hands-on experience. It includes three courses—covering setup, optimization, and troubleshooting—focused on practical, real-world application rather than just theory.
Performance Max updates and other product news for January 2026:- In January, Microsoft Advertising introduced new features and updates which focused on giving more controls, transparency, and making the products generally easier to use. These features and updates include:
- New customer acquisition goals in PMax
- More transparency, controls, and platform improvements in PMax
- General availability of content targeting
- Location targeting improvements
- Autogenerated assets in Responsive Search ads
About Performance Max optimization experiments: A/B testing assets (Beta):-In this article, you’ll learn how to run an experiment that compares two sets of assets—“A” vs. “B”—within the same asset group, so you can see which creative combination performs best in your Performance Max campaign.
What Trends Shaped Paid Social This Quarter?
Introducing More Ways to Tap into Shopping on Reddit:- Reddit has rolled out new shopping-focused ad tools designed to help brands reach users when they’re actively researching products. The update introduces formats like Collection Ads and improved Dynamic Product Ads, making it easier to showcase product catalogs in a more engaging and visual way.
Unlocking the Power of Manus in Meta’s Business and Creator Tools:- As part of the Manus Meta partnership, Meta is rolling out beta features across its apps, bringing Manus’ autonomous AI agent to businesses, entrepreneurs, and creators. These features highlight the ongoing progress of the Meta–Manus partnership and their shared focus on building practical, real-world AI solutions.
Make Pinterest Performance+ campaigns your new default:- Launching a campaign is easy, but optimising it manually can be tough. Pinterest Performance+ campaigns help you work smarter by using AI-powered automation in a simple setup—so you can spend less time managing and more time scaling what works.
Simplifying Ad Measurement for a Social-First World:- Meta’s incrementality experiments help advertisers understand the true impact of their campaigns. But since fully adopting incrementality takes time, Meta is rolling out updates to measurement and attribution—making it easier to see ad performance using existing tools.
In Case You Saw It: We are Testing a New Shopping Product Experience in Search:- People turn to Reddit for real opinions and product recommendations. Now, Reddit is testing an AI-powered search feature that turns those insights into shoppable results using catalogs from select Shopping and Dynamic Product Ads partners.
Ads on Threads: One Year In – Now Reaching All Users and Markets Globally:- Meta is gradually rolling out ads on Threads to users worldwide, starting in late January. The rollout may take a few months, and ads will appear directly in users’ feeds.
What Insights Did Karooya Share This Quarter?
Understanding Amazon ACoS: Targets, Benchmarks, and Optimization:- Advertisers often wonder, “Is my ad spend actually working?” ACoS helps answer that by showing whether your PPC budget is being used effectively—or just getting wasted.
Beyond ChatGPT: The Full AI Stack for Negative Keyword Research:- Negative keywords are key to keeping a paid search account healthy. In 2026, using AI for negative keyword research is helpful—but it still needs a human touch to keep your PPC campaigns focused on ROI, not just traffic.
Google Ads Auction Insights: 2026 Guide to Tracking and Outmaneuvering Your Competitors:- Google Ads Auction Insights helps understand and track your competitors. It covers key metrics like impression share and overlap rate to show how your ads compare. Overall, it helps you make smarter decisions to improve performance and stay ahead.
AI Max Search Campaigns: What Advertisers Gain, What They Give Up: AI Max for Search campaigns make things more efficient by reducing manual keyword work and helping advertisers find new search terms faster. It also uses AI to understand search intent better, making it easier to scale campaigns.
Why Negative Keywords Matter for Brand Safety in Search?:- In today’s automated landscape, brand safety is becoming a bigger concern in paid search, as advertisers have less control over where ads show. That’s where negative keywords come in. They quietly act as gatekeepers, helping protect your brand’s trust, credibility, and first impression.
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