Have you ever felt helpless watching your advertising budget flow into channels you never intended to use? You turned on Search Partners out of curiosity, only to realize a few days later that a significant portion of your budget had vanished there with hardly any conversions. You wanted to turn it off completely, but you were afraid of losing the opportunity to reach potential customers. Thus, you were trapped in an all-or-nothing dilemma – either accept everything or give up everything.
For over a decade, that was precisely the reality for any advertiser running Search campaigns on Google Ads. Search Partners and Display Network could only be turned on or off, with no middle ground. And if you have ever had your money "burned" by these channels, you understand how terrifying that feeling is.
But then, on October 14, 2026, everything changed. Google officially launched Channel Prioritization and Budget Allocation – two new budget control tools that allow advertisers to rank channels by priority and limit spending on lower-priority channels by a percentage. Join me, SilverZ, having witnessed Google revamp its advertising tools countless times over 20 years, as we dissect this update and see whether it truly returns control to advertisers.
What is Channel Prioritization and Why Does It Matter?
Let us start with the core definition. Channel Prioritization is a feature that allows advertisers to label each ad distribution channel as "High priority" or "Low priority". When a channel is marked as high priority, Google will allocate budget to that channel first, within your target CPA or ROAS limits, before passing the remaining budget to low-priority channels.[reference:0]
That sounds simple, but it is a fundamental shift. Previously, advertisers only had two choices: turn a channel on or off. There was no way to tell Google: "I want to run on Search Partners, but with a small fraction of the budget, and only after Google Search has been optimized first." Now, you can do exactly that.
Tal Akabas, Director of Product Management at Google Ads, stated: "Marketers want more transparency in their ad campaigns and choices in how they direct their advertising budgets."[reference:1] And this update is Google's answer to that demand.
How Channel Prioritization Works: Who Gets Priority and Who Gets Ranked Lower?
Let us dive deeper into the operational mechanism of Channel Prioritization.
By default, all channels are set to "High priority". This means that if you do not take any action, your account will operate exactly as before, with no changes. You must proactively change the settings if you want a particular channel to receive lower priority.[reference:2]
Channels that can be ranked depend on the campaign type:
- Search campaigns: Google Search, Search Partners, Google Display Network
- Shopping campaigns: Google Search, Google Search Partners
- Performance Max campaigns: Google channels (including Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Discover grouped together), Google Search Partners, Google Display Network
- Demand Gen campaigns: Google channels, Google Display Network[reference:3]
A special point to note: in Performance Max and Demand Gen, Google-owned surfaces – such as Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, and Discover – are grouped together as "Google channels" and cannot be separated for individual ranking. This means you cannot place YouTube at a lower priority than Search within a Performance Max campaign. They are a single unified block.[reference:4]
Budget Allocation: Limiting Spend on Low-Priority Channels
If Channel Prioritization is the tool that decides the order of budget allocation, then Budget Allocation is the tool that decides the spending limit on low-priority channels.
When a channel is set to "Low priority", you can specify a maximum percentage of your daily budget allowed to be spent on that channel. For example, if you have an average daily budget of $1,000 and you set a 5% allocation for Search Partners, Google will strive to keep spending on that channel at no more than $50 per day. And if you set the allocation to 0%, Google will not spend anything on that channel at all – equivalent to turning it off entirely, but in a more flexible manner.[reference:5][reference:6]
This is extremely important: Google describes this mechanism on a "best-effort basis". This means Google will try to keep spending within your set limits, but does not provide an absolute guarantee. It is not a hard cap, but rather a target that the system aims toward.[reference:7]
What does this mean for you? You should view Budget Allocation as a tool to shape spending behavior, not an absolute switch. It is strong enough to prevent unintended spending, but not rigid enough to guarantee that you will never exceed the set limit.
Who Benefits Most from This Update?
This update has varying impacts on different groups of advertisers.
1. Those Who Were "Allergic" to Search Partners and Display Network
If you are one of the advertisers who previously tried Search Partners or Display Network and had your budget burned by poor traffic quality, you will see the greatest value from this update. Instead of turning those channels off completely, you can set them to low priority with a capped budget, allowing you to "experiment with higher confidence and clearer limits."[reference:8]
2. Performance Max Campaign Runners
For Performance Max campaigns – where budgets are distributed automatically across multiple channels – this update brings unprecedented control. You can set Google channels to high priority, while limiting spend on Search Partners or Display Network to a lower level. This is the first time Performance Max advertisers can intervene in how budgets are distributed across channels in a controlled manner.
3. Campaigns Using Target CPA or Target ROAS
Google notes that for campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS that are not budget-constrained, Channel Prioritization alone will not make a massive difference. The reason is that when budgets are abundant, channel ranking does not change how Google allocates spend. However, Budget Allocation remains useful because it allows you to limit spend on specific channels even when the total budget is not restricted.[reference:9]
Important Change Starting February 2027: What You Need to Know Right Now
There is a critical change that anyone currently running Search campaigns with the Display Network enabled needs to keep in mind. Starting in February 2027, the current budget allocation method for the Display Network on Search campaigns will no longer exist. Instead, the system will transition to the new mechanism.[reference:10]
What does this mean? If you are currently running Search campaigns with the Display Network enabled and you are satisfied with the current allocation, you need to proactively set up the new configurations to maintain a similar setup. Google recommends that to keep the current allocation method unchanged, you should set the Google Display Network to "Low priority" with a 50% budget allocation.[reference:11]
If you do nothing, you may notice shifts in how spend is distributed on the Display Network – which could impact your overall campaign performance.
Why This Update Matters to Vietnamese Marketers
You might be thinking: "I am a marketer in Vietnam, does this update affect me?"
The answer is: significantly.
First, Search Partners and Display Network are channels that many Vietnamese advertisers have tested and abandoned due to inconsistent traffic quality. With the ability to limit spending by percentage, you can now test these channels with much lower risk. You can allocate 10% or 20% to Search Partners, monitor performance, and decide whether to increase or decrease based on real data.
Second, Performance Max is becoming increasingly popular in Vietnam. Many Vietnamese businesses have transitioned to using Performance Max for e-commerce and retail campaigns. With Channel Prioritization, you can better control how budgets are distributed among Google Search, YouTube, Display Network, and Search Partners – which was previously almost a "black box".
Third, this is an opportunity for you to optimize your budget more effectively amid growing competition. When every advertising dollar is precious, having precise control over where your money is spent is a significant competitive advantage.
When Control Is Returned
I have watched Google Ads go through quite a few revolutions over the past two decades. From the days when advertisers could control individual keywords and bids, to the era of Smart Bidding and automation where algorithms decide almost everything. Each step forward brought a trade-off between efficiency and control.
Channel Prioritization and Budget Allocation are not radical revolutions. Google remains the final decision-maker on how budgets are allocated within each channel. But this is an important step forward in returning a portion of control to advertisers – those who understand their customers and business goals best.
Tal Akabas stated: "These features give marketers more control than just an all-or-nothing on/off switch."[reference:12] And that is precisely what this update delivers: a buffer between "turn everything on" and "turn everything off" – a space to test, to optimize, and to control budgets more intelligently.
In a world where advertising budgets are tightening and competition is fierce, the ability to control spending is the most valuable asset. And this update, while imperfect, is a step in the right direction.
Have you ever had your money burned by Search Partners or Display Network, and if so, how will you use Budget Allocation to retest these channels with lower risk? If you are running Performance Max, how will you prioritize Google channels, Search Partners, and Display Network to optimize performance – and are you ready to change your settings before February 2027 to avoid being surprised by Google's changes? Share your thoughts below, because in this game of budget control, those who understand their cash flow best will win!
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