What Google Ads channel prioritization gives back, and what it does not
Our recommendation: zero Display in most of your lead-generation Search campaigns and cap it only where it converts at your target. Google Ads channel prioritization, rolling out since 15 October 2026, lets you mark Search partners or the Display Network as Low priority and cap each at a percentage of average daily budget.
"On a best-effort basis, our tools will aim to keep spend on those channels within that limit."
Tal Akabas, Director of Product Management, Google Ads, in Google's announcement of 14 October 2026
What you can set, by campaign type
Four campaign types get High or Low tiers under Google Ads channel prioritization, and three also get a cap. Google's help page "About channel prioritization and budget allocation" says they arrive "progressively", so your account may not show the card yet.
The same channels as a table
| Campaign type | Channels you can tier | Cap? |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Google Search, Search partners, Display Network | Yes, on your Low channels |
| Shopping | Google Search, Search partners | Yes, if you set Low |
| Performance Max | Google channels, Search partners, Display Network | Yes, if you set Low |
| Demand Gen | Google channels, Display Network | No, tiers only |
- Every channel starts at High until you change it, in Account settings or per campaign.
- You get no manager-account setting, and API support is only "coming soon".
You cannot tier YouTube apart from Search inside Performance Max. Our AI Max versus Performance Max comparison covers which campaign type exposes which lever on Google's ad platforms.
How hard is the Low-priority cap?
The Low-priority cap is soft: Google calls budget allocation "best-effort", and only a 0% allocation, where "Google won't spend on that channel", or unticking the network is a hard stop. Your bid strategy decides what moves money.
| Bid strategy and budget | What moves your spend | Display, if it converts (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| Maximize conversions, value or clicks; Manual CPC | Tier: High first, Low gets the rest | Low at 50% |
| Target Impression Share | Tier: High first | Stops in February 2027 |
| Target CPA, ROAS or CPC, limited by budget | Tier and cap; Low only at target | Low at 50% |
| Target CPA, ROAS or CPC, not limited by budget | Your cap only; tier generally changes nothing | Low at 50%; your cap decides |
Google's wording
- Google's wording: "High priority channels spend your budget first"; "remaining budget is allocated to Low priority channels".
- Target bidding, limited: "budget shifts to Low priority channels when they can deliver conversions at your target".
- Not limited: "Channel prioritization doesn't change how your budget is spent when your campaign isn't limited by budget."
Since 17 August 2026, your budget-limited Target CPA and Target ROAS campaigns "perform more consistently toward" their target, and Google "won't automatically adjust your bidding targets or budgets"; re-read your target when you cap partners.
What changes in February 2027 for Search campaigns with Display on
From February 2027, your Search campaigns with Display Expansion move onto channel prioritization automatically. Google's Display Expansion page says the old setting "automatically delivered ads on the Google Display Network using unspent budget".
Google's wording
- Help page: "a 50% daily budget allocation" that "operates on a best-effort basis". Blog: "To keep their current configuration, they can set the Google Display Network to "Low priority" with a 50% budget allocation."
Any priority you save before February 2027 applies right away and replaces the unspent-budget rule, so never save your card with Display left at High by accident. Google has not said what tier a migrated campaign gets; our inference is to plan for the general default, High.
At Low priority, 50% is a best-effort cap at half your campaign's average daily budget. For lead generation, set 0% unless your CRM shows Display leads surviving sales review.
When should Search partners or Display be set to Low priority?
Set your channel to Low priority when your 90-day "Network (with search partners)" segment shows its cost per conversion well above Google Search's. In the statistics table, choose Segment, then that network segment, and export your cost and conversions by network.
Illustrative example: capping partners from 18 points of spend to 10 keeps about 55% of their spend and conversions. Re-check your blended cost per conversion after 30 days. Partners are on by default, so ask how any PPC management proposal handles them.
If you cannot tell which Search campaigns carry partners or Display that nobody chose, Leapbuzz reads the 90-day network export for you. You get back a per-campaign channel map with the tier and cap for each, and you can ask for the audit here.
Which Display setting fits your campaign?
Your bid strategy and Display's cost per conversion decide your Display setting. Without JavaScript, the bid-strategy table above gives the same answers; Display that misses target gets 0%.
Setting: untick "Include Google Display Network", or set Display to Low priority at 0%.
Why: Display misses target, and 0% is the one hard stop Google offers. Unticking works before the card arrives. Saving any priority before February 2027 applies right away.
Google's wording: "If you set a Low priority channel's budget allocation to 0%, Google won't spend on that channel."
Low-priority cap simulator
The simulator shows how many points of your daily budget move off Search partners and Display when you set caps under Google Ads channel prioritization.
Formula (illustrative heuristic): Low-channel spend = daily budget × the lower of (current share, cap); Google Search gets the rest.
What the formula leaves out
It models the cap only: on Maximize conversions or Manual CPC, Low priority alone funds Google Search first, so your real shift can be larger. Shares come from your spend export; Google's cap is a percentage of average daily budget, so the two match only at full spend.
Google Search 90, Search partners 10, Display Network 0 of a 100 budget. 12 points move off the Low channels if the caps hold; 4 are Display, which today only spends budget Google Search left unspent, so count them as savings unless Search is limited by budget.
Static version of the same worked example
| Channel | Share today | Setting | Spend after caps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search | 78 | High priority | 90 (takes the remainder, if it can spend it at target) |
| Search partners | 18 | Low, cap 10% | 10 |
| Display Network | 4 | Low, cap 0% | 0 (savings unless Search is limited by budget) |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
Your points moved are only as good as the cost per conversion behind them; at more than 30% above Google Search's, your budget review starts there, where AI performance marketing work usually begins.
Do this before February
Make one decision per channel in each Search campaign this month, starting with Display. Leapbuzz runs this pass in its search advertising work for advertisers in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the US and Canada; the Performance Max agency guide covers PMax, and the AI Max auto-upgrade checklist ten more settings.
- Your Display, today: untick it, set 0%, or Low at 50% if it converts. Unticking needs no card.
- Your Search partners, once the card reaches your account: follow the tree above.
- Your Target CPA: re-read it against the 17 August 2026 change in the same pass.
Today, export the 90-day network segment for your largest Search campaign and decide your Display setting. If the card is already in your account, check the Display row before you press Save.