<div><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson.jpeg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson.jpeg 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson-1200x675.jpeg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></div>A £50 Meta campaign that accidentally spent over £1,000 became a valuable lesson in transparency, process, and why honesty matters.

<div><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson.jpeg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson.jpeg 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/PLTP-Heather-Robinson-1200x675.jpeg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></div>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<p><a href="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1210883240?dnt=1&#038;app_id=122963" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch this video on Vimeo</a>
</div></figure>



<p id="h-during-the-latest-episode-of-ppc-live-the-podcast-the-freelance-google-ads-specialist-shared-how-a-meta-campaign-intended-to-spend-just-50-over-a-weekend-accidentally-spent-more-than-1-000-after-the-budget-was-set-as-daily-instead-of-lifetime-because-the-campaign-wasn-t-revisited-after-launch-it-continued-running-for-three-weeks-before-the-mistake-was-discovered-while-preparing-for-a-client-meeting">During the latest episode of PPC Live the Podcast, Google Ads specialist Heather Robinson shared how a Meta campaign intended to spend just £50 over a weekend accidentally spent more than £1,000 after the budget was set as daily instead of lifetime. Because the campaign wasn&#8217;t revisited after launch, it continued running for three weeks before the mistake was discovered while preparing for a client meeting.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-routine-tasks-can-be-the-most-dangerous">Why routine tasks can be the most dangerous</h2>



<p>Heather explained that the mistake wasn&#8217;t caused by a lack of knowledge but by complacency. After setting up similar campaigns countless times, the process became second nature, making it easier to overlook a small but critical setting. Combined with a busy workload and the absence of a second pair of eyes, the campaign went live without the final checks that could have prevented the overspend.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-honest-communication-saved-the-relationship">Honest communication saved the relationship</h2>



<p>Rather than looking for excuses or blaming the advertising platform, Heather chose to be transparent with the client. She addressed the mistake during their scheduled face-to-face meeting, accepted responsibility and committed to preventing it from happening again. Although the client was understandably unhappy, they appreciated the honesty and transparency, and nearly a decade later they remain one of her clients—a reminder that trust is often built through difficult conversations rather than perfect performance.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-checklists-are-better-than-confidence">Checklists are better than confidence</h2>



<p>The experience fundamentally changed Heather&#8217;s campaign launch process. Every Google Ads and Meta campaign now goes through a structured launch checklist before being published, regardless of how routine the task may seem. While she occasionally uses AI to provide a second opinion, she still relies on manual reviews because she believes a disciplined process is more reliable than assuming experience alone will catch mistakes.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-conversion-tracking-remains-the-biggest-problem">Conversion tracking remains the biggest problem</h2>



<p>Beyond her own experience, Heather said the most common issue she encounters when auditing new client accounts is incorrect conversion tracking. Many accounts are still suffering from mistakes made during the migration from Universal Analytics to GA4, with businesses unknowingly optimising campaigns towards actions that don&#8217;t generate revenue. In one example, an ecommerce account had spent an entire year optimising for visitors using the site&#8217;s search bar instead of completed purchases, forcing the account to effectively restart its machine learning once the tracking was corrected.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ai-is-a-helpful-assistant-not-a-replacement">AI is a helpful assistant—not a replacement</h2>



<p>Heather believes AI has become a valuable productivity tool, but only when it&#8217;s used to support experienced marketers rather than replace them. While she has seen too many advertisers rely on Google&#8217;s AI-generated ads without reviewing them, resulting in repetitive and low-quality messaging, she has successfully used AI to analyse search term reports, identify optimisation opportunities and reduce hours of manual work. The key, she says, is ensuring that human expertise remains responsible for the final decisions.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-learning-comes-from-testing-and-making-mistakes">Learning comes from testing—and making mistakes</h2>



<p>Reflecting on both her own experience and the pace of change within Google Ads, Heather encouraged PPC professionals to continue testing new features while accepting that not every experiment will succeed. She believes mistakes are an unavoidable part of developing expertise, provided they are accompanied by honest communication, thoughtful analysis and improved processes that reduce the chances of repeating them.</p>


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Watch this video on Vimeo




During the latest episode of PPC Live the Podcast, Google Ads specialist Heather Robinson shared how a Meta campaign intended to spend just £50 over a weekend accidentally spent more than £1,000 after the budget was set as daily instead of lifetime. Because the campaign wasn’t revisited after launch, it continued running for three weeks before the mistake was discovered while preparing for a client meeting.
Why routine tasks can be the most dangerous
Heather explained that the mistake wasn’t caused by a lack of knowledge but by complacency. After setting up similar campaigns countless times, the process became second nature, making it easier to overlook a small but critical setting. Combined with a busy workload and the absence of a second pair of eyes, the campaign went live without the final checks that could have prevented the overspend.
Honest communication saved the relationship
Rather than looking for excuses or blaming the advertising platform, Heather chose to be transparent with the client. She addressed the mistake during their scheduled face-to-face meeting, accepted responsibility and committed to preventing it from happening again. Although the client was understandably unhappy, they appreciated the honesty and transparency, and nearly a decade later they remain one of her clients—a reminder that trust is often built through difficult conversations rather than perfect performance.
Checklists are better than confidence
The experience fundamentally changed Heather’s campaign launch process. Every Google Ads and Meta campaign now goes through a structured launch checklist before being published, regardless of how routine the task may seem. While she occasionally uses AI to provide a second opinion, she still relies on manual reviews because she believes a disciplined process is more reliable than assuming experience alone will catch mistakes.
Conversion tracking remains the biggest problem
Beyond her own experience, Heather said the most common issue she encounters when auditing new client accounts is incorrect conversion tracking. Many accounts are still suffering from mistakes made during the migration from Universal Analytics to GA4, with businesses unknowingly optimising campaigns towards actions that don’t generate revenue. In one example, an ecommerce account had spent an entire year optimising for visitors using the site’s search bar instead of completed purchases, forcing the account to effectively restart its machine learning once the tracking was corrected.
AI is a helpful assistant—not a replacement
Heather believes AI has become a valuable productivity tool, but only when it’s used to support experienced marketers rather than replace them. While she has seen too many advertisers rely on Google’s AI-generated ads without reviewing them, resulting in repetitive and low-quality messaging, she has successfully used AI to analyse search term reports, identify optimisation opportunities and reduce hours of manual work. The key, she says, is ensuring that human expertise remains responsible for the final decisions.
Learning comes from testing—and making mistakes
Reflecting on both her own experience and the pace of change within Google Ads, Heather encouraged PPC professionals to continue testing new features while accepting that not every experiment will succeed. She believes mistakes are an unavoidable part of developing expertise, provided they are accompanied by honest communication, thoughtful analysis and improved processes that reduce the chances of repeating them.
a customer you lose.
      
See who’s stealing your traffic

A £50 Meta campaign that accidentally spent over £1,000 became a valuable lesson in transparency, process, and why honesty matters.

Heather Robinson talks about a £50 PPC ad that cost £1,000

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>This is now live in the United States for mobile users and will expand to more in the future.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-newspaper-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google has rolled out news updates and top stories within the AI Overviews section in Google Search. A Google spokesperson has confirmed this rollout is fully live in the United States for mobile users.</p>



<p><strong>What it looks like. </strong>As I covered on the Search Engine Roundtable when <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-top-stories-ai-overviews-41583.html">we saw it begin to roll out</a>, here are some screenshots I snapped of this feature:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="942" height="1651" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/top-stories-google-ai-overviews.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-482618" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/top-stories-google-ai-overviews.jpg 942w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/top-stories-google-ai-overviews-768x1346.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/top-stories-google-ai-overviews-876x1536.jpg 876w" sizes="(max-width: 942px) 100vw, 942px" /></figure>



<p><strong>More details. </strong>This is part of Google&#8217;s announcement <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-ai-mode-gain-preferred-sources-plus-new-perspectives-carousel-and-highly-cited-labels-478766">from May</a> where Google announced &#8220;fresh perspectives, new updates and prominent links,&#8221; within the AI Overviews.</p>



<p>Google said then, &#8220;Now, for some searches when you have a question about a developing topic, you&#8217;ll start seeing a prominent carousel, which will also highlight your Preferred Sources. This will help make timely articles more visible on a wider range of queries.&#8221;</p>



<p>That feature is now fully live for some queries in the U.S. on mobile.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>This feature can improve clicks to news publishers and really <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-says-ai-search-features-sending-billions-of-clicks-to-websites-each-week-482599">help send clicks from Google&#8217;s AI search features</a>, like AI Overviews and AI Mode.</p>



<p>We hope Google continues with its promise to improve clicks to the open web with future search features like this and others.</p>


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Google has rolled out news updates and top stories within the AI Overviews section in Google Search. A Google spokesperson has confirmed this rollout is fully live in the United States for mobile users.
What it looks like. As I covered on the Search Engine Roundtable when we saw it begin to roll out, here are some screenshots I snapped of this feature:




More details. This is part of Google’s announcement from May where Google announced “fresh perspectives, new updates and prominent links,” within the AI Overviews.
Google said then, “Now, for some searches when you have a question about a developing topic, you’ll start seeing a prominent carousel, which will also highlight your Preferred Sources. This will help make timely articles more visible on a wider range of queries.”
That feature is now fully live for some queries in the U.S. on mobile.
Why we care. This feature can improve clicks to news publishers and really help send clicks from Google’s AI search features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode.
We hope Google continues with its promise to improve clicks to the open web with future search features like this and others.
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See your AI visibility

This is now live in the United States for mobile users and will expand to more in the future.

Google brings business data feeds to Demand Gen campaigns

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Nick Fox, SVP at Google, said Google continues to send billions of clicks to the web every day and within AI Search it is billions weekly.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-click-cursor-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Nick Fox of Google said that Google is &#8220;now sending billions of clicks to websites every week through AI features in Search alone.&#8221; Overall, Google Search is sending &#8220;billions of clicks to the web every day through Search,&#8221; he added.</p>



<p><strong>AI Search. </strong>Many of us are noticing less and less traffic from Google Search, which many pin on Google&#8217;s AI Overviews and AI Mode. But Nick Fox said no, &#8220;we’re actually seeing the opposite,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7483916000103583744/">wrote</a> on LinkedIn. Search is not dying, according to Fox, and AI search is sending billions of clicks weekly, he added.</p>



<p>&#8220;Turns out, when people can ask whatever questions are on their minds, they use Google Search more than ever,&#8221; he added.</p>



<p><strong>AI Clicks. </strong>Not only are people using Google more, which Google has said time and time again. But Google is also sending more clicks to the web, he added. </p>



<p>Nick Fox wrote:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;We continue to send billions of clicks to the web every day through Search.&#8221;</li>



<li>&#8220;We&#8217;re now sending billions of clicks to websites every week through AI features in Search alone.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>Fox added, &#8220;and we’re just getting started.&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>Meanwhile. </strong>We are seeing more and more evidence that Google is sending fewer clicks to sites than before. A recent zero click study showed <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-zero-click-searches-2026-study-479717">zero-clicks hit 68%</a> this year. Another report showed AI Overviews <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-cut-search-clicks-report-471497">cut clicks by 42%</a>. </p>



<p><strong>Why we care</strong>. Google continues to talk about the importance of sending clicks to the open web. That alone is promising, but we are eager to see the data. We&#8217;ve seen Google add <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-preferred-sources-now-works-for-all-languages-476051">preferred sources</a>, made <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-mode-updates-recipe-results-to-better-connect-people-with-recipe-creators-470811">improvements to recipe links</a>, and <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-updates-links-within-ai-overviews-ai-mode-476571">overall link tweaks</a> to improve clicks.</p>



<p>Google continues to refuse to share click data, even after releasing <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-search-console-ai-performance-reports-rolling-out-to-more-users-480867">AI performance reports in Google Search Console</a>. If we are getting clicks, show us the data.</p>



<p>That being said, this is the first time Google told us how many clicks to the web it is sending out through AI search features.</p>


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Nick Fox of Google said that Google is “now sending billions of clicks to websites every week through AI features in Search alone.” Overall, Google Search is sending “billions of clicks to the web every day through Search,” he added.
AI Search. Many of us are noticing less and less traffic from Google Search, which many pin on Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode. But Nick Fox said no, “we’re actually seeing the opposite,” he wrote on LinkedIn. Search is not dying, according to Fox, and AI search is sending billions of clicks weekly, he added.
“Turns out, when people can ask whatever questions are on their minds, they use Google Search more than ever,” he added.
AI Clicks. Not only are people using Google more, which Google has said time and time again. But Google is also sending more clicks to the web, he added. 
Nick Fox wrote:
“We continue to send billions of clicks to the web every day through Search.”
“We’re now sending billions of clicks to websites every week through AI features in Search alone.”
Fox added, “and we’re just getting started.”
Meanwhile. We are seeing more and more evidence that Google is sending fewer clicks to sites than before. A recent zero click study showed zero-clicks hit 68% this year. Another report showed AI Overviews cut clicks by 42%. 
Why we care. Google continues to talk about the importance of sending clicks to the open web. That alone is promising, but we are eager to see the data. We’ve seen Google add preferred sources, made improvements to recipe links, and overall link tweaks to improve clicks.
Google continues to refuse to share click data, even after releasing AI performance reports in Google Search Console. If we are getting clicks, show us the data.
That being said, this is the first time Google told us how many clicks to the web it is sending out through AI search features.
AI recommends.
      
See your AI visibility

Nick Fox, SVP at Google, said Google continues to send billions of clicks to the web every day and within AI Search it is billions weekly.

Google says AI Search features send billions of clicks to websites each week

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to report SEO results executives actually care about" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>If your reports still lead with rankings and traffic, you may be proving SEO performance while failing to prove business value.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to report SEO results executives actually care about" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-to-report-SEO-results-executives-actually-care-about-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>I&#8217;ve sat through enough client meetings to know what happens when the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo">SEO</a> team leads with rankings. They present a slide full of ranking improvements and traffic increases, and the response from the business side is a polite nod followed by silence.</p>



<p>The numbers are accurate, but they don&#8217;t answer the question the business actually asked: What difference has this made to revenue, sales, or leads?</p>



<p>That&#8217;s the real KPI problem. Search teams measure SEO performance. Businesses measure business performance. Until your reporting connects the two, even strong SEO work can look like it&#8217;s going nowhere.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-traditional-seo-kpis-fall-short">Traditional SEO KPIs fall short</h2>



<p>Rankings, traffic, and impressions are useful internally. They tell a search team whether visibility is moving in the right direction and where to focus next.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Clients and stakeholders care about the business outcomes behind those metrics. From a business perspective, rankings and traffic are vanity metrics, regardless of how meaningful they are to the people doing the SEO work.</p>



<p>I worked with one client whose marketing director opened every monthly call by asking for the ranking report before anything else. Rankings for the target terms had improved for five consecutive months. Organic revenue had grown by a fraction of that.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The disconnect eroded trust, not because the work was wrong, but because the metric being celebrated was never the one the business cared about in the first place. It took a deliberate shift away from leading with rankings before the conversation moved toward what was actually changing commercially.</p>



<p>Impressions cause a similar problem, usually because the numbers look so dramatic. Once, the marketing team I worked with got genuinely excited when a campaign hit one million impressions in a single month. It sounded like a huge result.&nbsp;</p>



<p>On the surface, it looked impressive. But impressions don&#8217;t pay the bills. I had to bring the conversation back to what the board actually cared about: real leads and revenue, which ultimately keep a business in business. A million impressions with no movement in either isn&#8217;t a result worth celebrating, however good the numbers look in a report.</p>



<p>Traffic suffers from the same issue. Another client once flagged a 40% increase in organic sessions as a major win until it became clear that almost none of that traffic was converting into sales. </p>



<p>More visitors meant nothing to the sales team if those visitors didn&#8217;t turn into pipeline. Getting traffic to a website is easy. Getting relevant traffic that actually converts is what matters. </p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/retire-these-9-seo-metrics-before-they-derail-your-2026-strategy-469461">Retire these 9 SEO metrics before they derail your 2026 strategy</a></em></strong>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-build-seo-kpis-around-business-goals">Build SEO KPIs around business goals</h2>



<p>Don&#8217;t start with the available data. Start with the business goal. It should be the corporate goal the business has already set. </p>



<p>A clear example would be SEO contributing $2 million to annual revenue, with AI-driven channels contributing $150,000 of that total. Once that target exists, every SEO KPI should trace back to it. Keywords and rankings don&#8217;t. Revenue does.</p>



<p>From there, the metrics that matter include conversions by channel, brand awareness measured through branded search volume, profitability rather than just topline numbers, user engagement, and cost per acquisition, both overall and by channel. Cost per lead is also worth tracking for SEO, just as you would for paid channels, because it gives stakeholders a directly comparable figure across the marketing mix.&nbsp;</p>



<p>This approach also helps cut out the noise. If a metric can&#8217;t be connected back to the corporate goal, it probably doesn&#8217;t belong in a stakeholder report. Rankings fall into this category every time. They&#8217;re still useful for the search team internally, but they don&#8217;t need a slide of their own, and they shouldn&#8217;t appear in client or board reporting at all.</p>



<p>The same discipline applies to traffic and conversions from AI platforms. As more research and discovery happen through tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews, it&#8217;s tempting to report AI-driven visits as a headline number in their own right.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The more useful question is the same one you should apply to organic search: How much of that traffic and how many of those visits convert into revenue, sales, or leads? Tracking AI referral traffic without tying it to commercial outcomes simply creates a new vanity metric to replace the old ones.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper:</em></strong> <strong><em><a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/new-seo-kpis">New SEO KPIs you’re missing: How to measure SEO beyond clicks</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-translating-seo-metrics-into-business-language">Translating SEO metrics into business language</h2>



<p>Choosing the right KPIs solves half the problem. The other half is presentation. Stakeholders outside the search team rarely think about sessions, impressions, or crawl budgets. They think about revenue, cost, and risk.</p>



<p>One of the most effective changes I&#8217;ve made is leading with a commercial baseline rather than comparing with last year. With one client, the monthly report was restructured to lead with organic revenue and the number of orders, with rankings moved to an appendix for anyone who wanted the detail.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The underlying work didn&#8217;t change. The framing did, and the marketing director stopped asking for the ranking report altogether.</p>



<p>Brand search is another area worth connecting explicitly to commercial outcomes. <a href="https://searchengineland.com/organic-traffic-worth-tracking-478451">Direct traffic and branded search volume</a> often increase as a result of strong organic visibility, even though neither sits neatly inside a traditional SEO report.</p>



<p>Show stakeholders how branded search and direct visits are growing alongside organic investment. That tells a more complete commercial story than non-branded sessions alone.</p>



<p>I once renamed a report from &#8220;SEO performance&#8221; to &#8220;Organic search contribution to new business,&#8221; and it changed how the leadership team engaged with it.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Nothing in the underlying data changed. The framing did, and that was enough to move the conversation from rankings and traffic to the numbers the business actually cared about.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-common-pitfalls-when-implementing-this-in-practice">Common pitfalls when implementing this in practice</h2>



<p>This approach isn&#8217;t without risk. Attribution in search is rarely clean, and there&#8217;s a temptation to overengineer models in pursuit of perfect numbers. A reasonable, well-explained estimate that ties back to revenue, sales, or leads is more useful to a stakeholder than a precise figure nobody can interpret.</p>



<p>Traffic is also declining for many sites, particularly those that historically relied on clicks to informational content rather than commercial pages. This is a structural shift in how search works. It needs to be addressed directly rather than left for a stakeholder to notice. </p>



<p>If results are down, tell the client or the board early. Flagging a decline before you&#8217;re asked about it preserves trust. Waiting for someone else to spot it in a report does the opposite.</p>



<p>The technical team can get left behind if you&#8217;re not careful. If reporting shifts entirely toward commercial framing, the people doing the technical work can feel disconnected from how their contribution is being measured. Keep both in play: commercial KPIs for the boardroom, and the technical detail underneath for anyone who wants to go deeper.</p>



<p>Changing everything at once rarely lands well. Introducing one or two revenue-led metrics alongside existing reports, then phasing out rankings and traffic as the headline metrics over a quarter or two, tends to land better with both clients and internal teams.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/make-seo-reports-more-actionable-479746">How to make SEO reports more actionable</a></em></strong>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-report-what-the-business-actually-cares-about">Report what the business actually cares about</h2>



<p>Stop reporting on rankings. Start reporting on what keeps the business in business: revenue, sales, and leads.</p>



<p>SEO doesn&#8217;t become more valuable because rankings improve. It becomes more valuable when you can clearly show how it contributes to the business. That&#8217;s the story your reporting should tell.</p>



<p>Rankings and traffic don&#8217;t pay anyone&#8217;s salary. Report accordingly.</p>


I’ve sat through enough client meetings to know what happens when the SEO team leads with rankings. They present a slide full of ranking improvements and traffic increases, and the response from the business side is a polite nod followed by silence.
The numbers are accurate, but they don’t answer the question the business actually asked: What difference has this made to revenue, sales, or leads?
That’s the real KPI problem. Search teams measure SEO performance. Businesses measure business performance. Until your reporting connects the two, even strong SEO work can look like it’s going nowhere.
Traditional SEO KPIs fall short
Rankings, traffic, and impressions are useful internally. They tell a search team whether visibility is moving in the right direction and where to focus next. 
Clients and stakeholders care about the business outcomes behind those metrics. From a business perspective, rankings and traffic are vanity metrics, regardless of how meaningful they are to the people doing the SEO work.
I worked with one client whose marketing director opened every monthly call by asking for the ranking report before anything else. Rankings for the target terms had improved for five consecutive months. Organic revenue had grown by a fraction of that. 
The disconnect eroded trust, not because the work was wrong, but because the metric being celebrated was never the one the business cared about in the first place. It took a deliberate shift away from leading with rankings before the conversation moved toward what was actually changing commercially.
Impressions cause a similar problem, usually because the numbers look so dramatic. Once, the marketing team I worked with got genuinely excited when a campaign hit one million impressions in a single month. It sounded like a huge result. 
On the surface, it looked impressive. But impressions don’t pay the bills. I had to bring the conversation back to what the board actually cared about: real leads and revenue, which ultimately keep a business in business. A million impressions with no movement in either isn’t a result worth celebrating, however good the numbers look in a report.
Traffic suffers from the same issue. Another client once flagged a 40% increase in organic sessions as a major win until it became clear that almost none of that traffic was converting into sales. 
More visitors meant nothing to the sales team if those visitors didn’t turn into pipeline. Getting traffic to a website is easy. Getting relevant traffic that actually converts is what matters. 
Dig deeper: Retire these 9 SEO metrics before they derail your 2026 strategy



  
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Build SEO KPIs around business goals
Don’t start with the available data. Start with the business goal. It should be the corporate goal the business has already set. 
A clear example would be SEO contributing $2 million to annual revenue, with AI-driven channels contributing $150,000 of that total. Once that target exists, every SEO KPI should trace back to it. Keywords and rankings don’t. Revenue does.
From there, the metrics that matter include conversions by channel, brand awareness measured through branded search volume, profitability rather than just topline numbers, user engagement, and cost per acquisition, both overall and by channel. Cost per lead is also worth tracking for SEO, just as you would for paid channels, because it gives stakeholders a directly comparable figure across the marketing mix. 
This approach also helps cut out the noise. If a metric can’t be connected back to the corporate goal, it probably doesn’t belong in a stakeholder report. Rankings fall into this category every time. They’re still useful for the search team internally, but they don’t need a slide of their own, and they shouldn’t appear in client or board reporting at all.
The same discipline applies to traffic and conversions from AI platforms. As more research and discovery happen through tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews, it’s tempting to report AI-driven visits as a headline number in their own right. 
The more useful question is the same one you should apply to organic search: How much of that traffic and how many of those visits convert into revenue, sales, or leads? Tracking AI referral traffic without tying it to commercial outcomes simply creates a new vanity metric to replace the old ones.
Dig deeper: New SEO KPIs you’re missing: How to measure SEO beyond clicks



Translating SEO metrics into business language
Choosing the right KPIs solves half the problem. The other half is presentation. Stakeholders outside the search team rarely think about sessions, impressions, or crawl budgets. They think about revenue, cost, and risk.
One of the most effective changes I’ve made is leading with a commercial baseline rather than comparing with last year. With one client, the monthly report was restructured to lead with organic revenue and the number of orders, with rankings moved to an appendix for anyone who wanted the detail. 
The underlying work didn’t change. The framing did, and the marketing director stopped asking for the ranking report altogether.
Brand search is another area worth connecting explicitly to commercial outcomes. Direct traffic and branded search volume often increase as a result of strong organic visibility, even though neither sits neatly inside a traditional SEO report.
Show stakeholders how branded search and direct visits are growing alongside organic investment. That tells a more complete commercial story than non-branded sessions alone.
I once renamed a report from “SEO performance” to “Organic search contribution to new business,” and it changed how the leadership team engaged with it. 
Nothing in the underlying data changed. The framing did, and that was enough to move the conversation from rankings and traffic to the numbers the business actually cared about.
Common pitfalls when implementing this in practice
This approach isn’t without risk. Attribution in search is rarely clean, and there’s a temptation to overengineer models in pursuit of perfect numbers. A reasonable, well-explained estimate that ties back to revenue, sales, or leads is more useful to a stakeholder than a precise figure nobody can interpret.
Traffic is also declining for many sites, particularly those that historically relied on clicks to informational content rather than commercial pages. This is a structural shift in how search works. It needs to be addressed directly rather than left for a stakeholder to notice. 
If results are down, tell the client or the board early. Flagging a decline before you’re asked about it preserves trust. Waiting for someone else to spot it in a report does the opposite.
The technical team can get left behind if you’re not careful. If reporting shifts entirely toward commercial framing, the people doing the technical work can feel disconnected from how their contribution is being measured. Keep both in play: commercial KPIs for the boardroom, and the technical detail underneath for anyone who wants to go deeper.
Changing everything at once rarely lands well. Introducing one or two revenue-led metrics alongside existing reports, then phasing out rankings and traffic as the headline metrics over a quarter or two, tends to land better with both clients and internal teams.
Dig deeper: How to make SEO reports more actionable



  
before your competitors.
      
Start your free trial
    
Report what the business actually cares about
Stop reporting on rankings. Start reporting on what keeps the business in business: revenue, sales, and leads.
SEO doesn’t become more valuable because rankings improve. It becomes more valuable when you can clearly show how it contributes to the business. That’s the story your reporting should tell.
Rankings and traffic don’t pay anyone’s salary. Report accordingly.

If your reports still lead with rankings and traffic, you may be proving SEO performance while failing to prove business value.

How to report SEO results executives actually care about

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How ad platforms count and report conversions differently" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Your ad platforms don't have to agree to be useful. Learn what different attribution methods are actually telling you.


<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How ad platforms count and report conversions differently" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/How-ad-platforms-count-and-report-conversions-differently-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>If you run paid media, you already know the feeling. Google Ads says you drove 400 conversions last month. Meta claims another 250. Microsoft adds 60 more. </p>



<p>Add them up, and you&#8217;ve apparently sold to 710 people. But your finance team&#8217;s report says only 480 sales hit the bank. </p>



<p>So who&#8217;s lying?</p>



<p>Nobody. </p>



<p>Most people assume the numbers are wrong.</p>



<p>Ad platforms almost always report more conversions than your business records. Platforms report higher numbers because they count conversions differently. Once you understand those counting methods, the apparent contradiction becomes much easier to interpret and use.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-start-with-the-incentive">Start with the incentive</h2>



<p>Here&#8217;s the uncomfortable truth that explains almost everything else: it&#8217;s in a platform&#8217;s commercial interest to report more conversions.</p>



<p>The more conversions a platform shows you, the better it looks. The better it looks, the more you believe it&#8217;s working. The more you believe it&#8217;s working, the more you spend. That&#8217;s the business model. Always remember what makes the platform money.</p>



<p>This is rational economics. Given a choice between counting conservatively and counting generously, every platform has a structural reason to count generously, and they all do.</p>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-it-s-counting-not-lying">It&#8217;s counting, not lying</h2>



<p>Here&#8217;s the reframe that keeps this from turning into another &#8220;the platforms are lying to you&#8221; rant.</p>



<p>The number of real conversions is fixed. There are only so many real conversions in a given period, no matter how many get reported across Google, Meta, and Microsoft combined. Three platforms can each claim the same sale, and frequently do, but the customer still bought only once.</p>



<p>Focus less on reconciling every number and more on understanding how each platform counts conversions. Don&#8217;t get too caught up chasing a perfect, unified number across every platform. </p>



<p>Understand the differences, work with what you&#8217;ve got, and accept that &#8220;good enough to move the dial&#8221; is usually the right standard for the business.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/attribution-impact-no-longer-same-ppc-479907">Why attribution and impact are no longer the same thing in PPC</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-structural-reasons-the-numbers-don-t-line-up">The structural reasons the numbers don&#8217;t line up</h2>



<p>If you want to explain the gaps to a CFO, or to yourself, these are the concrete reasons platforms diverge from each other and from your own systems.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-attribution-windows">Attribution windows</h3>



<p>This is one of the biggest. <a href="http://How to read Meta Ads metrics like a system, not a scoreboard">Meta</a> defaults to a seven-day click window (plus a one-day view). Google Ads with data-driven attribution looks back up to 90 days. </p>



<p>Before you change anything else, those two platforms are already counting different conversions simply because they&#8217;re looking at different time frames.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-counts-as-an-engagement">What counts as an &#8216;engagement&#8217;</h3>



<p>Platforms don&#8217;t agree on what earns credit. On Meta, a carousel swipe, a video view, or a post share can be treated as an engagement and receive attribution credit. </p>



<p>On Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, you generally have to click the ad. The customer journey is the same. The attribution rules aren&#8217;t.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-view-through-conversions-especially-youtube">View-through conversions, especially YouTube</h3>



<p>This is a major source of inflation. Display, programmatic, affiliate, and YouTube channels often count conversions from people who saw an ad rather than clicked it. </p>



<p>YouTube view-throughs, in particular, can overinflate results because a view is invisible to your analytics, ecommerce platform, and CRM. Those systems can&#8217;t know someone saw an ad, only that they clicked or arrived. </p>



<p>There&#8217;s nothing wrong with optimizing toward and reporting on YouTube conversions. Just don&#8217;t mark your retargeting homework with view-throughs. They should be modeled and, ideally, validated against incrementality.</p>



<p><em><strong>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/paid-search-performance-better-signals-472224">Why better signals drive paid search performance</a></strong></em>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-in-platform-attribution-model">The in-platform attribution model</h3>



<p>Even within a single attribution window, the way credit gets distributed changes the picture. Google&#8217;s default data-driven attribution (DDA) spreads fractional credit across every interaction in the Google Ads environment over 90 days, based on its machine learning model. </p>



<p>Meta typically uses a last-touch, one-touch model. Different distribution logic produces different reported numbers for the exact same underlying journey.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-platform-silos-versus-analytics-platforms">Platform silos versus analytics platforms</h3>



<p>Each platform can only see what happens inside its own walls. </p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Google Ads tracks Google Ads. </li>



<li>Meta tracks Meta. </li>



<li>An analytics platform, CRM, or ecommerce system sees the whole journey across email, paid social, organic, affiliate, and direct channels, then assigns credit using its own logic, often on a last-touch basis. </li>
</ul>



<p>That&#8217;s why those systems report different numbers from the platform dashboards. It&#8217;s also why every platform can lay claim to the same conversion.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modeled-conversions">Modeled conversions</h3>



<p>Privacy changes broke the old way of tracking, so every platform built systems to fill the gap, each with its own methodology based on the data it has. Google uses enhanced conversions and Consent Mode. </p>



<p>Meta uses data matching, looking for personally identifiable information (PII) indicators to determine whether someone who interacted with an ad later converted. The need is legitimate, but it&#8217;s also a real source of discrepancy and, in places, a black box.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cross-device-tracking">Cross-device tracking</h3>



<p>Google and Meta both model journeys that span multiple devices belonging to the same person. That modeling is another genuine reason the numbers diverge from each other and from your own systems.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/your-roas-looks-great-but-is-it-actually-driving-growth-474543">Your ROAS looks great — but is it actually driving growth?</a></em></strong>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cost-of-misreading-platform-data">The cost of misreading platform data</h2>



<p>Conversion data leads to insight. Insight leads to decisions. If the insight is built on misread data, the decisions will be worse every time.</p>



<p>The people who get burned aren&#8217;t the ones who understand the differences. They&#8217;re the ones who can&#8217;t explain why one platform says one thing and another says something else. That&#8217;s where you trip up and hand a stakeholder insight that&#8217;s simply wrong.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s also an accounting trap worth naming. The moment you treat platform numbers as the gold standard for accounting, the whole thing falls over. </p>



<p>Conversion actions are tracked using different methodologies. They aren&#8217;t counting the money in your bank. Use them for optimization within performance marketing rather than for accounting. Those are two different jobs.</p>



<p>This is also where CMO and CFO skepticism comes in, and it&#8217;s usually misjudged. Leaders are often suspicious of platform-reported data.</p>



<p> Assuming a clean setup — one data layer, consistent GTM triggers, and a robust tracking framework — there&#8217;s no reason to believe the numbers are wrong. They&#8217;re counted differently and counted generously. Understanding that distinction is what matters.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-pragmatic-principle-to-land-on">The pragmatic principle to land on</h2>



<p>Here&#8217;s the rule of thumb that makes all of this usable rather than paralyzing:</p>



<p>If all the numbers are moving in the right direction — overreported Google Ads, overreported Meta, overreported Microsoft — there&#8217;s a very good chance the business is moving in the right direction, too.</p>



<p>You don&#8217;t need a perfect, reconciled figure to know whether your marketing is working. You need the platforms to be broadly trending in the right direction and the business data to confirm it.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-does-good-look-like">What does good look like?</h2>



<p>There&#8217;s no problem using platform metrics to optimize campaigns, feed the algorithms, and report up to your CMO, CEO, or CFO. </p>



<p>The non-negotiable is understanding the counting methodologies behind each platform. That&#8217;s the line between useful insight and confidently wrong insight.</p>



<p>Mature advertisers go a step further. They move beyond raw platform counts through incrementality testing, marketing mix modeling, and first-party data that attributes performance to real customers and real purchases.</p>



<p>The single most valuable move is feeding the right business data back into the platforms. Instead of obsessing over which platform claims more conversions, focus on lifetime value, CAC, product margin, returns, and lead quality. Those are the business signals that drive business results. </p>



<p>Comparing which platform reports more conversions is often a fruitless exercise. The edge comes from feeding genuine business signals to the algorithms, so they generate genuine business outcomes.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/b2b-ppc-metrics-incremental-value-478925">Why your B2B PPC metrics may be lying to you</a></em></strong>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-one-thing-to-do-tomorrow">The one thing to do tomorrow</h2>



<p>Ask your paid media team a single question: Do you understand the different accounting methodologies between the platforms?</p>



<p>If they can&#8217;t explain why Google says one thing and Meta says another, that&#8217;s the gap to close first. Everything else follows from it.</p>



<p>Platform numbers aren&#8217;t wrong. They&#8217;re counted differently and generously. Use them to optimize, not to account.</p>



<p>Feed your true business data back to the algorithms, and let those signals drive optimization.</p>

If you run paid media, you already know the feeling. Google Ads says you drove 400 conversions last month. Meta claims another 250. Microsoft adds 60 more. 
Add them up, and you’ve apparently sold to 710 people. But your finance team’s report says only 480 sales hit the bank. 
So who’s lying?
Nobody. 
Most people assume the numbers are wrong.
Ad platforms almost always report more conversions than your business records. Platforms report higher numbers because they count conversions differently. Once you understand those counting methods, the apparent contradiction becomes much easier to interpret and use.
Start with the incentive
Here’s the uncomfortable truth that explains almost everything else: it’s in a platform’s commercial interest to report more conversions.
The more conversions a platform shows you, the better it looks. The better it looks, the more you believe it’s working. The more you believe it’s working, the more you spend. That’s the business model. Always remember what makes the platform money.
This is rational economics. Given a choice between counting conservatively and counting generously, every platform has a structural reason to count generously, and they all do.
a customer you lose.
      
See who’s stealing your traffic
    
It’s counting, not lying
Here’s the reframe that keeps this from turning into another “the platforms are lying to you” rant.
The number of real conversions is fixed. There are only so many real conversions in a given period, no matter how many get reported across Google, Meta, and Microsoft combined. Three platforms can each claim the same sale, and frequently do, but the customer still bought only once.
Focus less on reconciling every number and more on understanding how each platform counts conversions. Don’t get too caught up chasing a perfect, unified number across every platform. 
Understand the differences, work with what you’ve got, and accept that “good enough to move the dial” is usually the right standard for the business.
Dig deeper: Why attribution and impact are no longer the same thing in PPC



The structural reasons the numbers don’t line up
If you want to explain the gaps to a CFO, or to yourself, these are the concrete reasons platforms diverge from each other and from your own systems.
Attribution windows
This is one of the biggest. Meta defaults to a seven-day click window (plus a one-day view). Google Ads with data-driven attribution looks back up to 90 days. 
Before you change anything else, those two platforms are already counting different conversions simply because they’re looking at different time frames.
What counts as an ‘engagement’
Platforms don’t agree on what earns credit. On Meta, a carousel swipe, a video view, or a post share can be treated as an engagement and receive attribution credit. 
On Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, you generally have to click the ad. The customer journey is the same. The attribution rules aren’t.
View-through conversions, especially YouTube
This is a major source of inflation. Display, programmatic, affiliate, and YouTube channels often count conversions from people who saw an ad rather than clicked it. 
YouTube view-throughs, in particular, can overinflate results because a view is invisible to your analytics, ecommerce platform, and CRM. Those systems can’t know someone saw an ad, only that they clicked or arrived. 
There’s nothing wrong with optimizing toward and reporting on YouTube conversions. Just don’t mark your retargeting homework with view-throughs. They should be modeled and, ideally, validated against incrementality.
Dig deeper: Why better signals drive paid search performance



The in-platform attribution model
Even within a single attribution window, the way credit gets distributed changes the picture. Google’s default data-driven attribution (DDA) spreads fractional credit across every interaction in the Google Ads environment over 90 days, based on its machine learning model. 
Meta typically uses a last-touch, one-touch model. Different distribution logic produces different reported numbers for the exact same underlying journey.
Platform silos versus analytics platforms
Each platform can only see what happens inside its own walls. 
Google Ads tracks Google Ads. 
Meta tracks Meta. 
An analytics platform, CRM, or ecommerce system sees the whole journey across email, paid social, organic, affiliate, and direct channels, then assigns credit using its own logic, often on a last-touch basis. 
That’s why those systems report different numbers from the platform dashboards. It’s also why every platform can lay claim to the same conversion.
Modeled conversions
Privacy changes broke the old way of tracking, so every platform built systems to fill the gap, each with its own methodology based on the data it has. Google uses enhanced conversions and Consent Mode. 
Meta uses data matching, looking for personally identifiable information (PII) indicators to determine whether someone who interacted with an ad later converted. The need is legitimate, but it’s also a real source of discrepancy and, in places, a black box.
Cross-device tracking
Google and Meta both model journeys that span multiple devices belonging to the same person. That modeling is another genuine reason the numbers diverge from each other and from your own systems.
Dig deeper: Your ROAS looks great — but is it actually driving growth?




	
	
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The cost of misreading platform data
Conversion data leads to insight. Insight leads to decisions. If the insight is built on misread data, the decisions will be worse every time.
The people who get burned aren’t the ones who understand the differences. They’re the ones who can’t explain why one platform says one thing and another says something else. That’s where you trip up and hand a stakeholder insight that’s simply wrong.
There’s also an accounting trap worth naming. The moment you treat platform numbers as the gold standard for accounting, the whole thing falls over. 
Conversion actions are tracked using different methodologies. They aren’t counting the money in your bank. Use them for optimization within performance marketing rather than for accounting. Those are two different jobs.
This is also where CMO and CFO skepticism comes in, and it’s usually misjudged. Leaders are often suspicious of platform-reported data.
 Assuming a clean setup — one data layer, consistent GTM triggers, and a robust tracking framework — there’s no reason to believe the numbers are wrong. They’re counted differently and counted generously. Understanding that distinction is what matters.
The pragmatic principle to land on
Here’s the rule of thumb that makes all of this usable rather than paralyzing:
If all the numbers are moving in the right direction — overreported Google Ads, overreported Meta, overreported Microsoft — there’s a very good chance the business is moving in the right direction, too.
You don’t need a perfect, reconciled figure to know whether your marketing is working. You need the platforms to be broadly trending in the right direction and the business data to confirm it.
What does good look like?
There’s no problem using platform metrics to optimize campaigns, feed the algorithms, and report up to your CMO, CEO, or CFO. 
The non-negotiable is understanding the counting methodologies behind each platform. That’s the line between useful insight and confidently wrong insight.
Mature advertisers go a step further. They move beyond raw platform counts through incrementality testing, marketing mix modeling, and first-party data that attributes performance to real customers and real purchases.
The single most valuable move is feeding the right business data back into the platforms. Instead of obsessing over which platform claims more conversions, focus on lifetime value, CAC, product margin, returns, and lead quality. Those are the business signals that drive business results. 
Comparing which platform reports more conversions is often a fruitless exercise. The edge comes from feeding genuine business signals to the algorithms, so they generate genuine business outcomes.
Dig deeper: Why your B2B PPC metrics may be lying to you



  
a customer you lose.
      
See who’s stealing your traffic
    
The one thing to do tomorrow
Ask your paid media team a single question: Do you understand the different accounting methodologies between the platforms?
If they can’t explain why Google says one thing and Meta says another, that’s the gap to close first. Everything else follows from it.
Platform numbers aren’t wrong. They’re counted differently and generously. Use them to optimize, not to account.
Feed your true business data back to the algorithms, and let those signals drive optimization.

Your ad platforms don't have to agree to be useful. Learn what different attribution methods are actually telling you.

How ad platforms count and report conversions differently

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Meta Business Agents" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>What if customers never reach your website? See how Meta’s AI agents turn messaging into a powerful sales and service channel.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Meta Business Agents" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/Meta-Business-Agents-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>I recently attended: Meta Conversations 2026 in London. This year&#8217;s event focused more than ever on commercializing messaging products — from helping companies contact potential customers quickly and easily to helping consumers connect with businesses they may want to buy from.</p>



<p>The keynote centered on one disruptive announcement: the launch of the Meta Business Agent. </p>



<p>Meta is moving beyond basic chatbots to give businesses enterprise-grade, autonomous AI agents that can handle complex daily operations.</p>



<p>Unlike rule-based chatbots, these agents understand context, manage multi-turn conversations, and maintain brand voice across languages. </p>



<p>In live demonstrations, I saw agents answer support tickets, qualify leads, check real-time inventory through API integrations, and guide users through checkout — all within a single WhatsApp thread.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/introducing-meta-business-agent.png" alt="" class="wp-image-482562" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/introducing-meta-business-agent.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/introducing-meta-business-agent-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/introducing-meta-business-agent-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/introducing-meta-business-agent-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-responds-to-customers-24-7.png" alt="" class="wp-image-482563" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-responds-to-customers-24-7.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-responds-to-customers-24-7-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-responds-to-customers-24-7-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-responds-to-customers-24-7-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></figure>



<p>Meta also confirmed enhanced discovery features that let users find businesses directly through the WhatsApp search bar. </p>



<p>If your business isn’t optimized for these native searches, you’re missing a new, high-intent search engine inside one of the world’s most popular apps.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/discover-ai-powered-businesses.png" alt="" class="wp-image-482564" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/discover-ai-powered-businesses.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/discover-ai-powered-businesses-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/discover-ai-powered-businesses-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/discover-ai-powered-businesses-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-kind-of-things-can-you-think-of">What kind of things can you think of?</h2>



<p>With Meta Business Agents, businesses can connect with potential customers far more easily. </p>



<p>For example, if someone shares a business with you on WhatsApp, you can start a conversation with that business in a single tap, provided it&#8217;s using the new feature. Or, if someone shares a restaurant, you can request directions directly within the same WhatsApp chat.</p>



<p>With the Business Agent, you can send customers updates, such as order notifications, personalize promotions, let people browse your product feed directly in WhatsApp or Instagram Direct, and complete purchases there. They may never reach your website. In this respect, Meta is following Google’s lead with similar announcements at Google Marketing Live.</p>



<p>But the Business Agent isn&#8217;t limited to ecommerce. You can also use it for lead generation, such as scheduling appointments.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">AI is only good if the data you feed it is solid</h2>



<p>Garbage in, garbage out. That applies to everything we do with AI, from data analysis to prompting. High-quality input is essential for high-quality output.</p>



<p>The Meta Business Agent learns from your Meta channels and website, but you can also provide your own data, such as pricing and inventory. You can add instructions to control its tone, decide when it’s active, and define how it represents your business and sells your products.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-works-for-you-too.png" alt="" class="wp-image-482565" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-works-for-you-too.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-works-for-you-too-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-works-for-you-too-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/business-agent-works-for-you-too-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></figure>



<p>A feature I believe will be critical to business adoption is Meta’s logical environment for controlling the agent. You can monitor active conversations, assign selected chats to a person, and provide feedback so the AI learns from those interactions.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-add-the-meta-business-agents-to-your-marketing-stack">Add the Meta Business Agents to your marketing stack</h2>



<p>As readers of <a href="https://searchengineland.com/author/lars-maat">my previous articles</a> will know, I mainly write about PPC, often alongside AI and APIs. Still, I’m incredibly enthusiastic about these developments, perhaps because of my background.</p>



<p>About 10 years ago, I worked on Messenger bots that let businesses communicate with customers through Facebook Messenger. That’s still possible, but it has taken a back seat in recent years. This addition makes implementation much easier for businesses, with enormous potential for reach, given the continued scale of Meta’s platforms despite the rise of competitors.</p>



<p>What an unprecedentedly fast-moving world we live in. We’ve gone from buying products in physical stores to purchasing through websites — and now to buying with a single click in WhatsApp or Google, precisely when your system identifies the best time based on price.</p>



<p>Alongside optimizing SEO and PPC campaigns and improving visibility in AI Overviews, this may be the next priority for your work.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-about-meta-conversations">About Meta Conversations</h2>



<p>As the flagship event for Meta’s business messaging ecosystem, Conversations has grown from a niche developer gathering into a key event shaping digital marketing’s future. Alongside the better-known Meta Connect, it’s an annual invite-only event where Meta unveils its roadmap for WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct.</p>


I recently attended: Meta Conversations 2026 in London. This year’s event focused more than ever on commercializing messaging products — from helping companies contact potential customers quickly and easily to helping consumers connect with businesses they may want to buy from.
The keynote centered on one disruptive announcement: the launch of the Meta Business Agent. 
Meta is moving beyond basic chatbots to give businesses enterprise-grade, autonomous AI agents that can handle complex daily operations.
Unlike rule-based chatbots, these agents understand context, manage multi-turn conversations, and maintain brand voice across languages. 
In live demonstrations, I saw agents answer support tickets, qualify leads, check real-time inventory through API integrations, and guide users through checkout — all within a single WhatsApp thread.








Meta also confirmed enhanced discovery features that let users find businesses directly through the WhatsApp search bar. 
If your business isn’t optimized for these native searches, you’re missing a new, high-intent search engine inside one of the world’s most popular apps.




What kind of things can you think of?
With Meta Business Agents, businesses can connect with potential customers far more easily. 
For example, if someone shares a business with you on WhatsApp, you can start a conversation with that business in a single tap, provided it’s using the new feature. Or, if someone shares a restaurant, you can request directions directly within the same WhatsApp chat.
With the Business Agent, you can send customers updates, such as order notifications, personalize promotions, let people browse your product feed directly in WhatsApp or Instagram Direct, and complete purchases there. They may never reach your website. In this respect, Meta is following Google’s lead with similar announcements at Google Marketing Live.
But the Business Agent isn’t limited to ecommerce. You can also use it for lead generation, such as scheduling appointments.
AI is only good if the data you feed it is solid
Garbage in, garbage out. That applies to everything we do with AI, from data analysis to prompting. High-quality input is essential for high-quality output.
The Meta Business Agent learns from your Meta channels and website, but you can also provide your own data, such as pricing and inventory. You can add instructions to control its tone, decide when it’s active, and define how it represents your business and sells your products.




A feature I believe will be critical to business adoption is Meta’s logical environment for controlling the agent. You can monitor active conversations, assign selected chats to a person, and provide feedback so the AI learns from those interactions.
Add the Meta Business Agents to your marketing stack
As readers of my previous articles will know, I mainly write about PPC, often alongside AI and APIs. Still, I’m incredibly enthusiastic about these developments, perhaps because of my background.
About 10 years ago, I worked on Messenger bots that let businesses communicate with customers through Facebook Messenger. That’s still possible, but it has taken a back seat in recent years. This addition makes implementation much easier for businesses, with enormous potential for reach, given the continued scale of Meta’s platforms despite the rise of competitors.
What an unprecedentedly fast-moving world we live in. We’ve gone from buying products in physical stores to purchasing through websites — and now to buying with a single click in WhatsApp or Google, precisely when your system identifies the best time based on price.
Alongside optimizing SEO and PPC campaigns and improving visibility in AI Overviews, this may be the next priority for your work.
About Meta Conversations
As the flagship event for Meta’s business messaging ecosystem, Conversations has grown from a niche developer gathering into a key event shaping digital marketing’s future. Alongside the better-known Meta Connect, it’s an annual invite-only event where Meta unveils its roadmap for WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct.

What if customers never reach your website? See how Meta’s AI agents turn messaging into a powerful sales and service channel.

Meta Business Agents are here. Marketers should pay attention

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to tell if Google Ads automation helps or hurts your campaigns" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google has expanded PMax product reporting to include all eligible networks, resulting in a one-time increase in reported metrics.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to tell if Google Ads automation helps or hurts your campaigns" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/08/How-to-tell-if-Google-Ads-automation-helps-or-hurts-your-campaigns-1536x864.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google broadened Performance Max product-level reporting to include data from all eligible networks, giving advertisers a more complete view of campaign performance—but also causing a one-time jump in key metrics for many accounts.</p>



<p><strong>What&#8217;s happening</strong>. As of June 15th, Google updated product reporting for Performance Max campaigns so metrics are no longer limited to Search network activity.</p>



<p>The updated reports now include product performance data across:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>All Performance Max networks</li>



<li>Video campaigns</li>



<li>App campaigns</li>



<li>Demand Gen campaigns (where applicable through Google Merchant Center)</li>
</ul>



<p>Previously, metrics such as cost and conversions reflected only products served on Search networks and Standard Shopping campaigns.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care</strong>. Advertisers may notice sudden increases in impressions, clicks and other metrics, even if campaign performance hasn&#8217;t actually changed. The shift reflects a broader reporting scope rather than improved results.</p>



<p><strong>Between the lines</strong>. The update addresses a long-standing reporting limitation by giving advertisers a more comprehensive view of how products perform across Google&#8217;s inventory. At the same time, it complicates historical comparisons, as pre- and post-update reports aren&#8217;t directly comparable.</p>



<p><strong>What advertisers should do:</strong> When analysing Performance Max data:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Use the Network (with search partners) filter to break down where activity is coming from.</li>



<li>Add context to month-over-month reports, as reporting changes—not campaign performance—may explain sudden spikes.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>The bottom line</strong>. Google&#8217;s expanded Performance Max reporting offers a more complete picture of product performance across its advertising ecosystem, but advertisers should treat recent reporting increases as a measurement change rather than a performance improvement.</p>



<p><strong>First spotted</strong>. The update <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bia-camargo_google-is-changing-how-performance-max-product-share-7479789001655087104-xDan/">was highlighted</a> by Google Ads specialist Bia Camargo, who shared Google&#8217;s notice and warned advertisers to prepare clients for reporting changes that may look like performance gains but are actually the result of expanded measurement.</p>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/analytics/traffic/paid-search?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0102ppc&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>
    
    <div>
      
      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Every click they win is <span>a customer you lose</span>.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        See where competitors are investing, which keywords drive their results, and how to capture more of the market.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">See who’s stealing your traffic</span>
    </div>
    </div>
    </a>



Google broadened Performance Max product-level reporting to include data from all eligible networks, giving advertisers a more complete view of campaign performance—but also causing a one-time jump in key metrics for many accounts.
What’s happening. As of June 15th, Google updated product reporting for Performance Max campaigns so metrics are no longer limited to Search network activity.
The updated reports now include product performance data across:
All Performance Max networks
Video campaigns
App campaigns
Demand Gen campaigns (where applicable through Google Merchant Center)
Previously, metrics such as cost and conversions reflected only products served on Search networks and Standard Shopping campaigns.
Why we care. Advertisers may notice sudden increases in impressions, clicks and other metrics, even if campaign performance hasn’t actually changed. The shift reflects a broader reporting scope rather than improved results.
Between the lines. The update addresses a long-standing reporting limitation by giving advertisers a more comprehensive view of how products perform across Google’s inventory. At the same time, it complicates historical comparisons, as pre- and post-update reports aren’t directly comparable.
What advertisers should do: When analysing Performance Max data:
Use the Network (with search partners) filter to break down where activity is coming from.
Add context to month-over-month reports, as reporting changes—not campaign performance—may explain sudden spikes.
The bottom line. Google’s expanded Performance Max reporting offers a more complete picture of product performance across its advertising ecosystem, but advertisers should treat recent reporting increases as a measurement change rather than a performance improvement.
First spotted. The update was highlighted by Google Ads specialist Bia Camargo, who shared Google’s notice and warned advertisers to prepare clients for reporting changes that may look like performance gains but are actually the result of expanded measurement.
a customer you lose.
      
See who’s stealing your traffic

Google has expanded PMax product reporting to include all eligible networks, resulting in a one-time increase in reported metrics.

Google expands Performance Max product reporting across all networks

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Inside Google Ads’ AI-powered Shopping ecosystem: Performance Max, AI Max and more" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more-1536x864.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Google is making Local Inventory Ads the default for eligible Shopping campaigns and replacing "Local products" with a new filter.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Inside Google Ads’ AI-powered Shopping ecosystem: Performance Max, AI Max and more" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/06/Inside-Google-Ads-AI-powered-Shopping-ecosystem-Performance-Max-AI-Max-and-more-1536x864.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google is changing how Local Inventory Ads are managed in Standard Shopping campaigns, automatically enabling them by default and replacing an existing campaign setting with a new inventory filter.</p>



<p><strong>What&#8217;s happening</strong>. Google has notified advertisers that, beginning Aug. 31, Local Inventory Ads (LIAs) will be enabled by default in Shopping campaigns linked to Merchant Center accounts with the Local Inventory Ads add-on enabled.</p>



<p>As part of the update:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The &#8220;Local products&#8221; setting under Other settings will be removed.</li>



<li>Advertisers will instead manage Local Inventory Ads using the Inventory filter.</li>



<li>The filter allows campaigns to be configured using Channel = Local or Channel = Online.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care:</strong> Advertisers that currently separate budgets for online and in-store inventory could see campaign behavior change if they don&#8217;t update their settings before the deadline. Moving to the Inventory filter also centralizes how local inventory is managed, eliminating overlapping controls.</p>



<p><strong>Between the lines.</strong> Google says the change is intended to remove duplicate settings that previously controlled Local Inventory Ads. By consolidating campaign management under the Inventory filter, the company is simplifying configuration while making Local Inventory Ads the default experience for eligible Shopping campaigns.</p>



<p><strong>What advertisers should do</strong>. Advertisers using Shopping campaigns with Merchant Center&#8217;s Local Inventory Ads add-on should review their campaigns before Aug. 31st. Those that want separate budgets for online and local inventory should update the Inventory filter to use Channel = Local or Channel = Online as appropriate.</p>



<p><strong>The bottom line</strong>. Google is removing the legacy &#8220;Local products&#8221; setting and making Local Inventory Ads the default in eligible Shopping campaigns, meaning advertisers who rely on separate local and online strategies should update their campaign settings before the August deadline.</p>



<p><strong>First spotted</strong>. The change was first highlighted by PPC specialist Arpan Banerjee, who shared the notification email sent to affected Google Ads manager accounts on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7483469458448019457/">LinkedIn</a>. </p>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/gbp-optimization/start/?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0101local&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
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    <div>
      
      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Turn Google searches into <span>more calls, visits, and sales</span>.
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      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        Everything you need to manage your GBP, dominate Google Maps, and attract more customers.
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      <span id="semrush-one-cta">Connect your business</span>
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Google is changing how Local Inventory Ads are managed in Standard Shopping campaigns, automatically enabling them by default and replacing an existing campaign setting with a new inventory filter.
What’s happening. Google has notified advertisers that, beginning Aug. 31, Local Inventory Ads (LIAs) will be enabled by default in Shopping campaigns linked to Merchant Center accounts with the Local Inventory Ads add-on enabled.
As part of the update:
The “Local products” setting under Other settings will be removed.
Advertisers will instead manage Local Inventory Ads using the Inventory filter.
The filter allows campaigns to be configured using Channel = Local or Channel = Online.
Why we care: Advertisers that currently separate budgets for online and in-store inventory could see campaign behavior change if they don’t update their settings before the deadline. Moving to the Inventory filter also centralizes how local inventory is managed, eliminating overlapping controls.
Between the lines. Google says the change is intended to remove duplicate settings that previously controlled Local Inventory Ads. By consolidating campaign management under the Inventory filter, the company is simplifying configuration while making Local Inventory Ads the default experience for eligible Shopping campaigns.
What advertisers should do. Advertisers using Shopping campaigns with Merchant Center’s Local Inventory Ads add-on should review their campaigns before Aug. 31st. Those that want separate budgets for online and local inventory should update the Inventory filter to use Channel = Local or Channel = Online as appropriate.
The bottom line. Google is removing the legacy “Local products” setting and making Local Inventory Ads the default in eligible Shopping campaigns, meaning advertisers who rely on separate local and online strategies should update their campaign settings before the August deadline.
First spotted. The change was first highlighted by PPC specialist Arpan Banerjee, who shared the notification email sent to affected Google Ads manager accounts on LinkedIn. 
more calls, visits, and sales.
      
Connect your business

Google is making Local Inventory Ads the default for eligible Shopping campaigns and replacing "Local products" with a new filter.

Google changes default Local Inventory Ads behavior

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google AI Mode apps" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>U.S. users can move from planning to checkout, design or listening as Search links AI responses directly with connected services.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Google AI Mode apps" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/07/google-ai-mode-apps-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google is starting to roll out connected app integrations in AI Mode in Search, letting U.S. users link services such as Instacart, Canva, and YouTube Music to take action on AI-generated responses.</p>



<p><strong>Apps in AI Mode. </strong>Users can securely connect supported services and interact with them from AI Mode, according to Google. The integrations are meant to reduce the steps between planning a task in Search and completing it in another app, Google said.</p>



<p><strong>Initial app examples. </strong>Google highlighted examples across shopping, design, and music:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>A user planning a barbecue could connect Instacart, add ingredients to an Instacart cart, and check out through Instacart’s app or website.</li>



<li>A user working on a flyer could ask Canva to show template options. Someone planning a party could create a playlist in AI Mode, save it to YouTube Music, and start listening.</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>Google is giving users more ways to act on AI Mode results without leaving the search experience. That could affect how much traffic, visibility and control brands get after someone searches.</p>



<p><strong>More apps planned</strong>. Google said it is working with more partners and plans to add additional app integrations. The rollout gives Google a new way to connect Search activity with shopping carts, design templates, and music playlists inside AI Mode.</p>



<p><strong>The announcement. </strong><a href="https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/search/connected-apps">Connect more of your apps to Search</a>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/ai-seo/overview?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0102ai&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
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      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        If AI can’t find you, <span>customers won’t either</span>.
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       Track your visibility across AI search, uncover missed opportunities, and grow your presence where customers are asking questions.
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      <span id="semrush-one-cta">See your AI visibility</span>
    </div>
    </div>
    </a>



Google is starting to roll out connected app integrations in AI Mode in Search, letting U.S. users link services such as Instacart, Canva, and YouTube Music to take action on AI-generated responses.
Apps in AI Mode. Users can securely connect supported services and interact with them from AI Mode, according to Google. The integrations are meant to reduce the steps between planning a task in Search and completing it in another app, Google said.
Initial app examples. Google highlighted examples across shopping, design, and music:
A user planning a barbecue could connect Instacart, add ingredients to an Instacart cart, and check out through Instacart’s app or website.
A user working on a flyer could ask Canva to show template options. Someone planning a party could create a playlist in AI Mode, save it to YouTube Music, and start listening.
Why we care. Google is giving users more ways to act on AI Mode results without leaving the search experience. That could affect how much traffic, visibility and control brands get after someone searches.
More apps planned. Google said it is working with more partners and plans to add additional app integrations. The rollout gives Google a new way to connect Search activity with shopping carts, design templates, and music playlists inside AI Mode.
The announcement. Connect more of your apps to Search



  
customers won’t either.
      
See your AI visibility

U.S. users can move from planning to checkout, design or listening as Search links AI responses directly with connected services.

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Read the Latest Trends and Headlines in Digital Marketing.

Here are some of the latest headlines on digital marketing insights, search, and ecommerce:

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