For digital advertisers, staying ahead of the curve with constant ad platform updates is crucial for maximizing performance. However, with the sheer volume of changes from giants like Google and Meta in 2023 alone, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. over thirty Google Ads announcements and updates this year (not even counting Google Marketing Live), coupled with Meta’s continuous tweaks to Facebook and Instagram ads, make it a real challenge to keep up. Sifting through the noise to find updates relevant to your business takes time and can leave you feeling like this:

To help you navigate these changes, we’ll break down the most significant announcements from Google and Meta this year.

Key Google Ads News and Updates in 2023

Here are eight essential Google Ads updates you shouldn’t miss:

1. Google Ads Transparency Center Launches

Early this year, Google launched the launch of the Transparency Center, improving transparency for users by offering insights into the ads they encounter across Google’s platforms. This echoes similar tools from TikTok and Facebook, allowing users to see more ads from a specific advertiser or brand and understand who published them.

Beyond benefiting consumers, the Transparency Center lets advertisers analyze their competitors’ ad strategies and gather inspiration from major brands.

Need deeper insights into your industry competitors beyond the Ads Transparency Center? Explore our latest Google Ads industry benchmarks report!

2. Google Ads Phasing Out Most Attribution Models

After heavily promoting data-driven attribution in recent years, Google is now announced they’re retiring all models, with the exception of last-click and data-driven models. They cite low adoption rates for other models as the reason.

Consequently, from September 2023 onwards, conversion actions using first-click, linear, position-based, or time decay attribution will automatically transition to the data-driven model.

3. Brand Restrictions for Search and Performance Max Campaigns

Brand advertising is paramount, and controlling where your ads appear is essential. Google now offers brand restrictions for Search and brand lists for Performance Max campaigns.

This allows Performance Max campaigns to avoid bidding on brand terms, focusing instead on new customer acquisition. In Search campaigns, brand lists refine ad targeting, ensuring ads align with specific brands rather than loosely related queries. Leveraging these new features is recommended if you use Search advertising for brand keywords or run Performance Max campaigns.

4. Automated Asset Creation

Expanding its automation toolkit, Google introduced a feature in this Google Ads announcement that automatically generates headlines and descriptions for existing Responsive Search Ads, drawing on its experience with Dynamic Search Ads and Recommendations.

This opt-in feature, manageable at the campaign level, can be enabled if you find Google’s text suggestions in other areas of your account valuable.

5. Bidding for New Customers Only

To prioritize new customer acquisition, Google rolled out Google released as a campaign goal. This feature combines smart bidding strategies with your customer data to either avoid known users or bid more aggressively for new ones, maximizing your reach and share of voice. If your focus is on new business growth, this tool is worth exploring.

Could your bidding strategy be inflating your Google Ads expenditure? Analyze your campaigns with our free Google Ads Grader.

6. Discovery Campaigns Merging into Demand Gen

In a significant shift, Google is what’s happening to Discovery campaigns. While still in early stages, indications suggest that Demand Gen campaigns will be more robust than Discovery campaigns, offering a wider array of creative formats and expanded reach with new audience options. Advertisers can join the Demand Gen beta in August and September 2023, with all existing Discovery Ads campaigns migrating automatically by October.

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7. Performance Max Updates

Google continues its heavy investment in Google Ads continues to show, with recent updates focusing on enhancing advertiser control. These updates introduce options for better video creation, experiment capabilities to assess PMax effectiveness, page feeds, and more. If you’ve been using Performance Max or hesitated due to limited control, these updates might change your mind.

8. Google Antitrust Trial Reveals Insights into Ad Pricing

During its antitrust trial, where Google faces scrutiny for potential search engine market monopolization, the company admitted to increasing the cost of some search ad queries “frequently” without always informing advertisers. Some queries saw price hikes of up to 5%, with the average advertiser experiencing a 10% increase. This revelation, coupled with data from nexus-security’s Google Ads benchmarks showing a widespread year-over-year cost-per-click increase, suggests a potential reason behind rising ad costs. Read more from Search Engine Land

Rather than simply increasing your budget, see this as an opportunity to outsmart the system. Focus on strategies like ad copy testing to improve relevance, engagement, and conversion performance. This can lead to improved ad scores and, ultimately, better revenue outcomes. Remember, while Google aims for revenue, delivering quality results to users remains crucial.

Meta’s Top Advertising Updates for 2023

Let’s dive into the seven most important Meta advertising updates you should be aware of as we head into the latter part of 2023 and into 2024.

1. Meta Certified Company Program

Taking a leaf out of Google’s book, Meta now offers the launched the Certified Company Program, enabling organizations to showcase their Meta platform expertise.

Achieving certification involves a certain number of individuals within the organization passing the Meta Blueprint courses. This program offers a valuable way to highlight your team’s expertise or assess the skills of individual members.

2. Introducing the “Performance 5” from Facebook

This announcement is more strategic than functional. Facebook this post, encouraging advertisers to adopt them.

While presented as “actionable best practices” for growth during the holiday season, understanding the platform’s preferred strategies offers valuable insights. It’s likely that Facebook’s future tools and features will align with these strategies, making them essential to understand for long-term success.

Is your account hitting all the right notes? Evaluate its performance with our free Facebook Ads Grader.

3. Lead Generation Form Enhancements

Lead generation forms received a significant upgrade in early 2023. They now offer now offer conditional logic, dynamically adjusting based on user responses.

This is a game-changer for improving lead quality. By tailoring questions based on previous answers, businesses can filter out low-quality leads, saving sales teams time and frustration.

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4. Reels Get Updates and Expansions

Facebook has rolled out several Reels updates. Firstly, advertisers can now target audiences on Instagram via Reels, expanding reach across the Meta ecosystem. Secondly, AR ads are now available via Reels, providing new ways to engage users. These updates underscore Meta’s ongoing investment in Reels, signaling its growing importance as an advertising placement.

5. The AI Sandbox Emerges

Creative quality is crucial on Facebook. With the launch of Facebook’s AI Sandbox, Meta leverages AI to assist with ad creation. Advertisers can now generate ads by simply inputting text.

While not a revolutionary solution for all, this highlights Facebook’s direction regarding ad creation. AI is poised to play a larger role in the future, making it a trend worth watching.

6. Tailored Campaigns Roll Out

Navigating Facebook’s complex ad platform can be challenging. Facebook Ads is rolling out Tailored Campaigns,, simplifying campaign management. These campaigns pre-configure common settings for bidding strategies, placements, and more, while still allowing control over audiences and creatives. Overall, this is one of the better semi-automated campaign solutions available across self-serve ad platforms.

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7. Brand Suitability and Content Control Improvements

Facebook and Instagram’s vast content landscape sometimes includes unsuitable material that brands wouldn’t want to be associated with. To address this, Meta announced, allowing greater control over the types of content their ads appear alongside. If you’re concerned about your brand’s image in relation to surrounding content, exploring these controls is recommended.

What These Google and Facebook Updates Mean for Your Business

Beyond individual updates, recognizing overarching trends is crucial. Automation remains a key driver, but privacy is equally important. Both Google and Meta are striving for a more transparent internet for both advertisers and users.

Staying informed about these trends ensures you can adapt to platform changes that impact your business.

To recap, here are the key takeaways from Google Ads:

1. Launch of Google Ads Transparency Center
2. Google Ads phasing out most attribution models
3. Brand restrictions for Search and Performance Max
4. Automated asset creation
5. Bids for new customers only
6. Discovery campaigns merging into Demand Gen
7. Performance Max updates
8. Developments on ad pricing from Google’s antitrust trial

And here are the key takeaways from Meta Ads:

1. Meta Certified Company Program
2. Facebook announces the “performance 5”
3. Lead generation form updates
4. Updates and expansions for Reels
5. Introducing the AI Sandbox
6. Tailored Campaigns are rolling out
7. Brand suitability and content controls