Google Ads Channel Prioritisation: How UK Advertisers Should Control Search Partners and Display Spend

For years, Google Ads gave advertisers a blunt choice on Search partners and the Display Network: leave them on and accept whatever share of budget Google sent there, or switch them off. On 14 October 2026, Google announced a middle option. Channel prioritisation and budget allocation let you rank channels as high or low priority and put a daily percentage limit on the low priority ones.

Google says the controls roll out progressively from 15 October 2026 across Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns, with a February 2027 change that affects advertisers who do nothing at all.

This guide covers how Google Ads channel prioritisation works, where it does nothing, and how to set it up before peak season. At BlackFire Marketing, we manage paid media for UK and US brands, so the focus is on sales and qualified leads, not cheap clicks.

What is Google Ads channel prioritisation?

Channel prioritisation tells Google which parts of its inventory should get your budget first. A second control, budget allocation, caps how much the lower priority channels can spend.

High priority and low priority channels

Every channel can be set to one of two levels, at account, shared budget or campaign level:

• High priority: Google spends here first (within your target if you use Target CPA or Target ROAS).
• Low priority: Google spends here only after the high priority channels have been funded.

By default, every channel is set to high priority, so nothing changes in your account until someone moves a channel down.

Budget allocation for low priority channels

Once a channel is set to low priority, you can add a daily budget allocation percentage. This is calculated as a share of the campaign's average daily budget, not of what the campaign actually spends. As a simple example, a 10% allocation on a £100 average daily budget means Google aims to keep that channel at or below £10 a day.

The allocation resets every day, and unspent or overspent amounts do not carry over. Setting a low priority channel to 0% means Google will not spend there.

Which channels you can control in each campaign type

According to Google's help page on channel prioritisation and budget allocation, the options depend on campaign type:

• Search campaigns: Google Search, Search partners and the Google Display Network.
• Shopping campaigns: Google Search and Search partners.
• Performance Max campaigns: Google channels, Search partners and the Google Display Network.
• Demand Gen campaigns: Google channels and the Google Display Network. Prioritisation is available, but budget allocation is not supported for Demand Gen.

In Performance Max and Demand Gen, Google's own surfaces such as Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Discover are grouped together as "Google channels". You cannot put YouTube below Search inside Performance Max. Only Search partners and the Display Network can be ranked separately.

The catch: when prioritisation does nothing

Campaigns not limited by budget

If a campaign uses Target CPA, Target ROAS or Target CPC and is not limited by budget, Google aims to hit your target across all channels, and its help page says prioritisation has no effect. Only the budget allocation percentage still applies. So if your Smart Bidding campaigns have headroom, you need to add a percentage to move spend.

Campaigns limited by budget

On target-based bidding, high priority channels spend first and budget only shifts to low priority channels when they can convert at your target. On Maximise Conversions, Maximise Conversion Value, Maximise Clicks, Manual CPC and Target Impression Share, high priority channels spend first and the remainder goes to low priority ones.

It is a best-effort limit, not a hard cap

Google says budget allocation is not a guarantee, and spend may occasionally go over your percentage. Under Google's average daily budget rules, most campaigns can spend up to twice the average daily budget on a single day, within a monthly limit of 30.4 times the daily figure. Check the numbers weekly.

The February 2027 Display Expansion change

This part reaches advertisers who never open the new settings. From February 2027, all Search campaigns with Display Expansion switched on will move automatically to channel prioritisation and budget allocation. Spend between Google Search, Search partners and the Display Network may shift. The key points:

• To keep your current configuration, set the Display Network to low priority with a 50% daily budget allocation.
• After the change, the Display Network will no longer serve on Search campaigns using Target Impression Share.
• If you set channel priorities on a Search campaign before February 2027, the new settings apply straight away and replace the current Display Expansion behaviour on that campaign.

Our view for most UK SMEs: if nobody has checked whether Display inside your Search campaigns drives sales or qualified leads, do not just copy the 50% setting. Check the numbers first. If they do not hold up, use a much smaller allocation or run Display as its own campaign.

Search partners and Display: should you opt back in?

Google is openly pitching these controls as a way for advertisers who switched off Search partners and Display to test them again.

What Google says

In its Search Partner Network announcements, Google says that advertisers where Search partners made up at least 5% of spend typically saw an 11% uplift in conversions with volume-focused Smart Bidding in campaigns not constrained by budget. Its Display Expansion help page says Search campaigns with spare budget opted into Display Expansion can deliver up to 15% more conversions at a similar CPA. Both are Google's own figures.

Google has also tidied the network, adding site-level placement reporting for Search, Shopping and App campaigns in August 2025 and removing parked domains on 10 February 2026.

What independent research says

PPC Land reported Intelligency Group research from June 2025 that found Search partner placements delivered a 37% lower return on ad spend than Google Search. Results vary by sector and account, which is why a capped test beats a blanket on or off decision.

How we would test it

• Start low. Set Search partners to low priority with a small allocation, such as 5% to 10% of the daily budget.
• Check placements. Use the placement report to see which partner sites your ads appear on, and exclude any that look wrong for your brand.
• Judge on downstream results. For lead generation, track qualified leads and sales from partner traffic, not form fills. Our guide to lead quality versus quantity covers why.

Performance Max: what you can and cannot control

The new settings are not a full opt-out, but they do give a ranking and a percentage limit on Search partners and the Display Network. Setting either to low priority with a 0% allocation should stop spend there, although Google still calls it best effort.

Since January 2026, the Performance Max channel performance report has split out Search partner traffic for all accounts. Check that report first, then set limits based on what it shows. For the wider peak season setup, see our Black Friday marketing guide.

Total budgets, shared budgets and other limits

A few limitations will catch out busy accounts:

• Campaign total budgets: only Demand Gen supports prioritisation with a total budget. Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns on a total budget ignore the settings, which matters for fixed-length Black Friday flights.
• Shared budgets: linked campaigns must all be the same type, and the allocation treats the shared budget as one pool.
• Manager accounts: settings cannot be applied from a manager account, only in each client account or campaign.
• Tools: at launch it lives in the Google Ads interface and Search Ads 360. Google says API and Editor support is coming soon.

How to set it up

1. Go to Account settings and find the "Channel prioritisation" card.
2. Choose the campaign type (Search, Shopping, Demand Gen or Performance Max).
3. Set each channel to high or low priority, and optionally add an allocation percentage for low priority channels.
4. Save. To override this for one campaign, use the same card in that campaign's Settings.

An account default allocation applies to every eligible campaign of that type, so expect spend to shift on any campaign already spending more than that percentage on a low priority channel.

A sensible starting setup for UK SMEs

Every account is different, but this is the kind of starting point our paid media team would use before Christmas:

• Search campaigns: Google Search as high priority. Search partners as low priority with a small test allocation. Display as low priority with a small allocation, or off, unless you have evidence it drives sales.
• Shopping campaigns: Search partners as low priority with a capped test if partner traffic converts reasonably.
• Performance Max: Google channels as high priority. Set Search partners and Display based on what the channel performance report shows, not on habit.
• Record a baseline. Note spend and conversions by network before changing anything.

Review this alongside Google's other recent changes, such as automated promotions and ads in Google AI Mode, since each one shifts where budget goes.

How to tell whether it is working

Compare before and after on:

• Revenue, orders and profit, not just ROAS inside Google Ads.
• Qualified leads and closed sales, ideally through offline conversion imports.
• Cost per acquisition by network (Google Search, Search partners, Display).

If a capped test brings in sales at an acceptable cost, raise the allocation in steps. If not, drop it to 0%. See our guides on how to measure marketing ROI and scaling paid ads without doubling your budget.

It is a contrast with Meta, which has been removing placement controls. If you are weighing next year's split, see Meta Ads versus Google Ads.

FAQ

It is a Google Ads setting that lets you mark channels such as Google Search, Search partners and the Google Display Network as high or low priority. Google funds high priority channels first and sends remaining budget to low priority ones. It rolls out from 15 October 2026 for Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen.

For a low priority channel, you can add a daily percentage limit based on the campaign's average daily budget. Google aims to stay within it on a best-effort basis, so it is not a guaranteed cap. A 0% allocation stops spend on that channel. It is not available for Demand Gen.

Search campaigns with Display Expansion switched on move automatically to the new controls, and spend may shift. To keep the current setup, set the Display Network to low priority with a 50% allocation. Display will also stop serving on Search campaigns using Target Impression Share.

Not with a dedicated switch. You can set Search partners to low priority with a 0% allocation, which Google says stops spend there on a best-effort basis, and check partner results in the channel performance report.

If your campaign uses Target CPA, Target ROAS or Target CPC and is not limited by budget, prioritisation has no effect. Add a budget allocation percentage to limit low priority channels. The rollout also runs over several months, so it may not have reached your account yet.

Next step

Channel prioritisation gives UK advertisers more say over where Google spends their money, but only if it is set up properly and judged on sales. If you want a clear view of where your Google Ads budget goes today and what to change before peak season and February 2027, get in touch. Our paid media team can audit your campaigns by network and show you where spend is working and where it is leaking.