Turn Google’s 2025 shifts into real PPC growth in 2026

What if next year’s biggest PPC wins are hiding in this year’s recap? Here’s how to turn the themes from 2025 into a simple plan you can actually run.

Here’s What You Need to Know

AI did not just add shiny features. It reshaped where ads can show, how automation learns, and how you measure value across the journey.

Three shifts stood out. New search and conversational surfaces opened earlier touchpoints. Video and shopping formats kept compounding reach and intent. And measurement got a little closer to truth, especially for iOS and cross surface paths.

Why This Actually Matters

Reach is moving earlier in the journey and deeper into visual and conversational moments. If you only optimize for last click lower funnel, you’ll pay more for shrinking real estate.

Automation is no longer all or nothing. You have more reporting, more switches, and more ways to guide it. Teams that feed better signals, flex targets when it helps, and protect brand basics will pull ahead.

Measurement is catching up. Web to app paths on iOS, cleaner placement reporting, and easier data consolidation mean you can finally connect more dots and fund what truly grows revenue.

How to Make This Work for You

1. Map the new surfaces to intent
   List where you can show up today across search summaries, conversational answers, video on the big screen, shopping feeds, and partner inventory. For each surface, pick a single job to be done. Discovery, education, or conversion assist. Then align creative and bids to that job.
2. Target flexibility where it pays
   Run a two cell test for two to four weeks. Cell A holds your current ROAS or CPA target. Cell B uses a more flexible target or range to unlock new queries. In 2025, flexible targets correlated with an average 18 percent increase in unique converting query categories and a 19 percent lift in conversions. Your mileage will vary, so judge it on incremental profit, not just volume.
3. Build a real mid funnel plan
   Use conversational placements and video to explain choices, compare options, and plant reasons to believe. Rotate creative that answers common objections. Cap frequency, sequence messages, and measure assisted conversions and view based influence, not only last click.
4. Creative velocity as a growth lever
   Ship more variations, faster. Aim for 5 to 10 net new assets per product or audience each month. Mix short video, lifestyle, product close ups, and creator led frames. Use in platform previews to align stakeholders and cut review cycles from weeks to days. Track which angles win by audience and by surface.
5. Guide automation with guardrails
   Use negative lists, query themes, device and demographic controls, and channel level reporting to prune waste and protect brand terms. Review search terms, placements, and audience splits weekly. Keep what shows intent, cut what does not, and feed back high value signals.
6. Close the loop on measurement
   For app flows, enable web to app measurement on iOS so installs and in app actions tie back to upstream campaigns. For all flows, define value based conversions that match profit, not just form fills or installs. Calibrate modeled conversions, log every test in a shared sheet, and run a quarterly lift or MMM read so you are steering with reality, not only platform reports.

What to Watch For

• Incremental results, not just blended totals Track incremental conversions and cost per incremental conversion for each new surface you add.
• Query quality and breadth Watch unique converting query categories and the share of spend on high intent terms when you loosen targets.
• Mid funnel efficiency Monitor conversions per dollar from awareness and consideration formats. Providers cited a 26 percent increase per dollar in 2025 for certain mid funnel setups. Use that as context, not a promise.
• Automation mix Break out performance by channel inside automated campaigns. If one surface carries results, reweight budgets or tighten exclusions.
• Attribution health Check the share of modeled conversions, lag time from click or view to conversion, and alignment between platform lift and independent measurement reads.
• Creative impact Track view to site visits, click to add to cart, and first 3 second hold on video. Flag fatigue when win rates drop for two weeks in a row.

Your Next Move

Pick one lever to test in the next two weeks. Either loosen targets in a controlled cell, or stand up one mid funnel sequence with three fresh creatives. Set a baseline this week, run the change next week, and only judge it on incremental conversions, query quality, and net profit.

Want to Go Deeper?

Schedule a half day working session with your team. Map your surfaces to intent, rank your biggest measurement gaps, and set a quarterly test plan with clear gates. The bottom line, when you pair better signals with faster creative and tighter guardrails, automation works for you, not the other way around.