Digital Marketing Platform Updates: 24 August 2026
Three things worth your attention this week. Google dropped an AI agent directly into your Ads and Analytics accounts. Meta announced it's removing your ability to exclude ad placements entirely. And ChatGPT Ads quietly shipped conversion-optimised bidding, which means it's no longer just a novelty.
Here's what changed, why it matters, and what to do about it.
Google Ads
Ask Advisor just became an AI agent
What changed: Google expanded Ask Advisor with new agentic capabilities across both Google Ads and Google Analytics. It can now generate homepage performance summaries, build custom dashboards from natural language prompts, benchmark your campaigns against anonymised averages from similar businesses, and recommend next steps. It also connects across Google Ads, Analytics, Merchant Center, and Google Marketing Platform in a single interface. Why it matters: This is Google's clearest move toward making AI the default way you interact with your ad account. Instead of clicking through menus and building reports manually, you ask questions and get answers. The benchmarking feature is genuinely useful: for the first time, you can see how your CPA or ROAS stacks up against similar advertisers without relying on third-party estimates. The risk is over-reliance. AI summaries are helpful for spotting trends, but they flatten nuance. A "recommendation" from Google's AI will always lean toward spending more. What to do: Next time you're in Google Ads or Analytics, try Ask Advisor. Ask it something specific: "Which campaign had the biggest CPA increase this month?" or "Show me my top converting search terms." Get a feel for what it can and can't do. Use the benchmarking data as a reference point, not a target. And don't let it make changes to your campaigns automatically without reviewing them first.Google Search
August 2026 spam update completed
What changed: Google's August 2026 spam update rolled out from 18 to 21 August, taking just under three days to complete. It's the third spam update this year, following March (which took under 20 hours) and June (two days). Google didn't announce any new spam policies alongside it. Why it matters: If your organic traffic dropped between Monday and Thursday last week, this may be why. Spam updates target sites violating Google's existing spam policies: cloaking, scraped content, hidden text, link manipulation, and similar tactics. If you're running a legitimate business with original content, you're unlikely to be directly affected. That said, spam updates can shift rankings indirectly by removing competitors who were manipulating their way to the top. What to do: Check your Search Console performance for the week of 18-21 August. If your rankings improved, it may be because spammy competitors got cleaned out. If you saw drops, review Google's spam policies and make sure nothing on your site could be flagged. Pay particular attention to auto-generated content that adds no original value, which has been a focus area for Google's spam team all year.Meta Ads
Meta is removing placement exclusion controls
What changed: Meta announced it will remove the ability for advertisers to exclude individual ad placements, entire platforms, devices, and operating systems from ad sets in Ads Manager. The first visible step: Messenger Stories will be permanently removed as a placement on 27 August. Messenger Inbox ads follow on 11 November. The broader removal of all exclusion controls hasn't been given a firm date yet, but it's coming. Why it matters: This is a significant shift. Currently, you can exclude placements you know perform poorly for your business (Audience Network, right column, Messenger). Once this change rolls out, Meta's algorithm decides where your ads appear, full stop. Meta frames this as "letting the algorithm optimise delivery." For most SME advertisers using Advantage+ campaigns, this is already the reality. But for advertisers who have carefully tested and excluded underperforming placements, it removes a layer of control that directly affects cost efficiency. What to do: For now, your existing placement exclusions still work. But start preparing. Review your placement-level performance data while you still have it. If certain placements consistently underperform, document it. When the exclusions are removed, your main levers will be account-level controls, creative strategy (making ads that work across placements), and value rules. If you're running Messenger Stories ads, migrate that creative before 27 August, as delivery will be automatically redistributed after that date.AI creative suite: "brand memory" and auto-translation
What changed: Meta announced an expanded AI creative suite built around a feature called "brand memory." It learns from your existing ads to keep AI-generated creative on-brand. Alongside it: text-on-media translation in five languages, AI video voiceover in eleven languages, and an in-platform creative approval workflow currently in testing. Why it matters: This builds on last week's change where Meta started rewriting text on ad images. "Brand memory" is Meta's answer to the obvious concern: if AI is going to modify your creative, it should at least sound like your brand. Whether it actually does remains to be seen. The translation and voiceover tools could be useful for Australian businesses targeting multicultural audiences or testing international markets without commissioning new creative. What to do: Nothing immediate. These features are rolling out progressively. When brand memory becomes available in your account, feed it your best-performing ads so it has strong examples to learn from. If you set up branding guidelines in Ads Manager last week (restricted words, approved tone), those will help keep AI-generated variations in line. Keep reviewing what Meta generates before it goes live.Other Platforms
ChatGPT Ads ships conversion bidding and product carousels
What changed: OpenAI rolled out three notable updates to ChatGPT Ads. First, product feed campaigns now support conversion-optimised cost-per-click (oCPC) bidding in beta, so you can optimise toward conversions while still paying per click. Second, a multi-product carousel format is in testing, pulling products directly from your feed into a single ad unit. Third, Automatic Advanced Matching (AAM) became the default for all new web pixels on 17 August and will auto-enable for existing pixels unless you opt out. Why it matters: ChatGPT Ads has been interesting but limited. CPC-only bidding meant you were paying for clicks with no conversion optimisation, which made it hard to justify real budget. oCPC changes that equation. If you've been watching from the sidelines, this is the update that makes ChatGPT Ads worth testing for lead generation and ecommerce. The carousel format is a clear play for shopping advertisers. And AAM defaulting on means better conversion tracking out of the box, but also more data flowing to OpenAI. What to do: If you're already running ChatGPT Ads with a product feed, you can clone existing CPC campaigns into oCPC. Worth testing with a small budget to see how conversion rates compare. If you're not on the platform yet but curious, the oCPC beta makes this a better entry point than we've had previously. On the AAM front, if you have privacy concerns about additional data matching, check your pixel settings and opt out before it auto-enables on your existing pixels.The Takeaway
Meta removing placement exclusion controls is the biggest strategic shift this week. It's not urgent today, but it signals where things are heading: less manual control, more algorithmic decision-making. Start documenting your placement performance now while you still have the data.
Further Reading
- Google's Ask Advisor AI agent capabilities - Search Engine Land's coverage of the new agentic features
- Google August 2026 spam update complete - Timeline and details of the three-day rollout
- Meta removing placement controls from ad sets - Jon Loomer's breakdown of what's changing and when
- Meta Ads August 2026 changelog - Full list of Meta changes for media buyers
- ChatGPT Ads oCPC, carousels, and AAM - Search Engine Land's coverage of OpenAI's advertising expansion
Dream Outcome is an Australian digital marketing agency helping SMEs grow through Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Email Marketing.