Announcing v26 of the Google Ads API

Today we are announcing the release of v26 of the Google Ads API. To use the new capabilities, you must upgrade your client libraries and client code. We've published all updated client libraries and code examples.

Come join us for a live walkthrough of this release in our "Google Ads API Release Highlights" event on Discord or our Ads Developers YouTube Live tomorrow (October 15 at 10:00 AM ET). We'll also record the walkthrough and post it on YouTube if you can't attend live.

New features

Here are the highlights of what’s new in v26:

• Streamlined EU political advertising declarations: Campaign.contains_eu_political_advertising is now optional for campaigns and Demand Gen ad groups with upgraded targeting that positively target only locations outside the European Union and contain no proximity or location group criteria. You can check whether a declaration is required using the new require_eu_political_advertising_declaration field on GeoTargetConstant, CampaignCriterion, and AdGroupCriterion.

• Vertical-agnostic travel bid modifiers: We've renamed hotel-specific AdGroupBidModifier criteria to apply consistently across travel verticals: user_set_dates (replacing hotel_date_selection_type), advance_booking_window (replacing hotel_advance_booking_window), length_of_booking with min_days and max_days (replacing hotel_length_of_stay), start_day_of_week (replacing hotel_check_in_day), and start_date_range (replacing hotel_check_in_date_range).
• Search Lift measurements: We've expanded lift measurement capabilities with support for Search Lift studies. You can now query the new read-only SearchLiftKeywordBundle resource and segment by segments.search_lift_keyword_bundle and segments.search_property. You can also analyze 15 new Search Lift metrics (including relative_search_lift, normalized_incremental_searches, and search_lift_impressions) alongside Campaign.lift_measurement_config.
• Local Services Performance Max campaign creation: You can now create Google Local Services Performance Max campaigns with the API by setting PmaxCampaignSettings.local_services_enabled (which is now settable on creation and immutable afterwards) and providing the required country_code and Google Business Profile listing_id in LocalServicesPmaxCampaignSettings. We've also added support for linking leads to campaigns, coupon lead type, and message lead conversion category.
• Unified enhanced conversions configuration: We have added Customer.enablement_setting and Customer.effective_enablement_setting to expose the unified enhanced conversions configuration for the account, replacing Customer.enhanced_conversions_for_leads_enabled.
• Shopping and Demand Gen enhancements: We've expanded Campaign.listing_type support to Shopping campaigns. CurrencyConstant now exposes the minimum budget per day for a Demand Gen campaign in a given currency.

Reminder: changes to release cadence

As announced on October 12, 2026, Google Ads API is moving to two releases per month starting with v26. This faster cadence gives your automated agents and workflows earlier access to new Google Ads features. Our release blog posts and YouTube live events will move to twice a quarter, covering key updates across several releases at once. To follow individual releases, add the Google Ads API release notes to your saved pages to receive notifications whenever they change.

Getting started

If you use our client libraries, download the latest version of your client library to start using these features. Review the official release notes for a full list of changes. If you have any questions or want to discuss this post, reach out to us on our Google Advertising and Measurement Community Discord server.

For technical support issues, reach out to the Google Ads API support channel.

 - Anash P. Oommen, Google Ads API Team