Google made several changes to the about merchant loyalty program within the Google Merchant Center help documentation. The key changes are that Loyalty Customer Match expanded to AI Mode and Gemini and to more regions, but there are even more changes noted in the help documentation.
Google Local Service Ads seems to hide the phone number until you hover your mouse over the ad. I am not sure if this is new or not, but there is a big button that says “Get phone number” which is not needed because the phone number does show up as soon as you move your mouse near the ad.
Google Ads may have a bug or maybe it is testing, not showing images on sponsored product results. You can see from the screenshot below, the images that are generally shown above the ad titles and descriptions are missing from the Sponsored products carousel in Google Search.
Google Ads show up a lot within AI Mode these days and with that, Google is testing various ad formats to see which formats get the highest click-through rate (unlike links in AI Mode).
Google Ads will update its business name policy to allow some advertisers to use a business name that differs from the ad’s destination domain. This is limited to certain cases, specifically three cases and it also excludes advertisers who are not the direct verified brand.
There seems to be a bug with Google Local Service Ads showing ads from advertisers who are not targeting specific locations. With Local Service Ads, an advertiser can say they serve a specific city or location, but Google seems to be showing ads from advertisers who do not serve in those locations.
Google is testing making the sponsored products search results block or grid look more like the organic products/shopping grid. Instead of showing a long carousel of products across the top or on the right, this shows a product grid format we are more accustomed to for the free product listings.
Google has updated several Google Merchant Center policy documents late last week.
Google has completely revamped the Google Merchant Center API help document page. It was previously named “API access to Merchant Center” and was renamed to “Google Merchant Center API.” Plus, the content on the page has been completely rewritten and expanded.
Google seems to have made a change in which phone number they use for tracking calls, even when you tell Google to use the Google Ads number, it is still using the Google Business Profiles phone number. I am told this is a confirmed change and Google still has not changed it back, and it is unclear if Google will change it back.