You can finally cap what Search partners and Display spend

Google added a way to tell your campaigns which places to spend money first, and how much the rest may have. If you've ever found a chunk of your Search budget quietly going to websites you've never heard of, this is the fix you were waiting for.

What changed

On October 14, Google announced two new controls, rolling out over the coming months to Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns:

• Channel prioritization. You mark each channel "High priority" or "Low priority." High-priority channels get funded first, and whatever budget is left goes to the low-priority ones. For Search campaigns, the three channels are Google Search, Search partners (other sites that show Google search ads) and the Google Display Network (banner ads across millions of websites).
• Budget allocation. For a low-priority channel, you can set the most it may spend as a percentage of your daily budget. Google calls it a best-effort limit, so treat it as a strong suggestion, not a hard wall.

There's also a date to remember. In February 2027, for Search campaigns that have the Display Network switched on, Google will remove the current way spend is split, and your spending across channels may shift. Google says that to keep things as they are, you can set Display to "Low priority" with a 50% allocation.

What it means for you

Many small business accounts have Search campaigns with Search partners and Display ticked, because that's how the campaign was set up years ago. The trouble is that a click on a partner site or a banner is usually worth less than a click from someone searching "emergency plumber near me", yet it's paid from the same budget.

Until now your options were all or nothing: keep them on and hope, or switch them off and never find out if they'd work. Now there's a middle setting.

If you only run Google Search in your Search campaigns, nothing changes for you. If you use target CPA or target ROAS (bidding where you tell Google a target cost per customer or return), note Google's own caveat: when the campaign isn't short on budget, the priority setting alone usually won't change much, and the percentage cap is the setting that matters.

What to do

1. Check your networks. In each Search campaign, open Settings > Networks and see whether Search partners and the Display Network are ticked.
2. Look at where the money went. In your campaign report, segment by network to compare cost and conversions for Google Search, Search partners and Display over the last 90 days.
3. When the new controls reach your account, set Google Search to High priority. Set Search partners and Display to Low priority with a modest cap, say 10–20% of the daily budget, if you want to keep testing them.
4. If Display has never produced a lead for you, switch it off in the campaign rather than capping it.
5. Put February 2027 in your calendar if any Search campaign still has Display on, so the spending shift doesn't surprise you.