Google’s announcement on enhancing transparency and control in PerformanceMax is certainly a step in the right direction, yet it is important to recognize its limitations. This development seems more like a measured response to the frustration voiced by advertisers following the Adalytics report, rather than a comprehensive solution.

Google declared two updates:

• Impression level placement reporting for Search Partners, YouTube and display
• Permanent opt-outs for these at the account level

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While these sound great, they are not game-changing. For instance, impression level placement reporting does NOT include crucial performance metrics like Clicks, Cost, Conv. Value, etc. It tells you where and how many times your ad appeared, but not how well it performed or what it cost.

Second, this is only for Search Partner Networks, YouTube and Display within Performance Max, which is where Google has been found to be making placements that violated advertiser’s brand safety exclusions.

Further, it is rare that Search Partners provides value to advertisers at all. Our consistent advice to clients has been to opt out of Search Partners in traditional search, and this stance extends to Performance Max as well.

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3 steps advertisers should take:

• Opt out of Search Partners. Entirely, and for all pertinent campaign types
• Closely examine PerformanceMax placement reports for YouTube and display, especially in comparison to existing brand safety exclusion lists, and vigorously enact account level opt-outs for all low quality or dubious content domains
• Even after enacting account level opt-outs, recheck placement reports on a monthly basis to ensure that Google complies with the exclusions

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Google is updating its ad controls in response to a report highlighting ads on inappropriate sites. This move enhances transparency in its $175 billion search business, introducing detailed reporting for the Performance Max platform from March 4.

The company's new policies offer broader controls for ad campaigns, allowing advertisers to opt out of search partner sites. This follows an earlier opt-out feature added after the revealing report.

Reacting to advertiser feedback, Google is improving oversight, including more rigorous compliance checks. The changes address concerns about ads appearing on unsuitable sites, although the specifics of manual review are not detailed.