Google Ads is expanding its channel performance report to include standard Search and Shopping campaigns in 2027, giving advertisers a clearer picture of where their ads actually appear across Google’s surfaces. Along with this, Google is changing how placement codes work, replacing the legacy ‘x’ code with dedicated codes for Maps, Gmail and Discover.
If you run Google Ads for your business, this matters more than it sounds. The channel report was previously limited to Performance Max, which meant you could see where PMax delivered your ads but not how your Search and Shopping campaigns distributed across Google’s surfaces. That blind spot is closing.
What the Channel Performance Report Shows
According to PPC News Feed’s report on November 4, 2026, the expanded report will let Search and Shopping advertisers see performance broken down by channel: Search, Display Network, YouTube, Discover, Maps, Gmail and Search partners. Previously, if you ran a standard Search campaign, you could see overall performance but not how much of your spend went to Google Maps placements versus regular Search results.
For local businesses, the Maps channel breakdown is the most interesting one. If your Search campaigns appear on Google Maps, and they probably do if you have location extensions enabled, you have never been able to separate Maps performance from Search performance in a standard report. Starting in 2027, you will.
New Placement Codes: What Changes
Google is replacing the legacy ‘x’ placement code with specific codes for each surface. The new codes include ‘m’ for Maps, ‘gm’ for Gmail, and ‘dsc’ for Discover. This sounds technical, but it has a practical impact on anyone using third-party analytics tools.
If you use GA4, a CRM, or any analytics platform that reads Google Ads placement data, the change in coding means your reports may break or show unknown values until your tool provider updates their parsing. Google has documented the new codes in their help page, so share that with your analytics vendor or whoever manages your tracking.
For advertisers who only use Google Ads’ native reports, the change is invisible. Google handles the mapping internally. The disruption is for external tools that need to interpret the raw placement data.
Why This Matters for Local Businesses
If you run Google Ads for a local business in Chandigarh, Mohali or anywhere in India, you are probably spending a meaningful portion of your budget on location-based queries. Someone searches for your service on Google Maps, sees your ad, and clicks through. Until now, that click looked like a regular Search click in your reports.
With the expanded channel report, you will be able to see:
- How much of your Search budget goes to Maps placements versus Search results
- Whether Maps clicks convert better or worse than regular Search clicks
- Which campaigns are actually reaching customers on Google Maps, and which are not
This data should change how you allocate budget. If Maps clicks convert at 2x the rate of regular Search clicks for your business, you might shift more budget to campaigns with strong Maps performance. If Maps clicks are expensive and do not convert, you can adjust location extensions or campaign settings to reduce wasted spend.
What to Do Before the Report Arrives
The report comes in 2027, but there are things you can do now to be ready:
- Audit your location extensions. Make sure your Google Business Profile is linked to your Google Ads account and that location extensions are active on the campaigns where Maps visibility matters.
- Check your tracking setup. If you use GA4 or a CRM, contact your analytics vendor about the new placement codes. Make sure they will parse ‘m’, ‘gm’ and ‘dsc’ correctly when the change takes effect.
- Tag your campaigns clearly. When the channel report arrives, you want to be able to compare campaigns side by side. Clear naming conventions make that easier.
- Review your Search partners setting. The new report will show Search partners as a separate channel. If you have Search partners enabled and performance is weak there, this will be your chance to see it clearly.
Our SEM and paid ads services include full Google Ads audits, if you want help assessing your current setup before these changes land.
Google Ads Promotion Mode: A Related Change
While we are talking about Google Ads reporting changes, there is another November update worth knowing. Google documented Promotion Mode on November 4, 2026, an open beta setting for Search and Performance Max campaigns that use Target ROAS.
Promotion Mode lets you set a 3 to 14 day promotional window where your Target ROAS is temporarily lowered and an optional extra daily budget is added. When the promotion ends, both targets return to their original settings automatically. The example from The Keywordless: a campaign at 500% Target ROAS and $100 daily budget, set to a 20% tolerance and $50 budget increase, runs at 400% Target ROAS and $150 a day for the sale, then reverts.
For local businesses running Diwali, Christmas or end-of-year sales, this is a cleaner way to boost ad presence than manually adjusting bids and budgets. Just remember that lower ROAS targets mean you are accepting lower returns during the sale. That is fine if the volume makes up for it, but check your math before enabling it.
The Reporting Trend
Google has been steadily adding reporting granularity throughout 2026. The AI report in Search Console, the channel performance report expansion, and Promotion Mode all point in the same direction: Google wants advertisers to have more visibility into where their ads appear and how different surfaces perform, especially as AI Mode and Maps become bigger parts of the ad landscape.
This is good news for small advertisers. The tools that used to be available only to enterprise accounts with dedicated analytics teams are becoming standard. The businesses that use them well will outspend their competitors more efficiently, not just more aggressively.
If you want a full audit of your Google Ads setup and a plan for the 2027 reporting changes, our packages page has options for businesses of every size. Or just reach out and we will tell you what we find.