Manage Ads 360 in New Search&Display

Nigson Revenue

— 2 min read

The advertising landscape of 2026 has shifted from manual management to "AI-driven orchestration." Managing Search Ads 360 (SA360) within the new Search and Display ecosystem—which now includes AI Max and integrated Demand Gen—requires a strategy that prioritizes data quality over granular bid tweaks.

Below is an overview of how to navigate this high-automation environment.

1. The "Manager of Managers": Unified Architecture

In 2026, the "New Search Ads 360" is no longer just a reporting layer; it is an enterprise engine built on the same infrastructure as Google Ads. This means instant parity for features like Performance Max (PMax) and AI Max.

  • Hierarchy Shift: The legacy "Agency/Advertiser" labels are gone, replaced by Manager and Sub-Manager levels. This allows for cross-advertiser rules—for example, pausing all "Winter Sale" ads across five different brands with a single command.
  • Cross-Engine Parity: SA360 now brings Google-level "Auction-time Bidding" to Microsoft Advertising and Yahoo! Japan, allowing you to use Google's ML intelligence on non-Google inventory.

2. Managing the New Search: From Keywords to "AI Max"

The "New Search" experience in 2026 is dominated by AI Max, an evolution of search campaigns that acts as a "Broad Match" on steroids.

  • Asset-Level Management: Instead of just managing keywords, your job in SA360 is now to manage Assets. You provide the "ingredients" (headlines, images, videos), and SA360’s Performance Center forecasts how different budget levels will impact the AI's ability to combine them.
  • Negative Keyword Themes: While AI Max automates targeting, SA360 provides the enterprise-level "guardrails." You can apply shared negative keyword lists across both PMax and AI Max campaigns to ensure your brand doesn't appear next to sensitive content.

3. The New Display: Demand Gen & Creative Precision

Display advertising has moved away from "passive banners" to Demand Gen campaigns that live across YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and the Display Network.

  • Deduplicated Attribution: The biggest advantage of managing Display within the 360 ecosystem is the Floodlight Tag. It ensures that if a user sees a Display ad on a news site and later searches for your brand, SA360 attributes the conversion correctly, preventing "double counting" between Google Ads and DV360.
  • Creative Experiments: Use SA360 to run automated experiments. In 2026, the system can automatically swap display creatives based on real-time "Original Conversion Value" data, favoring assets that drive high-LTV (Life Time Value) customers rather than just cheap clicks.

4. Key Workflows for 2026

FeatureManagement Action
Performance CenterReplace manual spreadsheets with AI-driven budget forecasting and "what-if" scenarios.
TemplatesUse the updated Template tool to automatically generate Search/Display ads based on your live product feed (inventory-aware advertising).
Value-Based BiddingInstead of bidding for "Leads," send profit margins or lead-score data back to SA360 to optimize for ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).

Critical 2026 Update: The Web/App Split

Starting in March 2026, SA360 (via Campaign Manager 360) has officially split Floodlight activities into separate Web and App streams. When managing your Search and Display campaigns, ensure your reporting columns are updated to reflect this, as "Total Conversions" may now be segmented by the user's device journey.

Would you like me to draft a specific implementation plan for migrating your current search campaigns into an AI Max structure within SA360?

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