Google brings channel definitions to Search and Shopping in 2027

The Performance Max report’s breakdown of where ads ran reaches standard campaigns next year, and new placement codes split out Maps, Gmail and Discover.

By Alexandre S. 9 Nov 2026, 04:30 UTC

Google has named the year for the next step for its channel report. Performance Max is Google’s campaign type that places ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from one budget, and its help page defining Performance Max channels, the surfaces where an ad was served, now says those definitions reach standard Search and Shopping reports in 2027, Search Engine Roundtable reported on Thursday 5 November 2026.

For now the definitions show in the Performance Max and Demand Gen channel reports, Google’s help page says. One channel can hold several formats, so the YouTube channel counts video, text, image and product ads that run there. The Display channel covers 2 million websites and apps and leaves out Gmail and YouTube, which get their own lines.

Placement codes, the short labels that mark where an ad ran, are changing too, PPC News Feed reports. The legacy code x gives way to m for Maps, gm for Gmail and dsc for Discover. PPC News Feed advises updating filters in GA4 (Google Analytics) or a CRM (customer database) so that this traffic keeps its right label.

Our AI media buyer guide, checked 6 November, describes Performance Max as a campaign with no approval step, where budget flows towards the best placements.

With no approval step, the channel report is where you see where that budget went, and the new codes break it out by surface. A filter that still sorts on the old x code files Maps, Gmail and Discover traffic in the wrong bucket.

Google brings channel definitions to Search and Shopping in 2027

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More AI news from 9 November 2026