Google Ads Has Changed: What UAE Advertisers Should Do Now

The biggest Google Ads changes of recent years all point the same way: more automation, fewer manual levers, and results that depend on the quality of the data and assets you feed in. Expanded text ads can no longer be created, Performance Max runs across every Google channel from one campaign, Smart Bidding is the default, and consent mode now shapes how much you can measure. For UAE advertisers, the practical response is to fix conversion tracking first, then decide where automation earns its place.

The Google Ads changes that actually matter

Plenty of features have come and gone. These are the shifts that change how an account should be run.

Responsive search ads are the only text ad format

Google stopped allowing advertisers to create or edit expanded text ads from 30 June 2022. Old ones can still serve, but you cannot change them, so any account still relying on them is running frozen copy. Google's help page on expanded text ads confirms this and recommends moving to responsive search ads.

Writing responsive search ads that work

• Give each headline a different job. One for the service, one for a proof point, one for location, one for the next step. Ten variations of the same claim teach the system nothing.
• Pin sparingly. Pinning a headline to position one is useful for regulated wording, but heavy pinning removes the testing that makes the format worthwhile.
• Use Arabic ads where the audience searches in Arabic. Create separate ad groups or campaigns for Arabic queries rather than mixing languages in one ad.
• Check claims against policy. Healthcare, financial and real estate advertisers in the UAE should confirm wording with the relevant regulator and Google's policies before launch.

Performance Max: useful, but not a replacement for thinking

Performance Max is a goal based campaign that serves across Google's inventory from one setup. You provide conversion goals, asset groups of text, images and video, and audience signals; Google decides where and when to show ads. Google describes it as a complement to keyword based Search campaigns, not a substitute.

When it tends to suit

• Ecommerce accounts with a clean product feed and reliable purchase tracking.
• Lead generation accounts that import qualified lead data, not just raw form fills.
• Advertisers with enough creative assets, including video, to fill the formats properly.

When to hold back

• Conversion tracking is incomplete or counts low value actions.
• The budget is small and Search alone is not yet saturated.
• You need tight control over where a regulated message appears.

Use brand exclusions and account level negative keywords where available, and review the placement and search term insights Google provides. If the campaign reports strong conversions that sales cannot find, the problem is almost always the conversion goal, not the campaign type.

Broad match with Smart Bidding

Google now recommends pairing broad match with Smart Bidding, arguing that the bidding system can judge relevance auction by auction. That can work, but only when the account has good conversion signals. Broad match on an account that counts every page view or button click as a conversion will spend quickly on loosely related searches.

A sensible order of operations:

1. Get conversion tracking right, including qualified or offline outcomes where possible.
2. Run exact and phrase match with Smart Bidding until performance is stable.
3. Test broad match in a controlled experiment, comparing cost per qualified result, not cost per click.
4. Review search terms weekly during the test and add negatives as needed.

For B2B accounts, our guide to B2B PPC that brings better leads explains how to send qualified outcomes back to Google Ads so automation learns from real pipeline.

Consent mode and measurement

Consent mode passes a visitor's cookie consent choice to Google tags, which then adjust their behaviour. In the basic setup, tags wait until the visitor responds to the consent banner. In the advanced setup, tags load immediately and send limited, cookieless signals while consent is denied, which allows Google to model some of the missing conversions. Google's consent mode overview explains both.

Why it matters for UAE advertisers

If you advertise to visitors in the European Economic Area or the UK, Google's EU user consent policy requires consent signals for certain ad features; confirm the current requirements with Google. Within the UAE, the Personal Data Protection Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021) sets general rules on processing personal data, and businesses in the DIFC or ADGM have their own data protection regimes. Check with counsel which apply to your tracking and audience lists.

In practice, many UAE sites have a consent banner that does not talk to Google tags at all, so measurement is either over collected or under reported. Testing the banner with tag diagnostics is a quick win.

Landing pages carry more weight than before

With fewer manual controls, the remaining levers are your assets and your landing pages. Automated campaigns will send traffic to mobile users on varied connections, and a slow or confusing page wastes that traffic regardless of how well the campaign is built. Check loading speed, form usability on phones and whether the page matches the search intent of the ad group. Google's generative search features are also changing how people arrive at sites; our piece on what changed in Google search covers the organic side.

A checklist for UAE accounts today

• Replace any remaining expanded text ads with responsive search ads, in English and Arabic where relevant.
• Audit conversion actions: remove page views and micro actions from the primary goal.
• Confirm that GA4 key events and Google Ads conversions are not double counted.
• Connect the consent banner to consent mode and test it.
• Import qualified or offline conversions for lead generation accounts.
• Set location targeting to people in your target emirates, not people interested in them, unless you sell to visitors.
• Run Performance Max and broad match as experiments with clear success measures.
• Review search terms and placement insights at least weekly.
• Test landing page speed and mobile forms.

For how paid search fits a wider channel plan, see our notes on Instagram marketing in the UAE and on audio ads in the media mix.

Getting your account ready for the current Google Ads

Codeeo's digital marketing and SEO team manages paid search alongside the tracking and landing pages that automated campaigns rely on. If your pages are slowing campaigns down, our Core Web Vitals work or a website audit is a sensible first step. With an office in Dubai, you can meet the team in person to review your account. Get in touch with Codeeo to plan the changes in the right order.