Google Ads rolled out brand inclusion controls for Standard Shopping campaigns. This is a long-requested feature that gives advertisers direct control over which brands appear in their Shopping ads – without the need for complex workarounds.
How it works. The new feature lets you add or remove brand lists directly within the ad group targeting section of both Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns. You can now define exactly which brands to include or exclude, preview the setup, and apply changes within the Google Ads interface.
Why we care. Until now, brand targeting tools were only available in Performance Max and AI Max, leaving Standard Shopping advertisers to hack together scripts or complicated campaign setups to control brand visibility. Now, you can directly choose which brands show in your Standard Shopping ads, instead of relying on Google’s automated campaign types. That means no more clunky workarounds – just simpler control, better budget protection, and smarter targeting of your most valuable brand traffic.
Why this matters for retailers and ecommerce brands. The update bridges a major gap in Shopping campaign management. It allows teams to protect brand-specific budgets, control exposure in competitive categories, and eliminate wasted spend on unwanted brand traffic – all without third-party scripts or manual segmentation.
First seen. We learned of this update from Ryan Parks, senior search director at Spark Foundry, via LinkedIn.
Bottom line. With brand inclusions now available for Standard Shopping, advertisers finally gain the same control and efficiency enjoyed in Google’s automated campaign types – a quiet but powerful upgrade for precision retail advertising.
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