Step-by-step guides a busy owner can actually follow. Marketing math, platform changes, and the one thing to do about each.
Meta quietly removed the switch that let you block a bad ad placement, replacing it with a bid discount capped at 90 percent. Here are the two settings that still work.
Google is testing a feature that writes your review replies for you inside Google Business Profile. Here is what it actually does, where it can go wrong, and the one rule for using it safely.
Starting this month, Google is auto-upgrading Search campaigns built on Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets, or broad match into an AI system called AI Max, whether you have opened your account or not.
On August 11, 2026, Google Analytics let advertisers set a custom ad attribution window of 1 to 90 days, and stretching that window can make your reported ad ROAS climb without a single new sale.
On August 5, 2026, Google expanded Limited Ad Serving beyond Search to cover YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and the Play Store. An unverified or generic account can now lose impressions everywhere Performance Max touches.
From February 3, 2027, any company buying Meta ads for you must disclose, on request, what it spent versus what it charged in fees. Most small advertisers pay 15 to 30 percent.
On August 18, 2026 Google Ads began building audience lists from the email addresses and phone numbers your customers typed into your forms. Two settings decide whether it happened to your account.
On August 6, 2026 Meta stopped returning device, hourly, and frequency breakdowns in Ads Manager unless the account opts in. The data still exists. One toggle per ad account brings it back.
The blank "thank you" screen after a booking or purchase is the single most-viewed page on most small business sites, and almost nobody designs it on purpose.
Your business hours live in about seven places, and Google can rewrite one of them without asking you. Checking all seven takes fifteen minutes and costs nothing.
Meta's ad defaults are built for a company that ships nationwide. If you sell to people who can drive to you, seven settings in Ads Manager decide whether your budget stays in your county.
Google's own ranking help page now says "popularity" where it used to say "prominence," and the shift is real money since recent engagement now outranks years in business.
Run an ad for one full buying cycle before you judge it. For anything over about $500, that is three to six weeks, not the seven days Facebook reports by default.
For most local shops, the Google Business Profile brings in more customers than the website does, and it costs nothing. Fill it in first, in this order, before spending on the site.
An independent Indianapolis restaurant typically pays $250 to $700 a month to sell food online once you count the website, the POS, and delivery commissions, and most owners have no idea which piece costs them the most.
Google starts moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads in August 2026, and your historical performance reports do not come with you. You get 14 days of notice to export them.
Meta replaced Facebook's reach and impression metrics with a new "media views" model on June 15, 2026, so a swing in this month's numbers most likely reflects that new definition.
Starting in September 2026, Google will automatically convert Dynamic Search Ads, automatically created assets, and broad match campaign settings into AI Max, with no opt-out.
Meta changed its health and wellness ad standard on July 22, 2026. Before-and-after photos are allowed again for cosmetic ads, and rejections now come from the claim in your copy rather than the photo.
OpenAI opened ChatGPT ads to any US business with a credit card on July 22, 2026. Clicks run $3 to $5, but the ads never reach paying subscribers, so most Indianapolis shops should wait.