SEM & Paid Social Ad Platform Updates for Q3 2025
Q3 2025 continued the trend of AI-driven automation and transparency improvements across SEM and Paid Social platforms. Google refined conversion tracking and reporting visibility, Microsoft expanded audience intelligence tools, and Meta introduced greater bidding flexibility and attribution options. Together, these updates reinforce a clear industry direction: smarter systems with more built-in automation and fewer manual levers for advertisers.
USIM has reviewed these developments to determine which updates matter most for advertisers.
This white paper outlines the updates, their implications, and our recommendations to keep your campaigns efficient, transparent, and future-ready.
TL;DR: Our picks for most relevant and impactful features:
- Google Ads Store Visits Conversion Updates
Google Ads Updates
Store Visits as Primary Conversions with Default Revenue Values
What's the Update
Starting Oct 8th, Store Visit conversions that do not have a manually set conversion value will be defaulted to a $220 value, and new accounts (linked to Google Business Profile accounts) will have Store Visits automatically set as primary conversions.
Why It Matters
Both of these changes can affect bidding, optimization, performance, and reporting, though the main impact would be for campaigns using tROAS bidding in accounts with store visit conversions, which are minimal for USIM.
Next Steps
For any potentially affected accounts, the SEM and LA teams will contact the client teams to discuss recommendations and options, including but not limited to bid strategy and/or manually setting store visit conversion values.
Demand Gen YouTube Placement Reporting
What's the Update
Google is now reporting YouTube performance by in-stream, in-feed, and shorts for Demand Gen campaigns.
Why It Matters
Demand Gen campaigns are the only way to do automated conversion-based bidding for video ads in Google Ads, and until now, DG campaigns lumped all YouTube data together. If advertisers see drastic performance differences between these segments, adjustments to creative mix or the creatives themselves may be of help.
Next Steps
If desired, we can provide 1-off reports or incorporate this segmentation into recurring reporting for applicable campaigns.
Search Partner Network Placement Reporting
What's the Update
Google is adding full placement reporting for the Search Partner Network for Search, Shopping, and App campaigns.
Why It Matters
Google’s search partner network has long been a black box of unknown websites of questionable validity and performance. It often generates a high volume of clicks and conversions, but when last viewable (through API calls in 2020), it was 100% parked domains, which are not technically paid search results based on actual user searches.
Next Steps
We are reviewing any accounts that have, or recently had, search partners enabled to verify change. If reporting is available, we need to see its total metrics match total partner network metrics, to ensure full transparency.
Manual Language Targeting Deprecation
What's the Update
Google has removed manual language targeting options from Search campaigns, instead now using AI for user language detection.
Why It Matters
Simplified setup with reduced control.
Next Steps
While monitoring search term performance, if we see a large volume of non-English searches and a performance disparity for them, we can either block those with negative keywords or begin to incorporate other language ad copy, though non-English ad copy needs non-English ad click-through web pages/URLs to perform at their highest potential.
Microsoft Ads Updates
Impression-Based Remarketing Lists
What's the Update
Advertisers can now build impression-based remarketing lists from up to 20 campaign or ad group sources that ran on the Microsoft Advertising Network.
Why It Matters
This is for audience and native campaigns not search (since we exclude the MSN ad network ala Google search partners), but it’s an interesting option to retarget people just because they were previously shown an ad without interacting with it. This is also related to AIO/AD Mode ads (if/when they become more common) to allow advertisers to target users who were shown an ad in their AI journey, with the continued push for omnipresence of ads since the research to purchase journey is now faster.
Next Steps
N/A specific to MSN Ads, but something to be aware of for other ad platforms if/when available.
Meta Ads Updates
Brand Suitability/Control Updates
What's the Update
Topic exclusion controls are expanded to reels placements. Allow lists are deprecated.
Why It Matters
Provides more streamlined brand controls across placements and methods.
Next Steps
Nothing needed in our accounts, as we weren’t using allow lists (we still have block lists), and topic exclusions are just more comprehensive now.
Value Rules Increased Availability
What's the Update
Value rules (up/down bid adjustment percentages) are now available across all campaign objectives (awareness, traffic, leads, engagement), accounts have up to 6 rule sets, and value bid adjustments can be set by city, placement (feed/reels/stories/etc.).
Why It Matters
It gives advertisers additional bidding control across more campaign types and targeting.
Next Steps
If there are any accounts where we want to bid higher or lower for specific audiences, demographics, or placements, we can test this option and monitor/report (where possible since Meta doesn’t report by audiences) performance impacts.
Lead Ads With Multiple Conversion Locations
What's the Update
New conversion location combinations for Leads campaigns, so advertisers can optimize ad delivery across website and instant form in a single campaign, directing people where they’re most likely to convert.
Why It Matters
It allows for consolidation of 2 former lead-gen campaign types, but since Meta’s instant forms have higher completion rates (from auto-fill and native placement), this likely would shift allocation away from website lead forms.
Next Steps
We can test if desired, though we have an expected outcome. Any testing should be measured beyond total leads at the post-lead conversion point (sale, enrollment, signup, etc.).
New Placements Limited Spend
What's the Update
Advertisers can now choose to allow Meta to spend up to 5% of the set budget on each excluded placement when it’s likely to improve performance.
Why It Matters
This allows advertisers to learn if any excluded placements may be of value, and allows Meta to increase ad impressions on lower-utilized placements.
Next Steps
We can test if desired, though in most cases the placements we may have excluded are due to irrelevance, previous/historically poor performance, and/or creative misalignment for those placements.
Attribution Model Settings
What's the Update
Advertisers can now choose standard or incremental attribution as the optimization goal for conversion-based ad sets.
Why It Matters
This allows advertisers to focus on all conversions, or just conversions that Meta considers to only have occurred because a user saw or interacted with the ad.
Next Steps
Default is all/standard. We can test incremental if desired, but we recommend providing an incremental report first, to show that Meta already considers most conversions to be purely incremental. The likely result would be 10-15% higher CPL/CPA with 10-15% fewer conversions.
USIM Thoughts On 2025’s Q3
Across Q3 2025, the major ad platforms deepened their reliance on automation while adding long-awaited transparency tools. For advertisers, the opportunity lies in balancing trust in machine learning with strategic oversight, leveraging data visibility to guide optimization and testing. As AI and performance reporting continue to evolve, USIM remains focused on translating these shifts into practical, measurable growth for our clients.
Contact USIM today to navigate evolving ad platforms with precision and turn industry updates into measurable growth.
