Network settings are the campaign-level controls that tell an advertising platform which pools of inventory a campaign is allowed to buy. In Google Ads, the Help Center describes the setting in one line: "The Networks setting indicates where you want your ad to appear based on the campaign type that you chose." In practice it is a short list of checkboxes, such as Google search partners or the Display Network, sitting under each campaign. The setting exists because one campaign can be eligible for very different supply - Google's own results pages, third-party search sites, content sites, apps, TV screens - and those pools differ in price, quality and intent. Microsoft Advertising's equivalent is called ad distribution.

What the setting controls

The options depend on the campaign type. A Google Ads Search campaign shows three networks: Google Search, which cannot be removed, plus two optional boxes labelled "Include Google search partners" and "Include Google Display Network." The second box is known as Display expansion: it lets a Search campaign place image and text ads on content sites when budget is left over, using ads generated from the Search ads.

Shopping campaigns offer only the search partners box. Video campaigns list "YouTube search results," "YouTube videos" and "Video partners on the Display Network," third-party sites and apps beyond YouTube. Performance Max has historically offered no network choice at all, bundling Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps and search partners into one budget.

Under the interface sits a data structure. In the Google Ads API, the Campaign.NetworkSettings object carries six Boolean fields, according to Google's API reference:

  • target_google_search - "Whether ads will be served with google.com search results."
  • target_search_network - whether ads serve on the Google Search Partners Network; it requires target_google_search to be true as well.
  • target_content_network - whether ads serve on the Google Display Network.
  • target_youtube - whether ads serve on YouTube.
  • target_google_tv_network - whether ads serve on the Google TV network.
  • target_partner_search_network - a separate partner network "available only to some select Google partner accounts," which does not control search partners despite its name.

Demand Gen campaigns instead carry channel controls at ad group level. The API field demand_gen_ad_group_settings.channel_controls accepts either a strategy (ALL_CHANNELS or ALL_OWNED_AND_OPERATED_CHANNELS, which drops third-party Display inventory) or a list of individual surfaces: YouTube in-stream, in-feed and Shorts, Discover, Gmail, Display and Maps.

How the setting works in an auction

A network setting is a filter applied before bidding, not a bid adjustment. When a partner site sends a query to Google through AdSense for Search, the syndication mechanism behind most partner inventory, only campaigns whose target_search_network flag is true are considered. Campaigns with the box unticked never enter that auction.

Until recently this was all-or-nothing: a campaign could not bid differently on search partners, and Smart Bidding decided how much to spend there. Reporting partly compensated: the "Network (with search partners)" segment has long split performance between Google Search and partners, and in August 2025 Google added site-level placement reporting for search partners in Search, Shopping and App campaigns.

On Microsoft Advertising the control sits under ad distribution. Microsoft's API exposes it through a Network value set with four values: OwnedAndOperatedAndSyndicatedSearch ("the entire Microsoft Advertising Network"), OwnedAndOperatedOnly (Microsoft sites and select traffic), SyndicatedSearchOnly (partner traffic only) and InHousePromotion for brand Shopping ads on Microsoft's Retailer Network. In the interface, the entire network option covers Bing, MSN and Outlook.com, select partners such as Yahoo.com, and further partners such as Ask.com and Forbes, according to a Microsoft support answer.

Origins and evolution

Network choice followed Google's syndication of ads to portals from 2002 and its content network in 2003. A Google AdWords blog post from April 4, 2006 told advertisers to "go to Edit Campaign Settings, and check the appropriate boxes under Networks," noting that new accounts showed ads on Google.com and across the wider network by default.

For most of AdWords' history both partner boxes were ticked on new Search campaigns, and unticking them became a fixture of agency setup checklists. Google replaced its combined Search and Display campaign type with Search Network with Display Select on November 4, 2013, the predecessor of Display expansion. Video partners followed a similar path: Google extended TrueView for action campaigns to video partners in 2019, enabled by default on new campaigns.

Google launched the Google TV network for connected TV advertising in June 2024. Demand Gen moved in the opposite direction, from fixed bundles to choice: channel controls were announced on January 30, 2025 and reached the Google Ads API in version 19.1 on April 16, 2025, according to PPC Land's Demand Gen explainer.

The Display default also softened. In June 2025, practitioner Jyll Saskin Gales observed that new Search campaigns no longer pre-ticked the Display Network box, showing it only with a "Recommended" tag, according to PPC News Feed. Google has not announced it formally.

A Microsoft Advertising briefing from January 2023 announced a "Microsoft sites and select traffic" tier, moving partner traffic judged to perform like Bing into the owned-and-operated bucket, reported in aggregate as Yahoo.com already was.

From checkboxes to priorities

October 2026 changed what network settings mean in Google Ads. On October 14, Google announced channel prioritization and budget allocation for Search, Shopping, Performance Max and Demand Gen, a launch PPC Land detailed on publication. Each channel is set to High or Low priority; in Performance Max, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Discover and Search sit in one "Google channels" group. High priority channels are funded first. Low priority channels can be capped at a percentage of the average daily budget, so 5% of a $1,000 budget limits that channel to $50 a day.

Tal Akabas, a Google director of product management, wrote that "these features give marketers more control than all-or-nothing opt-outs." The existing checkboxes remain alongside them. For Performance Max the controls provide the first general route to limiting partner spend; Ginny Marvin, Google's Ads Product Liaison, said advertisers can set search partner spend to 0%. Marvin described them as "budgeting controls and not bidding controls."

In February 2027, Search campaigns with Display expansion will automatically transition to channel prioritization, according to Google's Help Center, which says an advertiser wanting to replicate the current behaviour should set the Display Network to Low priority with a 50% allocation.

Why it matters for marketers

Network settings decide how much budget reaches inventory an advertiser may never have intended to buy. Alphabet's results show the scale: Search and other revenue reached $63.27 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 17%, while Google Network revenue from third-party sites fell 1% to $7.3 billion, according to its July results.

The partner pools are where most quality disputes sit. Google describes search partners as "hundreds of non-Google websites"; Adalytics said in November 2023 that it found Google's search embed code on more than 80,000 sites and estimated the network earns Google about $10.5 billion a year, figures Google rejected, as PPC Land recounted. Performance claims also diverge: an Intelligency Group analysis put partner return on ad spend 37% below Google Search, while Google reported about 11% more conversions for advertisers spending at least 5% on partners. Parked domains were removed from search partners on February 10, 2026.

Video partners carry a parallel dispute. In June 2023 Adalytics alleged that TrueView ads on video partners breached Google's own standards about 80% of the time, according to Search Engine Land; Marvin Renaud, Google's director of global video solutions, called the methodology unreliable.

Limitations and disputes

The settings are coarse: a checkbox covers an entire pool. Microsoft lets advertisers block individual partner sites through website exclusion lists of up to 10,000 sites each, but Yahoo and Microsoft's own sites cannot be excluded from search ads, according to Microsoft support.

The new Google controls are best-effort. Akabas wrote that the tools "will aim to keep spend on those channels within that limit," and the Help Center says the allocation "isn't a guarantee." Google's documents also disagree: the October 14 blog post lists Demand Gen for budget allocation while the help page excludes it, and the help page called API support "coming soon" while Marvin said on October 16 it was available at launch.

Microsoft's documentation conflicts too. Its API reference says SyndicatedSearchOnly was deprecated in July 2024 and now returns an error, while a Microsoft support answer last updated in June 2025 still lists "syndicated search partners only" as an available setting in markets including the US, UK, Canada and Germany.

Commonly confused terms

Network settings vs. placements. A network setting admits or removes a whole pool; placement exclusions remove individual sites or apps within it.

Network settings vs. channel prioritization. Prioritization, introduced October 2026, decides the order and share of budget among channels a campaign is already eligible for. It cannot make a channel eligible.

Network settings vs. the Google Display Network. The Google Display Network is inventory; the "Include Google Display Network" box is one setting that reaches it from a Search campaign.

Network settings vs. Meta placements. Meta's placements across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network work at ad set level and default to automatic. The logic is similar; the terminology differs.

Recent developments

Network choice inside Performance Max has been surfacing in stages. An alpha "Partners" setting with separate search partner and Display checkboxes was spotted on April 30, 2026, and in late July Google confirmed to Digiday it was "a pilot with a limited group of advertisers". Channel prioritization began rolling out progressively on October 15, 2026. As of October 2026, Google Ads accounts run two parallel systems: the checkbox that decides eligibility, and the priority tier that decides spend.

Timeline

  • 2002: Google begins syndicating search ads to portal partners
  • 2003: Google's content network launches alongside search inventory
  • April 4, 2006: Google's AdWords blog directs advertisers to "check the appropriate boxes under Networks"
  • November 4, 2013: Search Network with Display Select replaces the combined Search and Display campaign type
  • 2019: TrueView for action campaigns extended to Google video partners, on by default for new campaigns
  • January 2023: Microsoft Advertising announces the "Microsoft sites and select traffic" distribution tier
  • June 2023: Adalytics publishes its Google video partners report
  • November 2023: Adalytics estimates search partners earn Google about $10.5 billion a year
  • June 2024: Google TV network launches for advertisers
  • July 2024: Microsoft deprecates the SyndicatedSearchOnly API value, according to its API reference
  • January 30, 2025: Demand Gen channel controls announced
  • April 16, 2025: Demand Gen channel controls reach Google Ads API version 19.1
  • June 2025: New Search campaigns observed with the Display Network box unticked by default
  • August 2025: Site-level placement reporting added for search partners
  • February 10, 2026: Parked domains removed from search partners
  • April 30, 2026: Performance Max network choice spotted in alpha
  • July 2026: Google confirms the Performance Max opt-out is a limited pilot
  • October 14, 2026: Channel prioritization and budget allocation announced
  • October 15, 2026: Progressive rollout begins
  • February 2027: Display expansion on Search campaigns migrates to channel prioritization

Summary

Who. Google and Microsoft define the settings; advertisers and agencies configure them per campaign, and third-party publishers supply the partner inventory they govern.

What. Campaign-level controls - checkboxes in the interface, Boolean fields or enumerations in the APIs - that make a campaign eligible or ineligible for pools such as search partners, the Display Network, video partners and Google TV.

When. Network choice dates from Google's partner and content expansion in 2002-2003, was documented by 2006, and was supplemented on October 14, 2026 by channel prioritization, with Display expansion migrating in February 2027.

Where. In Google Ads Search, Shopping and Video campaign settings, Demand Gen ad groups, the Google Ads API's Campaign.NetworkSettings object, and Microsoft Advertising's ad distribution setting.

Why. The pools differ sharply in price, intent and quality, and partner inventory has drawn repeated audits and disputes, so the setting determines how much of a budget leaves the platforms' own properties.