Google Updates Budget Pacing for Scheduled Campaigns
▼ Summary
– Google Ads is updating its budget pacing for campaigns using ad scheduling, starting March 1, 2026, to spend up to the full monthly limit within scheduled days.
– The change means campaigns with limited schedules, like weekends only, may spend significantly more per month without any increase in daily budgets or billing caps.
– Google’s goal is to better align pacing with advertiser expectations of monthly spend limits, but spend will still be driven by campaign objectives and not exceed existing caps.
– Advertisers using ad scheduling to naturally limit monthly spend must review and likely lower their daily budgets to maintain previous spending levels.
– This update is a proactive change in how aggressively Google uses existing budget limits, not a change to the limits themselves, requiring adjustments for flighted campaigns.
A significant change is coming to Google Ads that will alter how campaigns with scheduled run times manage their monthly budgets. Starting March 1, 2026, the system will begin proactively pacing budgets to spend up to the full monthly limit, even for campaigns that only run on specific days. This shift means advertisers using ad scheduling must review their strategies to avoid unintended budget overruns.
The core mechanics of daily and monthly caps are not changing. The rule allowing up to 2x the daily budget on any given day remains, and the 30.4x average daily budget monthly ceiling is still in place. Campaigns will continue to run exclusively during their scheduled hours. However, Google’s internal pacing logic is being adjusted. Previously, the system paced spending against only the active days in a schedule. A weekend-only campaign, for example, would pace to spend its budget across those eight days. Now, Google will attempt to spend the entire monthly budget allocation strictly within those scheduled days.
This has substantial implications for budget management. Advertisers relying on limited schedules, like weekends-only or specific business hours, to naturally control monthly spend could see their costs rise significantly. For instance, a campaign with a $100 daily budget running only on weekends previously might spend around $800 in a month. Under the new pacing, that same campaign could spend up to $1,600 monthly, as it aims to hit the $200 daily maximum (2x the budget) on each active Saturday and Sunday to reach the full monthly cap.
According to Google, the update aims to align pacing more closely with advertiser expectations regarding monthly spending limits. A company representative noted that spend will still be driven by campaign performance goals, such as conversions, and no campaign will exceed the established billing caps. The change will be rolled out gradually, and only advertisers who receive a notification will be affected.
The essential takeaway is that Google is not raising spending limits but is changing how aggressively it utilizes the existing ones within a constrained schedule. For marketers, this means a campaign’s previous monthly spend is no longer a reliable benchmark if it uses ad scheduling. To maintain control, a recalibration of daily budgets is necessary. Reviewing all campaigns that use ad scheduling and recalculating daily budgets based on true monthly goals is now a critical task. If the goal is to keep monthly spend at previous levels, daily budgets will likely need to be lowered.
In essence, Google is altering the speed of spend, not the ceiling. Advertisers with flighted or part-time campaigns should plan adjustments well before the March 2026 effective date to ensure their budgets align with their marketing objectives.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
