Google to Shut Down Ads Developer Forums in 2026
▼ Summary
– Google will shut down its three public Google Groups support forums for advertising developers in early 2026, consolidating support into official channels.
– Starting January 28, 2026, the forums will become read-only archives, and support agents will no longer reply to new posts on the platform.
– Developers are directed to use updated official support channels, which require providing detailed diagnostic logs and information for faster issue resolution.
– This change affects support for the Google Ads API, Google Ads Scripts, and Campaign Manager 360 API, moving all technical troubleshooting away from community Q&A hubs.
– While the move aims to streamline support, it reduces access to community-shared knowledge, though general discussion can continue on a dedicated Discord server.
Google will close three of its longstanding Google Groups support forums for advertising developers in early 2026, a move that consolidates all technical assistance into its official support systems. This decision marks a significant shift in how developers working with Google’s advertising tools will seek and receive help for critical issues.
The company has announced it will cease responding to new forum posts starting January 28, 2026. The forums will initially transition to a read-only state, allowing access to historical discussions, before Google eventually disables the ability to post entirely later in the year. After the January deadline, several key changes take effect: support agents will no longer provide answers within Google Groups, any replies to existing threads will automatically generate a new email thread with Google’s official support team, and all past content will remain archived online for reference purposes.
Google states this initiative aims to “streamline technical support channels,” directing developers toward official tools that offer improved tracking and more structured response processes. The affected forums include those for the Google Ads API, Google Ads Scripts, and the Campaign Manager 360 API, which have historically functioned as vital open Q&A hubs. The transition fundamentally alters how developers resolve problems when APIs or scripts malfunction, issues that can directly interrupt critical advertising operations like automated bidding, reporting, and campaign management.
With the public forums being sunsetted, all technical troubleshooting must now flow through Google’s official support channels. This requires developers to adapt their workflows, prepare to provide more comprehensive diagnostic information, and depend less on solutions shared by the broader community. Essentially, the methodology for fixing advertising-related technical problems is undergoing a substantial change, and preparedness is key to avoiding costly downtime and performance losses.
To facilitate faster resolutions through the new official channels, Google is urging developers to include complete diagnostic details when submitting support tickets. For the Google Ads API, this means providing the request ID along with full request and response logs. For Ads Scripts, necessary information includes the script name, customer ID, execution logs, and any UI error messages. Campaign Manager 360 API issues require profile or account IDs, the specific API method called, and the associated request and response logs. Across all products, developers should supply a clear description of the issue, the expected behavior, steps to reproduce the problem, relevant code snippets, and all error messages.
While the official forums for technical support are closing, Google notes that community interaction is not disappearing entirely. The company directs developers looking for general updates, event information, or peer discussions to its “Google Advertising and Measurement Community” Discord server, which remains a hub for conversation but is not linked to official technical support.
The overarching result is Google’s phased elimination of public troubleshooting forums in favor of a standardized, direct support model. This approach is likely to create a more streamlined system for handling individual issues but may also lead to a reduction in the accumulation of publicly accessible, community-driven knowledge over the long term.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
