According to PPC Land, the Google API team announced on 27 February 2026 a minimum daily budget of 5 dollars for Demand Gen, enforced since 1 April 2026, and in February the conversion of lookalike segments from hard targeting constraints into audience suggestions, effective March. Both are changes the advertiser may not have noticed, and which alter control over who sees the ads and how much can be spent.
The 5-dollar minimum budget
PPC Land reported, on 27 February 2026, that the Google API team announced a minimum daily budget of 5 dollars for Demand Gen campaigns, enforced since 1 April 2026. In practice, campaigns with lower budgets must be adjusted to meet the minimum, and new campaigns can’t be created below that value.
For an SME, 5 dollars a day (about 150 a month) isn’t a high amount, but it changes the calculation of very small tests: you can no longer test with 2 euros a day, and this may change how you split the budget across several campaigns.
Lookalikes: from constraint to suggestion
According to PPC Land, in February 2026 Google converted lookalike audience segments in Demand Gen from hard targeting constraints into audience suggestions, effective March 2026. Before, choosing a lookalike limited delivery to people similar to your source audience; now, the lookalike guides the system, but it may go beyond.
This means reach may widen to people outside the profile you defined. It may be good (more discovery) or bad (less relevance). Only analysis of cost per result and quality shows the effect.
Demand Gen: 2026 changes that went unnoticed
- Feb to Mar: lookalikes become suggestions
- 1 Apr: minimum daily budget of 5 dollars
- 17 Aug: CPA, ROAS and CPC targets chased more
- Oct: HTML5 accepted on the Display Network
Why these changes go unnoticed
They weren’t accompanied by big announcements to the ordinary advertiser. PPC Land describes the lookalike change as “quietly”. Many accounts were affected without those responsible knowing. Different performance from March or April 2026 may therefore have this origin.
If you observed changes in cost, reach or quality in Demand Gen campaigns since early spring and found no other cause, these two changes are candidates to explain.
How to check the impact on your campaigns
Compare, per Demand Gen campaign, performance in the 6 to 8 weeks before and after March 2026: reach, frequency, cost per click, cost per result, lead or sales quality. See audience composition (if the report allows) and frequency.
If cost per result worsened and targeting became broader, the effect of lookalikes as suggestions may be the cause. If it improved, the new behaviour is helping. Without the comparison, it’s just opinion.
When the platform gives less targeting control, message and page do more work.
How to compensate for the loss of control
Use more specific creatives that attract the right profile and repel the wrong one. Use audience exclusions (current customers, recent visitors, lists) to avoid waste. Set budget and frequency limits. And use the landing page to qualify: clear information on prices, deadlines and conditions filters those who aren’t the right audience.
When the platform gives less targeting control, message and page do more work. It’s an opportunity to improve what really depends on you.
The 5-dollar minimum and budget management
If you have several small Demand Gen campaigns, add up the minimums: ten campaigns at 5 dollars is 50 a day. Consider consolidating into fewer campaigns, with enough budget for the system to learn, instead of many starving campaigns. Demand Gen learns better with volume, and splitting too much limits learning.
If total budget is small, one or two well-fed campaigns usually work better than several fragmented ones.
The 17 August change in Demand Gen
Demand Gen was also covered by the 17 August change: Target CPA, Target ROAS or Target CPC campaigns now deliver closer to the set targets, according to PPC Land. Combined with the budget minimum and lookalikes as suggestions, the conclusion is that October 2026’s Demand Gen is different from March’s.
If your last deep review was before this, it’s a good time to look again at targets, budgets, audiences and creatives, with Black Friday in sight.
Questions for your manager
Which Demand Gen campaigns do we have and with what budget? How has performance changed after March and August? Are we using lookalikes? How do we compensate for the loss of control? And will we consolidate campaigns?
A manager who follows changes answered this before being asked. If you want an independent review of your Demand Gen campaigns, with before-and-after analysis, I can do it with you.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 5-dollar minimum apply to all campaigns?
According to the report, to Demand Gen campaigns since 1 April 2026. Confirm in Google Ads Help for your case.
Have lookalikes stopped working?
No: they became audience suggestions, not hard constraints. The system may widen delivery.
Does this affect Portugal?
Sources indicate no per-country restrictions. The changes concern Demand Gen in general. Confirm in your account.