The store shelf enters the window by default
From August 31, 2026, Google is making Local Inventory Ads the default across all Shopping campaigns. The setting advertisers used to switch that serving off stops working for Shopping campaigns, and the system will treat the value as enabled regardless. This issue covers the July 24 agenda and was published on July 25, 2026 to complete the archive.
The off switch goes away
Google confirmed that Local Inventory Ads will be enabled by default across all Shopping campaigns from August 31. Until now, advertisers who did not want local product offers appearing in particular campaigns could turn the relevant setting off. Under the new arrangement that field stops working for Shopping campaigns, and the system treats serving as enabled no matter what value is submitted. The change concerns Shopping campaigns only; in Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns the same setting keeps behaving as it does today.
The workarounds and the API side
Two routes remain for advertisers who want to separate local serving. The first is defining a listing scope that limits a campaign to online inventory only; the second is using the inventory filter in campaign settings to exclude local products and split online and store budgets. The distinction between local and online does not disappear, then, but the place where you draw it moves.
There is a threshold on the API side too: in version 25.1 and later, requests that try to send the field as disabled return an error, while older versions silently treat the request as enabled. Teams running campaigns through automation or third-party tools need to review their code before that date, otherwise campaign updates may fail unexpectedly after August 31.
Defaults work harder than strategy
On ad platforms, making a setting the default is the fastest way to spread the behaviour behind it. In most accounts, settings stay as they were configured and nobody goes back to review them. Google's step here brings Shopping campaigns in line with Performance Max retail campaigns, which already treat local product serving as standard. For a business the consequence is this: if you have stores and local product data, online demand and store demand can mix inside the same campaign, blurring budget separation and measurement. If you do not want that, you have to rebuild the separation deliberately.
What it means for businesses in Türkiye
Because local serving depends on store and local product data being supplied, the practical effect can be expected to stay limited in accounts that do not provide that data. The businesses this really addresses are retailers with both physical stores and online sales. For them, three checks are worth making before August 31. First, campaign inventory: write down which campaign serves online sales and which serves the store. Second, budget separation: if you are content for store-visit demand and shipped-order demand to draw on the same budget, fine; if not, split them with the inventory filter. Third, measurement: if you cannot tell store-driven conversions apart from online sales, campaign performance can look different from what it is. Teams running campaigns through an agency or software should put the API change on the calendar.
The UNALSOFT take
Our reading is clear: in changes like this the real risk builds up in the product data, not the ad setting. If stock, price and store information are not current, local serving brings complaints rather than customers: the shopper goes to the store and the product is not there. That is why we start from the data side in our e-commerce panel work: stock and price flowing from a single source, accurate and current. An ad setting can change in a day; data discipline lasts.
Let's look before August 31.
We can review the inventory split and product data behind your Shopping campaigns together.