Changes to Support for Smart Campaigns in the Google Ads API

Starting on August 3, 2026 you will no longer be able to create new Smart Campaigns using the Google Ads API. You will still be able to update your existing Smart Campaigns, and they will continue to serve ads. In lieu of new Smart Campaigns, we recommend exploring other campaign types, such as Performance Max, an automated campaign type that serves across Google's advertising channels. Other campaign types, such as Search or Demand Gen, are also available, depending on your business goals. Technical details To determine whether your application is creating Smart Campaigns, look for campaign mutate requests with create operations where the campaign's advertising_channel_type is set to SMART and the advertising_channel_sub_type is set to SMART_CAMPAIGN . When attempting to create a new Smart Campaign, the following will occur: In v24 of the Google Ads API: A SmartCampaignError.CREATION_FAILED error will be returned and the request will fail. In v23 and earlier of the Google Ads API A OperationAccessDeniedError.CREATE_OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED error will be returned and the request will fail. For technical support issues, please reach out to Google Ads API Support . If you have any questions or want to discuss this post, please reach out to us on our “Google Advertising and Measurement Community” Discord server . Ben Karl Google’s Advertising and Measurement Developer Relations team