Google Updates

Google Ads Adds Local Customer Optimization and Store Sales Import Ahead of the Holidays

By Paul Lovell · September 9, 2026 · 2 min read

Google Ads is rolling out two features aimed at multi-location retailers, restaurants and local service businesses, announced by Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin: Local Customer Optimization for Performance Max store goals campaigns, and a simpler way to bring offline store sales data into Google Ads through Data Manager.

What's rolling out

Local Customer Optimization is a new campaign-level toggle for Performance Max store goals campaigns. When enabled, it prioritises budget toward consumers who are actively in-market nearby, across Google Maps, Waze and local Search. It's rolling out now.

Store Sales in Data Manager lets advertisers connect a CRM or Google Sheets directly within Data Manager, rather than relying on more technically demanding integration methods, to feed offline sales data back into Google Ads for measurement and optimisation. Google says this is rolling out over the coming weeks.

Why it matters

The two features work at opposite ends of the same problem. Local Customer Optimization uses real-time navigation and local-intent signals to find nearby customers before they buy; Store Sales in Data Manager makes it easier to report back what actually happened in-store once they do. Together, they tighten the link between online discovery and offline revenue — useful for any multi-location business trying to prove ROI on Performance Max spend beyond click and conversion counts.

The timing, just ahead of the holiday shopping season, isn't a coincidence — this is exactly the kind of measurement gap that gets more painful once budgets scale up for Q4.

Sources