Google announced three updates to its bidding and budgeting tools in Google Ads on June 15, 2026. The updates are designed to help advertisers increase traffic, manage campaigns during seasonal demand spikes, and run with more predictable performance. The updates will apply to three different parts of the advertising services provided by Google: the launch of Promotion Mode Beta, Smart Bidding Exploration, and bidding target changes for budget-limited campaigns.
Each of these updates works differently and affects campaigns in distinct ways. One of the three updates takes effect August 17, 2026. Read on to know in-depth about these updates.
Update One: Promotion Mode Launches in Beta
The first update is a new feature called Promotion Mode. Using this feature in beta allows the advertisers to make temporary adjustments regarding ROAS tolerance and additional daily budget during peak periods like seasonal events, flash sales, products launches, etc., when the advertiser seeks to get the most out of the campaigns.
It should be noted that this feature does not match the functionality available in Google Ads known as Seasonality Adjustments. In particular, seasonality adjustments mean indicating whether the system should expect higher or lower conversion rates than usual. Promotion Mode works in a completely different way. Promotion Mode lets you define a specific time window where both your ROAS tolerance and daily budget increase together.
Additionally, Promotion Mode can be used with campaign total budgets too. Advertisers using the campaign total budget in order to have fixed spending each day can use promotion mode and not break any budget limitations while improving campaign results. Currently, campaign total budget functionality for search ads, Performance Max campaigns, and Shopping campaigns has been introduced in January 2026, giving advertisers who have already adopted that format a useful new lever.
At the moment, beta version of Promotion Mode is available for Search and Performance Max campaigns. It addresses the real problem facing those advertisers who work with seasonal peaks in demand for their goods or services. In the past, in order to benefit from a short-term demand burst, it was necessary to manually adjust budgets and bids ahead of time and then switch back. Promotion Mode gives you an opportunity to do this automatically in advance through campaign settings.
Update Two: Smart Bidding Exploration Gets Broader Access
Smart Bidding Exploration became available to Search campaigns in 2024. It works by letting you set a ROAS tolerance that widens the acceptable range of return on ad spend, giving the algorithm room to bid on queries it would otherwise skip and will let the system bid for those queries that have a chance to convert without proven history of doing so – the traffic that otherwise wouldn’t be covered by the campaign.
In other words, with the definition of ROAS tolerance, you tell Google that it’s okay for them to target queries that aren’t exactly aligned with your narrow targeting goals but don’t deviate from your core ROAS goal too much.
Let’s say, if you define your Target ROAS at 200%, then choosing the ROAS tolerance of 10% results in the effective Target ROAS being equal to 180%.
Google reports an average 18% increase in unique search query categories with conversions and a 19% increase in overall conversions for campaigns using this feature. According to Google’s internal data collected for March 11, 2025 – April 11, 2025, results may vary from one advertiser to another.
Until today, Smart Bidding Exploration could be used only in Search campaigns. The June 15 announcement changes the situation significantly. Now it’s globally available for all Performance Max campaigns except the ones with product feeds. At the same time, for Shopping, both regular and Performance Max campaigns with product feeds, Smart Bidding Exploration will be launched in a beta stage.
It’s worth remembering that there is a clear difference in availability status for both campaigns types. The Performance Max rollout without product feeds is complete and available now. Shopping advertisers should
On June 16, 2026, Meta announced that Threads had achieved a new milestone by hitting 500 million monthly active users. The platform hit this landmark nearly three years after its launch in July 2023. The platform launched as Meta’s answer to Twitter, which has since rebranded as X. To mark the occasion, Meta announced several new features centered around community building and feed personalization, including a new tool called Your Algo and the full launch of Communities.
This milestone puts Threads quite close to X, which reported approximately 550 million monthly active users as of May 2026, according to a SpaceX prospectus filing. The two platforms are close rivals and this gap of 50 million users is the closest Threads has come to matching X since launch.
How Threads Got Here
With the launch of Threads by Meta in the summer of 2023, it was positioned as a calmer, more civil space for conversations compared to Twitter at a time when Twitter had undergone considerable turmoil after its acquisition by Elon Musk.
Getting to 500 million monthly active users has not been quick, and adding the most recent 100 million users took longer than earlier growth spurts did. But it seems like Threads is doing well in the quest to create a social application for individuals who are interested in joining conversations again.
Mark Zuckerberg said at launch that his goal was to build the next billion-user app. Now that Threads has reached 500 million monthly active users, it means that Threads is already half way there.
Communities Come Out of Beta
The most prominent new product announcement made by Meta as part of its anniversary was the launch of Communities. The company said it is “graduating” Communities from their current beta phase and rolling out several features that users had requested for a long time, such as custom icons and champion status, among other things.
As previously mentioned, Threads initially launched Communities back in October of 2025 as a means for users to have dedicated discussion spaces on particular subjects inside of the app. It can cover a variety of subjects, such as books, basketball, K-Pop, or even parenting. This feature had been available since its initial launch, but only in a beta version.
The new iteration of the Communities feature includes the addition of the Communities Hub, which acts as a discovery platform for users to join their favorite community. The communities themselves will now have their own icons to distinguish them.
Other features added to the Communities platform include the ability to join a local community through native language tags in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, along with champion status expansion to allow for more users with active involvement.
Speaking of Japanese audiences, the country happens to be a good target audience for Threads. While Twitter competitor X enjoys immense popularity in Japan, having the same success there would be a significant victory for Threads.
In the next couple of weeks, Threads plans to add the possibility to hold live chats in multiple communities, along with co-hosting and the ability to quote moments into a user’s personal timeline. Such a feature was initially used during the NBA playoffs this year.
Connor Hayes, the head of Threads, told TechCrunch that Communities Hub is intended to make sure that as many people as possible see certain groups.
Your Algo Gives Users Direct Feed Control
The second feature that Threads will be rolling out to its users is Your Algo, which will allow people to influence their Thread feed privately.
Unlike Dear Algo, which was introduced by Threads back in February 2026, Your Algo allows users to influence their Threads feed without making it public. This means that unlike with Dear Algo, where users would post public messages in their Threads feed in order to influence what the algorithm would show them, Your Algo allows for a private setting, where users would privately request specific posts.
Using Your Algo, users could request posts on certain topics they wish to see in their Threads feed as well as how long that particular preference is to last. Users could choose between preferences lasting one day, three days, or seven days. Only users themselves will know of these requests, and not anybody else.
The idea behind this tool is clear – some people might not feel comfortable sharing their thoughts publicly on how they would like to see their algorithm adjusted. Your Algo allows people to do this in complete privacy.
Threads is going to be implementing Your Algo on June 16 in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The feature is also implemented on Instagram in the same locations.
Where Threads Stands Against X
The 500 million user number is significant not just as a growth milestone but as a competitive signal. In fact, X’s reported user numbers have fluctuated over time, and the platform does not share official monthly active user data consistently. However, the latest available information states that there were 550 million users on X.
Threads has closed a gap that looked much larger just a year ago. The key point is that Threads has not tried to compete with X by providing all kinds of features – the platform simply focused on the quality of discussions and community features.
This fact becomes even more important since Meta continues developing its advertising strategy on Threads. The platform is now becoming an equal competitor to X concerning digital advertising revenues. For advertisers, a Threads audience at 500 million monthly actives is a meaningfully different opportunity than what existed even a year ago.
What This Means for Users and Brands
For regular Threads users, the new features are genuinely useful. Communities moving out of beta means the experience is more stable and better supported. Your Algo gives users feed control that most platforms, including X, do not offer currently.
For brands, the combination of a growing user base and expanding ad tools makes Threads harder to ignore. It is no longer an experimental offshoot of Instagram. At almost half a billion monthly users, it is a real destination.
Whether Threads can reach Zuckerberg’s original goal of a billion users is still an open question. But the gap between ambition and reality is narrowing.
FAQs
Q 1: How many monthly active users does Threads have now?
As of June 16, 2026, Threads reached 500 million monthly active users since it’s launch in July 2023.
Q 2: How does Threads compare to X in terms of users?
As of May 2026, X had around 550 million monthly active users, according to SpaceX’s prospectus, putting Threads only 50 million users shy of competing with its rival in the real-time discussion space.
Q 3: What is Your Algo on Threads?
Your Algo lets users privately tell Threads which topics they want to see more or less of in their feed. The preference lasts for a day, three days, or a week.
Q 4: How is Your Algo different from Dear Algo?
Unlike Dear Algo where users post publicly for the algorithm, ‘Your Algo’ is a privacy setting inside account preferences. Additionally, it has a temporary preference period.
Q 5: What changed with Threads Communities?
Threads Communities have graduated from beta and have features like custom icons, extended champion recognition, and Communities Hub. Local communities with native-language tags are also available for Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.
Q 6: Where is Your Algo available?
Your Algo is currently available in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Q 7: When did Threads first launch Communities?
Threads released the first batch of Communities as a beta in October 2025.
Q 8: Is Threads growing its advertising platform?
Meta has continued growing Threads’ advertising business in direct competition with X. The 500 million users mark makes it an ideal advertising platform.
Q 9: What is the Communities Hub?
This refers to the feature inside the Threads application where users can find new communities and go back to communities they are a part of. It appears in the left sidebar of the app.
