Google just pulled the plug on its Display and Video planning tools inside Google Ads. If you run app install campaigns, this is not a minor UI cleanup — it is a strategic signal. Google is telling every advertiser: stop planning impressions and start optimizing for conversions. For teams already running PWA install campaigns, this shift is a tailwind. For those still relying on native app installs through the Play Store, it is a wake-up call.
In this article, we break down what the removal of Display and Video planners actually means, why PWA install campaigns are uniquely positioned to win in Google’s conversion-first era, and the concrete steps you can take this week to optimize your campaigns.
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What Google’s Planning Tool Removal Actually Signals
In May 2026, Google confirmed the deprecation of both the Display Planner and Video Planner from the Performance Planner suite. These tools allowed advertisers to forecast reach, impressions, and CPMs for display and video campaigns before committing budget. Now they are gone.
On the surface, this looks like a product simplification. Underneath, it reveals three strategic priorities Google has been building toward for years:
1. Conversions Over Impressions
The planning tools were built for a world where reach mattered most. You would estimate how many eyeballs a campaign could buy, then decide whether the CPM was worth it. But Google’s ad stack has moved aggressively toward conversion-based bidding — tROAS (target return on ad spend) and tCPA (target cost per acquisition) — since 2022. Performance Max campaigns, which now dominate Google’s recommended campaign types, are entirely conversion-oriented. There is no “plan your impressions” step because Google does not want you thinking in impressions anymore.
Internal Google Ads data from Q1 2026 shows that campaigns using conversion-based bidding strategies outperform manual CPC campaigns by 25-40% on average across verticals. The planning tools were an artifact of the old paradigm.
2. AI-Driven Allocation Replaces Manual Forecasting
Google’s Smart Bidding and Performance Max already handle budget allocation dynamically. The system decides where your ad appears — Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail — based on real-time conversion signals. A static planning tool that estimates display reach is redundant when the machine is already optimizing across channels in real time.
This aligns with Google’s broader push toward what they call “AI-powered advertising,” where the advertiser provides creative assets and conversion goals, and Google’s algorithms handle placement, bidding, and audience targeting.
3. First-Party Data and Measurable Outcomes
With third-party cookie deprecation accelerating and privacy regulations tightening globally, Google is doubling down on tools that work with first-party data and measurable conversion events. Planning tools based on estimated third-party audience segments are becoming less reliable. Google would rather you set up proper conversion tracking and let Smart Bidding optimize against real signals.
For app install campaigns specifically, this means Google cares most about one thing: did the user actually install and open the app? Everything else — impressions, clicks, video views — is secondary.
Why PWA Install Campaigns Win in a Conversion-First World
If Google’s entire ad ecosystem is pivoting to optimize for conversions, then the campaigns with the highest conversion rates get rewarded the most. This is where PWA install campaigns have a structural advantage over traditional native app install campaigns.
No App Store Friction Means Higher Conversion Rates
The traditional app install funnel looks like this: Ad click → Play Store page → Download (wait for size) → Install → Open. Each step loses users. Industry data consistently shows a 40-60% drop-off between Play Store page view and completed install, depending on app size, store listing quality, and network conditions.
The PWA install funnel is shorter: Ad click → Landing page → Install prompt → Installed. There is no Play Store redirect. No waiting for a 200MB download. No “storage full” errors. The PWA installs in seconds, directly from the browser, and appears on the home screen just like a native app.
Teams running PWA install campaigns through ROiBest consistently report install conversion rates 1.2x higher than equivalent native app campaigns. That difference is not marginal when you are spending $10,000+ per day on user acquisition.
Google’s Algorithms Reward Higher Conversion Rates
Here is the mechanism that makes this matter for campaign performance: Google’s Smart Bidding algorithms observe your campaign’s conversion rate and use it to determine how aggressively to bid in auctions. A campaign with a 15% install conversion rate will get better placement and lower CPAs than a campaign with a 9% conversion rate, all else being equal.
When you remove the Play Store step and increase your conversion rate by 20% or more, Google’s algorithms notice. They bid more confidently, win more auctions at favorable prices, and your cost per install drops. This is the compounding effect of running a higher-converting funnel in a conversion-optimized ad system.
Understanding conversion value setup for PWA install campaigns is critical here — when you pass accurate conversion values back to Google Ads, the algorithm optimizes even more effectively.
Better Attribution and Tracking
PWA installs happen in the browser context, which means conversion tracking is simpler and more reliable than native app install tracking. There is no SDK integration with the Play Store, no delayed install attribution, no reliance on Google Play Install Referrer APIs that can fail silently.
With PWA campaigns, you can fire conversion events the moment the user triggers the install prompt and again when they first open the PWA. The attribution chain from ad click to install is direct and verifiable. This matters especially now, as how attribution changes benefit PWA tracking becomes increasingly relevant across the industry.
Faster Iteration Cycles
Native app campaigns require you to submit app updates through Google Play review, wait 1-3 days for approval, and then test. PWA campaigns let you update your landing page and install experience in minutes. You can A/B test install prompts, onboarding flows, and post-install experiences without any app store dependency.
In a conversion-first ad ecosystem, the teams that iterate fastest on their conversion funnel win. PWA gives you that speed.
3 Steps to Optimize Your Google Ads PWA Install Campaign Now
Here is what to do this week if you are running — or planning to run — PWA install campaigns on Google Ads in the post-planner era.
Step 1: Set Up Conversion Tracking for PWA Install Events
Google’s system cannot optimize for conversions it cannot see. You need to fire conversion events at two key points:
- Install prompt triggered: When the user sees the “Add to Home Screen” prompt, fire a conversion event. This is your top-of-funnel install signal.
- First PWA open: When the user opens the PWA from their home screen for the first time, fire a second conversion event. This is your confirmed install signal and should be your primary conversion action for bidding.
Use Google Tag Manager or the gtag.js global site tag to send these events to Google Ads. Assign conversion values that reflect the actual value of an installed user to your business — this lets tROAS bidding work properly.
ROiBest handles the technical implementation of install event tracking out of the box, so your team can focus on campaign strategy rather than pixel debugging.
Step 2: Structure Campaigns for Performance Max
With Display and Video planning tools gone, Performance Max (PMax) is Google’s clear recommendation for campaigns that span multiple channels. For PWA install campaigns, PMax offers a significant advantage: it automatically finds users across Search, Display, YouTube, and Discover who are most likely to convert.
To structure your PMax campaign for PWA installs:
- Use your PWA landing page as the final URL. This is the page where the install prompt fires. Make sure it loads in under 2 seconds on 4G connections.
- Upload at least 5 headlines, 5 descriptions, and a mix of image and video assets. PMax needs creative variety to test across channels.
- Set your conversion goal to “First PWA Open” as the primary action. This tells Google to optimize for users who actually install and use your PWA, not just users who click.
- Start with tCPA bidding if you have fewer than 50 conversions per week. Switch to tROAS once you have enough conversion data for the algorithm to optimize effectively.
Learn more about PMax channel optimization with PWA landing pages to get the most out of this campaign type.
Step 3: Build a Post-Install Engagement Loop
Google’s conversion-first direction does not stop at the install. Increasingly, Google Ads rewards campaigns that drive post-install engagement — sign-ups, purchases, subscriptions. PWAs have a unique advantage here: push notifications.
PWA push notifications work on Android even after the user has “uninstalled” (removed from home screen) the PWA, because the service worker remains registered in the browser. This means you can re-engage users who dropped off after install, driving the downstream conversion events that make your campaign look good to Google’s algorithms.
Build a push notification sequence that fires within the first 48 hours after install:
- Hour 1: Welcome message with a clear value proposition.
- Hour 24: Reminder to complete onboarding or try a key feature.
- Hour 48: Incentive offer (discount, free trial, bonus content) to drive first purchase or subscription.
This engagement loop improves your Day-1 and Day-7 retention rates, which in turn improves your conversion value signals back to Google Ads.
Step 4 (Bonus): Replace Planning with Experimentation
Now that Display and Video planning tools are gone, replace static forecasting with a structured experimentation framework:
- Run 2-week campaign experiments using Google Ads Experiments to test PWA landing pages against native app store listings. Measure CPI (cost per install) and Day-7 retention side by side.
- Use Google Ads Scripts to automate budget allocation based on real conversion data rather than forecasted impressions. Scripts can shift budget toward the best-performing asset groups in PMax daily.
- Track incrementality by running geo-based holdout tests. Pause campaigns in a control region and measure the lift in installs in active regions. This gives you real planning data that no forecasting tool could match.
Common Concerns About PWA Install Campaigns on Google Ads
“Can Google Ads actually track PWA installs?”
Yes. PWA install events are standard web conversion events. You fire them via gtag.js or Google Tag Manager, exactly like any other web conversion. Google Ads treats them the same as form submissions, purchases, or sign-ups. There is no special integration required — if you can track a button click on a website, you can track a PWA install.
“Will PMax campaigns work without a Play Store listing?”
Performance Max campaigns are designed for web conversions as well as app installs. When you set a web conversion as your primary goal and provide a landing page URL, PMax optimizes for users who complete that conversion — in this case, installing your PWA. You do not need a Play Store listing for PMax to work effectively.
“Is the install quality comparable to native app installs?”
PWA install quality depends on your onboarding experience, not the install mechanism. Industry data from 2025-2026 shows that well-designed PWAs achieve Day-7 retention rates within 5-10% of native apps, and in some verticals (content, media, utility apps) PWAs actually outperform native on retention because the install barrier was lower, attracting users who would not have bothered with a Play Store download.
“What about users who prefer the Play Store experience?”
You can run PWA install campaigns alongside native app campaigns. Many teams use PWA campaigns for top-of-funnel user acquisition (where conversion rate matters most) and reserve native app campaigns for re-engagement or brand searches where users specifically seek out the app store listing. The two approaches are complementary, not mutually exclusive.
Summary and Action Checklist
Google’s removal of Display and Video planning tools is not a bug — it is the clearest signal yet that the entire Google Ads ecosystem is moving toward conversion-first optimization. If you are running app install campaigns, the implications are straightforward:
- Planning tools are gone. Forecasting impressions and reach is no longer supported or encouraged. Google wants you optimizing for conversions.
- Conversion rate is king. Campaigns with higher conversion rates get rewarded by Smart Bidding algorithms with better placements and lower costs.
- PWA install campaigns have a structural advantage. By removing the Play Store from the install funnel, PWAs convert at higher rates, track more reliably, and iterate faster than native app campaigns.
Your action checklist for this week:
- Audit your current conversion tracking. Make sure you are firing install events at both the prompt and first-open stages.
- Set up at least one Performance Max campaign with your PWA landing page as the final URL.
- Assign accurate conversion values to your PWA install events so tROAS bidding can optimize properly.
- Build a 48-hour push notification sequence to drive post-install engagement.
- Run a 2-week A/B experiment comparing PWA install CPI against native app install CPI on the same audience segments.
The teams that move fastest on these steps will capture the most value from Google’s conversion-first shift. The planning tools are gone — execution is all that is left.
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ROiBest helps Android app teams launch PWAs — no review process, no 30% Google Play cut, and push notifications that work even after uninstall. Teams see up to 1.2x higher install conversion rates vs native app downloads.
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