Week 44: Meta counts more by default, AI Mode ads spread

Meta’s pixel now matches conversions on the customer’s own device, and the setting is on by default. Meta says that means more conversions in your reports. Google spent the week adding inventory: ads in AI Mode reach 10 more countries, and their results sit inside your Search totals. Both raise what the platforms report, and neither changes what you sold.

Published this week

• A hashed phone number is a phone number with an extra step: we hashed all 6.4 billion North American numbers on one VM in under six minutes.
• Ads that do nothing get a lift result half the time: 2.4 million simulated lift studies against Google’s 50% certainty threshold.
• Same three orders, five conversion rates: one visit log, six tools’ session rules, rates from 27% to 60%.
• Safari 27.2 stops capping your own cookies on CNAMEd sites: server-set cookies on Shopify www domains were capped at 7 days too.
• GA4’s AI Assistant channel only counts the untagged clicks: five AI clicks, five different channels.
• Client-side vs server-side tracking: where the event starts: eight setups, and which sales each one can see.
• AI Mode ads reach 10 more countries but get no report: no API field marks an AI Mode placement.

Releases and changes

Meta

Help pages read 30 October. Conversions matched on the customer’s device, on by default. When the pixel sees a purchase it cannot connect to an ad view, the match now happens on the customer’s device, using details they gave you, such as an email. Meta receives only the conversion and the campaign. Meta says your attribution window and model don’t change, so a rise in Meta-reported conversions will come from more matches, not more sales. It needs a site with an email or phone login and a pixel on the page itself, it is not active for people in the EU and UK, and Meta’s pages give no start date. (Meta Business Help, setup)

Google Ads

28 October. Ads in AI Mode in 10 more countries. Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore, with Brazil, Mexico and the UK in Q4, and multiturn ads in the US. There is no opt-out and no separate report, so in those countries a change in Search CTR or conversion rate from late October may come from the new placement. (Google)

28 October. Google Ads API v26.1. Budgets can now be capped and prioritised by network (Google’s own properties, Search partners, Display), a new recommendation targets new customers, reach reports fill in the 6+ to 9+ frequency buckets, and Performance Max takes household income exclusions. Budget caps by network are the one to test: they change where PMax spend can go. (Release notes)

Apple Safari

26 October. Safari 27.2 fixes a 7-day cap on your own cookies. Cookies set by the page’s own response were capped at 7 days when the hostname was a CNAME to another domain, which is how Shopify www, Netlify and Vercel subdomains connect. Expect Safari returning visitors and long-lag conversions to rise as people update. (WebKit)

Pinterest

26 October. Programmatic Deals generally available. Advertisers can buy selected Pinterest display and video inventory through DSPs, with Magnite as the main supply partner. Pinterest says this brings its inventory into the “planning, buying and measurement workflows” buyers already use, so the same Pinterest impression can now be counted by your DSP’s rules as well as Pinterest’s. Decide which one you report before you split budget. (Pinterest)

Shopify

28 October. Campaign Autopilot for all merchants. Shopify now picks the channels and moves the budget between Meta, Microsoft Advertising, Snapchat and its own channels, toward “what’s actually working”. Shopify does not say which conversion count it uses to decide that, so compare its results with each platform’s own reports before you trust the moves. (Shopify changelog)

28 October. App events in Shopify Analytics. Supported apps can send events, such as emails sent, into Shopify’s own reports. Email and loyalty activity can now sit next to orders in one report, but only for apps that send them. (Shopify changelog)

28 October. POS identifies shoppers from the Shopify Payments network. A shopper who has checked out at any Shopify Payments store and takes a digital receipt is linked to a customer profile. More in-store sales get a customer attached, which matters for any offline conversion upload built on store customers. (Shopify changelog)

What to do

1. Check the Meta setting in Events Manager, and compare Meta-reported purchases with your own orders for the weeks before and after it took effect.
2. Note 28 October in every Google Ads account that runs in the 10 AI Mode countries, and compare broad match and PMax with exact match there.
3. Split Safari by version before you read a rise in returning visitors as a result.

Meta reports conversions against the date of the impression, not the date of the sale. So if the new matches are credited like any other conversion, they land on past days, and last week’s numbers can still go up. Why do platforms keep changing past days, and when can you trust a week’s total? Why your ad platform rewrites past numbers explains it.