The official Google documentation, consulted on 1 September, maintains the 31 August 2026 effective date: the backend forces enable_local to true for Shopping campaigns, and excluding local offers has to go through an ONLINE listing scope or the inventory filter.
Local distribution · Shopping
Shopping: Google Ads turns Local Inventory Ads on by default
Reconfigure before 31 AugustDeadline : 31 August 2026Documentation as at : 1 September 2026
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01 · Mechanism
What actually changes
From 31 August 2026, Google turns Local Inventory Ads on by default in Shopping campaigns. The backend then treats Campaign.ShoppingSetting.enable_local as true, including where an integration older than version 25.1 attempts to write false.
To restrict delivery to online offers, Google asks you to use a listing scope with product_channel = ONLINE, or the inventory filter in the interface. From version 25.1 of the API onwards, writing enable_local = false raises the error ContextError.OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CONTEXT.
02 · Impact
What it changes in the mix
A Shopping campaign can take in local inventory without a fresh, explicit trade-off. At constant budget, the split of delivery between online offers and offers available in store can therefore change.
Teams need to make the channel trade-off explicit and to separate online tracking from local tracking. Performance Max and Demand Gen are unaffected by this change in the field’s behaviour.
03 · Scope
Who has to reconfigure
Shopping campaigns and Google Ads API integrations that use Campaign.ShoppingSetting.enable_local.
Performance Max and Demand Gen: the enable_local field continues to work there as before.
04 · Settings
What do I reconfigure?
- 01
Identify the campaigns affected
Identify the Shopping campaigns whose exclusion of local offers currently relies on enable_local = false.
- By when
- Before 31 August 2026
- Where
- Google Ads API · ShoppingSetting
- 02
Set the online scope explicitly
To keep delivery online only, apply a listing scope with product_channel = ONLINE.
- By when
- Before 31 August 2026
- Where
- CampaignCriterionService · listing scope
- 03
Separate inventory and budgets in the interface
Where the API integration is not used, configure the inventory filter and, if necessary, ring-fence budgets between online and local.
- By when
- Before 31 August 2026
- Where
- Google Ads · inventory filter
- 04
Remove incompatible writes
Remove any write of enable_local = false before migrating to Google Ads API v25.1 or a later version.
- By when
- Before migrating to v25.1
- Where
- Google Ads API integration code
- 05
Separate online and local reporting
After 31 August, track delivery and performance separately for online offers and for local inventory.
- By when
- From 31 August 2026
- Where
- Shopping reports
05 · Correction
What is going around and what is accurate
Leaving enable_local at false will continue to exclude local offers from Shopping campaigns.
From 31 August, the backend forces the value to true. Exclusion has to go through a listing scope with product_channel = ONLINE or through the inventory filter; in v25.1 and later, writing false raises an error.
06 · Evidence
Primary sources
07 · Revisions
Public history
Entry created from the Google Ads announcement, with the Local Inventory Ads scope corroborated in the Google Merchant Center documentation.