TL;DR Summary:
New Reporting Option: Google Ads now offers “Report on new customers acquired,” letting advertisers see new-customer data without changing bidding behavior.Workaround Replaced: The old 0.01 bid trick is no longer needed, since it only existed to surface reporting while barely affecting bids.Cleaner Acquisition Data: New customer and new customer value columns help measure acquisition and revenue more accurately, especially for brands that depend on repeat purchases.How do you track new customers in Google Ads without changing your bids? Google added a direct answer to that question on August 7, 2026, with a new reporting setting inside Customer Acquisition. Google Ads new customer acquisition reporting now works as a standalone option, and it matters right now because it replaces a workaround thousands of advertisers were using to get the same data.
What Changed in Google Ads New Customer Acquisition Reporting
Google added a third option called “Report on new customers acquired” inside Customer Acquisition settings. This sits alongside the existing bidding controls. When you select it, you unlock two columns: New customers and New customer value. Your bidding strategy stays untouched. This is the core update, and it gives you a direct way to see acquisition data without asking Google’s algorithm to chase new customers on your behalf.
Why Advertisers Needed a New Customer Acquisition Reporting Option
Before this update, advertisers who wanted new-versus-existing customer data had to select “Bid higher for new customers” and set the value to 0.01. This value was small enough to have almost no real effect on bidding. However, it still technically changed how Google’s system bid on your campaigns. Paid search consultant Vasant Chaudhary first pointed out this workaround, and it spread widely because it was the only way to get the reporting without meaningfully touching bids. You no longer need to use this trick. This is exactly the kind of gap that tools like Measuremate exist to address, since relying on manual bid adjustments just to surface reporting data is a sign that your underlying tracking infrastructure isn’t cleanly separating measurement from bidding behavior in the first place.
How the New Customer Value Columns Work in Practice
Once you turn on “Report on new customers acquired,” Google Ads shows you two new metrics. New customers tells you how many buyers in a given period are first-time customers. New customer value shows the revenue tied to those buyers. You get this visibility whether or not you want Google’s bidding system to prioritize acquisition. That separation is the main practical shift here. Your reporting and your bidding strategy no longer have to move together.
What This Means for Your Customer Acquisition Reporting Strategy
If you care about customer lifetime value, meaning the total revenue a customer generates over time rather than a single purchase, this update gives you cleaner data to work with. You can now measure acquisition efficiency without forcing your bids to favor new customers over returning ones. This matters if your business depends on repeat purchases and you don’t want Google’s algorithm skewing spend toward one-time buyers. The update was first shared publicly by paid search expert Thomas Eccel on LinkedIn, and it reflects a pattern where Google keeps replacing informal workarounds with official settings.
Setting Up Google Ads New Customer Acquisition Reporting Correctly
Check your Customer Acquisition settings under each campaign and confirm whether you currently use the 0.01 bid workaround. If you do, switch to “Report on new customers acquired” instead. This removes any unintended bidding influence while keeping your acquisition data intact. Review your account soon, since running both settings at once could create confusion in how your reports and bidding interact.
Check your Customer Acquisition settings this week and confirm which option your account currently uses. If you relied on the 0.01 workaround, switch to the new dedicated reporting setting as soon as you can. Watch for further updates from Google, since this change fits a pattern of replacing manual workarounds with official controls. If auditing your Customer Acquisition settings reveals broader tracking gaps in your account, a tool like Measuremate can help validate whether your GA4 and conversion setup is actually capturing the data your bidding and reporting decisions depend on.
