Payments are experiencing issues due to temporary restrictions in Russia. If your payment does not go through, please submit a support request.Our support team is available 24/7 — we are always here to help with hosting and server issues.We are now accepting requests for dedicated server rental and colocation services in our data center.Reminder: we recommend enabling backups for additional data protection.A new VPS/VDS lineup with NVMe storage and improved performance is now available.Maintenance work on some servers has been completed. All services are operating normally.
Article3 min read

Yandex Merges Product Ads in EPC: What Stores Must Check After the Update

Starting September 21, Yandex Direct will begin combining product and catalog page promotion. I explain how to verify your assortment, filters, and reports after the automatic transition.

Separate product boxes and catalog sections are now consolidated into a single, tidy storefront
In this article

On September 21, 2026, Yandex announced an update to product ads within the Unified Performance Campaign (EPC). Now, a single ad type can be used to promote both individual products and catalog pages. The option to select specific page types and data sources remains available.

The transition of existing ads begins gradually and occurs automatically. Yandex states that settings and statistics are preserved. This reduces the need for manual reconfiguration, but store owners should still verify which pages are included in the ads and how to interpret the updated reports.

Products and categories address different search queries

A user searching for a specific model expects to see its product card. Meanwhile, someone still deciding on a product type may find a category page with filters more useful. Therefore, merging the technical ad type does not make all landing pages interchangeable.

Verify that the page meets visitor expectations. The product card must clearly display the price, variant, and purchase availability. The section should show the assortment and ways to narrow the selection. A beautifully designed category containing only three unavailable items remains a weak landing page.

What to check in the data source

Start with popular items, seasonal sections, and products that cannot be advertised for business reasons. Compare prices and availability in the transmitted data against the website. If the catalog has accumulated old sections, automatic ad creation may make them more visible.

Updated settings use separate filter sets for products and catalogs. This is a useful control point: the desired assortment must be included in promotions intentionally. Do not assume that a single general exclusion list automatically covers all store requirements.

The report meaning also changes

According to Yandex, the previous separation via the "Ad Type" grouping is no longer suitable for comparing products and catalogs. The "Page Type" attribute is now used in the "Products and Catalogs" section.

If an agency or internal team exports regular reports, their logic must be verified. Otherwise, after the update, a familiar row may merge different landing pages, leading to incorrect conclusions about effectiveness.

Do not make decisions based on initial fluctuations

Before the transition, it is useful to save the baseline performance metrics in a standard report: spend, inquiries, orders, and product assortment. Then, compare comparable periods while accounting for seasonality and other changes.

If prices were updated simultaneously, popular items ran out, and a promotion launched, you cannot attribute all results to the new ad structure. First, isolate the causes and examine problematic pages individually.

Tasks for the team to verify next

The advertising specialist checks sources, filters, and the new grouping method. The developer or content manager verifies the correctness of landing pages and catalog exchange. The manager evaluates the quality of received orders, not just the number of clicks.

Automatic updates reduce some technical workload. The store will benefit if the ads direct users to an up-to-date assortment and help them continue their selection without unnecessary site searching.

Discussion0

Share your experience and ask questions. Comments without links appear after editorial review.

No comments yet. Start the discussion.