Automation in Google Ads has advantages and disadvantages, which can vary depending on the specific feature and the PPC expert’s opinion. Brett McHale from Empiric Marketing LLC already provided his insights, and now, Jyll Saskin Gales is here to share her perspective on Google Ads automation! ——- Is Google Ads automation beneficial or detrimental? Even as someone who loves machine learning, I believe that automation isn’t always the solution. This guide to Google Ads automation explores three key areas to empower you to make optimal decisions for your ad account and business:

• Automated bidding
• Automated targeting
• Automated ad creative Let’s dive in!

Achieving success with Google Ads automated bidding

Automated bidding is a great way to start trusting the “Google machines” with part of your ad buying. Currently, manual bidding is rarely preferable to automated bidding, which Google Ads calls “Smart Bidding.” Why? Because Google Ads aims to deliver business outcomes like revenue, profitability, and return on investment, not just a specific cost per click. Google possesses extensive knowledge about its users, surpassing your own, and can analyze countless signals to determine your bids for each auction. Therefore, it makes sense to leverage the machine’s strength: Smart Bidding. Google Ads offers four main metrics for bidding, along with two ways to utilize Smart Bidding. Let’s break them down.

• Clicks: Click maximization*
• Conversions: Conversion maximization, Target CPA
• Conversion value: Conversion value maximization, Target ROAS
• Impressions / Impression Share: Target CPM*, Target Impression Share* When selecting an automated bid strategy for your Google Ads campaign, you essentially inform the system about your desired results: clicks, conversions, conversion value, or impressions. This allows Google to excel at setting individual bids to achieve your goal. _

_ *It’s worth noting that Google categorizes the starred strategies as automated bidding strategies, distinct from “Smart Bidding” strategies, because they lack “auction-time bidding.” For simplicity, this guide groups all automated bid strategies, both “Smart” and “not Smart,” together.

“Maximize” vs “Target” bid strategies

After determining your desired outcomes, it’s time to define how you want automated bidding to operate. Google Ads provides two primary categories of Smart Bidding strategies.

• Maximize: “Maximize conversions” or “Maximize conversion value” This option utilizes a set budget and instructs Google Ads to generate maximum results (clicks, conversions, etc.) within that budget, without prioritizing efficiency.
• Target: “Target CPA” or “Target ROAS” This option prioritizes achieving a predetermined efficiency level (CPA or ROAS), and Google Ads will strive to reach that efficiency, regardless of the budget. While staying within your budget, Google Ads will recommend increasing it if more opportunities arise. Starting with the Maximize conversions bid strategy is generally a safe bet when unsure.

Remember, even with automated bidding, monitoring and managing your bids is crucial! Here are our recommendations for effectively managing bids in an automated bidding environment.

Excelling with automated targeting in Search campaigns

Automated targeting represents the next step in expanding your reach with Google Ads. Regardless of your expertise in selecting ideal keywords or using the right audiences, manual targeting can lead to missed opportunities. Why? Because Google, armed with its vast data and machine learning capabilities, understands your potential customers (its users) better than you do. Here are two ways to incorporate automation when targeting your Search campaigns:

Dynamic ad groups

Similar to how a Shopping campaign utilizes your Merchant Center feed instead of keywords to match the appropriate queries to your ads, a Dynamic ad group employs your website to match the right queries. You can review your Search terms report to see which queries triggered your ads and add negative keywords if needed. When creating a Dynamic ad group, you can target your entire website or specific pages as the “Dynamic ad target.” Here’s a simple trick to assess the suitability of Dynamic ad groups for your needs: Navigate to Keyword Planner > Start with a website, and enter the URL or URLs for which you intend to use a Dynamic ad group.

Proceed with automating your targeting using a Dynamic ad group if the suggested keywords are highly relevant. Conversely, if the keyword suggestions are irrelevant, it’s best to hold off on Dynamic ad groups for now and consult an SEO specialist to address the issue. Consider reviewing our SEO guide as well.

Broad match keywords

Another approach to utilizing automated targeting in Search campaigns is through broad match keywords. Although Google might not classify it as such, broad match effectively functions this way! You provide your keywords, and Google identifies numerous other queries it deems relevant to them.

Achieving pinpoint accuracy with automated targeting in audience-based campaigns

When setting up Display, Discovery, or Video campaigns, you probably have specific audiences in mind. However, Google can enhance your targeting through Optimized targeting or Audience expansion.

Optimized targeting

Optimized targeting examines your converters and identifies new users exhibiting similar online behavior. It’s akin to a “Similar segment” for your converters, which is particularly relevant since Similar segments are being phased out.

Audience expansion

Audience expansion serves as the counterpart for reach-focused Video campaigns. When enabled, it seeks out additional Google audience segments resembling your selections and targets them as well. My preferred approach is to initiate audience campaigns with Optimized targeting activated and observe its performance. If it outperforms my chosen audiences after a few weeks, that’s fantastic! If not, it’s easily deactivated with a single click.

Notably, App campaigns mandate fully automated targeting, as you don’t have the option to select keywords or audiences. While Performance Max campaigns allow you to choose an Audience signal, you’re essentially using Optimized targeting by default. However, you can still review the Insights tab to see the audiences Google Ads has identified.

Maximizing the potential of automated creative

Perhaps you’re already using automated bidding and targeting, and that might suffice for your needs. The general sentiment in the industry seems to be: Enough automation for now! However, for Google, there’s always room for more automation.

The final frontier is automated creative, which has undergone numerous changes recently with Responsive Search Ads replacing Expanded Text Ads, “Assets” replacing Extensions, and the launch of the Google Ads Video Creator. A telltale sign that Google Ads is automating some aspects of your ad creative is the word “dynamic.” For instance, in a Dynamic ad group (explained earlier), Google Ads dynamically generates relevant headlines for each user query. In Dynamic remarketing (discussed below), Google Ads displays tailored product recommendations based on the user’s browsing history.

Responsive ads

All types of Google ads, including Search ads, Display ads, Discovery ads, Video ads, Performance Max ads, and App ads, are now responsive ads. This implies that you furnish Google Ads with the building blocks of your ad, termed “Assets” (headlines, descriptions, images, feeds, videos, logos), and Google experiments with numerous combinations to achieve your objectives.

Opting out of responsive ads is not possible, indicating that you’re already utilizing automated creative at its most fundamental level if you’re running Google Ads.

Need help writing headlines for your responsive ads?

Free guide! >> 10 Tricks to Get the Click: How to Write Exceptional PPC Ad Copy (with Examples!)

Dynamic assets (formerly known as extensions)

In addition to responsive ads, where you select your assets and Google automates their presentation to users, you can also opt into various auto-generated, or “dynamic,” assets. For instance, Dynamic image assets (previously Dynamic image extensions) authorize Google Ads to extract images from your website and incorporate them as add-ons to your ads. You’ve likely encountered Dynamic remarketing, where Google Ads generates Display ads showcasing products users have previously viewed on your site. This also constitutes automated creative, as it’s both responsive and dynamic, tailoring the content and layout for each user based on your Merchant Center feed.

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Performance Max automated video creation

The ultimate frontier in automated creative goes beyond responsive or dynamic elements; it empowers Google to generate your assets for you. I understand it might feel unsettling. However, Performance Max campaigns offer a glimpse into this future. If you haven’t provided any video assets in an Asset group, Google Ads will automatically create videos on your behalf. While they might appear aesthetically unappealing, remember that visual appeal doesn’t always translate to conversions. Google shares your ultimate goal: achieving your business objectives. If you’re not yet comfortable with Google creating videos for you, I suggest exploring the new video creator tool in Google Ads. This tool allows you to maintain control over your video’s template, text, images, and music.

For a deeper dive into the pros and cons of Performance Max campaigns, refer to our comprehensive analysis here.

The paramount factor for successful automation in Google Ads

The key to success with automated bidding, targeting, or creative doesn’t lie in Google’s intelligence (or lack thereof); it hinges on your conversion tracking.

• Effective automated bidding relies on accurate conversion data for Google to learn from.
• Automated targeting requires Google to distinguish between converters and non-converters.
• Automated creative relies on Google identifying which assets drive conversions. The most crucial element to ensure any automation strategy delivers positive results for your business is implementing robust, full-funnel conversion tracking.