le Ads Automation – When and How to Use It //

Google has been making an effort to automate as many of its advertising platforms as possible over the years. This is due to increased competition on other platforms and the less obvious benefit of increasing advertiser spending, without their knowledge.

This isn’t all. Many of the automated features Google launched during this period have made the experience better for advertisers.

My view of Google and its push to automate ad features is this: There is a lot of value to be gained. However, it is important to choose the right ones.

In this post I will discuss which features are worth using and which should be taken with a grain or salt.

Automated bidding

Google Ads bidding was manual many moons ago. Everyone jumped at the chance to share the “best” strategies for winning auctions, achieving high Quality Scores and “hacking” the system to your benefit.

When should it be used

Google Ads’ automated bid strategies have been quite efficient for me over time, and I have used many of them depending on my goal. The goal is usually classified as either lead generation, direct sale, visibility, and website traffic.

• Lead generation – When it comes to generating leads in any campaign, the best strategy is to use a conversion focused bid strategy. However, there are some exceptions. These include keywords that are highly competitive in certain verticals. (more details below).
• Direct Sales: If your conversion action is directly tied to a dollar amount, or has at least a dollar value, I recommend starting with Max Conversion Value, then letting the campaign run for a while, and then switching to Target ROI. You can then fine-tune your campaigns until Google Ads becomes a consistent profitable marketing tool for your business.
• Brand recognition/visibility: If you are primarily looking to rank high for certain terms or be visible on search results pages, Target Impression Share is your best option. Sometimes, Max Clicks and Manual CPC are viable options.
• Website traffic/SEO help: If you’re looking for to drive traffic to your website, or to appear in search results pages for terms that you don’t currently rank for organically for, Maximize clicks or Target Impress Share would be your best options. This depends on the terms involved.

Before you use Google’s automated bidding strategy, consider your overall strategy. Also, remember that the learning period is available for data collection, especially when you are changing bidding strategies.

It is not recommended to be used

Although you can still manually bid in Google Ads, I recommend that only certain situations be considered.

One example: I worked with a client who was targeting the keyword “SOC 2”. This keyword is highly competitive. The business wanted to drive conversions and also want their brand to be consistent visible in search results.

We used Manual CPC bidding in this case. Target Impression Share was then adopted for terms similar to this. Despite not optimizing for conversions, the conversion volume was still there.

Automated ad creation

Google Ads Smart Creative is an aspect that automates the creation of ads. These features can be a little tricky so I recommend that you use them in some way, but not all.

When should it be used

Responsive Search Ads: You can create text search ads using RSAs to include a variety headlines and descriptions. Google matches the bids to determine the best combination to achieve your goal.

RSAs are great, but I recommend you do your research to create the most relevant headlines and then let the automation (in combination with your bidding strategy), do the rest. While I don’t recommend allowing Google generate them for you, it is an option under the “Recommendations” tab.

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Responsive Display Ads: It can be difficult for many advertisers to create responsive display ads. This is mainly because not all have the necessary design skills and resources. Google generates responsive display ads using the assets you provide. They adjust to the Google Display Network’s available placement. They are more like a Facebook advertisement than traditional static display ads. As with RSAs, I recommend using high-quality and relevant base assets.

It is not recommended to be used

Here are some examples of when automation should not be used.

Smart Campaigns:Smart campaign are basically AdWords Express. The idea is to simplify and automate everything so that novice users can launch campaigns quickly and without worrying about the complicated components.

Performance Max will be discussed in more detail. However, my main point is to avoid Smart campaigns and anything that automates targeting. Learning how to create a manual campaign or hiring someone who is experienced is better than trusting too broad targeting.

Marketing success often comes down to the details. You would rather have control of those details than let an automated system take your money.

Smart Display: I use the term smart display ads because, unlike search, there’s no guarantee of intent. Google claims that advertisers who use Smart Display campaigns see 20% more conversions for the same cost per act (CPA) than those who use other display campaigns.

This misleading and deceptive statement is misleading. Anyone who has managed successful digital marketing campaigns will know that CPA doesn’t mean anything if you are driving unqualified leads. The Display Network has been doing this for years. Use the GDN to keep your targeting under control.

Performance Max There are a lot of opinions about PMax . Although some people praise its effectiveness, I and others have found it less than ideal. This campaign type combines both Smart campaigns and responsive ads in one place. Google will generate ads for you across all of its properties if you provide information about your marketing objectives, budget, assets and audience.

Performance Max is a product that requires strong offline tracking, high volume and a large budget to be successful. These requirements are not applicable to most intermediate and novice advertisers. You can find more PMax watchouts, and workarounds .

The bottom line

My opinion is that automation combined with human guidance is the best combination of Google Ads and any other platform at the moment. It is not possible to “set it and forget” in this situation. This is not possible with the efficiency that can only be achieved through human intervention. Remember that paid platforms are actually “paying” for your presence. The machine that promotes automation is also billing your credit card.

This is why I suggest using the traditional approach to setting up campaigns, but then leveraging features such as automated bidding or responsive ad creativity. It is up to the person running the ads to decide which features are beneficial to them.

The post Google Ads Automation: When (& when not) to Use It was first published on WordStream.