The Robots Recommendations For Google Ads Recommendations
Google Ads is a powerful advertising platform, but managing campaigns can be complex. Enter the Recommendations tab – a treasure trove of potential improvements for your ads. But is it always wise to follow these suggestions? Let’s dive in!
What's in the Recommendations Tab?
Google’s recommendations are data-driven suggestions aimed at boosting your ad performance. They cover a wide range of areas:
- Keywords: Add new keywords, remove underperforming ones, or switch to broad match.
- Bids: Increase bids for better ad placement, or adjust bidding strategies.
- Ads & Extensions: Create new ad variations, add sitelink extensions, or implement responsive search ads.
- Targeting: Expand to new audiences or adjust your targeting settings.
- Other: Optimize for conversions, set up automated bidding, or add negative keywords.
Why You Shouldn't Blindly Follow Recommendations
Relying solely on Google’s ad recommendations is similar to blindly trusting a car salesperson’s advice on the “best” vehicle for your family. While a two-door sports car on sale might be presented as a great deal, it’s not a practical choice for a large family or someone prioritizing reliability. It’s essential to consider your individual needs and preferences, rather than simply accepting what’s being promoted.
While recommendations are often helpful, they’re not always the perfect fit for your goals. Here’s why:
1. One-Size-Fits-All Doesn't Exist:
Your business is unique, and Google’s algorithm doesn’t always understand your specific objectives or constraints.
2. Broad Match Mayhem:
Google often pushes broad match keywords, which can lead to irrelevant traffic and wasted ad spend. Even phrase match and exact match aren’t as reliable as they once were in 2024 and beyond.
3. Automated Bidding & Asset Creation Risks:
While automated bidding can be convenient, it can also lead to overspending if not carefully monitored. We’ve tested the auto recommendations for bidding across multiple campaigns and have seen sometimes double the cost per conversion compared to the baseline campaign. The AI is still a work in progress when it comes to automated bidding and asset creation in Google Ads.
4. Your Expertise Matters:
You know your business best. Don’t discount your own insights and experience. While Google offers great return potential and business exposure they also have their own business objectives (getting the most clicks and ad fees) which can sometimes conflict with your own (getting the highest clicks that convert to sales revenue or leads).
When to Consider Recommendations?
1. New To Google Ads:
If you’re just starting out, recommendations can be a great learning tool and guide for what needs to be improved in the account. For example: if you are running a pMax campaign and google recommends you to improve the ad assets this indicates new headlines, descriptions or images can be added to improve engagement, click-through-rates on the ads and ultimate conversion potential. That is a great guide on where to start!
2. Limited Time:
If you’re short on time, recommendations can quickly point you in the right direction. If you only have 20 or 30 minutes and Google Ad Recommendations show you have not included sitelinks in your ad campaigns you can quickly spend that time setting up new sitelinks to improve ad engagement.
3. Performance Slumps:
If your campaigns are underperforming, recommendations can help diagnose issues. This is the most cautious recommendation. Many times Google Ads will recommend to throw a lot of Broadmatch keywords into the account and let them automatically test assets. This can lead to wasted ad spend. It still helps to take a look at the keywords recommended and if they are relevant can be added preferably as exact match to test their impact before expanding beyond.
The same applies for automated assets. We have seen irrelevant product images show up in campaigns when testing this function so it’s not perfect. It is ideal to select 5 specific images and test those than to let Google decide.
4. Testing Opportunities:
Use recommendations as a springboard for testing new strategies. You can now run “experiments” before making permanent changes in your ad account. This is a great feature and can certainly provide performance uplift. Google Ads has a lot of data they can use to run experiments to see what works and what doesn’t just keep in mind your business end goals for alignment with Google’s testing and everything will work out just fine.
Tips For Using The Recommendations Tab
Here are some final summary recommendations to best manage this tab:
- Analyze Carefully: Don’t just blindly implement every suggestion. Take the time to understand the rationale behind each recommendation.
- Prioritize: Focus on recommendations that align with your business goals.
- Experiment: Test recommendations in a controlled setting before fully implementing them.
- Track Results: Monitor the impact of any changes you make to gauge their effectiveness.
The Bottom Line!
The Google Ads Recommendations tab is a valuable tool, but it’s essential to use it wisely. By taking a strategic approach and using your own judgment, you can harness the power of recommendations to improve your ad campaigns and achieve your business objectives.
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