Better Audience Targeting in Google Ads

Google Ads continues to shift its focus from keywords to campaign types, such as Performance Max and Demand Gen, making audiences more critical than ever. Google has enhanced its audience targeting capabilities in Display campaigns to resemble those on Meta, LinkedIn, and other social channels.

Custom audiences

Search and Shopping campaigns take advertisers only so far. Display campaigns can help by building top-of-funnel prospects via custom audiences.

A “custom audience” is any group of consumers chosen by an advertiser, such as:

• Visitors to a contact-us page who don’t convert,
• Email newsletter subscribers,
• Searchers with specific needs, such as queries for “electrician services” or “wireless headphones,”
• Shoppers who browse a category of websites, such as those similar to ESPN,
• Searchers who query “wireless headphone” terms but don’t browse ESPN-like sites.

Depending on the campaign type, Google either targets these audiences or uses them as a signal. For example, a Display campaign would target prospects in “electrician services” for an in-market audience. A Performance Max campaign would use “electrician services” as a signal and show ads to prospects inferred by Google.

Custom audiences are limitless, which is why advertisers should continually test to identify the top performers.

Creating custom audiences

The most common custom audience is visitors to a website — individual pages or combinations. For instance, here are visitors to a product page who did not convert. They viewed the “/products” URL but not the “/thank-you.”

This custom audience is visitors who viewed the “/products” URL but not the “/thank-you.” Click image to enlarge.

Yet targeting is more creative with custom segments, which, like website audiences, are located in the Audience Manager. There are two types of custom segments:

• “People with any of these interests or purchase intentions,”
• “People who search for any of these terms on Google.”

The options are similar, but “interests” includes websites visited, apps used, and content consumed, versus searchers who query specific terms. Thus “interests” are macro targeting while searches are micro.

Here is a custom interest segment for wireless headphones. I’ve included a few headphone terms and sites that prospects visit.

This custom interest segment includes prospects’ headphone terms and related websites. Click image to enlarge.

I could narrow the segment by excluding prospects interested in Apple AirPods. I could then create a separate segment targeting “AirPod” terms, and even combine the two for a new segment.

Segments can exclude other segments or interests. This example excludes prospects who are interested in AirPods. Click image to enlarge.

Combined segments can include “Interests & detailed demographics,” not just other custom segments. Hence I could add Google-defined headphone users to my combined segment.

Combined segments can include “Interests & detailed demographics,” not just other custom segments. Click image to enlarge.

The result is seemingly endless potential audiences, general and specific, to test across campaign types. Perhaps one custom segment works better as a signal in Performance Max than as a target in Display.

Be creative! That’s the takeaway. Targeting in Google Ads may not be as granular as Meta or LinkedIn, but it is essential for scaling your account.

Google-Criteo Deal Unlocks Retail Media

Google is about to give agencies and advertisers access to prime retail media placements on ecommerce sites such as Best Buy, Costco, and Target.

The deal, announced on September 10, 2025, connects Google’s Search Ads 360 (SA360) platform with a network of more than 200 enterprise-level retailers via Criteo’s advertising and commerce platform.

“With Criteo’s expansive network of retailer partners, we’re helping advertisers connect with customers at a critical moment in their shopping journey,” said Bill Reardon, general manager, enterprise platform at Google, via a press release.

Digital Retail Media

Retail media is exploding. Adtelligent estimated that worldwide retail media spend would reach $145 to $165 billion in 2025, up from $59 billion in 2019.

In the United States, the market is valued at more than $60 billion and is growing at roughly 20% per year, according to various sources.

Advertisers use digital retail media primarily to promote products sold on the given retailer’s website. Thus many retail media advertisers are actually the store’s suppliers, boosting sales via the retail channel.

Digital retail media has taken off, in part, because it relies on first-party customer data and does not require intrusive cookies or complex privacy protocols.

Walled Gardens

A few “walled gardens,” i.e., closed platforms or ecosystems operated by a single company, dominate the market. Of these, Amazon is far and away the leader.

In Q2 2025, Amazon’s ad revenue reached $15.69 billion, a 23% year-over-year increase, hitting a record 9.36% of the company’s total revenue and marking it as the fastest-growing segment.

Amazon has leveraged its massive ecommerce marketplace and best-in-class shopping data. Together, these create a self-reinforcing advertising flywheel that drives conversions for advertisers and revenue for Amazon.

Good Data

Amazon’s retail media flywheel works because the company controls the entire process, from initial customer acquisition to final purchase, collecting all the behavioral data along the way. It has first-party data that is real, recent, and relevant.

Compared to third-party data, Amazon and nearly any walled-garden advertising solution will be much more effective at targeting shoppers and producing sales.

These closed ecosystems also help with measurement. Since the ads are running and converting in a walled garden, advertising attribution is easy.

Enter Google

While Amazon is the undisputed leader in digital retail media, Google is the king of digital advertising generally. The company generated approximately $71.3 billion in advertising revenue during Q2 2025, representing a 10.4% year-over-year increase.

Some $54 billion of that Q2 revenue was specific to search advertising. A significant portion of that revenue passes through the company’s SA360 platform. That demand will now connect to Criteo and its retail media network.

This deal is a significant shift for the market. In the past, Google’s retail-related advertising products, such as AI-assisted PMax or Shopping Ads, have focused on driving traffic to retail websites. The idea was that someone would query on Google search, see an ad for a relevant product, and go to the retailer to buy it.

With Criteo’s help, Google can now offer a more complete way to advertise to consumers. Its platform not only guides advertisers to retail sites, but also shoppers on those sites to specific sponsored products.

Google vs. Amazon

In a sense, the Google and Criteo deal targets Amazon’s dominance in digital retail media and walled gardens generally.

Google gains a foothold in the digital retail media market, providing SA360 advertisers with the opportunity to extend search campaigns into high-intent shopping environments, all with unified measurement and attribution.

Brands that had been using retail media now have an alternative. Rather than concentrating advertising spend in a few dominant ecosystems, the Google-Criteo integration opens access to a broader range of retail ad placements.

It opens some access to some of those walled gardens, and, as several pundits have put it, fosters competition and “democratizes” retail media.

Antitrust

While Criteo and Google had been in discussions for some time, the deal’s announcement came just days after Google survived what could have been a devastating antitrust ruling. It was also less than two weeks before a second remedy hearing.

In August 2024, a U.S. District Court found Google guilty of maintaining an illegal monopoly over the general online search and text advertising markets.

Leading up to the September 2025 remedy hearing, some observers thought that Google would be required to divest some of its products, such as the Chrome browser.

No Breakup

Instead, the court, on September 2, 2025, ruled that Google change its behavior, including:

• Refraining from entering into exclusive search engine contracts,
• Sharing some search data with qualified competitors.

In a separate April 2025 case, a federal judge found Google guilty of illegally monopolizing key segments of the digital advertising market. The remedy hearing for this case is scheduled for September 22, 2025.

Google’s “democratizing” deal with Criteo could be an indication to the courts that the company aims to encourage competition.

Google PMax Unveils Optimization Tools

Google’s Performance Max campaigns place responsive ads across all Google channels based on audience signals. The search giant automatically determines an ad’s headlines, descriptions, and images across, say, Search, Display, and YouTube to deliver top results.

Yet PMax campaigns lack transparency and restrict options.

The encouraging news is that Google is listening to advertisers and has rolled out PMax reporting and flexibility updates in the past year. These include reports for asset-level conversions and Search category theme volume and conversions, as well as the ability to exclude devices where your ads can appear.

More recently, Google has provided new PMax optimization features. I’ll address those in this post.

Channel performance

At a Performance Max campaign level, advertisers can now see which channels drive traffic and conversions. In the example below, traffic from Google Discover accounts for 5.36% of total spend and one conversion.

Performance Max advertisers can now see, at the campaign level, which channels drive traffic and conversions. Click image to enlarge.

Performance Max ads can show in these Google channels:

• Discover
• Display
• Gmail
• Maps
• Search
• YouTube

Advertisers cannot exclude specific channels, but the new visibility is helpful and may determine PMax’s overall viability. Advertisers can exclude non-converting ads and keywords to assess further whether PMax is the right option.

Final URL expansion

By default, new Performance Max campaigns turn on Final URL expansion. This means that Google can send searchers to a different landing page for better conversions. Expanding the Final URL can be worthwhile, but it’s important to see which pages are converting. An option in the “Assets” tab provides the Final URL expansion assets.

Advertisers can exclude irrelevant URLs in “Asset Optimization” within the campaign settings. Click on the “Customization” option to activate “Final URL expansion.”

Advertisers can exclude irrelevant URLs in “Asset Optimization” within the campaign settings. Click image to enlarge.

Asset Optimization

Speaking of Asset Optimization, advertisers can see the asset source for the many components of Performance Max data. For example, a Google-created headline may convert at twice the rate of an advertiser’s version. Advertisers can pause automatically created assets, similar to pausing keywords.

Advertisers can disable automated assets at the account level, but not for campaigns. Turn off the option, for example, if you don’t want Google-created sitelinks to show. Remember that turning off an automated asset impacts the entire account.

Negative keywords

Performance Max campaigns have always allowed negative keywords. However, the setup was cumbersome, requiring either implementation by a Google rep or the creation of an account-level negative keyword list.

Now, adding negative keywords is easy. Discovering the keywords is also easy, as search queries are available as a separate option in the “Insights and reports” tab to view the data and select terms to exclude.

Search Themes

Google introduced Search Themes in 2023 to help guide its AI. The Themes work similarly to keywords. For example, a retailer selling winter jackets could provide Search Themes of:

• “Winter jackets,”
• “Men’s winter jackets,”
• “Women’s winter jackets,”

Searchers don’t need to type these keywords for ads to show. Instead, the ads show if an advertiser’s site content or the searcher’s query history indicates relevance. Along with audience signals, Search Themes helps Google know a searcher’s profile.

Google now allows up to 50 Search Themes per asset group, an increase from 10.

Google Ads Unveils RSA Asset Stats

A helpful reporting update is rolling out in Google Ads accounts. Advertisers can now view click and conversion data for each headline and description line of Responsive Search Ads, as well as aggregate RSA performance.

More Control

Advertisers have generally responded positively to RSAs. The ads allow up to 15 headlines and four description lines that rotate interchangeably for, potentially, thousands of combinations. With smart bidding, artificial intelligence, and personalization signals, Google shows the most likely-to-convert combination for each searcher.

Until now, however, advertisers could only see the overall RSA performance and total impressions of each asset and combination.

But click and conversion metrics for each asset now appear in the interface. The example below ranks the number of conversions from highest to lowest, along with their conversion rates and cost per conversion. Advertisers can easily identify which assets are meeting goals.

Google Ads now reports click and conversion metrics for each RSA asset. This example ranks the number of conversions from highest to lowest.

With the data, advertisers regain some control, although it’s essential to consider the bigger picture. More data doesn’t necessarily mean more changes.

Google’s AI optimizes for advertisers’ goals. A lower-performing asset could result from Google testing combinations. For instance, a headline could perform poorly for group A but well for group B when combined with description line C. Unfortunately, impressions remain the only available metric to advertisers when viewing RSA combinations.

Using the Data

Nonetheless, advertisers should not entirely defer to Google’s AI. Here are my typical action items.

Remove underperforming assets. I apply a filter to highlight poor performers, such as any asset with at least 100 clicks and zero conversions. It’s a quick rundown of headlines and descriptions to remove, as the message or landing page isn’t resonating with searchers.

Advertisers can view asset-level performance at the ad, ad group, and campaign levels. The ad level provides the most detail, but ad groups and campaigns are sufficient if the assets are identical. Regardless, ensure you have enough data for informed decisions — I aim for at least 50 clicks.

Pin the best performers. Conversely, identify the most productive assets through pinning — locking specific headlines and descriptions, such as a headline with a better-than-average conversion rate or a description with a low cost per lead.

Creating a new RSA for the top three to seven assets is another option. For example, if headlines A, D, F, and description lines M and N perform well, create an RSA with only those assets.

Keep in mind that pinning assets will reduce an ad’s strength. To be sure, “ad strength” is a novelty metric, but it roughly aligns with the number of likely impressions. Thus pin assets selectively to ensure consistent traffic.

Find new messaging from AI Max. When turned on, AI Max ads reveal performance for its automated assets.

Recall that AI Max campaigns create assets from copy on an advertiser’s website, landing page, and other ads. If an automatically created asset performs well, consider creating a new RSA ad or adding it to an existing one.

AI Max’s automatic headlines and descriptions are a source for new or existing RSAs.

Caution

More data can lead to bad decisions. Exercise caution. Google Ads AI algorithm considers many variables to determine the best message for each searcher. Knowing the clicks and conversions for each headline and description is helpful, but part of the bigger picture.

Google, Microsoft Clarify Ad Bidding

Google and Microsoft are rolling out updates to improve transparency while removing redundant (and confusing) bidding features. The first Google update concerns AI Max for Search, a focus of the company’s recent Marketing Live event.

AI Max Transparency

Google launched AI Max for Search in May. It is now available in all accounts. Using AI, Google displays ads for more queries and customizes them based on the user. The idea is to reach more potential customers.

My initial impressions of AI Max for Search are positive. I haven’t experienced many conversions in my client’s accounts, perhaps because the additional traffic is low. But I’m receiving complementary traffic instead of cannibalizing the keywords I’ve bid on. In other words, it’s not driving traffic merely to generate clicks and spend, and moreover, the ancillary traffic appears qualified.

Two new segments provide AI Max clarity. First, advertisers can segment the Keyword report by search term match type. The report displays data from AI Max as well as standard exact, phrase, and broad match.

Second, advertisers can view the AI Max search terms and associated landing pages. It’s beneficial for discovering landing pages to test elsewhere in the account or exclude altogether.

Advertisers can view the AI Max search terms and associated landing pages in the search terms report.

For example, a landing page that converts well in AI Max is worth testing as the standard version. Conversely, advertisers could exclude a poor-converting page.

When launched in 2021, Performance Max campaigns did not provide this level of detail. Google added the transparency to AI Max from the start.

Advertisers can exclude poor-converting landing pages.

Combined Campaign Metrics

Google introduced Brand Reports late last year to show reach and frequency metrics across campaigns. Advertisers could always view the metrics for individual campaigns but not in aggregate. For example, Video and Demand Gen campaigns provided metrics separately, but not for consumers who viewed ads in both campaigns.

Brand Reports include filters by age range, gender, or both. The “co-viewed” metric shows the number of unique consumers who viewed the ad, even if they watched together on connected TV. It’s a good start for displaying the combined reach and frequency of multiple campaigns.

Unfortunately, the report does not provide conversion metrics to reveal how non-search campaigns contribute to overall conversions.

Microsoft Drops tCPA, tROAS

Microsoft is moving away from tCPA and tROAS bid strategies.

Google removed tCPA and tROAS bidding a couple of years ago because they were redundant: Both told Google to optimize for conversions.

Google renamed the strategy to “Maximize conversions with an optional tCPA.” By default, the “Maximize conversions” strategy strives to, well, maximize conversions, but advertisers can still set an optional acquisition target.

For example, advertisers unconcerned about tCPA can instruct Google to generate as many conversions as possible within the budget. But they can check the option to set a target CPA that does not exceed, say, $50.

Microsoft is adopting the same tactic. Beginning August 4, new Microsoft Ad campaigns will provide only the “maximize conversions” and “maximize conversion values” counterparts. Microsoft says it will automatically transition tCPA and tROAS campaigns.

No action is required by Microsoft advertisers. The update removes redundancies and simplifies bidding.

How Google Ads Fits into AI Overviews and AI Mode

“Marketing Live” is Google’s annual virtual event showcasing new products, formats, and tips. This year’s program took place last month, when Google announced over 40 updates to Ads, YouTube, and data measurement, all of which were mostly AI-driven.

I will focus this post on changes to Google Ads within AI Overviews and AI Mode.

AI Overviews, AI Mode

AI Overviews is Google’s generative AI feature that answers queries entirely in search results. Google introduced the feature in 2024. AI Overviews summarizes solutions from across the web and occasionally cites those sources for further research. For example, searching “how to clean an oven” could trigger an AI Overview that includes a list of external sites with bullets, videos, and other formats.

To date, AI Overviews have summarized mostly organic listings. At last month’s Marketing Live, Google announced that Overviews would show more ads. For instance, a “how to clean an oven” search could trigger ads for cleaning products.

A search for “how to clean an oven” could trigger Shopping ads in AI Overviews. Image from Google.

AI Mode extends Overviews to anticipate searchers’ intent and likely follow-up questions beyond the initial query. Google refers to these additional responses as “fan-out” results.

Google increasingly generates search results based on users’ intent, not their keywords. AI Overviews and AI Mode follow this trend.

AI for paid search

At Marketing Live, Google execs stated that both Overviews and AI Mode can include ads. Searchers’ intent triggers those ads, not keywords alone. I’ve repeatedly addressed this evolution. Google continues to promote broad match keywords with campaign types that lessen reliance on keywords, viewing such words and phrases as broad themes.

For example, Google’s newly created AI Max for Search campaign type (i) requires only broad match keywords, (ii) generates dynamic ad copy, and (iii) selects an advertiser’s landing page likely to yield the best performance.

Google’s AI aims to answer searchers’ needs. Advertisers can help by providing audience signals such as first-party data and custom segments.

Site content

Engaging, quality website content has always driven conversions. It’s now more important than ever for paid search because Google displays the text in the ads.

A Google Ads setting in most campaign types allows it to automatically create assets based on the content from (i) landing pages, (ii) the site’s domain, and (iii) existing ads.

The setting is optional, but advertisers should opt in to take full advantage of AI.

Most advertisers already focus on organic search optimization and produce quality content. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.

The presentations at Marketing Live reinforced our understanding that ads in Google are dynamic. Advertisers still need to write compelling copy, but AI will tailor those ads to each user. The stronger the site content, the better the ads.

Google’s AI Max Ads Hone Search Intent

I wrote in December that Google would launch keywordless Search ads in 2025. I based my prediction on Google’s evolving assessment of searchers’ intent. Keywords used to be the sole factor. Now, they are one of many variables that dictate the ads a user sees.

Last week, Google introduced a campaign type called “AI Max for Search.” Keywords are present but as themes instead of the leading indicator.

Artificial intelligence drives the new campaign type. Performance Max campaigns and smart bidding already rely on AI. AI Max moves beyond query matching to capture signals of what searchers seek.

The main features of AI Max are already available in Search as options to turn on or off. With AI Max, advertisers go all in. Google determines:

• Ads that show from the initial broad match keyword list.
• Ad text to convert the most searchers.
• The URL for top performance.

Let’s review each of these components.

With AI Max, Google determines the ad text and the final URL. Click image to enlarge.

Search term matching

Existing Search campaigns include an option for broad match keywords solely — pausing phrase and exact match. Google claims the combination of broad match and smart bidding will improve targeting and thus performance.

Search term matching is a logical iteration of pairing queries with ads. A keyword list is only the beginning. Google’s AI analyzes the keywords, assets, and landing pages to determine the ads to show.

Search term matching is akin to “you might like” suggestions on Netflix based on a user’s viewing history. The same principle applies here. Google will show an ad if it’s relevant to a searcher, regardless of the advertiser’s keyword.

Text customization

Formerly called automatically created assets, text customization allows Google’s AI to use the verbiage from ads, landing pages, and assets to produce customized headlines and descriptions.

For example, an advertiser selling picture frames may write a headline of “All Sizes of Picture Frames.” Google may instead show “4 x 6 Picture Frames” if it determines the searcher wants that dimension and the advertiser carries it.

Advertisers can view Google’s headlines and descriptions via “asset performance” at the account or campaign level and filter by “automatically created” to see the exact assets that showed. Advertisers can remove an asset as needed.

Advertisers can filter by “automatically created” at the account or campaign level to see the exact assets.

Final URL expansion

Google has long altered advertisers’ URLs in Performance Max and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns. Like text customization, Google changes the final URL to improve performance. Combined, the two features produce an entirely new ad.

Advertisers can now provide URL inclusions and exclusions. Inclusions instruct the AI what URLs to target, such as those manually submitted or in a page feed. URL exclusions can target blog pages, for example, if an advertiser doesn’t want to pay for that traffic.

Other features

Google’s announcement of AI Max for Search included a slew of additional features. One is brand settings, wherein advertisers can include or exclude brand names from their ads.

For example, an advertiser selling only Nike and Adidas shoes could designate a brand inclusion for those names and a brand exclusion for “Reebok” queries.

Google is upgrading reporting transparency, a much-needed improvement after the launch of Performance Max campaigns, which did not include a search term report. AI Max campaigns correct this by including an “AI Max” column in the report to show the query and the combination of query, assets, and the final URL.

In short, Google Ads continues to evolve. Keywords are no longer the primary targeting method. AI has and will reshape the platform and performance.

SMB Ads Unchanged by Google Antitrust Ruling

Google’s recent advertising antitrust loss is much ado about nothing for small- and medium-sized businesses.

On April 17, 2025, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema found that Google had “willfully acquired and maintained monopoly power” in two digital advertising markets: display ad servers and ad exchanges.

Google offers these technologies in Ad Manager, its advertising management platform, once called DoubleClick for Publishers. Ad servers enable advertisers to upload ads and show them on third-party websites. Google’s ad exchange, AdX, is a marketplace where advertisers and publishers buy and sell inventory.

Significance

The loss is significant for Google. It marks the third time the U.S. Department of Justice has won an antitrust ruling in district court against Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The cases are at various appeal phases and include a $700 million fine for alleged Play Store violations, the potential divestiture of Chrome for monopolizing “queries on the internet,” i.e., search, and now for ad tech.

It is also significant because Google Ad Manager — the ad server and AdX — is far and away the most popular advertising platform for enterprise-level publishers such as NBCUniversal, Disney, and Hearst.

This illustration from the DOJ’s filing against Google shows the three parts of Google’s ad business: ad servers on the left, the ad exchange in the middle, and ad buying tools on the right. Click image to enlarge.

In fact, according to the 2023 DOJ filing that initiated the case, Google had a 90% share of the ad server market and a 50% share for AdX.

Thus it’s not surprising that many in the industry predict seismic changes in how digital display ads are bought, sold, and served.

Little Change for SMBs

Despite the hubbub, there are at least three reasons this ad-focused antitrust case will have a minimal impact on smaller brands, including retail, direct-to-consumer, and B2B.

Google’s appeal

Google will almost certainly appeal the ruling, which could take months or years and prevent meaningful changes to Ad Manager or digital advertising generally.

During the appeal, Google’s lawyers have a strong argument.

The DOJ had initially claimed that Google had a complete ad tech monopoly over ad servers, ad exchanges, and the tools used for buying ads. But the court did not agree, stating that Google did not control the online ad buying despite the dominance of Google Ads.

Hence the very advertising tool many ecommerce SMBs use (Google Ads) is not included in the ruling and likely won’t change much, even if Google loses other aspects of the case.

Multiple platforms

Rarely does an ecommerce marketing team depend solely on Google Ads for paid traffic. Most invest in Google Ads, Meta Ads, and others, such as X, Reddit, and Pinterest.

Thus any court-mandated changes to Google Ads (via an Ad Manager ruling) would represent only a portion of most advertisers’ activities.

Moreover, Google announced on April 22, 2025, that Chrome will not include a “user choice” prompt for third-party cookies. The proposed prompt had been part of the company’s Privacy Sandbox initiative. European Union regulators had expressed concerns that the Privacy Sandbox would give Google a monopoly over ad targeting.

Third-party tracking cookies remain largely functional in Chrome.

Unbroken

The courts could force Google to sell its ad-serving capabilities or AdX — or not.

The very publishers the court sought to protect are dependent on a stable and predictable supply of advertisers. Any rapid or destructive change to the ad tech status quo would significantly harm these companies.

Many industry observers predict a legal outcome of fines and rules. The rules might transfer some control to Ad Manager’s competitors and require Google to share its ad technology.

So, again, Google’s antitrust outcome won’t likely change how SMBs buy ads.

Ad prices won’t fluctuate much either. Some reports have stated AdX charges a 30% fee per transaction. Yet all ad exchanges impose fees, often 50% or more.

In short, don’t expect a drop in ad prices.

Google Ads Recommendations Worth Doing

Google Ads utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning to recommend tactics across seven categories:

• Ads & Assets
• AI Essentials
• Automated Campaigns
• Bids & Budgets
• Keywords & Targeting
• Measurement
• Repairs

I view Google’s recommendations cautiously. Implemented correctly, some can improve performance. Others may not align with an advertiser’s goals or even hurt the results.

Moreover, beware of Google Ads optimization score. It’s an estimate of how an account will perform. Implementing Google’s recommendations will increase the score but not, in my experience, the actual performance. It’s a vanity metric, in other words.

In this post, I’ll suggest recommendations worth examining.

Ads & Assets

Ads & Assets addresses ad copy and assets (formerly extensions). Many of the recommendations suggest implementing missing items such as call assets and lead form ads. But lead form ads do not make sense for advertisers seeking visitors and on-site form completions. Dismiss the recommendation if that’s your scenario.

Yet recommending missing assets is helpful for ads with legitimate shortcomings, such as Search ads with fewer than 15 headlines and four descriptions or demand generation ads with missing text or images.

Advertisers seeking visitors and on-site form fills likely should dismiss lead form ads. Click image to enlarge.

AI Essentials

These recommendations are the core tactics Google wants all advertisers to implement. Many of the recommendations overlap in other categories. For example, “adding images” also appears in Ads & Assets.

The critical recommendations in AI Essentials are:

• Adding broad match keywords
• Updating bid strategies
• Using consent mode

I’ve addressed the importance of broad match keywords because it uses most audience signals and thus helps scale conversions. Likewise, smart bidding is mandatory for me as it’s more effective than manual. And consent mode is critical to respect users’ privacy and recover lost conversions from searchers with tracking disabled.

Google considers Performance Max a priority and includes it in AI Essentials, even if the campaign type isn’t a fit for all advertisers.

Google includes Performance Max recommendations in AI Essentials. Click image to enlarge.

Automated Campaigns

Google’s primary recommendation for automated campaigns is to create a Performance Max campaign, stating, “According to Google Data… advertisers who use Performance Max achieve, on average, over 18% more conversions at a similar cost per action.”

Other Automated Campaign recommendations include updating both Dynamic Search Ads and Display campaigns to Performance Max.

Bids & Budgets

Bids & Budgets recommendations are helpful when analyzed correctly. The first addresses budget-constrained campaigns wherein Google recommends weekly changes to improve conversions.

I find those recommendations useful even for higher spends. Be sure to match the recommendations with specific campaigns, as it’s not always obvious, and ensure each aligns with your goals. For example, increasing budgets for top-of-funnel Display campaigns may not apply.

Google could also recommend in Bids & Budgets a different bid strategy, such as moving from a tCPA to a tROAS.

Google’s recommendations for optimizing budgets are useful even for higher spends. Click image to enlarge.

Keywords & Targeting

In this category, Google recommends adding broad match keywords and suggests new keyword ideas and removing non-serving terms (for example, those with low search volume). The idea is to provide new keyword opportunities while cleaning up non-performers.

Keywords & Targeting also includes recommendations for (i) audience targeting, (ii) Customer Match automating, and (iii) optimized targeting in Display campaigns. The latter gives Google more leeway for showing Display ads, which I tend to dismiss owing to poor performance.

Measurement

I implement Google’s Measurement recommendations because they impact user privacy and help recover lost conversions. I also implement enhanced conversions. Users who disable tracking prevent visibility if they convert.

By updating conversion tracking, advertisers can collect first-party data, hash it, and then send it back to Google to close the conversion gap. Hence enhanced conversions allow more accurate performance reports.

Repairs

The Repairs category alerts advertisers of disapproved and missing items. Example alerts include rejected sitelinks or missing ad group keywords. Advertisers can run scripts for these notifications. Most Repairs recommendations are straightforward and worth implementing.

Check out Google’s post “Types of recommendations” for a complete list for each category.

Create Google Ads Scripts via GenAI

I’ve addressed the benefits of Google Ads scripts to automate aspects of account management. Producing custom scripts is now much easier with generative AI platforms.

Scripts can go beyond automation to solve problems. For example, it’s not always evident when an account stops serving ads. The payment method may fail, or Google could reject them. The “Account Down” script runs hourly and sends an email when an account hasn’t seen an impression in a designated period.

I’ve struggled with campaigns that set a higher target cost per acquisition than the budget. It’s not always obvious. A budget might be $500, but the tCPA is $600. The tCPA should be at least three times the budget in my experience.

AI for Ad Scripts

Here’s where AI comes in. Tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude (my favorite) can generate scripts quickly.

Generative AI platforms such as Claude can produce scripts quickly.

Here’s my prompt in Claude to create a script:

Please write a Google Ads script that reviews all campaigns and sends an email alert when the tCPA is higher than the campaign budget.

Here’s Claude’s response:

Google Ads tCPA Alert Script

This script:

1. Iterates through all enabled campaigns in your Google Ads account
2. Identifies campaigns using Target CPA bidding strategy
3. Compares each campaign’s tCPA value against its daily budget
4. Creates a list of campaigns where tCPA exceeds the budget
5. Sends you an email alert with details if any campaigns meet this condition

I pasted the script into Google Ads and received an error.

3/5/2025 3:47:20 PM TypeError: campaign.bidding(...).get is not a function
at main (Code:39:40)
at Object. (adsapp_compiled:20555:54)

I then prompted Claude to fix the error. Here’s Claude’s response:

Google Ads tCPA Alert Script – Fixed

I’ve fixed the error by correcting how the script retrieves the target CPA value. The issue was with the line `var bidding = campaign.bidding().get();` which was using an incorrect method call.

Key changes made:

1. Replaced the problematic method chain with a direct call to `campaign.bidding().getTargetCpa()`

2. Added error handling with try/catch blocks to gracefully handle different API versions and bidding strategy configurations

3. Added support for retrieving tCPA from shared bidding strategies (which have a different access method)

4. Added validation to ensure tCPA was successfully retrieved before comparing it to the budget

The script — download it here — now runs in Google. I solved a problem through a series of prompts.

Not perfect

My next AI task was to obtain a script that identified all active ad groups in live campaigns with no impressions in 21 days. The alert would trigger me to investigate the cause.

Claude’s script worked, but it had two errors:

• It defaulted to any period, not 21 days.

• It included custom experiments that ended 21 or more days previously. Experiments run only for a designated period, but the script included them as normal campaigns.

After sharing these errors and receiving replacement scripts, Claude produced new errors for invalid inputs. I ended the session without securing the script I wanted.

It’s a handy reminder that AI is not always as productive as humans. A developer could likely set up this script without the extended back-and-forth.

Claude’s script for tCPA conflicts worked. The no-impressions script did not.

Monitor the unexpected

The final script I created addressed rejected ads. Advertisers should monitor not just the ads but rejected keywords and audiences, which occur occasionally.

Any script in Google Ads times out after 30 to 60 minutes. I first prompted Claude to identify disapproved ad assets (sitelinks, callouts, and more). Fearing a timeout, I opted for two separate scripts.

The follow-up script and response focused on “limited” statuses.

Here’s the prompt for the non-asset disapproval.

Please update this script so it only looks at disapproved ads, keywords, and audiences. Entities with “limited” status should not be included.

And Claude’s response:

I’ll update the script to only include items with “DISAPPROVED” status and exclude those with “LIMITED” or any other non-disapproved status. Here’s the modified version:

Google Ads Script for Disapproved Items Only. Click to open code.

The key changes I made to the script:

1. Changed the condition checks for ads from:

```javascript
if (ad.getPolicyApprovalStatus() != 'APPROVED') {
```

to:

```javascript
if (ad.getPolicyApprovalStatus() == 'DISAPPROVED') {

Download the script.

No limits

My example scripts above alert advertisers via email, but I could have prompted Claude to output to a spreadsheet instead. I could have included paused entities. The possibilities are seemingly limitless.