Google Ads is known for its high conversion rates, but it requires a lot of work on your end to keep your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns running smoothly. Fortunately, Google Ads automation takes a lot of time and effort out of the process.
Though it takes some upfront work, automating your Google Ads campaigns allows you to leverage the proper tools to work smarter, not harder. Discover three areas where you can embrace and use automation to your advantage.
What Is Google Ads Automation?
PPC automation relies on conditional statements to perform actions on your behalf.[1] For example, you can use an automated rule to check for conditions and adjust your bid accordingly rather than obsessively checking your bids every few hours.
There are three ways you can set up Google Ads automation:
- Google’s built-in basic automated rules
- Custom scripts
- Third-party software tools for advanced rules
You can set up automated rules directly in Google Ads, but there are limitations to what you can do. The interface isn’t the most user-friendly, either.
Custom scripts are snippets of JavaScript code that can manage campaigns on your behalf to make changes directly inside your Google Ads account. There are no limitations to their complexity, but you must be familiar with JavaScript to write them.
If you choose to use third-party software tools, you can connect your Google Ads account through APIs to monitor and control your campaigns.
Google Ads Built-In Automation Features
Numerous advertisers use Google Ads’ built-in automation features to bolster their advertising, but it’s designed to work for a broad group. It’s not necessarily geared toward reducing costs, which is why some advertisers avoid it altogether.
When you rely on Google’s built-in features, you don’t have control over the features and capabilities. Google tends to make changes to the platform without advertisers’ consent, which can tank your Google Ads campaign performance out of nowhere.
With your own automation, you have more control over this process.
Benefits of Google Ads Automation
Using automation in your Google Ads PPC campaigns offers numerous benefits, including reducing costs and improving ROI. You can focus on the aspects of your campaign that make a difference, such as landing page optimization or keyword research.
Here are some benefits of Google Ads automation:
Save Time on Managing Your Campaigns
Google Ads automation is always on, 24/7, to react to changes as they happen. You set up a script or automated rule with conditions; then Google takes action on the rule if the conditions are met. It’s not only available more than humans, but it reacts much faster.
For example, if your campaign spends $200 on a keyword with no conversions, it’s automatically paused. If the conversions are up (and cheap), the budget increases. This works whether you’re working with just a few keywords or thousands.
Think of it this way – if it’s something your team does regularly, it should be automated in Google Ads. Any metrics you rely on in your ad groups, campaigns, or keywords can be a condition or automated rule.
Scale PPC Campaigns
When your PPC campaigns are automated, you can scale your highest-performing campaigns to boost conversions in much less time and a better return on ad spend. It goes beyond your regular daily maintenance to help you scale your campaigns and reap the benefits.
Using Google Ads Automated Rules
Google Ads’ automated rules tool can be complex, but if you don’t have any technical skills, it’s an excellent start to automating your ads and customizing campaigns.
Pause Underperforming Keywords
Even with the best keyword research, keywords can be challenging to get right. Automated rules allow you to get more out of the process and avoid wasting time and ad spend on keywords that may not convert. You pause keywords that don’t meet the threshold of performance that you set based on any key performance indicator (KPI) that you choose.
For example, you can pause keywords with a low-quality score, a low click-through rate, or zero impressions.
Automate Bid Management
Manually managing your bids is the best way to get a positive return on ad spend for your Google Ads. That takes a lot of time each day, however. Smart Bidding is intended to help with this, but you have less control than you would with automated rules.
You can increase, decrease, or set bids with automated rules to get better results without wasting your budget, overspending, or devoting hours each day to Google Ads.
With custom scripts, you can copy and add more advanced bid management strategies to your ads, such as bid by weather, A/B testing, and bid adjustments based on the time of day.
Adjust Campaign Budget
Automated rules can help you scale your campaigns quickly based on the ads that are performing well. Your KPI will be the condition to increase the budget. For example, you could use cost per conversion to increase your budget if you have at least one conversion under your preset limit. You also have the option to decrease budgets for campaigns that aren’t performing well.
Set Targeting
With automation, Google can build on your existing audience with optimized targeting or audience expansion.
Optimized targeting analyzes your converters and finds users with similar online behaviors, while audience expansion finds additional Google audience segments to target.
If you want to use either of these options, you can turn them on and see how they perform on their own. If they work, leave them be. If not, you can disable them easily in your dashboard.
Set Notifications for Campaign Performance
Even with automation, you still need to monitor your campaign performance. Automated rules can alert you to your campaign changes, such as excessive overspending or underperformance, via email or another platform.
You can set up notification-only rules or rules that notify you and take action on our campaign. If it requires your input, the notification is important to let you know to take action quickly.
Get Pro Help with Google Ads Automation
Automated rules help you succeed with Google Ads. You can improve performance, save time, and scale your campaigns while maximizing your ad spend – all without being chained to your Google Ads account around the clock.
But if you want to take your Google Ads automation to the next level, the pros at Full Circle SEM can help. We’re driven by tangible results with cold, hard numbers and have years of experience and millions of dollars of advertising spend under our belt. Contact us today to see what we can do for you!
Sources:
[1] https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/12158267?hl=en
