For a while, every advertiser has been receiving notifications in Google Ads account to accept Google’s recommendations in order to optimize the campaign, reach better results, and grow business.
Google Recommendations can be found at the top of the menu on the left side of the interface (Fig.1).
Recommendations can also be found in Notifications in the upper right menu, by clicking the bell symbol (Fig. 2).
To accept or not to accept Google Recommendations?
That is the question. It all depends on whether the recommendations suit your campaigns. For example, lately, Google has been suggesting adding certain keywords to our campaigns, i.e., ad-groups, to reach more clicks on our ads per week. However, Google often recommends keywords that have nothing to do with our business, so we need to be wise when accepting these recommendations.
Google offers additional keywords as well
For example, in the case we are observing, Google recommends adding keywords living room coffee tables, living room coffee table, and living room tables in ad-group with keywords related to kitchen curtains (Fig. 3; red rectangles). Kitchen curtains are a completely different product from living room coffee tables, they are not synonyms, do not belong in the same product category, they do not even belong to the same rooms in the house! Besides, the website advertising the curtains does not sell or offer living room coffee tables. In this case, it is best not to accept the recommendations.
In the same case, Google also offers adding keywords vinyl flooring in the ad-group Floors/Vinyl, lvt floors price in Floors/Vinyl/Price group and kitchen wallpaper in Wallpaper ad-group. In this case, Google recommends adding keywords that fit the ad-groups, the existing keywords, ads, and the products that the website offers. So, in this case, the advertiser is welcome to accept Google’s recommendations.
Google recommends Target CPA bidding strategy(bidanja)
One of the most common Google Recommendations is to switch the campaign to Target CPA bidding (Fig. 4).
The automated bid strategies make it easier for any advertiser to leave repetitive keyword bid changes to the machine, which, with a number of signals, decides when to raise/lower the bid, depending on the eligibility of the conversion. It sounds great and often Target CPA bidding achieves better results than manual bidding strategies. However, we wonder whether Target CPA bidding should be chosen every single time Google recommends it and should we opt only for the strategies Google recommends and ignore our knowledge and instincts.
Google recommends Target CPA bidding when enough data is collected, i.e., signals that help the system decide when to show your ads, i.e., when the conversion is most likely to occur. The problem arises when Google offers the same bidding strategies immediately after you have launched the campaign when there is still not enough data to base the recommendation on.
The best way to apply the bidding strategy the system offers is to test it experimentally in parallel with the original bidding strategy and decide on your own whether to apply it after you have collected a large-enough sample.
Google recommends higher bids
This type of Google recommendation is usually related directly to keywords, especially when you first start leasing keywords.
When you lease a keyword and arrange price-per-click, which is often determined by Google’s Keyword Planner tool, Google will mark each keyword with one of the following statuses: Eligible, Low search volume, or Below first page bid. In the Below first page bid status, the system offers a price-per-click amount that you should accept if you want to be on the first page of the search. In the observed example (Fig. 6), Google offered 19.34 kn price-per-click/bid for the recently leased keyword. This is quite expensive if we know that the average price-per-click/bid in Croatia is usually around 1-2 HRK (old Croatian national currency).
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However, the observed keyword, which is a generic term, already has 12 impressions with a CTR of 16.67%. In other words, every sixth ad delivery ended with a click. I wonder if it would have been the same if the keyword was on the second page of Google search (which is rumored to be the best place to hide a dead body). CTR should also be considered. Furthermore, the observed keyword reached conversion with a cost of 1.94 HRK, while Google offers a bid of 19.34 kn (Fig. 7).
If you just wait a while, the system will most likely remove its status about the need to increase the bid to make things work. You don’t need to accept this recommendation, just be patient.
Final thought
Should you listen to Google? The answer is YES because Google is the one making the rules of the game all of us play. However, there is always BUT. The game exists for the client and client’s growth, so above all, it is crucial to consider if all ad the rules are useful for the client’s growth or are they maybe wasteful expenditure. Unfortunately, nowadays money is drained from us left and right and we need to be aware of that, especially if we do business with a corporation. So, one must be very careful with a system like Google Ads if one wants the money to end up in the right place.
Therefore, I suggest listening to Google only when our human brain processes Google’s recommendations and provides an answer for further steps – to apply them or not.