Google Ads automated rules: Boosting performance on autopilot

Automating Google Ads can provide many benefits, such as saving time on manual campaign management, reducing costs, and increasing ROI. Google Ads has its own automated rules tool, which does not require technical skills. Automated rules can help advertisers win big, as machines can execute tasks faster and more accurately than humans.

The need for automation

With so many tasks to manage in a PPC management routine, PPC managers should focus on creative tasks (such as ad creation, brainstorming and strategy) and automate boring, repetitive tasks.

Automating with rules

In Google Ads, you have three levels of automation: automated rules, scripts and APIS. Each one of these options offers different advantages and disadvantages. Because this article focuses solely on automated rules, I’ll only list its advantages and disadvantages here.

What are Google Ads Automated rules?

Google Ads Automated rules offer a solution to the problem of repetitive tasks in PPC management. They are a feature within the Google Ads account that can automate a range of tasks, from sending email alerts to changing campaign status and budgets. Automated rules offer several advantages, including saving time, not requiring technical skills, and being easily editable or paused. However, there are also limitations, such as limited triggers and a lack of reusability across accounts. Before utilizing automated rules, it is important to carefully consider the potential scenarios and limitations.

Advantages

• Save time: While each of the automation levels offers time-saving, Google Ads automated rules can save you time not only when performing a task in your place but also for its low implementation time. While scripts and APIs can perform everything an automated rule can, they require more time to implement.
• No technical skills needed: While Google Ads scripts and APIs can also execute any task an automated rule can, they’re more labour-intensive and require technical skills, which not all PPC managers have. The only thing you need is the rules you want to automate.
• Status: Automated rules can be edited or paused at anytime.
• Manager account rules: You can set up automated rules at the manager account level. This is especially useful for general rules such as “send an email if the account didn’t have any impressions yesterday.”

Disadvantages

• Limited triggers: Google Ads automated rules can only automate part of your tasks (which is more than enough in most cases). For example, you cannot change bids when certain competitors are bidding more aggressively on your brand. You’d need to write a script or use the API.
• Reusability: Automated rules cannot be copied from one account and applied to another. You have to replicate the same idea in the new account.
• Limited multiple “undo”: If an automated rule makes successive changes, you can only undo one change at a time. For example, if your rule decreased the bid on weeks 30, 31 and 32, you can only undo the most recent change and then undo the previous change. Although this is not a major big deal, I strongly advise you to picture the possible scenarios ahead carefully.

Controlling costs

Use case 1: Follow-up on costs

With this rule, you can get an alert if a budget goes beyond a certain amount in a certain period.

Examples

• Send an alert when costs > $1,000 in the last seven days
• Send an alert when costs > $1,000 in the current month
• Send an alert when costs > $10,000 campaign during its lifetime

Use case 2: Limit costs

You can limit your monthly costs for a specific campaign(s) or the entire account.

Examples

• Pause campaign(s) when costs > $1,000 in the last seven days
• Pause campaign(s) when costs > $1,00 in the current month
• Pause campaign(s) when costs > $10,000 campaign during its lifetime

Use case 3: Limit costs AND alert the team

You can also do both of the previous examples: perform a status change and alert certain users when it’s done so the changes are acknowledged instantly.

EXAMPLES

• Pause campaign(s) AND send a notification when costs > $1,000 in the last seven days
• Pause campaign(s) AND send a notification when costs > $1,00 in the current month
• Pause campaign(s) AND send a notification when costs > $10,000 campaign during its lifetime

Scheduling

Use case 4: Change entity status during certain days of the week

Let’s say you manage a restaurant delivery campaign which offers a weekly promo depending on the day of the week. You could label each ad group (1 ad group per day of the week) and enable and disable them automatically.

Examples

• Enable the ad group labelled “Wednesday” on Wednesday at a certain hour of the day.
• Disable the ad group labelled “Wednesday” on Wednesday at the end of the day.
• Enable the “Thursday” ad group at a certain hour of the day.

Use case 5: Change status on a specific date

In the same idea as the previous automation, let’s say a promo will run during the next 12 days. In this case, you can set up an automated rule to stop this ad in 12 days. You’ll need to label the ad and fetch this label when setting up the automated rule. Your rule should run on a particular day in the future.

Improving performance

Use case 6: Adjusting budgets according to campaign performance

Let’s say your monthly budget is flexible and conditioned to a certain ROAS. In this case, you can set up an automated rule to raise your budget by a certain % if the performance reaches your threshold.

Use case 7: Adjusting budgets according to the day of the week performance

Let’s say you realized a certain campaign delivers 2X your average ROAS on Fridays. In this case, you can automatically increase the daily budget by a certain amount or % on Fridays and decrease them again on Saturdays.

Identifying opportunities

Use case 8: Label entities according to their performances

This is one of the tasks that will not change the status per se but can help you better identify your entities according to their performances. For example, you can insert a label named “cash cows” to your best performers in the last 30 days or lifetime.

Final tips

• Always preview your rules: Always preview your rules before leaving the rules pane. Make sure you didn’t forget anything before calling it a day
• Insert an opposite rule when necessary: You should evaluate the cases where the changes are ephemeral. For example, raise a budget when ROAS for the last seven days is > 2, but also insert another rule to decrease the budget when ROAS falls < 2. This way, the two rules control each other without your intervention.

Conclusion

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to execute repetitive tasks. They make your work boring and are not the best use of your time. Automation gives you freedom and gives you more time for more meaningful tasks.

What about you? How do you make use of automated rules? Let me know in the comments

Resources

Set up automated rules

Manage your automated rules

Common ways to use automated rules

Fix automated rule issues