Google Ad Suggestions: Essential Knowledge for Creating High-Converting Ads

Google Ads can be beneficial for small businesses striving to grow their digital presence. It can open lots of new doors for them. However, this is only possible when their ads are written properly and are used strategically to reap maximum benefits.

Creating a high-converting pay-per-click (PPC) ad takes time, lots of creativity, and months and months of rigorous testing. It demands a lot from the advertiser in terms of resources and energy. If you’re the business owner wearing this hat, it can quickly become too much to handle.

How can busy marketers benefit from testing several ads per ad group without investing more in their limited time? The answer lies in the Google Ad Suggestions feature.  Although those who are experts in the advertisement they mostly rely on their own experience and skills too so they prefer to have their own ad but still you should at least have knowledge about Google Ad Suggestion.

Google Ad suggestions give advertisers deeper insights to enhance their ad performance, Google Ads bid strategy, audience and targeting, and overall account health. In this article, you’ll learn how to use Google Ad suggestions to optimize your ad strategy and drive conversion.

What are Google Ad Suggestions?

Google Ad suggestions are variations of your current text ads that are recommended to improve your ad campaign performance for free. These suggestions help you strategically produce better ads without cranking up your ad spend. Using these personalized recommendations, you can directly boost your clickthrough-rate (CTR).

Google Ad suggestions initially appear on the ‘Recommendations’ page of your account. You can review these suggestions and choose to apply, edit, or dismiss them. If you choose to auto-apply Ad suggestions, they will start serving after 14 days if no action is taken. However, you can change or disable this feature at any time. Once applied automatically, the suggestions appear on the “Ads & Extensions” page under the “Auto-applied ad suggestion” tag. Each account can have a maximum of 50 Ad suggestions per week.

How Google Ad Suggestions Work?

Google uses various Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, along with human supervision, to come up with these suggestions. The AI reads current data from the user account to identify patterns and then suggests a sample ad ready to be evaluated and edited.

The data it reads may include past ad headlines, descriptions, extensions, landing page content, and more. Several other parameters, like the target audiences, ad delivery settings, and relevant Google Ad keywords, are also taken into account while making these suggestions.

It’s important to note that Google doesn’t create new or original content or messages within your ads. So you can’t expect the suggested ads to look or perform entirely different from your other ads.

Supported Languages

If you are running ads in any of these languages, you may automatically see Google ad suggestions in your account:

How to Get the Notifications of Google Ad Suggestions?

Here’s how you are notified when you set all-new ad suggestions to auto-apply:

• You’ll receive an email with a link to review Google ad suggestions.
• An alert will appear in your Google Ads account near the ‘Notification’ icon.
• By clicking on the ‘Notification’ icon, you’ll see the day when Ad suggestions are set to auto-apply.
• You can see when Ad suggestions will auto-apply, and you may choose to accept or dismiss them on the Recommendations page.
• Any Ad suggestion that’s auto-applied after 14 days is labeled as an “Auto-applied ad suggestion” on the Ads & Extensions page.

Ways To Control Google Ad Suggestions

Here’s how you can control Google Ad suggestions:

• On the Recommendations page, you can apply, dismiss, or edit ad suggestions individually or as a group.
• You can also edit, remove, or pause these ads just like regular ads even after Google Ad suggestions are applied.
• You can control Ad suggestion settings through your account settings.

Policy Exceptions for Google Ad Suggestions

Google Ad suggestions won’t be created for an ad group if any of your ads in that group have limited approval. This may include advertisements that fall under categories such as gambling, alcohol, pharmaceutical, and payday loans.

Ad groups with limited approval because of trademarks can get ad suggestions. Once you apply Google ad suggestions, your ads will go through the customary trademark checks.

The Motive Behind Google Ad Suggestions

The main motive behind Google Ad suggestions and other such initiatives that leverage AI is to make Google Ads more efficient and easy-to-access for marketers. Google thinks that such automation is needed as it lessens the burden on advertisers while decreasing the margin of error.

The issue with Google’s Automatic Implementation of Ad Suggestions

Google providing you with plenty of information is not a bad idea. Sometimes it offers valuable insights and brings to light pieces of information you may have missed in your campaign. However, there’s one issue.

Google automatically implements the ad suggestions after 14 days if you don’t interact with them proactively. This means Google doesn’t wait for you to log into your account and review the suggestions for long.

As a result, if you don’t access your Google Ads account for long, you can lose tight control over your ad variations, and Ad suggestions will take over your campaigns.

Ways to Manage Google Ad Suggestions

Here’s how you can opt-out of automatic Google Ad Suggestions:

• Sign in to your Google Ads account.
• In the page menu on the left, click “Settings.”
• Click “Account settings” at the top of the page.
• Click the drop-down arrow next to “Ad suggestions.”
• Select “Don’t automatically apply ad suggestions.”

How to Check the Performance of Google Ad Suggestions?

To understand Google’s ad creation process, you need to examine these suggestions in three ways:

• What is their performance?
• How common are these ads?
• Where is the ad text originating from?

Here’s how you can analyze the performance of Google Ad Suggestions:

• Examine the CTR, conversion rates, and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) for advertiser-created vs. Google-created ads for each ad group in the account.
• Repeat for multiple accounts.

Automation works best when it combines human knowledge and computers. As Google Ad suggestions are free, they are worth examining. Keep in mind that your ads act as a bridge to connect you with potential new customers. You must get clear on your message, and make sure it’s the right one to attract new consumers.

Benefits of Using Google Ad Suggestions

Google Ad suggestions offer the following benefits:

1. Easy Creation of Multiple Google Ads

Creating and testing several ads at a time is a better approach than using the same ad repeatedly. Testing several ads not only yields a higher reach but also results in a better CTR and an improved chance of finding that one “unicorn ad” that delivers the optimal results.

Creating infinite ads can be time-consuming for advertisers and can distract them from more lucrative tasks. Google Ad suggestions could save them dozens of hours of slogging in creating and testing several ads.

2. Optimized Ad Rotations

Google Ad Suggestions feature also automates the ad rotations optimization to match the searched keyword as per the searcher’s demographics, device, time of day, and past search pattern. It helps when you have multiple ads that need to be rotated and saves plenty of time you’d otherwise spend in optimizing these ads manually. The automatic optimization feature helps improve PPC ad performance and get better results.

3. Improved CTR

Google Ad Suggestions can improve the performance of your ads, increasing the overall CTR. The platform has access to more paid search advertising data than any other competitor, and its data is used to optimize ads and guide its AI-led strategies.

4. Seamless Creation and Testing of Ad Versions

To identify your best-performing ads, you need to test out different variations. That’s why Google created Ads suggestions. Using this feature, you can tweak your current ads or come up with new ones. Google analyzes your ad performance actually to recommend copy variations. The messaging and extensions in your ad are critical, as they are the first thing users will see when viewing your ad.

Here’s how you can use Google Ad suggestions to boost conversion:

• Reduce friction – For instance, include a phone number so that users can quickly contact you as soon as they see your ad.
• Increase CTR – Consider making your ad more informative and engaging by including relevant links.
• Highlight the services provided – For example, you can add prices and menu items to your ad so that viewers know that your brand is what they’re looking for during their online search. If they continue to click on your ad, they’re perhaps more likely to convert.

5. Extended Ad Reach

Google Ad suggestions have a category for “Keywords & targeting” to help you optimize your reach. Reach is a significant factor in driving your conversion rates. An extended reach indirectly means more conversion. However, you can’t just extend the total reach and call it a day. You need to create a targeting strategy that puts your ad in front of users interested in your products or services.

Here’s how you can increase your conversion by extending reach:

• Narrow down your target audience – The better you get at placing your ad in front of the right eyes, the higher chance you have for conversion. To do so, you need to create specific audiences that match your target consumers’ interests and behaviors, which you can then connect with through a re-targeting strategy.
• Focus on the keywords that match your target user’s intent – Your ad should appear for as many relevant keywords as possible. This is possible by using ad groups and keywords that have proven performance.

6. Smarter Bids

When a visitor searches for a particular keyword you’re bidding on, Google performs some calculations. It rounds up all the advertisements that are the most relevant for that specific keyword. Next, it decides which of those ads have the highest bid value.

Some common bidding suggestions are:

• Update your ad spend budget – When you increase or decrease your ad spend, Google considers these budget changes and finds ways to meet your campaign goals (such as conversion, CTR, or CPA).
• Re-allocate campaign budgets – If one of your ads is not consuming all of its budget. In contrast, another ad continuously needs more spend allowance. You can automatically re-allocate budgets to ensure each ad receives what it needs to perform.
• Adjust bids based on customer devices – Sometimes, your ads seemingly perform better on desktop than mobile. You can prioritize your budget accordingly to make your maximum bids higher for ads shown to desktop users.

Here’s how Google Ad suggestion can help you boost conversion:

• Bid for more clicks – If your campaign goal is to generate more clicks, Google uses your max bid settings to determine ways to drive more overall clicks automatically. And, ultimately, it helps increase your conversion.
• Bid for more conversion – By setting your goal to conversion, you can make Google allocate budget toward improving conversions.
• Out-bid your competition – Consider increasing your ad spend to outrank your competitors bidding on the same or similar keyword. It plays a huge role in how Google decides which ads to show and in what order. It helps improve conversion as it broadens your overall reach for relevant user queries.

7. Improved Google Ads Account Health

Google Ad suggestions maintain your account’s good health by reporting issues like broken links or informing you whether your ad was disapproved.

It is recommended to monitor your ads for broken links and approval regularly. However, if you’re working on a large multi-channel advertising campaign, it can be easier said than done. The “Repair” category of Google Ad suggestions helps you internally audit your account to ensure it’s well-managed and running smoothly.

• Stay informed about problems with your account – If your ad isn’t approved, you need to ensure what’s not working so that you can make better ads in the future.
• Keep friction low – Broken links in your Google Ads can create friction in the path to conversion. Identifying which links aren’t working can help create a more seamless experience.

Drawbacks of Google Ad Suggestions

As promising as it may sound, Google Ad Suggestions have their own set of drawbacks that you must know before choosing to use this feature.

1. Automatic Application

As discussed, Google Ad suggestions are automatically applied in 14 days unless you dismiss them. As a result, you can end up losing control of your campaigns. It’s strongly recommended to actively monitor your Google Ads account to review and accept/dismiss these suggestions within the stated period.

2. Higher Budgets

A higher CTR is seemingly a good thing. However, it does not essentially mean a higher conversion rate too. Google Ad suggestions are targeted at attracting more clicks irrespective of whether those clicks get you paying customers or not. Even though ads with high CTRs won’t push you over your budget, you can consume your monthly budget faster. So, if Google Ad suggestions improve your CTR, it can also drain your budget much faster than you would typically do with manual settings.

3. Legal Issues

A few industries, like pharmaceutical, finance, or rehab, are legally obligated to get their ads approved by particular departments before running them.  This approval process normally takes over 14 days, and if the Google Ad suggestions are applied automatically without approval, it could land you in legal trouble.

FAQs:

Here are a few frequently asked questions about Google Ad suggestions:

Should I use Google Ad suggestions?

If Google has provided this feature by running a different algorithm, you should go for it. However, many Google Ads experts don’t recommend using this feature. Instead, they prefer using their own ads so that they can have full control over their campaigns. You may choose to observe ads suggested by Google and use that info to come up with your own ad.

How can I track Google Ad suggestions?

If you auto-apply the Ad suggestions, you can find them under “Auto-applied ad suggestion” directly in the ads table. There is also a corresponding “Auto-applied ad suggestion” column on the Ads & Extensions page that you can use to filter your ads. The ads are added to your account as standard text ads without any particular label if you review and approve ad suggestions manually.

Can I edit Google Ad suggestions?

Yes. You can click “Apply” for any ad suggestions on the “Recommendations” page or wait for them to be auto-applied in 14 days. Once Ad suggestions are added, you can edit, pause, or delete them at any time. If the Ad suggestion is auto-applied, it will get a tag “Auto-applied ad suggestion.” Editing any Ad suggestion will remove this tag, and the ad will no longer appear in the “Auto-applied ad suggestion” column on the ads table.

Here’s how you can edit Google Ad suggestions before they’re applied:

• Sign in to your Google Ads account.
• From the page menu on the left, click “Recommendations.”
• If you see an ad suggestions card, click “View (number) suggestions” at the bottom of the card.
• Click “View” at the bottom right-hand side of the suggestion you wish to edit.
• Update your ad as needed, then click “Apply” in the bottom right corner to apply your changes and run the ad.

Where can I find Ad suggestions in Google Ads?

You can find Ad suggestions on the Recommendations page in your Google Ads accounts, including manager accounts (MCC).

How frequently will new Ad suggestions appear in my Google Ads account?

Ad suggestions will appear in accounts at most once every 7 days. This feature only targets ad groups in which there is a potential for performance enhancement. So, Google Ad suggestions are only offered for a small number of ad groups. This means you won’t see changes in the majority of accounts or ad groups. You may only see a few Ad suggestions per account.

How many Google Ad suggestions will I get?

You can get at most 50 Ad suggestions every seven days for each account.

How can I set email alerts for Google Ad suggestions?

At the account level, you can set your notification preferences to receive “all” or “only critical” campaign maintenance alerts. If you have a Manager account, you should select “full hierarchy” notifications to allow campaign maintenance alerts for every user ID. Note that Manager account settings will override account-level settings.

Wrap Up

Google Ad suggestions are automatic, personalized recommendations that help marketers get the most out of their Google Ads campaigns. Often, these suggestions identify prospects to improve CTR. In other cases, they can help you reach more of the right users or boost sales.

However, Google Ad suggestions remind us that ad performance isn’t necessarily about spending more money. The key to conversion is creating a smarter advertising strategy. This feature is beneficial yet challenging. At the end of the day, it depends on you if you want to trust Google’s suggestions or not.

You can learn more about leveraging Google’s AI systems in our blog, 6 Ways Automation and Machine Learning Will Change Google Ads.