Don't Let AI Run Your Google Ads

The Illusion of Automation

Google heavily pushes its automated, AI-driven campaign types like Performance Max (PMax) and broad match keywords. While AI is a powerful tool, letting it run your campaigns completely unsupervised is a recipe for wasted spend.

Examples of AI Gone Wrong

• Irrelevant Search Terms: AI often bids on broad match terms that are tangentially related but have zero commercial intent. For example, a luxury spa might end up paying for clicks on "how to build a hot tub."
• Brand Cannibalization: As mentioned in a previous post, AI will aggressively bid on your branded terms to inflate its own performance metrics, taking credit for conversions that would have happened organically.
• Poor Placements: Fully automated campaigns often place ads on low-quality mobile apps or kids' YouTube channels, resulting in high click volumes with zero actual leads.

AI should be guided by expert human insights. A skilled media buyer sets strict parameters, negative keywords, and placement exclusions to ensure the AI optimizes for actual business value, not just Google's revenue.