Google Ads Automated Rules: A Complete Guide for Beginners

Google Ads Automated Rules: A Complete Guide for Beginners

If you are using Google Ads to promote your business online, you know how time-consuming and tedious it can be to manage your campaigns manually. You have to constantly monitor your performance, adjust your bids, pause or enable your ads, and more. And if you have multiple campaigns running at the same time, it can be even more challenging to keep track of everything.

That's where Google Ads automated rules come in handy. Automated rules are a feature in Google Ads that allows you to set up specific instructions for how your campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords should run. Once you create a rule, it will run automatically in the background, based on the criteria and frequency that you specify. This way, you can save time and optimize your campaigns more efficiently.

In this blog post, we will explain what Google Ads automated rules are, how they work, and how you can use them to improve your campaign performance. We will also share some common use cases and best practices for setting up automated rules in Google Ads.

What are Google Ads automated rules?

Google Ads automated rules are a way of automating certain actions in your Google Ads account, such as changing bids, pausing or enabling ads, modifying budgets, and more. You can create rules for different levels of your account hierarchy: campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords.

To create a rule, you need to specify three main components:

- The type of action you want the rule to perform (e.g., increase bids, pause ads, etc.)

- The criteria or conditions that trigger the rule (e.g., cost per conversion, impressions, etc.)

- The frequency and time range that the rule should run (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)

For example, you can create a rule that increases your bids by 10% for keywords that have a cost per conversion below $5 and at least 100 conversions in the last 30 days. You can also set the rule to run every day at 9 a.m.

You can create as many rules as you want in your Google Ads account, and you can edit or remove them at any time. You can also view the history and status of your rules in the Rules section of your account.

How do Google Ads automated rules work?

Google Ads automated rules work by scanning your account data and applying the actions that you specify when the conditions are met. The rules run at the frequency and time range that you choose, and they only affect the entities (campaigns, ad groups, ads, or keywords) that match the criteria.

When you create a rule, you can also choose to receive email notifications about the changes that the rule makes or any errors that occur. You can also preview the results of your rule before applying it to see how it would affect your account.

Google Ads automated rules are different from Google Ads scripts and Smart Bidding strategies. Scripts are snippets of code that you can use to automate complex tasks or customize your account functionality. Smart Bidding strategies are machine learning algorithms that automatically optimize your bids based on your goals and performance history.

Automated rules are simpler and easier to use than scripts and Smart Bidding strategies. They are suitable for beginners who want to automate some basic tasks in their Google Ads account without having to write code or rely on machine learning.

How to set up Google Ads automated rules?

To set up automated rules in Google Ads, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.

2. Click on the Tools icon in the top right corner of the page.

3. Click on Bulk actions under the section menu.

4. Click on Rules.

5. Click on the blue plus button to create a new rule.

6. Choose the level of your account hierarchy that you want to apply the rule to (campaigns, ad groups, ads, or keywords).

7. Choose the type of action that you want the rule to perform (e.g., change bids, pause ads, etc.)

8. Specify the criteria or conditions that trigger the rule (e.g., cost per conversion, impressions, etc.)

9. Specify the frequency and time range that the rule should run (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)

10. Optionally, choose to receive email notifications about the changes that the rule makes or any errors that occur.

11. Optionally, preview the results of your rule before applying it to see how it would affect your account.

12. Click on Save when you are done.

You can view all your existing rules in the Rules section of your account. You can also edit or remove them at any time by clicking on the pencil or trash icons next to each rule.

Common use cases for Google Ads automated rules

There are many ways that you can use Google Ads automated rules to optimize your campaigns and save time. Here are some common use cases and examples of rules that you can create:

- Increase or decrease bids based on performance: You can create rules that adjust your bids based on metrics such as cost per conversion, conversion rate, click-through rate, quality score, etc. For example, you can create a rule that increases your bids by 10% for keywords that have a cost per conversion below $5 and at least 100 conversions in the last 30 days. Or you can create a rule that decreases your bids by 20% for keywords that have a quality score below 5 and less than 10 clicks in the last 7 days.

- Pause or enable ads based on performance: You can create rules that pause or enable your ads based on metrics such as impressions, clicks, conversions, etc. For example, you can create a rule that pauses your ads that have less than 100 impressions and no conversions in the last 14 days. Or you can create a rule that enables your ads that have more than 500 impressions and at least 10 conversions in the last 7 days.

- Modify budgets based on performance: You can create rules that modify your budgets based on metrics such as cost, conversions, return on ad spend, etc. For example, you can create a rule that increases your budget by 10% for campaigns that have a return on ad spend above 300% and at least 50 conversions in the last 30 days. Or you can create a rule that decreases your budget by 20% for campaigns that have a cost above $1000 and less than 10 conversions in the last 30 days.

- Schedule ads based on time or events: You can create rules that schedule your ads to run or stop running based on time or events. For example, you can create a rule that pauses your ads during weekends or holidays. Or you can create a rule that enables your ads during peak hours or special occasions.

Best practices for setting up Google Ads automated rules

Google Ads automated rules are a powerful and convenient feature that can help you optimize your campaigns and save time. However, you should also be careful and follow some best practices when setting up automated rules in Google Ads:

- Start with simple and conservative rules: When you are new to automated rules, it is better to start with simple and conservative rules that have minimal impact on your account. For example, you can start with rules that change your bids by small percentages or pause or enable ads based on clear criteria. This way, you can test the effectiveness of your rules and avoid making drastic changes that could harm your performance.

- Monitor and review your rules regularly: Even if you set up automated rules, you should still monitor and review your account performance regularly. You should check the status and history of your rules in the Rules section of your account. You should also check the email notifications that you receive about the changes that your rules make or any errors that occur. You should also review the results of your rules and see if they are achieving your goals or if they need to be adjusted or removed.

- Use multiple criteria and conditions: When you create a rule, you should use multiple criteria and conditions to trigger the rule. This way, you can make sure that the rule only applies to the entities (campaigns, ad groups, ads, or keywords) that match your specific goals and situations. For example, instead of creating a rule that increases your bids for keywords that have a cost per conversion below $5, you can add another condition such as having at least 100 conversions in the last 30 days. This way, you can avoid increasing your bids for keywords that have low cost per conversion but also low volume or relevance.

- Test and preview your rules before applying them: Before you apply a rule to your account, you should always test and preview the results of your rule. You can do this by clicking on the Preview button when creating or editing a rule. This will show you how many entities (campaigns, ad groups, ads, or keywords) will be affected by the rule and what changes will be made to them. This way, you can avoid making unwanted or unexpected changes to your account.

Conclusion

Google Ads automated rules are a great feature that can help you automate some basic tasks in your Google Ads account without having to write code or rely on machine learning. You can use automated rules to change bids, pause or enable ads, modify budgets, schedule ads, and more.

To set up automated rules in Google Ads, you need to specify the type of action, the criteria or conditions, and the frequency and time range of the rule. You can create as many rules as you want for different levels of your account hierarchy: campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords.