If you're running Google Ads campaigns for your business, you need to check your settings right away. There's a default feature in Google Ads called "auto-apply recommendations" that many businesses don't know about. Leaving this feature enabled can negatively impact your campaigns now and in the long run.
Why Auto-Apply Recommendations Are Risky
Auto-apply recommendations allow Google to automatically make changes to your campaigns without notifying you. At first glance, this may seem helpful. However, letting an automated system tinker with your ads, keywords, negative keywords, and budgets without oversight is risky. More often than not, Google's auto-applied changes end up harming campaigns rather than improving them.
How to Find and Disable Auto-Apply
To find the auto-apply recommendations setting, access your recommendations tab in Google Ads. In the upper right corner, you'll see a section called "auto-apply." Click on this to view which recommendations are currently enabled. Chances are several have already been pre-selected for you.
Which Recommendations to Keep
The only two auto-apply recommendations I recommend leaving on are "Use ad rotation" and "Audience optimisation for reporting." Turn off all the others by unchecking them. Allowing Google to automatically apply changes other than these two can wreak havoc on your account.
Take Back Control
Take control of your Google Ads campaigns by turning off auto-apply recommendations today. Don't let an automated system make unchecked changes that could sabotage your accounts. The only person that should be optimising your campaigns is you.
