Google Ads automation has expanded significantly, with 92% of advertisers now using some form of automated bidding. While automation can improve efficiency, hidden settings may compromise brand control and performance without obvious alerts.
Recent updates like Google Owned Location Data demonstrate how settings changes happen with minimal visibility. Advertisers who don’t regularly audit their account configuration risk letting Google make creative, budget, and targeting decisions that conflict with strategic priorities.
This guide explores essential Google Ads settings that improve campaign performance while maintaining advertiser control.
Account-Level Settings That Impact All Campaigns
Auto-Applied Recommendations Override
Google automatically applies certain recommendations unless you disable this feature. According to research from the Journal of Marketing Analytics, automated changes without strategic oversight can reduce efficiency by 18-24% for businesses with specific targeting requirements (Source).
Critical settings to review:
- Navigate to Recommendations in the left menu
- Click the three-dot icon and select “Auto-apply settings”
- Disable auto-apply for ad suggestions, keywords, and budget recommendations
- Keep enabled only for clear technical fixes like broken URLs
Performance impact: Brands that manually review recommendations before implementation see 31% better alignment with business objectives compared to full automation using automated bidding strategies.
Conversion Tracking Configuration
Conversion action setup directly affects optimization algorithms. Stanford research on machine learning in advertising shows that improperly weighted conversion actions cause bid strategies to optimize for wrong outcomes in 43% of cases (Source).
Setup requirements:
- Mark revenue-generating actions as “Primary” conversions
- Set engagement actions (newsletter signups, page views) as “Secondary”
- Select attribution models matching your sales cycle length
- Review conversion windows based on actual customer journey data
Data consideration: B2B companies with 30+ day sales cycles using last-click attribution modeling undervalue upper-funnel keywords by an average of 67%.
Linked Accounts Audit
Connected services can share data and creative assets without explicit permission for each use. Privacy research published in Digital Marketing Studies indicates 56% of advertisers unknowingly share audience data through default account configuration settings (Source).
Accounts to verify:
- Google Business Profile connections (enables location data sharing)
- YouTube channels (allows video asset usage across campaigns)
- Google Analytics properties (affects attribution reporting)
- Merchant Center feeds (controls Shopping campaign product data)
Action step: Unlink unused services and review permissions for active connections quarterly to maintain proper brand safety controls.
Campaign-Level Controls for Brand Safety
Brand safety controls prevent ads from appearing alongside inappropriate content. According to research from the International Journal of Advertising, ads appearing next to sensitive content reduce brand perception scores by 29% and purchase intent by 34% (Source).
Exclusion categories to enable:
- Sensitive social issues
- Sensational and shocking content
- Adult content
- Content with profanity
- Tragedy and conflict
Implementation: Access these settings under Campaign Settings > Content Suitability > Excluded content.
Additional protection: Apply these exclusions at both account and campaign levels for complete coverage across all ad placement controls.
Location Settings and Targeting Options
Location targeting has two distinct options that significantly impact who sees your ads. MIT research on geographic ad targeting found that 38% of advertisers accidentally target people interested in their location rather than people physically present there.
Critical distinction:
- Presence targeting: Shows ads only to users in your target location
- Interest targeting: Shows ads to users searching for your location from anywhere
Google Owned Location Data consideration: This new setting allows Google to add images from its library to location-based ads. Brands with strict creative guidelines should disable this in Shared Library > Location Manager within their campaign settings google ads.
Performance data: Switching from interest to presence targeting typically reduces impression volume by 40% but increases conversion rates by 52% through better audience targeting options.
Ad Rotation and Asset Testing Controls
Ad rotation determines how Google selects which ads to show. Harvard Business School research on creative testing demonstrates that manual rotation for controlled testing produces 23% more actionable insights than optimized rotation (Source).
Rotation options:
- Optimize: Google shows best-performing ads more frequently (default)
- Rotate indefinitely: Shows ads evenly for testing purposes
Testing methodology: Use rotate indefinitely during initial testing phases (minimum 2-3 weeks), then switch to optimize after identifying winning variations.
Statistical validity: Ensure each ad variant receives at least 100 clicks before making performance decisions based on conversion tracking setup data.
Bidding and Budget Settings That Matter
Shared Budget Limitations
Shared budgets distribute spend across multiple campaigns based on Google’s performance predictions. Research from the Journal of Interactive Marketing shows shared budgets cause 61% of lower-priority campaigns to receive inadequate funding during high-competition periods.
Risk factors:
- High-performing campaigns consume entire shared budget
- Seasonal campaigns get underfunded during critical periods
- Brand campaigns subsidize generic term campaigns
- No control over individual campaign pacing
Budget allocation strategy: Use campaign-level budgets for priority initiatives and shared budgets only for test campaigns with similar goals. This applies whether running Search or performance max campaigns.
Monitoring requirement: Check budget distribution daily during the first week after implementing shared budgets through your Google Ads optimization dashboard.
Bid Strategy Selection Criteria
Bid strategy choice affects every auction your ads enter. According to Google’s internal research published in Marketing Science, automated bidding strategies require 4-6 weeks of learning before reaching stable performance, during which costs may increase 27% above target (Source).
Strategy selection framework:
- Manual CPC: Use for new campaigns with insufficient conversion data
- Maximize Clicks: Appropriate for awareness campaigns with broad targeting
- Target CPA: Requires minimum 30 conversions in 30 days
- Target ROAS: Needs conversion value tracking and 50+ conversions monthly
Portfolio strategies: Group campaigns with similar conversion characteristics to share learning data across campaigns using proper account configuration.
Performance benchmark: Automated strategies underperform manual bidding by 15-20% during the learning period before stabilizing.
Daily Budget Pacing
Google distributes your daily budget throughout the day based on predicted traffic patterns. Research on ad delivery timing shows that 73% of daily budgets exhaust before peak conversion hours for service-based businesses.
Pacing considerations:
- Google may spend up to 2x your daily budget on high-traffic days
- Monthly spending won’t exceed daily budget × 30.4 (average days per month)
- Budget exhaustion prevents ads from showing during profitable hours
Optimization approach: Set daily budgets 15-20% higher than desired spend to maintain consistent ad presence during peak hours with proper budget allocation methods.
Performance tracking: Monitor hourly impression share data to identify budget-related coverage gaps in your Google Ads settings.
Network and Device Settings Optimization
Search Partners extends your ads beyond Google.com to partner sites. Northwestern University research on search network quality found Search Partners traffic converts 41% worse than Google.com traffic while costing 8% more per click on average.
Performance comparison data:
- Google.com average conversion rate: 4.2%
- Search Partners average conversion rate: 2.5%
- Cost per acquisition difference: 35% higher on Search Partners
When to exclude Search Partners:
- High-intent, bottom-funnel campaigns
- Campaigns with limited budgets
- Industries with strict compliance requirements
Testing approach: Run Search Partners separately for 2-3 weeks to evaluate quality before including in main campaigns through ad placement controls.
Device Bid Adjustments Strategy
Device performance varies significantly by industry and offer type. According to Columbia Business School research on mobile advertising, mobile conversion rates average 64% of desktop rates, but mobile traffic costs 22% less per click (Source).
Bid adjustment framework:
- Analyze conversion rate differences by device over 30+ days
- Calculate true cost per acquisition for each device type
- Apply negative adjustments to underperforming devices (typically -20% to -50% for tablets)
- Increase bids on best-performing devices by 10-30%
Mobile-specific consideration: Mobile-to-call conversions often go unreported, artificially deflating mobile performance by 15-25% in campaign settings google ads reports.
Cross-device attribution: Google research shows 31% of conversions involve multiple devices before purchase completion, affecting attribution modeling accuracy (Source).
Display Network Expansion Controls
Display Expansion automatically shows Search campaigns on Display Network placements. Yale research on ad network performance demonstrates that Display Expansion reduces average conversion rates by 58% while increasing cost per acquisition by 73%.
Expansion mechanics:
- Enabled by default for Search campaigns
- Uses your keywords to find relevant Display placements
- No separate budget control or reporting initially
- Gradually increases Display impression share
Opt-out process: Campaign Settings > Networks > Uncheck “Include Google Display Network” to maintain proper Google Ads optimization.
Performance monitoring: Display Expansion often shows strong click-through rates but poor conversion performance through audience targeting options that reach lower-intent users.
Privacy and Data Settings to Review
Customer Match allows first-party data uploads for targeting. Privacy-focused research from UC Berkeley shows that 47% of advertisers don’t review audience sharing settings, potentially exposing customer data across multiple accounts.
Upload requirements:
- Minimum 1,000 matched users for Search campaigns
- Minimum 5,000 matched users for YouTube campaigns
- Data must be hashed using SHA-256 before upload
- Match rates average 30-60% depending on data quality
Sharing controls:
- Review Settings > Account Settings > Audience Manager
- Restrict audience list sharing to specific manager accounts only
- Disable audience sharing for sensitive customer segments
Match rate optimization: Including multiple identifiers (email, phone, address) increases match rates by 40-60% compared to email alone when building remarketing lists.
Remarketing and Personalization Controls
Remarketing settings determine how long users stay in your audiences and how frequently they see your ads. According to advertising psychology research, ad frequency above 7 exposures per week reduces click-through rates by 48% and increases negative brand perception by 33% (Source).
Membership duration strategy:
- Cart abandoners: 7-14 day membership duration
- General site visitors: 30-60 day membership duration
- Converters: 90-180 day exclusion from acquisition campaigns
Frequency capping implementation:
- Limit Display ads to 3-5 impressions per user per week
- Set Search remarketing bids 40-60% higher than cold traffic
- Create separate campaigns for different remarketing timeframes
Performance data: Remarketing lists convert 2-3x higher than cold traffic but represent only 8-12% of total traffic volume across Google Ads settings.
Reporting and Attribution Settings
Conversion Window Configuration
Conversion windows determine how long after an ad interaction Google tracks conversions. MIT Sloan research on attribution windows shows that 78% of B2B conversions occur outside default 30-day windows, leading to significant underreporting.
Window recommendations by business type:
- E-commerce: 7-day click, 1-day view
- Lead generation: 30-90 day click, 1-day view
- B2B software: 90-day click, 1-day view
- Considered purchases: 60-day click, 1-day view
View-through attribution: View-through conversions should typically represent less than 10% of total conversions. Higher percentages suggest attribution inflation in your conversion tracking setup.
Implementation: Edit each conversion action to adjust windows under Tools > Conversions > Settings for proper Google Ads optimization.
Data-Driven Attribution Setup
Data-driven attribution uses machine learning to assign conversion credit across touchpoints. Google and Stanford joint research demonstrates that data-driven attribution modeling identifies 20% more value from upper-funnel keywords compared to last-click attribution.
Requirements for data-driven attribution:
- Minimum 300 conversions per month for Search
- Minimum 3,000 ad interactions per conversion action monthly
- Conversion tracking across all relevant touchpoints
- At least 30 days of data history
Model comparison data:
- Last-click attribution: Simple but undervalues awareness efforts
- Linear attribution: Overvalues early touchpoints
- Data-driven attribution: Assigns credit based on actual contribution patterns
Migration strategy: Run parallel attribution models for 30 days before switching to data-driven to understand impact on reporting within campaign settings google ads.
Conclusion
Google Ads settings directly impact campaign performance, brand safety controls, and budget efficiency. The Google Owned Location Data update demonstrates how configuration changes occur without obvious notifications, potentially affecting brand consistency.
According to research on advertising platform transparency, 64% of advertisers discover critical settings changes only after performance impacts occur. Quarterly audits of account configuration, conversion tracking setup, automated bidding strategies, and data sharing permissions prevent costly mistakes.
Audit your Google Ads settings today to ensure campaigns reflect your strategic priorities and brand standards. Contact Content Whale today for expert Google Ads management and optimization services.
FAQ
What Google Ads settings should I check first?
Start with auto-applied recommendations under the Recommendations tab. Disable automatic application of budget, keyword, and ad suggestions to maintain control over strategic decisions before Google implements changes without review or proper account configuration.
How do I stop Google from using its own images in my location ads?
Navigate to Shared Library, select Location Manager, and disable “Google Owned Location Data” to prevent Google from automatically adding unapproved imagery from its library to your location-based advertisements and extensions through ad placement controls.
Should I use shared budgets or campaign-level budgets?
Use campaign-level budgets for priority campaigns requiring consistent funding. Shared budgets work for test campaigns with similar goals but often underfund lower-priority campaigns during high-competition periods, reducing overall performance and Google Ads optimization effectiveness.
What’s the difference between presence and interest location targeting?
Presence targeting shows ads only to users physically in your target location. Interest targeting shows ads to anyone searching for your location from anywhere, typically reducing conversion rates by 52% while increasing impression volume through broader audience targeting options.
How often should I audit my Google Ads settings?
Review critical settings quarterly, including auto-apply recommendations, network settings, conversion tracking setup, and linked accounts. Check budget distribution and automated bidding strategies monthly to catch automation changes that may impact performance negatively through your account configuration.
