Google’s Auto Applied Recommendations Catch Advertisers, Agencies off Guard

In January 2019, Google notified advertisers and agencies about a new program in which Google Ads would automatically make changes in ad accounts — unless the advertisers opted-out of the pilot program.

Lior Krolewicz of Yael Consulting recently discovered one of their client’s budget was overspending. Digging into the offending campaign, thye found keywords that they never saw before. There was no record of these keywords even being added (in the change history) but here they were, overspending by 50% of the target budget.

A Google Ads rep directed him to the Auto Applied Recommendations Control Center. It turns out, Krolewicz’ client account was opted into the “Maximum impact” setting in this program.  Turned out the client had opted into the beta but wasn’t fully aware of what it did, Krowlewicz explained on Twitter. In another account, Google said the keywords were added by a Google rep that neither Krolewicz nor the client has heard of. Google is looking into it.

 The recommendations that get applied via this beta program do not show up in Change History in Google Ads. Instead, you’ll need to log into the separate Auto Applied Recommendations Control Center to see whether you’re opted in and what changes have been made.

Best to log into the dashboard to check the settings for your accounts. Not all accounts are eligible at this point, however, depending on country and language, past spend, policy compliance, and other factors.