How Can You Maximize Results with Google Ads?

Part 1: Make ROI measurable (because you can’t optimize what you can’t reliably measure)

Start with conversion goals that match real business outcomes

The fastest path to “more ROI” in Google Ads usually isn’t a clever bid trick—it’s making sure the platform is optimizing toward the right thing. That starts with clean conversion goal design: align your conversion actions to standard goal categories (for example, Purchase or Contact), and ensure every goal you optimize to includes at least one Primary conversion action so automated bidding has a clear north star. If you optimize toward vague or top-of-funnel actions (like generic page views) when a more meaningful goal exists, you’ll often see volume increase while profitability quietly declines.

If you’re tempted to create lots of custom goals, keep it disciplined. In most accounts, the best-performing setup is a simple funnel with one primary “money” action per campaign type (or per business line), with supporting actions marked as secondary for reporting—not bidding.

Upgrade measurement quality with enhanced conversions (web + leads)

In 2026, strong results increasingly come down to resilient measurement in a privacy-first environment. Enhanced conversions for web is one of the most practical upgrades because it uses hashed first‑party customer data captured in your conversion tracking flow (for example, email or phone) to improve matching and reporting, which also strengthens automated bidding.

If your sales process happens offline (calls, demos, signed contracts), you’ll maximize results by feeding back qualified outcomes, not just raw leads. Enhanced conversions for leads is the modern upgrade path for offline conversion imports, using hashed user-provided data and more durable identifiers to improve attribution and optimization beyond basic click IDs.

Two timing details matter more than most advertisers realize: offline conversions uploaded too late won’t count. As a rule, uploads beyond 90 days after the last click won’t import, and for enhanced conversions for leads the window is tighter at 63 days. Build your CRM/export process so uploads happen automatically and frequently, not as a once-a-month cleanup.

Use attribution and reporting columns intentionally (don’t mix “optimization” metrics with “comparison” metrics)

Data-driven attribution is now the default model for most conversion actions, and it’s generally the best fit when you want Google Ads to assign fractional credit across the path, not only to the last click. That improves decision-making in accounts running multiple campaign types together.

At the same time, be careful with “platform comparable” conversion columns designed for certain campaign types. Those views can be extremely useful when you’re comparing performance to non-Google platforms, but they’re not intended to change bidding behavior. Treat them as a decision-support lens, not the KPI you optimize every campaign toward.

Measurement troubleshooting: fix tracking before you “fix” campaigns

When an account underperforms, I always validate whether conversions are firing correctly and consistently. A surprising number of “Google Ads isn’t working” cases are really broken tags, duplicate counting, missing required parameters, or scripts placed incorrectly on the page. If the conversion script is detected but not executing (or is placed outside the proper page structure), you’ll see underreporting, unstable automated bidding, and misleading CPA/ROAS.

• Critical diagnostic checklist (do this before changing bids/keywords): confirm the conversion action is Primary where appropriate, confirm tags fire on the correct final step (not a mid-funnel page), confirm duplicates are prevented (use unique event IDs/order IDs where applicable), confirm offline imports are uploading within the allowed window, and confirm enhanced conversions are enabled with the required compliance acknowledgement.

Part 2: Build campaigns that give the algorithm the best inputs (structure, targeting, bidding, and creative)

Simplify account structure so Smart Bidding can learn faster

One of the biggest changes I’ve seen over the last decade is this: overly segmented structures usually hurt performance once you’re using automated bidding. When you split the same intent across many campaigns (by device, by match type, by tiny themes), you fragment data. That forces the system to optimize in smaller “buckets,” which can reduce efficiency and slow learning.

A modern structure prioritizes business objectives first (what you sell, margins, regions that truly need separation, or different conversion values), and only separates campaigns when the economics or messaging genuinely differ.

Keyword strategy: use match types with intent—then lean on broad match + Smart Bidding to scale

Exact and phrase still have a place, especially for tight control, regulatory sensitivity, or when you’re building early traction. But if you want to maximize results (not just maintain them), broad match paired with conversion-based Smart Bidding is often the scaling lever—because it can expand into additional relevant queries while bidding differently for each auction based on predicted performance.

Also set expectations correctly: close variants are part of the system for all match types, and you can’t opt out. That means “exact” is not a literal character-for-character match; it includes variants that keep the same meaning and intent.

When you evaluate query quality, don’t rely only on the keyword’s match type label—use the search terms report and understand that broader keywords can match search terms in narrower ways (for example, a broad keyword may still trigger an “exact” search term match type in reporting).

Negatives: protect brand safety without choking growth

Negative keywords are powerful, but they’re also one of the easiest ways to accidentally cap performance—especially in AI-powered campaigns. In Performance Max, negatives are best reserved for true brand safety issues or completely irrelevant traffic. If your goal is to avoid paying for your own brand searches, use brand exclusions rather than trying to “neg out” your brand name manually; brand exclusions provide more complete protection against misspellings and variants.

Think of negatives like brakes: use them when needed, but don’t drive with your foot on them.

Bidding in 2026: commit to conversion-based strategies and stop “micro-adjusting”

If you’re serious about maximizing ROI, conversion-based Smart Bidding is the baseline for most lead-gen and e-commerce accounts—because bids are set at auction time using real-time signals. Practical alignment matters: if you want volume at the best efficiency your budget allows, Maximize conversions (optionally with a target CPA) is usually the right direction. If you have strong, reliable conversion values (revenue, margin proxies, lead scoring), Maximize conversion value (optionally with a target ROAS) is usually where the best profitability scaling happens.

Two platform changes you should account for as you plan: Enhanced CPC stopped being available for Search and Display campaigns effective March 31, 2025 (with a UI transition period into May 2025), and many advertisers who didn’t migrate ended up effectively running Manual CPC. If your account is still behaving like it’s on “old bidding,” it’s worth double-checking what’s actually active today.

Finally, avoid constant target changes. When you change CPA/ROAS targets, the system reacts quickly, but performance should be judged over 1–2 conversion cycles because conversions have reporting delay. If you change targets again before most conversions have been reported, you’re essentially optimizing in fog.

Creative that wins now: assets, automation controls, and Performance Max asset group hygiene

Modern auctions reward relevance and variety in creative. In Search, this means using a strong set of assets (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, images where appropriate) and letting the system assemble combinations that match the query context. Some assets can also show automatically when they’re predicted to improve performance, and you can opt out if you prefer strict control.

In Performance Max, your asset groups are effectively your creative-and-intent containers. Build each asset group around a single theme or audience, supply a rich mix of images, logos, headlines, descriptions, and videos. If you don’t provide video, the platform may auto-generate one; if you care about brand consistency, it’s usually better to upload your own video so you control what appears and how it looks when resized across placements.

Audience signals are optional, but they can speed up learning by giving the system a strong starting point. Just remember: they’re signals, not strict targeting—Performance Max can still expand beyond them if it predicts conversions.

Also note a major Search automation change: starting May 27, 2025, automatically created assets began upgrading into AI Max for Search campaigns settings as “text customization.” Practically, this means you should periodically review what’s being created, understand where to toggle it on/off, and decide whether the incremental coverage outweighs any messaging risk for your brand.

Part 3: Optimize like a pro (scale what works, control what doesn’t, and stay compliant)

Use the newer transparency features in AI-powered campaigns to find real levers

The biggest frustration advertisers had with AI-first campaigns used to be “black box” visibility. That’s improved significantly. Performance Max now offers deeper reporting that helps you understand channel-level performance, access more granular search terms reporting similar to what you’re used to in Search, and evaluate richer asset-level metrics (not just conversions, but also impressions, clicks, and cost). Use those views to answer practical questions like: are you winning because of Shopping coverage, because of Search themes, or because video is introducing new demand that later converts?

When you spot a weakness, fix the input—not the symptom. If Search terms show irrelevant intent, refine themes, tighten messaging, adjust landing pages, and use exclusions carefully. If a channel is underdelivering due to creative gaps, improve the asset mix instead of assuming the campaign type is “bad.”

Budget and pacing: understand what “limited by budget” really means under Smart Bidding

With Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value, campaigns are designed to spend the daily budget you set. That makes certain legacy pacing metrics less useful. For example, impression share lost due to budget can be misleading or incompatible for decision-making in some maximize strategies. The better habit is to use forecasting tools and budget simulation logic to estimate what additional budget could do, then scale in measured steps so performance doesn’t get volatile.

Policy and destination hygiene: prevent preventable downtime

Maximizing results isn’t only about optimization—it’s also about eliminating stoppages. Disapprovals, destination issues, and asset-level policy flags can quietly reduce delivery and spike CPA without you noticing immediately.

One specific compliance update worth calling out: a Destination Requirements policy update announced in July 2025 expanded unverified phone number requirements to apply to message assets. Enforcement began for newly created message assets on August 1, 2025, and for existing message assets on September 1, 2025. If messaging is part of your lead flow, make phone verification a pre-launch checklist item so you don’t lose volume unexpectedly.

A sustainable weekly optimization rhythm (that actually improves ROI)

The most profitable accounts I’ve managed don’t “hack” the algorithm—they run a consistent operating system. They separate diagnosis (what changed?) from intervention (what input do we adjust?), and they test one meaningful change at a time so learnings are real.

• Weekly actions that reliably move performance: audit search terms and exclude only what’s truly irrelevant; review asset performance and replace low-performing or off-brand variants; confirm conversion tracking health and offline upload freshness; check budget constraints and scale only the campaigns that can profitably absorb spend; and make target CPA/ROAS adjustments no more frequently than your conversion cycle allows.

When you want to scale faster, use experiments—not guesswork

If your goal is to maximize results aggressively, experimentation is your safety net. Use controlled tests to evaluate expansions like broader matching, new creative approaches, or bid strategy changes. This is especially useful when you’re moving from a tightly controlled keyword set to broader coverage, where results can improve significantly but you want clean measurement of incrementality.

The highest-performing advertisers treat Google Ads like a system: accurate measurement, simplified structure, intentional automation, strong creative inputs, and disciplined testing. Do those consistently, and “maximizing results” stops being a slogan and becomes a predictable outcome.

‍

Maximizing results with Google Ads usually comes down to treating the account like a system: start with rock-solid measurement (clear primary conversions, enhanced conversions, and reliable attribution), keep structure simple enough for Smart Bidding to learn, expand and refine targeting thoughtfully (including broad match when paired with conversion-based bidding), and keep creative and Performance Max assets fresh and aligned with landing pages—all while sticking to a steady optimization cadence and running controlled experiments for safer scaling. If you’d like help operationalizing that week after week, Blobr plugs into your Google Ads account and runs specialized AI agents to spot wasted spend, surface keyword and structure opportunities, and suggest practical updates like ad headline improvements or keyword-to-landing-page alignment—so you can move faster without losing control over what gets changed.