Search campaigns are one of the most direct ways to connect with people actively looking for what your business offers. But simply choosing keywords and waiting for conversions to roll in isn't enough to get the most out of it. Instead, focus on giving the platforms better information, applying effective practices, testing with purpose, and continuously directing investment toward opportunities most likely to drive profitable growth.

Automated bid strategies like Target CPA and Target ROAS are designed to adjust in response to performance, but marketers still have to make an important decision: when should you change the target, and how much should you change it? This article digs into those two questions, with a closer look at the supporting numbers and the practical takeaways for managing automated bid strategies based on our original research.

Automated bid strategies such as Target CPA and Target ROAS are typically managed through periodic adjustments to the target value. However, practitioners have limited empirical guidance on how the magnitude of those adjustments, whether Minor or Major, affects campaign performance. This study examines seven paid media campaigns using both Target CPA and Target ROAS strategies to assess how change magnitude affects short-term spend stability and longer-term conversion volume

We rolled out AI Max for Search across campaigns for clients in multiple verticals, including eCommerce, online education, and nonprofit. In most cases, it captured 5–10% of Search spend, produced ~30% stronger ROAS than non‑AI Max traffic, and uncovered incremental volume. However, it also proved to “cherry-pick” volume from existing keywords, which masked some inefficient spend, emphasizing the need for strong conversion signals and constant guardrails.