Simple Guide to Google Ads Automated Rules

Time is the most valuable resource, without a doubt. Sadly, there isn’t enough of it to accomplish everything we need and want. This statement may feel much more relevant to you if you are dealing with Google Ads, formerly known as AdWords. Google Ads is a great asset to raise conversion rates; however, you may not have the time, means, or energy for the management it unfortunately requires. This is why automating the process can help you prevent your ads from becoming a financial burden. The best part is you don’t need to look far; Google Ads’ own automated rules feature is enough to get you started. 

First, let’s understand what exactly automated rules are.

What Are Google Ads Automated Rules?

When running ad campaigns, your most important goal is to reach and be seen by your target audience. Automated rules enable you to customize your ad strategy however you like. For example, you can schedule when your ads appear, manage your bids, adjust the categories of people you want your ad to reach, and control your budget by only showing ads at certain times. After you set up, the rules will automatically perform the actions on your behalf to adjust your Google Ads once the specified conditions are met.

Benefits of Google Ads Automated Rules

Automated rules can successfully optimize your gain from ad campaigns, depending on your goals. For example, you can structure the rules based on whether you are after impressions or conversions. If you want higher impression rates on your ads, you’ll want as many people to see them. However, to increase your conversion rates, you’ll need to display your ads to the right audience so that they can take actions that you deem valuable.

Now, consider all the steps you need to take to keep your ads aligned with your preferences. Then, calculate how much time and energy you can save by automated rules to do the work for you. You can channel all these resources into other parts of your business operation, like keyword research or landing page optimization.

For instance, with automated rules, you can avoid unnecessary bids. You can also set rules for specific time frames (hourly, daily, monthly, or even seasonal) in which your ads will show and even manipulate your bids to be lower or higher based on where or when you want them to be displayed.

Automated rules allow you to manage these processes without constantly monitoring your ads and adjusting manually. These rules also help you control your costs by helping you optimize your PPC or CPC campaigns. Moreover, if you don’t want to lend all the control of your Google Ads account, you can also simply ask to be notified by email when your chosen conditions occur.

How to Set Up Google Ads Automated Rules

You have three options at your disposal if you decide to utilize this feature. First, you can use Google Ads’ own automated rules, custom scripts, or other third-party tools for more advanced automatization. 

Google’s automated rules have some limitations and a somewhat unintuitive user interface, but it is a good way to get the ball rolling.

To start, you just need to sign in to your Google Ads account and access tools. Then, under the Bulk Actions section, you’ll see Rules. There are a total of 12 types of automated rules, including ​​Campaign, Ad group, Keyword, Ad, Display keyword, Topic, Placement, Audience, Age range, Gender, Parental status, and even Income range rules. 

Consider a scenario in which you want to create an automated Campaign rule. Each type of automated rule has its own categories of information to fill out. For the Campaign rule, these are: owner, action, apply to, conditions, frequency, and email results. You select the action the rule will take when the criteria you supply are met. Most categories have enabling and pausing actions with other variables depending on their function.

Let’s see what these automated rule types are to better understand what you can do. 

12 Types of Google Ads Automated Rules

1. Campaign Rules: With campaign rules, you can enable or pause campaigns, change budget and send emails. You can set up conditions based on performance, keyword, or how much it costs you. Depending on the ads’ conversation rates, you can increase or decrease your budget.
2. Ad Group Rules: Once again, you can enable and pause ad groups and send emails. You can also change as group bids. Moreover, you can lower your budget if you specify to stop underperforming ad groups.
3. Keyword Rules: This time, you can focus on conversion. If a keyword is not helping you increase conversion, you can choose to pause it. You can set up a plausible time frame for the rule to determine whether or not it is the case. With this rule, you can enable and pause keywords, vary keyword bids and final URLs, and send emails.
4. Ad Rules: If you want to monitor your campaign’s performance regularly, you can utilize this rule. It allows you to enable and pause ads and send emails. The performance notifications and pausing underperforming ads save you a lot of time.
5. Display Keyword Rules: If your campaign is on the right track and performing swimmingly, you can set up this rule to enable display keywords on your Google Display campaigns. You can also pause them and vary display keyword bids.
6. Topic Rules: This rule can be the key to reaching your target audience. By helping you sort through the topics, Topic Rules allows you to choose the right ones to bid for to increase the number of converting topics. Or stop the ones you are targeting if they are under-performing. You can enable and pause, change maximum CPC and CPM bids, change bid adjustments and send emails.
7. Placement Rules: Placement targeting is just as crucial in the quest to reach the right audience. By making adjustments to this rule, you can drive more people through relevant placements. Once again, you can enable and pause placement, change maximum CPC and CPM bids, change bid adjustments, and send emails.
8. Audience Rules: If you wish to take a more direct approach to your ads, you can filter your target audience with this rule. You can review the performance of your audience and act accordingly. You can enable and pause placement, change maximum CPC and CPM bids, change bid adjustments, and send emails.
9. Age Range Rules: Age Range Rules enable you to reach audiences within a specific age bracket. You can omit or enable certain age ranges, change maximum CPC and CPM bids, change bid adjustment, and send emails. With this rule, you can determine the audience interested in your product or service. 
10. Gender Rules: Similar to the Age Range Rules, Gender Rules help you create rules based on the gender of your target audience. This rule can help you target a specific gender that is more suitable for your business through the number of clicks. You can omit or enable genders from the ad group, change maximum CPC and CPM bids, change bid adjustments, and send emails. 
11. Parental Status Rules: If you are selling children’s toys, your target audience cannot be the children themselves since they cannot shop for themselves yet. However, you can use parental status to target your campaigns at people with kids. You can omit or enable parental statuses, change maximum CPC and CPM bids, change bid adjustments, and send emails.
12. Income Range Rules: With this rule, you can group your audience based on income. You can see which income groups are interested in your products or services and adjust your campaign based on that data. You can omit or enable income ranges, change maximum CPC and CPM bids, change bid adjustments, and send emails.