Google Ads has never been easier to get started with. A few clicks, a friendly wizard, and boom—your campaign is live and ready to rake in leads, right?
Well… sort of.
See, the very simplicity that makes Google Ads accessible is also what makes it dangerous. Because hidden beneath the shiny surface are a bunch of default settings that might be quietly sabotaging your results—especially if you’re not spending six figures a month (like most of us mortals).
If you’re a small or medium-sized business (SME), getting these settings wrong can be the difference between a campaign that converts and one that just burns money while you wonder what went wrong.
So whether you’re running your own campaigns or working with an agency (or even “that guy” your mate recommended), here are the settings you absolutely must double-check.
1. Auto-Applied Recommendations (aka: Surprise! We Spent Your Budget Differently)
Google likes to be helpful. Sometimes too helpful.
One of its newer features is Auto-Applied Recommendations—where Google takes the liberty of adjusting your campaign settings for you. Without asking. Charming.
These “helpful tweaks” can include changes to things like your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) or CPA (Cost per Acquisition) targets. Sounds smart in theory, but in practice? You could end up with a campaign that’s chasing the wrong goal entirely.
What to do:
Head to your Recommendations tab and make sure auto-apply is turned off. If changes are going to be made, you want to be the one making them—not an algorithm guessing what’s best.
2. Display Expansion & Broad Match: The Classic Money Sink
Google’s default settings love a broad approach. Too broad.
When you set up a search campaign, there are two sneaky defaults that can catch you out:
- Display Network Expansion – This pushes your search ads onto the Display Network, often to places you’d never willingly advertise. It’s rarely worth the spend.
- Broad Match Keywords – These cast a wide net, often too wide. You might end up bidding on terms that are totally irrelevant to your business.
What to do:
Disable Display Expansion, and be selective with your keyword match types. Broad match can work, but only when used intentionally—preferably with long-tail keywords (3+ words) that give Google better context.
3. Brand Exclusions in PMAX (Because You Don’t Need to Pay for Your Own Name)
Performance Max campaigns are clever. Sometimes a little too clever.
By default, PMAX loves bidding on your brand name—because it’s easy to convert someone who’s already looking for you. But here’s the catch: those conversions skew your performance data and eat up budget that could be spent on finding new customers.
What to do:
Add brand exclusions to your PMAX campaigns, so you’re not paying for customers you were going to get anyway. While you’re at it, set up account-wide negative keywords to block time-wasters like:
- “free”
- “discount code”
- “reviews”
- “Amazon”
- “sample”
These terms usually attract browsers, not buyers.
4. Targeting New Customers in PMAX (Because Growth > Duplication)
Another PMAX trap: by default, it targets everyone—including existing customers.
If someone already bought from you last week and is likely to return via email or search, do you really want to pay for their click again? Thought not.
What to do:
Enable new customer acquisition settings in PMAX. Keep that budget focused on people who haven’t already found their way to your checkout.
5. Optimised Targeting in Demand Gen (Let’s Not Let Google Do All the Thinking)
Demand Gen campaigns are brilliant for reaching specific audiences with custom messaging. But Google, ever eager to lend a hand, will happily override your targeting unless you tell it not to.
What to do:
Turn off Optimised Targeting unless you genuinely want Google’s AI to start hunting beyond your carefully selected audience. Otherwise, you risk overlap, redundancy, and wasted spend.
6. Conversion Settings: One vs. Every, Campaign vs. Account
Last but not least: your conversion settings.
These tiny toggles have a massive impact on how Google optimises your campaigns. Are you counting every conversion or just one per user? Are you tracking conversions at the campaign level or across your entire account?
Get it wrong, and Google might start chasing the wrong goals, leading to poor bidding decisions and underwhelming results.
What to do:
Review your conversion settings carefully. Make sure they align with what success actually looks like for your business.
TL;DR (Too Long, Didn’t Review Settings)
Here’s your quick checklist:
- ⛔ Turn off Auto-Applied Recommendations
- ❌ Disable Display Expansion & rethink Broad Match
- ✂️ Add Brand Exclusions in PMAX
- 🧹 Add Account-Wide Negative Keywords
- 🆕 Target New Customers Only in PMAX
- 🎯 Turn off Optimised Targeting in Demand Gen
- ✅ Double-check your conversion settings
Take 15–20 minutes to run through these. It could save you hundreds—if not thousands—over the life of your campaigns.
And if you’re not sure where to find half of these settings? That’s where we come in.
