Back in 2016 I spent an evening inside a friend's AdWords account. It was spending money with no conversion tracking, one ad group held more than six hundred keywords, and the ads used almost none of the available extensions. Ten years on, the diagnosis still holds: most small-business accounts lose money on basic settings, not on expert subtleties.
What has changed is the interface. The "all features" checkbox, the "Search Network only" campaign type, expanded text ads, average position and the broad match modifier have all gone.
Here is the updated version of that list, checked against Google Ads Help, with the things you should stop doing alongside the things that still matter.
What changed since the AdWords era
| Then (AdWords) | Now (Google Ads) |
|---|---|
| "All features" checkbox | Removed: the options are spread across campaign settings |
| "Search Network only" campaign | Search campaign type, chosen after you pick an objective |
| Ad extensions | Assets: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call, image and more |
| Text ads, two or three per group | Responsive search ads: up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions |
| Average position | Top impression rate and absolute top impression rate |
| Broad match modifier | Three match types: broad, phrase and exact |
| Video action campaigns, Display campaigns | Demand Gen, after migration |
1. Set up measurement before you buy traffic
This was the first tip in 2016 and it still is. Without a valid conversion action you have no idea which keyword, ad or product pays for itself, and automated bidding has nothing to learn from.
Setting it up is no longer a snippet pasted onto a thank-you page. You declare conversion actions inside Google Ads, then fire them through the Google tag, Google Tag Manager, an import from Google Analytics 4, or an offline import for sales closed by phone or in store (Google Ads Help). You can then switch on enhanced conversions, which send SHA-256 hashed customer data so more sales are matched back to paid clicks (official documentation).
Do not assume this is settled ground. In French data published by France Num on 18 March 2026 — an Afnic survey of nearly 2,500 French small and medium-sized businesses run between September 2024 and August 2025 — 61% of respondents said they do not really monitor their online acquisition performance. The figure is French; the pattern is familiar anywhere. Our page on traffic management sets out the sequence.
2. Treat consent as a technical component
For traffic from the European Economic Area, Google asks advertisers to collect user consent and pass the matching signals through Consent Mode, using the ad_user_data and ad_personalization parameters (Google Ads Help). Without them, the data concerned is not used for personalisation or remarketing, and part of your measurement disappears.
In practice your consent banner has to be wired into the Google tag, not merely block scripts. A banner that stops tags loading and never sends a signal produces missing conversions and campaigns that learn badly.
3. Start with Search
The 2016 principle holds: begin where intent is explicit. Someone typing your product into a search box is already trying to buy it, which is not true of someone who sees a banner.
The clicks have changed, though. There is no checkbox any more: you choose an objective, then the Search campaign type. Before launching, open the network and location settings — that is where unwanted impressions hide.
4. Only open Performance Max when you have something to feed it
Performance Max reaches the whole of Google's inventory — Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps — from one campaign. In exchange it expects reliable conversion actions, audience signals, and text, image and video assets (Google Ads Help). On an account with no conversion tracking, it optimises towards nothing.
Two things have improved: negative keywords are now available at campaign level, and reporting covers asset groups, channels and placements. The detail is still thinner than in Search, so keep a Search campaign for your key queries.
5. Demand Gen has absorbed video action, and now Display
Video action campaigns were migrated to Demand Gen in 2025 (official announcement). Since June 2026, the same migration tool has been rolling out for display ad campaigns: new campaigns are created in Demand Gen, remaining eligible campaigns will be migrated automatically, and a migrated campaign cannot be reverted (Google Ads Help).
The practical consequence: if you still run Display campaigns, migrate them yourself rather than wait for the automatic pass. A manual migration keeps the performance history and lets you choose your settings.
6. Pick a smart bidding strategy, then give it a ceiling
Manual CPC has lost most of its usefulness. Google classes four strategies as smart bidding: target CPA, target ROAS, maximise conversions and maximise conversion value (Google Ads Help).
The safety rail comes from your margin, not from Google. Work out the highest cost per acquisition your margin can absorb, then use it as your target CPA. I am deliberately leaving out the "average conversion rate by sector" benchmarks that circulated ten years ago: they say nothing about your basket or your margin.
7. Structure the account without over-segmenting it
The account I audited had a single ad group covering more than six hundred keywords. Writing a relevant ad in those conditions is impossible, and the fault is still common.
The opposite excess no longer pays either. With broad match and automated bidding, splitting an account into dozens of micro ad groups fragments the data and slows learning. Group by intent and by landing page: one ad group, one promise, one URL.
8. Read the search terms report and exclude
Match types come down to three: broad, phrase in quotation marks, exact in square brackets. The broad match modifier no longer exists (Google Ads Help).
The search terms report remains the first place to recover wasted budget. Review it weekly while a campaign is young, add irrelevant queries as negative keywords, and use shared negative lists across campaigns.
9. Feed the responsive search ads and the assets
A responsive search ad accepts up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions. Google recommends at least two per ad group, with an Ad Strength of "Good" or "Excellent", and states in its help centre that moving from one ad to two is associated with an average of 6.6% more conversions (Google Ads Help). That is Google's own internal measurement across its advertiser base: an indication, not a guarantee.
What used to be called extensions are now assets: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call, lead form, location, price, promotion and image (Google Ads Help). Filling them in still pays, because they take up more space on the results page. The old argument — that ticking everything raises your Quality Score and lowers your bid — can be dropped.
10. Quality Score is a diagnostic, not a lever
This is the most important correction in this update. Google Ads Help states that the Quality Score shown in the interface, on a scale of 1 to 10, is a diagnostic tool: not a key performance indicator, and not used in the ad auction (Google Ads Help). Its three components are unchanged: expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience.
Use it as an alert. A component marked "below average" tells you where to look: an ad that does not echo the query, or a landing page that is slow, thin or short on reassurance. That last point overlaps with organic search, which is why a UX audit or page speed work often beats raising budgets.
What about Microsoft Advertising?
The 2016 advice — duplicate a profitable campaign onto Bing — still has value, provided you size it properly. Market share varies by country, and the public trackers that publish it measure page views across a panel of sites, not the engines' own query counts. Check the figures for the markets you sell into. The usual shape is a secondary volume, often less competitive.
The test costs little, since importing a Google Ads account is automated. Run it only once the Google campaign is profitable. Paid and organic search answer different questions over different timescales: our SEO services page covers where each earns its place.
Before you press launch
- A conversion action tested end to end.
- Consent signals sent, not blocked scripts.
- Networks and locations reviewed by hand.
- A target CPA set by your margin.
- A weekly slot for the search terms report.
Common questions
Should I start with Performance Max or with a Search campaign?
A Search campaign is easier to read at the start: you see the queries you paid for and can exclude them one by one. Performance Max assumes reliable conversion tracking, assets and audience signals. On a new account with no conversion data, it optimises without a reference point.
Does a higher Quality Score lower my cost per click?
Google Ads Help says the Quality Score shown in the interface is a diagnostic tool, not a key performance indicator, and that it is not used in the ad auction. It flags weak points: expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. Improving those three is worthwhile; chasing a 10 is not.
Do ad extensions still exist?
Yes, but they are now called assets: sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call, lead form, location, price, promotion and image. They are managed at account, campaign or ad group level, and filling them in increases the space your ad occupies, with no guarantee about position.
What happens when a visitor refuses cookies?
For traffic from the European Economic Area, Google expects consent signals passed through Consent Mode. Without them, that visitor's data is not used for ad personalisation or remarketing, and some conversions are not measured directly. A banner properly wired into the Google tag limits the loss.
What is the minimum budget for a Google Ads test?
Google imposes no minimum, but a test is only worth running if it produces enough conversions to interpret. Start from the cost per acquisition your margin allows, multiply it by the number of sales or enquiries you need to decide, and plan that amount over four to six weeks.
Do video action and Display campaigns still exist?
Video action campaigns were migrated to Demand Gen in 2025. Since June 2026, display ad campaigns have followed the same route, with automatic migration announced for the remaining eligible campaigns. A migrated campaign cannot be returned to its former format.