Can you run Google Ads on autopilot?

Why can’t I put my Google Ads on autopilot instead of paying someone to manage it every month?

... a reader.

I almost gave her the same answer I've used since 2008: Your campaign will turn into a money-pit if it's not managed.

But, I’m not sure I believe that anymore.

You see, Google Ads has a load of built in automation tools that do most of the grunt work we used to do by hand. And, the truth is that - when used properly - these automations do a decent job.

In the past you might have had to spend an hour in the account every day. Now, for some campaigns and with the correct setup you could probably get similar results from an hour a month.

I'm not thinking about campaigns spending $50 000 a month. At that ad spend you're likely to get good value from skilled management. But, if you're spending say $3 000 a month it's hard to justify the cost of an agency or consultant every single month. I can see why she wanted to put her ads on autopilot.

The concept of an autopilot comes from sailing.

Single-handed sailors had to cook, eat and sleep on long passages, while still driving the boat. To do this the sailor gets the boat heading in the right direction and then enables the autopilot. The autopilot keeps the boat on the same course, even if the wind shifts a little.

There are some limitations while sailing by autopilot:-

• The autopilot can only go in more or less a straight line. It can’t navigate around islands or into harbours.
• It only works as long as the wind comes from roughly the same direction. If you get a massive wind shift the sailor needs to adjust course.
• It doesn’t make for the fastest voyage. You still need a human to trim the sails if you want to go as fast as possible (say while racing).

For now autopilot advertising also has some limitations:-

• It'll only work on campaigns that are already generating leads at a cost you're OK with. A brand new campaign needs human steering to get it going. And, a struggling campaign needs to be fixed before enabling autopilot.
• It's won't cope with massive changes in the market, or changes to Google's requirements or the way ads work.

But, within these limits, I think it is possible to put a campaign on autopilot for a few months at a time without risking terrible results.

To make an autopilot campaign successful you'd need:-

• The initial setup to be correct.
• A working click-to-sale system.
• An alarm with a skilled human on standby.

Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail.

The initial setup needs to be correct.

I get called in to help when people aren't getting the results they'd hoped for from Google Ads. Often - particularly if the owner built the ads themselves or had Google help them - the poor performance comes from a poor setup.

Things like:-

• Advertising on search partners and the display network without offline conversion tracking.

• Counting page views as conversions.

• Missing or broken conversion tracking.

• Very broad location targeting.

• No negative keywords.

• etc.

I won't go on, but the point I'm trying to make is that an autopilot can't run a successful campaign from a suboptimal setup. You'd have to fix the setup and manage it closely for a few months before engaging the autopilot.

You need a working click-to-sale system.

Google Ads only works when the whole click-to-sale system works. That's because your ads don't run in isolation. Let me explain ...

When a potential customer clicks on your ad they land on a page on your website. That landing page is part of the system. It must convince the visitor to fill in the enquiry form - or call you - or you've wasted the cost of that click.

The enquiry form is part of the system.

• If it looks difficult to complete the visitor will click the back button.
• If it delivers your leads to the spam folder you're going to lose whatever chance you had of making a sale.
• If it doesn't block junk leads your sales team will become frustrated and lose interest.

The rest of the system is in your office:-

• If nobody responds to the lead you'll never progress them from lead to customer.
• If nobody follows up on proposals and quotes you'll miss out on sales you could have had.
• If you don't tell Google which leads are qualified your ads tend to bring cheaper leads - not better leads.

You need an alarm with a skilled human on standby.

Sleepy sailors rely on a loud-enough-to-wake-the-dead alarm connected to radar or AIS to warn if they're in danger of hitting another vessel.

You'd need something similar - but perhaps not quite as loud - to summon someone to deal with problems like:-

• Ads not running.

• Ad spend outside some acceptable range.

• Performance outside some acceptable range.

• Error and so on.

You might also find this useful: How to make OK money from smaller clients.

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