The Choice is Yours

There’s more than one way to optimize your ad performance

Want your account to run the ads that work best for you? Our ad optimization feature automatically displays the Sponsored Search ads that perform the best—based on how you choose to measure ad performance.

We know that not everyone measures success the same way. For example, you might want to optimize for ads that deliver conversions more frequently.

Fortunately, you have control over the way ad optimization works, because you can choose from one of several guidelines to determine your highest-performing ads in a campaign or ad group. You can choose to optimize your ads for:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• Conversions
• Revenue

Optimizing for conversions or revenue requires use of our conversion-only or full analytics feature. If you have analytics turned on and your site is tagged, the system will default to conversions or revenue, but you can change your settings.

Not seeing the link for campaign optimization? It’s probably because it is an advanced feature that is currently available to our higher spending advertisers only. When your account reaches a certain spend level, the feature is automatically enabled in your account.

How to Change Campaign Optimization Settings
Follow these steps to change the ad optimization guidelines for a campaign:
1. Click the “Campaigns” tab.
2. Select a campaign.
3. Click the “Campaign Settings” button.
4. Next to “Campaign Optimization Guidelines”, click “edit”.
5. Choose the guidelines you wish to use.
6. Click “Save Changes”.

Follow these steps to change the ad optimization guidelines for a specific ad group:
1. Click the “Campaigns” tab.
2. Select a campaign.
3. Select an ad group
4. Click the “Ad Group Settings” button.
5. Next to “Ad Group Optimization Guidelines”, click “edit”.
6. On the “Define Ad Group Optimization Guidelines” page, choose the guidelines you wish to use.
7. Click “Save Changes”.

Now all you have to do is decide which performance guideline makes the most sense for you.

— Jeff Hecox