You can use AI for Google Ads in three ways, and they work best in order. Start with the basics Google already automates, then add analysis around it, then decide who manages the account.
Way 1: Use the AI Google already built in
Google describes its AI-powered Search ads as a set of products that work together: broad match, automated bidding and responsive search ads. Together they help your ads reach more relevant searches at the right price.
- Broad match matches your ads to a wider range of related searches.
- Automated bidding adjusts bids for each auction toward the conversion goal you set.
- Responsive search ads combine your headlines and descriptions to find the versions that work.
- Performance Max combines Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail and Maps in one automated campaign.
Google has also added AI Max for Search. It is a set of AI targeting and creative features for Search campaigns, and Google says it is not a new campaign type.
Whichever you use, the AI works toward the goal you give it. So the first job is to get that goal right: the conversion you track should be the enquiry, call or sale that matters to your business, not just a click.
Way 2: Add AI-assisted analysis around it
Google's automation acts inside the auction. It does not plan your budget or tell you when a campaign is drifting. That is where a second layer helps:
- A forecast before you spend, so the budget starts with an expected range.
- A budget plan for how spend should be divided between campaign types.
- Early alerts when a campaign moves outside the expected range.
- Reporting that shows forecast and actual results side by side.
This is the analysis behind ENH Marketing's campaign intelligence service.
Way 3: Decide who manages the account
You can manage the account yourself, or hand it to an agency. With AI PPC management, a specialist manages the Google Ads account and uses AI-assisted analysis alongside Google's own automation. The specialist sets the goals with you, checks the tracking and reviews the changes before they go in.
What should you set up first?
- Accurate conversion tracking, so the AI has the right goal to work toward.
- A clear idea of what a good lead looks like, because AI does not know your margins or your sales process.
- Account ownership. Your business should own the Google Ads account, whoever manages it.
- A review habit: someone should look at what the automation changed, not just at the results.
Start with an audit
A good starting point is an audit of what the account does today: its structure, search terms, bidding, conversion tracking and landing pages. ENH Marketing, a Google Ads agency, offers one, and the findings stay with you even if you decide not to work with us.