Google Ads Recommendations

Where to find them

1. Open Ads and select a campaign.
2. Open the Recommendations tab. The number beside it is how many suggestions Bidhelm kept for that campaign.

Each row shows Bidhelm's one-sentence reason the suggestion makes sense here (or the suggestion's name, before it has one), and Google's own estimate when Google sent one, for example "Google expects +53 clicks and 4 signups for about $186 more spend." A keyword suggestion also shows the keyword, its match type and, without an estimate, how many searches a week it covers.

If the tab is empty, it says "Nothing from Google worth acting on for this campaign right now."

How Bidhelm filters them

Google's suggestions arrive with a type and some numbers, but not whether they fit your business. Bidhelm judges each campaign's suggestions against what you sell and how the campaign is doing, and hides the rest. A keyword that doesn't match your product is hidden however much Google likes it, and so is a budget raise on a campaign that already converts badly.

Some kinds are never shown at all:

• Switching keywords to broad match, Search Partners and Display Expansion. They widen your ads into cheaper, weaker traffic that Bidhelm would then have to pay to clean up.
• Sitelinks, callouts, call and lead form assets, and dynamic images. Google sends no content with these, so there's nothing to show you before it would be added.
• Switching to Performance Max or moving Shopping campaigns. These are decisions about how your account is built, not optimizations.

Apply or dismiss

1. On the Recommendations tab, tick the suggestions you want.
2. Select Apply or Dismiss in the bar that appears.

Apply only works on keyword suggestions, and only when every suggestion you ticked is a keyword. Bidhelm adds the keyword itself, exactly as shown, with the match type and ad group Google named. The change appears in History, and you can ask Bidhelm in chat to undo it.

Dismiss works on any suggestion. It removes the suggestion in Google Ads too.

Budget and bidding suggestions

Suggestions to raise a budget or change a bid or target have no Apply button. When Google applies one of these, Google picks the new amount, and the change can't be undone from Bidhelm. A single budget suggestion can offer several amounts, and Google chooses which one lands.

To act on one, ask Bidhelm in chat, for example "Google suggests raising the Sprint Planning budget. Is that worth it?" Bidhelm can make the change with an amount you can see and undo, and it stays inside your monthly plan. See Campaigns and budgets.

What Bidhelm does on its own

When Bidhelm reviews your account, it reads Google's open suggestions as one more opinion. It may add a keyword Google suggested, as an ordinary keyword change you'll see in History, and it may dismiss suggestions it decides against. It never applies a budget, bidding or any other suggestion through Google, because Google, not you, would choose the number.

Common questions