Good Enough to Replace You
What to Do When Google Ads AI Takes Over
Google Ads AI makes more decisions. You still answer for the results.
Who it's for
For the person clients call when performance drops.
Written for PPC professionals, paid media managers, and agency leaders who need to evaluate automation, explain performance, and make the business decisions an ad platform can’t.
What you'll learn
Know what to question. Know when to act.
Spot when great-looking dashboard numbers hide wasted budget or weak business results.
Evaluate whether your conversion data gives automated bidding the right direction.
Examine where Performance Max spends, including brand traffic and overlooked products.
Use four questions to decide whether to keep, test, or cancel an automated feature.
Free companion worksheet
Put the framework to work.
Choose one automated feature in your account. Use the Keep or Cancel Worksheet to document what it decides, what evidence would show success, what could go wrong, and whether you can reverse it.
About the Author
Lisa Raehsler
Lisa Raehsler is the founder and principal strategist at Big Click Co. She has spent 20 years managing paid media programs for hundreds of businesses across industries.
Ranked #18 on the PPC Survey Top 50 Most Influential PPC Experts for 2026, Lisa has published more than 200 articles as a longtime Search Engine Journal contributor and spoken at over 50 industry events worldwide.
Her work focuses on PPC strategy, AI in advertising, and the business decisions behind campaign performance.
What do you do that the ad platform doesn't?
Explore the decisions that define your value as automation takes on more of the work.