Google Ads guide

Targets hold on a small budget

Since 17 August 2026, a Target CPA or Target ROAS campaign that is limited by budget holds its target. It no longer beats it. A fixed small budget goes to Manual CPC or Maximize conversions.

Brand lists need AI Max

Since May 2025, a new brand inclusion or exclusion list sits in the AI Max panel. Brand lists work only with broad match.

Broad is the default

Every new keyword is broad match. Exact match now means the same meaning or intent, not the same words.

Negatives stay literal

A negative keyword does not match plurals, misspellings or synonyms. Add each form yourself.

Enhanced CPC is gone

Since March 2025, Manual CPC is a fixed bid with no automatic lift.

Consent decides the count

EU and UK visitors who decline lose the conversion. A small campaign gets no modeled conversions below 700 ad clicks a week.

The business owns the account

The ad disclosure shows the verified advertiser's name. Create the account under the business's own Google account. The partner gets Standard access or a manager-account link.

Billing and verification

The business pays from its own payments profile, typed Organization or Individual to match its legal status. Verification has 30 days. Google pauses an account that misses it.

No outcome promises

Google bans an "improbable result" as the likely outcome. Write "a 20-minute class at home", not "heal your anxiety".

State the price after the trial

Google bans a hidden payment model. Put "Then [price] a month. Cancel anytime." in one description and on the landing page.

Health and religion

Health and Religious beliefs are sensitive categories. Ads there lose remarketing lists and Customer Match targeting. Brand search uses no audience, so it is not blocked.

The name is free to use

The creator's name and product name work as keywords and in the business's own ads. Google limits a trademark in ad text only after the owner complains.

a. A brand campaign, or none

Pick: an 8-week capped test

Run one brand campaign on the name and the product name for 8 weeks. Keep it only when a flip condition holds. It defends the name and tests the tracking. It is not a growth channel.

For: on Bing, brand ads added 1 to 4 percent clicks with no rival, more for small brands. Rivals take 18 to 42 percent of clicks when the brand is absent. Against: at eBay, 99.5 percent of traffic came back organically. One vendor's 17 brand geo tests had a median return of 0.70x.

Flip when a rival bids on the name (keep, as defense), the site is not the first organic result (keep), or the on and off weeks show no lift (stop).

b. Keywords and negatives

Pick: exact and phrase, no AI Max

[first last], "first last", [product], "product", plus the misspellings. One shared phrase negative list: net worth, age, wife, husband, biography, quotes, free download, jobs, and member terms such as login, cancel and refund.

Brand lists force broad match and AI Max. Practitioners report that AI Max on brand matched rival names. Against: Google makes broad the default and says it can raise brand traffic.

Flip when exact shows "Low search volume", a namesake fills the search terms, or the account reaches 30 conversions in 30 days (test broad in an experiment).

c. Bid strategy and settings

Pick: Manual CPC with a cap

Search Network only. Search partners off, Display off. No audience, no AI Max, no auto-created assets on brand. Lower the cap 10 percent at a time while impression share stays above 85 percent.

Manual CPC is untouched by the 2026 change. Google gives no target below 7 conversions and evaluates over 30. Practitioners say conversion bidding on brand raises the CPC. Against: Google says Target CPA can start with no history.

Flip when a rival appears (Target impression share, top of page, 90 percent, same cap) or a non-brand campaign starts (Maximize clicks with a cap, then Maximize conversions at 15 trial starts in 30 days).

d. The conversion event

Pick: the trial start

The trial start is the only primary conversion, counted once per click. The first payment is a secondary import. On Kajabi, the native GA4 integration fires purchase on the first page after checkout. Import that key event into Google Ads.

Learning takes 1 to 2 conversion cycles, and a small campaign reaches 30 trials long before 30 payments. Offline import by click ID accepts 90 days, enhanced conversions for leads 63. Kajabi documents nothing for a $0 trial, so run one test trial first.

Flip when first payments reach 30 in 30 days, or Google trials pay at under half the rate of all trials.

e. The budget

Pick: size brand from search volume

Brand spend has a ceiling: people search the name only so often. Size a non-brand budget from the stop line instead.

Google can spend up to 2x the daily budget on one day and 30.4x in a month. The 30 in the non-brand formula is Google's evaluation volume for Target CPA.

Flip when 14 days have passed (recompute with the campaign's own CTR and CPC), budget limits impression share by over 10 percent at a good cost, or lifetime value changes.

Reddit, snippets of 72 threads

• AI Max on a brand campaign matched rival brand names. Turn it off on brand.
• Conversion bidding on brand raises the CPC. Manual CPC or impression share with a cap holds it.
• When the site is not first or its organic CTR is under 40 percent, the brand ad adds clicks.
• Below about 15 conversions a month no Smart Bidding option works well.
• Change one thing a week. A budget doubling plus a bid change broke a good account.

Agency geo tests

• Stella: 17 brand tests, median return 0.70x, the lowest channel (August 2024 to December 2025).
• Haus: at most 1 percent lift from brand search in three tests.
• Outshine: brand paused in 25 of 50 states for 27 days, sessions down 5.13 percent.
• All are large or ecommerce brands. None is a creator membership.