Skip to content
GetProfit
Log in

← All terms

Automated rules

Automated rules are if-then instructions in Google Ads that change a status, a budget or a bid, or send you an email, when conditions you set are met.

How it works

You fill in a form, without code: what the rule applies to, the action and the condition. The condition checks a metric over a date range. Performance Max campaigns also have asset group rules. Google’s standard turnaround for a rule is within 2 hours after its conditions are triggered.

Conversions can take up to 30 days to arrive, so for conversion rules Google recommends long ranges, such as the previous 7 or 30 days. Smart Bidding already sets the bid in every auction, so rules suit scheduled actions and hard limits: sale ads on and off, an email when spend passes a threshold. Automated rules vs scripts vs Smart Bidding compares the three.

Where you see it

  • Google Ads: Rules in the Tools menu, and ”+ Asset group rules” for Performance Max.
  • Google Ads API: change_event marks rule changes with the client type GOOGLE_ADS_AUTOMATED_RULE.

Example

Example store, not client data.

A daily rule cuts the tableware shop’s daily budget of 1,300 by 20% whenever 30-day ROAS is below 4.0. ROAS stays at 3.8, so the rule runs two days in a row: 1,300 × 0.8 = 1,040, then 1,040 × 0.8 = 832, a 36% cut.

How GetProfit reads it

In the portal’s methodology, a target ROAS change stays within 15%, at most once every 1–2 weeks, and a budget change within 20%. Each step in the example stays within 20%, yet two consecutive runs cut the budget by 36%. The portal’s What changed shows each change and how it ended.

Not to be confused with

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “The rule is set for 9 a.m., so the sale ads go live at 9.” Right: Google’s standard turnaround is within 2 hours after the conditions are triggered, so the ads may go live any time up to 11 a.m.

Sources