Within Google Ads, there are still features to discover to optimize your account. A somewhat “neglected child” in Google Ads is the use of scripts. Continued optimization is important, for example, to improve the quality score, to stay ahead of the competition or to continuously respond to new trends. Back to the topic of scripts. Because what exactly can you do with it and why is this considered a tool for optimizations?
Within Google Ads, you can use rules and scripts, where you could achieve the same thing with both. With both rules and scripts, you can automate tasks, you have more time to develop strategies and you are most likely to avoid unnecessary costs. However, there are more advantages to implementing scripts than setting rules.
In short, Google Ads scripts can work as a solution for managing large accounts. Using scripts, actions within the account can be automated by adding JavaScript code. These scripts are primarily used to create, edit, or delete items within the account. This makes it easier to manage the account and you also save time. There are even more advantages to using scripts, namely:
Rules and scripts therefore partly overlap in terms of benefits. If you still want to get more out of your results and be able to analyze data properly, entering scripts is the better choice. Adding a rule may sound much easier, but there are plenty of scripts that are also just as easy to add. Below, we'll explain further how to use scripts in Google Ads.
Do you still understand? It takes knowledge and experience to find out what function JavaScript codes have. That is why creating their own script is not done by everyone just like that. By creating the JavaScript codes, the desired actions can be performed in the account. Once this script is written, it will have to be added to the account. This can be done via the Google Ads account, where you add a new script and enter the JavaScript codes. An example will always have to be created first before you can actually get the script to run. This does an initial check to make sure there are no errors in the script, so that you can adjust things if they are wrong. Once this has been checked (and there are no errors), all you need to do is press the button: “run script now”.
This sounds really simple, right? The most complex part of this process is creating the script with the JavaScript codes. That's why many online marketers use existing scripts. Scripts can be used as is, but you can also edit the JavaScript codes to create a custom script. For example, with the pre-made scripts, you can do the following:
Many online marketers don't have the skills to create their own script. Fortunately, there are already a number of existing scripts that anyone can implement on their own Google Ads account. Existing scripts are often created by other online marketers and shared in the community. Many scripts are created when things are not (anymore) possible in Ads accounts, but (still) are possible via a script. That is why new scripts are always coming and there are also scripts that are very popular at first, but then slowly disappear because they no longer have any added value. Here are a few examples of commonly used scripts:
There is a chance that pages will be removed from a website, which will land you on a 404 page from an ad. There is a script for this, where you get a notification in your mailbox. In this way, the URLs of 404 pages can be modified easily and quickly. A big advantage of this script is that the script notifies you more quickly that a link no longer works than the emails from Google itself.
Of course, keeping the quality score of a keyword or ad can be done manually. However, this can be done easier and there is a script that creates a clear overview of your quality score. In addition, you can see more quickly whether your changes have a positive effect on the quality score.
This script allows you to see how much budget is spent per campaign and when you go over budget. This way, you can keep an eye on the costs of your campaigns by means of a periodic mailing with an overview. This script is mainly used when more budget than desired is often spent.
We'll stick to the budgets for a while, because with this script, you can be notified in case of major budget discrepancies. Every hour, you'll see updates in statistics per account or at the MCC level. This script compares today's statistics to the past average at the same time in the week. This makes it easy to see if there are (major) deviations.
Is your ad only relevant based on weather conditions? There is also a solution for that. Using a script, you can optimize based on the weather. Is it sunny? Then you can ensure that your campaign gets more budget to generate more conversions, for example.
Using the heatmap script, conversions, clicks, CPCs, etc. can be viewed per hour. This way, you can see when there are more conversions than usual, so you can adjust bids based on these results, for example.
There are often plenty of errors related to keywords. For example, you may target one search term with multiple ad groups. With the help of this script, it is checked whether you are not double-targeting a search term.
Performance Max, the campaign within Google Ads to achieve maximum results. The associated goal is to make advertising easier. Within Performance Max, item groups are added, striving to achieve the maximum result based on images, logos, a feed, headlines and descriptions.
Within Performance Max, everything is automated, so you would think that scripts are not necessary here. However, there are a number of scripts that can actually be relevant to implement within Performance Max. The scripts that are used are mainly related to gaining more insight or creating reports. These reports provide insight into a campaign that you cannot view yourself. It is not possible to extensively analyze the results of different item groups in a Pmax campaign, unless you add a script. Pmax Charts V20 is a script that gives you more insight into the performance of your different item groups. Data is retrieved via the script, so you can view clicks, costs, turnover, etc. per item group. Underlying product data can also be viewed with this script.
When Performance Max was introduced, there was unrest because it was actually a kind of 'black box'. Good results, but little insight. The answer to this problem quickly became clear: there must be a script for this. It can therefore be concluded that applying scripts within Performance Max can ensure that you can better manage campaigns.
Microsoft Ads or Bing, a platform that is not really much looked after by online marketers. Within Microsoft and Bing, it is rare that scripts are added or used. However, there are the same options as with Google, to load scripts. Nevertheless, it is interesting that little use is made of scripts within those two platforms. Little attention is paid to it, so it is all the easier to automate functions by means of scripts. Getting insights from campaigns and receiving notifications is a good way to optimize Microsoft Ads without spending a lot of time. Using scripts within Microsoft is therefore a great opportunity to save time, see results clearly and stay ahead of the competition.
Sometimes things within Google Ads are not set up the way you want them to be, with functionalities missing. This can be for reporting purposes or performance related. At Yellowgrape, we already use Google Ads scripts with various customers, so that it is easier to gain insights and make it possible to additionally check activities within our accounts.
We already have a number of scripts running on accounts, but there are still plenty of opportunities as new developments are rapidly emerging within Google Ads and thus new scripts will continue to emerge. First of all, there are a number of good scripts for Performance Max that can make data more transparent. In addition, there are scripts that can be used during Black Friday (or other promotions), for example, namely a script that can export cost data per hour. Here, a dashboard is available where you can see how much money has been spent per hour and whether you are already above your daily budget.
We now know how to recommend a number of scripts. See our Yellowgrape top 5 below (in random order):
The use of scripts offers an awful lot of opportunities within Google Ads. However, the complexity varies from script to script. In this blog, we have emphasized accessible scripts, which, in our opinion, can be used by everyone.
From Yellowgrape, we can now conclude that scripts don't have to be an underrated child at all. As you can see, there are so many options and you can make it as easy or difficult as you want. At Yellowgrape, we at least use the scripts to implement and automate as many optimizations as possible. Want to know more about using scripts in Google Ads? Then don't hesitate to contact us!
