Explained by Abbey Cartledge, Digital Advertising Manager
At Pepper, we believe in balance. Whether it’s enjoying a sweet treat in the afternoon or balancing the use of technology and personal care when managing Google Ads (GAds).
There have been a lot of changes in the GAd space within the last five years, but even more so in the last 12 months. I am constantly researching these new updates for our clients and how they may benefit our strategy.
How is AI used in Google Ads?
GAds now uses AI to help make advertising easier and faster. AI can automatically adjust bids (how much you pay for ads), pick who sees your ads, and even create different versions of the ads. These tools promise to save time and improve results.
Some of the tools include Smart Bidding Strategies, Performance Max campaigns, Demand Gen campaigns, and more recently, AI Max for Search ads. It is fantastic that Google are bringing in new tools for advertisers to utlilse and are keeping up with market changes and user behaviour.
While these AI tools are helpful, we find that combining them with hands-on management by real people gives the best results.
How We Use AI and Hands-On Management
AI tools and Smart Campaigns can quickly launch ads without needing much experience. But if you just let AI run without watching it closely, you might waste money on ads that don’t reach the right people, don’t work well or aren’t advertising the correct product/service.
At Pepper, we use AI tools as part of our strategy, especially for simple campaigns or when we have enough data to let AI learn. But we never just set it and forget it. We carefully watch the campaigns, check how they’re doing, and make changes as needed.
Our hands-on management approach uses the best of both worlds, without becoming complacent and relying solely on AI. We are not afraid of adapting, but we won’t just do it for the sake of it, we wait until we can see valuable data and results from these features and tools. For me, there are not enough proven benefits and genuine results from some of their AI optimisations, therefore I won’t waste our clients budgets using these tools until there is.
Why Human Oversight Is Important
Keeping Your Brand’s Voice: AI doesn’t understand your brand’s personality or goals. It might focus only on getting clicks or sales, even if that doesn’t fit your bigger business needs. We make sure your ads always represent your brand well.
Avoiding Mistakes Early On: When you start a new campaign, it needs time to learn what works. During this learning phase, money can be wasted on poor ads. We step in early to adjust things so your budget is used wisely.
Adapting Quickly: it learns from past data and may not react fast to sudden changes like new competitors or seasonality. Our team watches the market closely and makes quick changes when needed.
Transparent Reporting: its reporting isn’t always clear and doesn’t provide the key details we need to see. We give you detailed updates so you understand how your money is being spent.
Basically
AI tools in GAds can be very useful, but relying only on automation can mean less control and surprises in your results.
A balanced approach, using both AI and human insight, means smarter decisions, faster fixes, and creative ideas that technology alone can’t provide. This is how Pepper Advertising delivers better results for every campaign.
If you’ve noticed you’re wasting budget relying on AI campaigns and not getting the results you want to see, get in touch with us today to discuss our GAd management service.
