“I have no javascript knowledge. I just want to automate some tedious tasks that take up a lot of my time and energy. Which one is the better option: Google Ads Scripts or Automated Rules?”
If this sounds like you, you might consider using Automated Rules in Google Ads.
Whenever people talk about automating Google Ads, the discussion often turns to using scripts. However, automated rules–or just simply called “Rules” in the current Google Ads UI–are also pretty useful in this regard and they DO NOT require any coding skills.
Here’s a great tutorial on how to use Automated Rules.
Although the tutorial does a great job in explaining you how to use them it doesn’t tell you when Google Ads scripts might be the better choice for you.
So when should you use automated rules instead of scripts–or vice-versa?
Here’s a quick guide to help you figure it out.
| Automated Rules | Google Ads Scripts | |
| Skills needed | No coding skills required, simply add rules in the interface | (Preferably) at least a little knowledge of Javascript , but Copy-and-Paste will also do |
| Scheduling | Max once per day | Max once per hour |
| Automation logic | Limited to predefined rules | Highly flexible |
Use rules when:
1) You are just getting started with Google Ads automation and want to automate simple tasks
If you’ve never tried to automate anything with rules and/or scripts, DON’T WAIT ANY LONGER. Although limited, automated rules can already take a LOT of management tasks out of your hands. Some examples include:
-
- Automatically increase bids on a daily basis until a top impression share or max CPA is reached
- Automatically pause campaigns when daily budget limit is reached
- Pause ads that have low CTR
- Automatically pause keywords that waste money and have zero conversions
Be sure to check out Google’s list of scenarios that you can use them for.
2) You’ve reached the maximum number of scripts on Google Ads
250 is the maximum number of authorized scripts in a Google Ads account. While that may seem a lot, if you just keep on adding scripts to one account without thinking of combining or optimizing those scripts, you will eventually hit that limit.
So if you try to automate a relatively simple task, it’s better to check if an automated rule can do something instead of adding a new script.
Use scripts when:
1) You need to run an operation more than once per day
One of the biggest limitations of using automated rules in Google Ads is that each rule can only run once a day, at most. Unlike scripts, which can run hourly, automated rules can only make changes daily, weekly, monthly or even just once per campaign.
So if, for example, you want Google Ads to adjust bids in your campaigns every hour, then you’ll need to use scripts instead of rules.
2) You need Google Ads to work with Google Sheets or other platforms
While it’s very easy to set up email alerts using automated rules, that’s pretty much the only other external service these rules can use. Rules can’t change bids based on data stored in a Google Sheet, nor export data to a Google Sheet.
That’s where scripts shine. Google Ads’ script services–built on Google Apps Script–include integrations with Google Drive, Mail, Spreadsheet. That way, you can make changes to files inside Google Drive or make changes to campaigns based on a Google Sheet using a script.
And this integration can even go beyond Google services. For example, the UrlFetch function in Google Apps Script is available for use in Google Ads scripts. This function allows users to pull data from other online resources via HTTP and HTTPS requests and responses. This way you can access third party data via REST API as well. Think for instance weather data, data about stock exchanges, traffic info etc.
The JDBC Service is also available in Google Ads script, which allows you to connect to JDBC-compliant databases such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle. This is best for users who want to run their campaigns based on back office data.
3) When you want to automate more functions in Google Ads, beyond changing budgets, enabling, or pausing campaigns
Automated rules can already take care of a lot of the mundane tasks that are involved in managing a Google Ads account. However, anyone who’s set up an automated rule can easily see that functionalities are pretty much limited to: enable entities, pause entities, change budgets/bids, or send emails.
So if you want to create or remove ads automatically, add labels to specific campaigns, or perform more complex operations, you’ll need to use Google Ads scripts instead.
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As always, if you want to explore the full functionality of Google Ads scripts but don’t have the technical know-how, I’m here to help. Reach out to me at nils [at] nilsrooijmans.com.
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