Some PPC practices no longer fit today’s automated Google Ads environment. Here’s what to phase out – and what to prioritize next year.

Over the past year, Google Ads has increasingly embraced automation, shifting the account manager’s role in both practice and strategy.

The granular control and transparency we once took for granted are rapidly disappearing.

As 2026 approaches, it’s time to face reality – five PPC tactics are falling out of favor in the new era of automation.

1. Relying on phrase match keywords

Once the go-to option for advertisers who weren’t ready for a broad match strategy but wanted to expand search volume, phrase match has recently fallen out of favor.

Google continues to redefine how match types work.

Because Smart Bidding and broad match rely on multiple intent signals, these signals now match user intent more accurately than phrase match did under the same strategy.

When targeting a specific query, exact match tends to provide stronger control, while phrase match often returns ads for irrelevant searches.

As a result, phrase match has become both too limited to scale an account and not precise enough to maintain the level of control advertisers need in a keyword match type.

Although Performance Max has been Google’s main focus for some time, advertisers continue to see strong results from testing standard shopping campaigns.

This became even more apparent after the ad rank update at the end of 2024, which removed Performance Max’s built-in priority over standard shopping.

Since then, standard shopping campaigns have outperformed Performance Max in many cases.

Standard shopping also provides greater channel control and a clearer attribution path, as conversions typically come from direct clicks within the Google Shopping network.

While Performance Max now offers campaign-level search terms, standard shopping has long provided both that data and impression share insights at the product-group level – valuable for benchmarking and understanding competitive performance.

If you’re concerned about brand safety, standard shopping is the safer choice. It helps keep your ads off irrelevant or inappropriate placements across the Display Network or YouTube.

3. Making GA4 your primary conversion action

Remember the days of Universal Analytics, when Google would always advise advertisers to use UA conversion tracking as the primary metric?

It seems the guidance has gone back and forth ever since.

Ideally, your main conversion metric in Google Ads should align with account conversions to deliver real-time data signals for Smart Bidding.

GA4’s tracking pixel doesn’t provide that freshness – imported GA4 events are delayed in processing.

Additionally, GA4 attributes conversions to the date the conversion occurred, whereas the native Google Ads tag attributes them to the date of the ad click.

Third-party tools such as Elevar or Analyzify often provide the most reliable setup for accurate conversion tracking.

If a third-party solution isn’t feasible, Google increasingly recommends the Google and YouTube app as an alternative.

It’s relatively easy to configure, but avoid syncing products or shipping settings during setup to prevent duplicate products or overwritten shipping details in Merchant Center.

GA4 should still be linked for audience building and secondary reporting, but it’s best not to use it as the primary conversion metric.

It simply doesn’t deliver the real-time data accuracy needed for optimal Smart Bidding performance.

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4. Letting Performance Max capture branded terms

Performance Max campaigns tend to favor branded queries, so it’s important to segment branded terms rather than allowing them to run within broader campaigns.

This matters most when aiming for incremental traffic growth, not just conversions you would have earned from branded searches anyway.

Performance Max prioritizes easy wins, bidding heavily on branded terms and often inflating campaign-level ROAS, making results appear stronger than they actually are.

Separating branded traffic into a dedicated brand search campaign provides more control over both budget allocation and bid strategy for those terms.

However, there are factors to consider before excluding branded terms from existing Performance Max campaigns.

Doing so can affect performance, and the right approach isn’t one-size-fits-all.

Review:

• The campaign’s age.
• History.
• Contribution to overall performance.
• The share of brand traffic it drives.

In large accounts, for instance, if a single PMax campaign is responsible for most conversions and spend, it may be unwise to exclude branded terms immediately.

Likewise, in accounts with limited budgets, keeping branded terms within the same campaign may still make sense.

5. Over-pinning responsive search ads

The pinning debate has been around for a while, but more advertisers are now leaning toward fewer responsive search ad (RSA) assets instead of over-pinning existing ones.

This helps maintain control over messaging while still giving Google enough flexibility to test which headline and description combinations perform best – without overwhelming the system with endless variations.

And yes, the question always comes up, “What about my ad strength?”

Realistically, ad strength should be treated as a guide for creative quality, not a direct measure of performance.

While it can highlight issues such as limited variety or missing keywords, it does not directly impact ad rank or quality score.

Ad strength is a diagnostic tool, not a KPI.

Chasing an “excellent” score by stuffing headlines and descriptions can easily result in weaker performance for the sake of a vanity metric.

Don’t fight the machine – feed it

As 2026 approaches, the most successful account managers will be those who adapt to the new landscape.

The goal isn’t to fight automation but to feed it the right data.

Focus on high-value inputs and let automation do the heavy lifting – the most profitable PPC practices are the ones that save time, not consume it.

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About the Author

Sarah has been working with Google Ads since 2014 when she received the opportunity to work as a Google Ads contractor. After receiving extensive training from Google and working with hundreds of accounts and dozens of marketing agencies, she joined ZATO as a paid search strategist in 2020. She currently manages ZATO’s larger client accounts in addition to smaller Makroz SMB accounts. She is active in the Google Ads Product Expert Community and has written numerous articles for the ZATO blog as well as appeared on Optmyzr Town Hall and has moderated for Hero Conf in San Diego.