Maybe you want to fully automate your campaign because you trust that Google will only spend your money in ways that benefit you. In that case, this post isn’t for you. Why not google some cute cat videos?

Why disable “auto apply recommendations” in Google Ads?

Google’s AI and machine learning doesn’t understand actual advertiser goals as well as a skilled human can. There are many campaign management tasks which if done manually by a skilled professional will provide the advertiser with a strong advantage compared to ads on autopilot, even still in 2024. Google please don’t ban me for saying that.

How to disable “auto apply recommendations” in Google Ads

To check your account status or make changes to your opt in regarding google ads automatically making changes to your account/campaign, the steps are pretty simple. (Posted August 2024, interface likely to change in the future)

  1. Sign in to ads.google.com
  2. Click “Recommendations” in the upper left menu.
  3. Click “Auto Apply” icon
  4. Check the list of automations. If the box is unticked the automation is disabled
disable auto apply google ads