Why a 17% Drop in Google Ads Optimization Score Isn't Always a Concern

 I want to share some insights about the Google Ads Optimization Score and the situation when our score dropped by 17%. When I had an email conversation with Raewyn, our Google Ads agency, I received a good clarification on this matter.

Raewyn's response was as follows:
"I wouldn't read too much into that. I looked into the recommendations offered by Google to improve the optimization score and most recommendations would not improve the performance of the campaigns at all. In fact, from past experience, most of them would have an adverse effect. And some are not possible or recommended at this time."

She listed some of the recommendations provided by Google and explained why they may not be suitable for our campaigns:

• Increase budgets - which is not a bad idea, but only once we're happy with the results on the current budget.
• Introduce broad keywords - which she would not recommend as even on phrase match we're picking up a number of irrelevant search terms which need to be added to the negative keyword lists.
• Expand targeting to include the display network - which is definitely not good practice. A separate display or remarketing campaign could be beneficial, but it should have its own campaign budget and not use the budget assigned to search.
• Expand targeting to include search partners - usually, we see a high number of impressions but no clicks on search partners, so she would not recommend this for campaigns with limited budgets.
• Upload customer lists to show targeted ads to existing customers - which is not relevant.
• Add additional headlines that include the Business name to the responsive search ads - which she did apply as a suggestion.

In conclusion, it's not always necessary to achieve a perfect optimization score, and there's no need to worry about optimization score drops. Most recommendations would not improve the performance of the campaigns at all.