50 Essential Google Ads AI & Optimization Questions Answered

1) What kinds of factors contribute to an optimization score recommendation being surfaced in an account?

• The results of algorithms which identify the changes that would lead to the largest increase in campaign spend, irrespective of performance impact
• Every type of recommendation is surfaced for every individual and manager account
• Insights gained from machine learning and simulations that identify potential performance uplift based on a marketer's business objective
• When advertisers need to expand their business objectives, recommendations are surfaced

2) A digital marketing manager has upgraded their keywords to broad match. Which behavior should they build into their regular cadence of optimization to guide machine learning?

• Add Customer Match lists with data older than 90 days
• Remove negative keywords that may block relevant traffic
• Create additional phrase and exact match keywords to improve reach
• Dismiss recommendations to add relevant new keywords

3) What’s a strong example of a business objective that is required when adopting an AI-powered solution?

• Marketing spend
• Cost of goods sold
• Cost-per-click
• Profit

4) A marketer wants to use Google’s AI solutions to drive more value. Why is their first-party data valuable?

• It’s similar to competitor data and can be used to understand how others are performing
• It’s high-quality and captures customer transactions that drive business results
• It’s a strong indicator of industry-wide performance for machine learning
• It’s easily replicated by multiple teams within their organization

5) An online retailer has a target return metric for Search. Which Smart Bidding strategy fits best?

• Target ROAS
• Maximize clicks
• Maximize conversions
• Target conversion value

6) Which marketing behaviors can benefit from AI? (Choose three.)

• Product-level testing and rotation
• Creative-level testing and rotation
• Keeping bids consistent during seasonal events
• Reviewing marketing best practice checklists
• Adjusting bids during seasonal events

7) Why is value-based bidding ideal for lead generation campaigns?

• Using a value-based bidding strategy allows marketers to focus on maximizing website traffic
• Bidding towards value allows marketers to optimize for high-value customers and high volume of leads at the same time
• Value-based bidding uses AI to maximize total conversion value at a desired ROAS target or budget
• All consumers create the same amount of value, so value-based bidding will optimize for driving lead volume

8) Before using first-party data, what must marketers confirm?

• How can we begin to use this data as quickly as possible, even if it means not aligning with other teams?
• How are we aligned with local regulations on data collection and user privacy to ensure we are using first-party data the right way?
• How much data storage capability is available on each marketing team member’s corporate device?
• How can our data collection policies encourage our customers to share as much as possible?

9) A manager has a fully flexible budget. What best practice maximizes results?

• Cap budgets at the average daily spend to eliminate unnecessary usage during seasonal periods
• Adjust performance targets monthly or quarterly to optimize AI-driven solutions
• Create a separate budget for campaign experiments and unforeseen market changes
• Use shared budgets and portfolio bid strategies to maximize campaign flexibility and allow AI to do its work

10) Which match type is the default type to which all keywords are assigned?

• • Broad match
  • Phrase match
  • Exact match
  • Negative match

11) What are two key benefits of the Insights page? (Choose two.)

• Optimize Search campaigns through insights specifically intended for that purpose
• Understand how much a marketer’s competitors are spending each week
• Uncover new consumer insights such as rising search trends and new converting audiences
• Identify and diagnose performance issues to better run successful campaigns

12) An online shoe retailer wants to create a Performance Max campaign for sneakers. How should they get started?

• Limit sharing audience data in order to allow AI to operate without human input
• Build strong creatives customized to their sneaker products or offers
• Use any Smart Bidding strategy to make bids across channels with AI
• Separate their Merchant Center from Google Ads to avoid overlap

13) What is conversion delay?

• The amount of time between a user clicking an ad and that user completing a conversion action on a site, or, an advertiser uploading an offline conversion
• The load time of the website page used to measure online conversion actions
• The number of days it takes a newly adopted Smart Bidding strategy to ramp up
• The period of time it takes an advertiser to create a conversion measurement strategy

14) Which Smart Bidding strategy optimizes for value?

• Maximize conversions
• Target ROAS
• Target Impression Share
• Maximize clicks

15) What’s a best practice when building an AI-friendly account structure?

• Design campaigns around specific manual optimization levers
• Focus account structure on business goals, not channel silos
• Create as many campaigns as possible to achieve business goals
• Segment by device and match type to customize creative

17) A local pizza chain wants to improve performance. How can they use optimization score? (Choose two.)

• Measure their score at the individual account level, but not at manager account level
• Save time by accepting and immediately applying recommendations tailored to their business
• Identify how much existing opportunity for improvement their campaigns have and how they can be improved
• Review and dismiss recommendations that are relevant to their goal to save time

18) Which three Search features work together in a fully AI-powered strategy?

• Smart Bidding, Responsive Search Ads, Broad match keywords
• Phrase match keywords, Exact match keywords, Smart Bidding
• Responsive Search Ads, Image Assets, Broad match keywords
• Smart Bidding, Responsive Text Ads, Uncapped budgets

19) Why is it important to uncap budgets to fully capture the benefits of Google’s AI?

• Google’s AI will only work in campaigns with budgets of $1,000/day or more
• Campaigns need sufficient budget headroom to allow Google’s AI to work to its fullest potential
• Campaigns that adopt Google’s AI spend more money to reach more customers
• A Smart Bidding strategy will revert to manual bidding when a campaign’s budget is limited

20) How does a test-and-learn mindset allow marketers to find success with Google’s AI?

• Allows leaders to identify low performers more quickly
• Fuels competition across the organization
• Encourages teams to break down silos and quickly identify solutions
• Helps teams test multiple business objectives at the same time

Performance Max, Assets & Planning

21) What’s a best practice to follow when creating a Performance Max campaign?

• Establish conversion tracking after a campaign has been running for two weeks
• Use the maximum number of text, image, and video assets possible
• Limit the number of ad extensions within an asset group
• Avoid linking a Google Business Profile or Merchant Center feed

22) How can a Performance Max campaign find new consumers for an advertiser?

• Manually optimize campaigns across channels with insights into performance drivers
• Use AI to allocate budget to specific channels, such as Search and YouTube
• Create the opportunity to build and manage individual text, image, and video ads
• Promote a product or service across nearly all Google Ads inventory with a single campaign

23) Which tool can help marketers maximize performance of a value-based bidding strategy?

• Diagnostic insights
• Target simulators
• Ad strength rating
• Keyword planner

24) What’s a benefit of using broad match keywords?

• Broad match offers a great deal of control over specific search terms and volume may be limited
• Broad match allows marketers to reach the most possible consumers searching for their product or service, while saving time from adding a variety of keywords
• Broad match keywords must be present alongside exact and phrase match in any ad group
• Broad match ensures the core concept is present while reaching similar volume to exact match

25) What’s a benefit of negative keywords?

• A negative keyword strategy is crucial to identifying additional searches customers may use
• Adding negative keywords can help prevent customers from leaving poor reviews
• Marketers can add negative keywords to limit terms competitors can bid on
• Negative keywords prevent an otherwise eligible query from triggering an ad that isn’t aligned with the search’s intent

26) What’s an important benefit of opting into automatically applied recommendations?

• AI decides which recommendations to apply automatically without human input
• Applying recommendations automatically will increase or reallocate budgets between campaigns
• Recommendations are based on the past week of data only
• Marketers select which recommendations are applied across an entire account or manager account, ensuring best practices are applied to all campaigns

27) A marketer notices their RSA Ad Strength could be improved. What should they do?

• Avoid using popular keywords in headlines and descriptions
• Use the Keyword Insertion tool to identify new keyword ideas
• Create more unique headlines and descriptions
• Use the Ad Strength tool to learn more about how to create an RSA

28) What’s an example of a metric used to measure value?

• Cost-per-click
• Page depth
• Time spent on site
• Cart size

29) How can Performance Planner help with budget planning? (Choose two.)

• Identify the opportunity size for upcoming seasonal periods of increased sales
• Review how much each keyword in a campaign has spent over the past month
• Forecast the impact of different budgets to understand how performance may change
• Understand which billing method is best suited for an account

30) Which of the following is considered a best practice when using Performance Planner?

• • Check in on forecasts on an annual basis only
  • When creating plans during seasonal periods, create month-by-month plans in the tool and regularly view the updated forecasts
  • Use Performance Planner most during non-seasonal periods only
  • Create an annual forecast at the start of the fiscal year to determine budgets and never revisit

31) What’s a benefit of Responsive Search Ads?

• Responsive search ads save time by creating one ad with multiple headline and description assets that can be shown in different configurations to different users
• Responsive search ads review data to manually choose combinations
• Responsive search ads primarily ensure display for different device sizes
• Responsive search ads limit opportunity to compete in more auctions

32) How can the Combination and Assets Report help improve creative performance? (Choose two.)

• Uncover budget limitations restricting assets in auctions
• Identify new keywords to add to a campaign
• Identify opportunities to replace low-performing assets with assets that have better potential
• Use high-performing assets as inspiration for future creative assets

33) Which of the following is a best practice when creating effective image assets?

• Keep the most important content in the center 50% of the image
• Only provide square images to maximize how often assets can serve
• Choose images with a white background as they tend to perform best
• Always upload four or more relevant and unique images at the campaign or ad group level

34) How can advertisers with a lead-gen objective optimize Performance Max for value?

• Create a Maximize Clicks bidding strategy to drive website traffic volume
• Create a strategy of importing offline values by using enhanced conversions for leads
• Use a Maximize conversions bidding strategy to drive lead volume
• Build value rules based on audiences known to visit a local store

35) A marketer has upgraded to value-based bidding. Which two Google Ads tools should they use regularly? (Choose two.)

• Ad strength rating
• Performance Planner
• Bid strategy report
• Keyword planner

36) With a fixed annual budget, how can marketers create flexibility for experiments?

• Plan ahead by setting aside a percentage of budget to be used for testing and reacting to market changes
• Set up a weekly sync with finance to seek more budget as needed
• Review industry reports to predict annual query demand
• Send a quarterly budget review to request additional testing funds

37) Transitioning to value-based bidding with a fixed budget: which Smart Bidding strategy fits?

• Maximize conversion value
• Maximize conversions
• Target ROAS
• Maximize clicks

38) Which insights help advertisers discover consumer interest and category growth trends?

• Asset audience insights
• Search trends and demand forecasts
• Search terms report
• Diagnostic insights

39) What efforts should digital leaders prioritize to support Google’s AI?

• Coach teams to avoid experimentation to eliminate risk
• Create firm budget processes to solidify marketing as a cost center
• Build capabilities in key areas such as high-quality data and a skilled workforce
• Build highly specified silos with multiple budget owners

40) A local automobile dealership wants more store visits with Performance Max. Which goal should they choose?

• Website traffic
• Product and brand consideration
• Local store visits and promotions
• Brand awareness and reach

41) How can Explanations be used to help improve campaign performance?

• To show the top asset combinations for each campaign type
• To uncover the reasons behind performance changes in just a few clicks
• To identify the ideal budget level a campaign needs to maximize performance
• To browse headline and description recommendations

42) What’s the value of using campaign experiments to test optimizations?

• Campaign experiments randomly choose how much Search traffic is diverted, guaranteeing statistical significance
• Campaign experiments are used to test Google Ads campaigns against TV or print
• Campaign experiments can help marketers understand whether proposed changes help reach their desired marketing objective
• Campaign experiments allow marketers to measure the impact and revert back to original campaigns if needed

43) What are two ways the Insights page can simplify performance evaluation workflows? (Choose two.)

• Provide explanations to understand performance fluctuations in campaigns
• Identify drivers of a campaign’s week-on-week and month-on-month performance
• Share competitor ad performance data to help marketers adapt and grow
• Automatically pause campaigns that have low ad strength or limited budget

44) What is the value of running a true A/B test with campaign experiments?

• A/B tests show if user actions wouldn’t have occurred otherwise
• An A/B test is designed to test multiple variables at once
• In an A/B test, trial campaigns run at the same time as the original campaign, controlling for external factors (e.g., seasonality) that may otherwise bias results
• An A/B test runs one campaign at a time with ramp-down periods

45) A bookstore chain wants to adopt value-based bidding for the first time. What should they do first?

• Begin with a strong measurement and attribution strategy based on their goals
• Create a value-based Smart Bidding strategy in their top two campaigns
• Build a large list of negative keywords to eliminate uninterested consumers
• Enable a volume-based Smart Bidding strategy in all campaigns

46) What’s a best practice when designing an experiment to test Performance Max campaigns?

• Optimize Performance Max to a comparable CPA or ROAS target to other campaigns
• Create a new CPA or ROAS goal for Performance Max to achieve
• Run the experiment for one to two weeks before evaluating results
• Keep Performance Max budget limited to 10% of other campaigns’ budgets

47) What’s a common type of value definition used in value-centric measurement strategies?

• Actual value
• Unique value
• Necessary value
• Intrinsic value

48) Which of the following is considered a best practice when creating a campaign experiment? (Choose two.)

• Focus tests on one variable at a time and use separate tests to examine the effects of more than one change
• After an experiment ends, evaluate performance over a timeline that includes the ramp-up period
• When experimenting with creatives, new ads are not subject to ad approvals, so experiments can be expedited
• Pick two or three metrics to evaluate campaign performance and determine the winner of a test

49) What’s a common budget strategy in traditional marketing organizations?

• Fixed annual budgets that do not change even if demand fluctuates throughout the year
• Fully flexible budgets based on stock price performance
• Quarterly budgets that do not need approval to increase
• No set budget for a time period or initiative

50) A local coffee shop wants more store visits. Why consider Performance Max?

• Advertisers can choose the specific websites where their ads show
• Performance Max campaigns with video always yield 13% incremental conversions
• The manual creation of assets allows advertisers to craft unique value propositions
• A Performance Max campaign can help them find new valuable customers across Google Ads inventory through the use of AI

This 50-question Q&A gives your team a practical, exam-style reference for Google Ads AI, Performance Max, value-based bidding, Insights, Experiments, and creative best practices. Bookmark it, train with it, and use it to standardize decision-making and accelerate results.