In 2024, we studied over 17,000 Google Ads accounts across different industries and spend levels to answer a simple question: Does Optimization Score really matter?

The data said yes. Accounts with higher scores consistently delivered lower CPAs and stronger ROAS, beating sub-70 accounts by more than 180% on return.

That finding still holds today. What has changed is the environment around it. In 2026, Google is pushing harder than ever for advertisers to accept its suggestions: auto-applying experiment winners by default, retiring DSA in favor of AI Max, and expanding automated asset generation across campaign types. More recommendations are landing in accounts without a human ever reviewing them.

That makes selectivity more important, not less.

Many top-performing accounts in our study improved their OptiScore not by accepting every recommendation, but by fixing the gaps that actually mattered. This guide covers how to do that, and how to stay in control as Google’s automation footprint grows.

What to focus on (beyond just following Google’s suggestions)

Google’s recommendations are a starting point, not a checklist. The accounts that improve their Optimization Score and their actual performance are the ones that know which gaps to fix and which suggestions to ignore.

These are the areas to monitor and optimize, and the Optmyzr tools that make each one faster.

1. Track performance metrics most important to your business

Improving your Optimization Score starts with focusing on the right business KPIs: conversions, CPA, ROAS, or CTR. Set up alerts at the account, campaign, label, or bid strategy level to detect when metrics begin trending in the wrong direction, even if targets are technically being met.

Optmyzr’s KPI and Budget alerts work across Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Amazon Ads, Meta Ads, Yahoo Japan Ads, and LinkedIn Ads, at both the single-account and portfolio level.

For KPI monitoring, you can:

• Get notified if a metric changes by more than a set percentage over a defined window
• Set an absolute threshold so you’re alerted when performance drops below a number you choose
• Add a trend alert to catch metrics moving the wrong way, even if they’re still technically within range
• Use the advanced settings offset to ignore recent days and account for conversion delays

For budget monitoring, the tooling goes further than simple pacing alerts.

You can track budgets on weekly, monthly, quarterly, or custom flighted cycles, roll unspent budget forward into the next period, automatically adjust budgets to hit targets, and pause campaigns when aggregate spend hits your ceiling, with automatic re-enabling at the start of the next cycle.

Non-urgent notifications are grouped into a single summary email so you’re not getting pinged separately for every threshold event.

2. Remove redundant keywords and add high-performing queries

Duplicate keywords within the same account compete against each other and split traffic. This not only wastes impressions but can also lower your Optimization Score.

Optmyzr’s Keyword De-Duper scans your account to find duplicates and recommends which ones to keep and which to pause. Before flagging anything, it checks campaign settings including network targeting, location, language, and ad schedule, so a keyword running in a US campaign and a separate Australia campaign won’t be incorrectly treated as a duplicate.

• In Basic Mode, it looks for duplicates with the same match type in the same campaign
• In Advanced Mode, it scans across campaigns for repeated keywords

You choose the ones to keep, and the rest are paused automatically. You can export the full list as a CSV or Google Ads Editor file for review before applying anything.

Once duplicates are cleaned up, the next step is expanding with keywords that are already working for you.

Optmyzr’s Keyword Lasso analyzes your Search Terms Report and surfaces queries that have conversions or strong CTR but haven’t been added as keywords yet. It prevents duplicate suggestions automatically, and you can save custom views so your team is working from the same list.

3. Audit negatives, assets, and conversion tracking

Since Optimization Score is closely tied to account health, regular audits are essential. Three areas need constant attention:

• Conflicting negatives: If a negative keyword overlaps with a positive one, impressions drop unnecessarily. Regularly audit and resolve conflicts to avoid losing reach.
• Ad assets: Assets like sitelinks, images, and callouts improve visibility and click-through rates. Missing assets directly hurt performance and Optimization Score. This matters more in 2026 as AI Max takes over from DSA and automatically created assets: if you’re migrating to AI Max, audit your assets before the transition so the system has quality inputs to work with.
• Conversion tracking: Automated bidding relies on accurate conversion data. Make sure your tracking codes are installed properly and that you’re using the right attribution model (Google defaults to data-driven attribution).

Optmyzr’s Account Structure Audit tool covers all of this in one place. You can run audits across ad groups, campaigns, keywords, Performance Max asset groups, and more, with customizable thresholds for each check.

A few things worth knowing about how it works:

• The overall score out of 100 only reflects checks that are applicable to your account. Non-applicable checks, like offline conversion imports on an account that doesn’t use them, are automatically excluded so they don’t drag your score down.
• Default numeric thresholds (like minimum CTR) are generic starting points, not industry benchmarks. If your account consistently runs above or below a default and is performing well, adjust the threshold to match what good looks like for you, otherwise you’ll keep getting flagged for normal performance.
• Each score card has an “Ask AI about this widget” button that opens Sidekick, Optmyzr’s AI assistant, so you can get context on what a specific issue means and how to fix it without leaving the report.
• Every flagged entity in the results is a deep link. Clicking it opens the right editor or tool with the correct context already loaded, so you can fix issues directly from the audit without extra navigation.

Audits can be scheduled weekly or monthly, exported to Excel, PDF, or .txt, and shared with your team.

4. A/B test ad variations and monitor Ad Strength for RSAs

Testing ad copy is a proven way to improve both performance and Optimization Score.

But there’s an important wrinkle to be aware of: Google now auto-applies winning experiment results by default across Search, Display, Demand Gen, and Video campaigns.

The guardrails only protect the two success metrics you explicitly set, so other metrics can decline quietly without triggering a block. For any high-impact test, turn auto-apply off and keep the promote-or-end decision human.

Optmyzr’s A/B Testing for Ads tool gives you that control by running comparisons within the same ad group using statistically significant data, so you’re not relying on Google’s automated judgment about which variant won.

A few details worth knowing:

• You can look back up to 180 days of data, useful for accounts with lower traffic volume where a 30-day window doesn’t produce enough signal
• Set the Test Result Confidence level (90%, 95%, or 99%) based on how much certainty you need before acting on a result
• The Campaign Projected Gain feature estimates the performance impact if a winning ad copy is applied across the campaign, so you can see the upside before committing
• For agencies managing client approvals, you can export suggestions as a CSV, share with the client, and re-upload the approved file to apply changes, keeping the client in the loop without slowing down the workflow

For Responsive Search Ads, pay attention to Ad Strength, Google’s measure of how well your ad copy is set up to deliver relevant messages.

Optmyzr’s Ad Text Optimization tool breaks down RSA performance at the asset level across headlines, descriptions, and full ads. When you spot a weak asset, you can edit it across every ad that uses it in one step. The Count column shows how many ads share each asset before you make changes, so there are no surprises about what gets affected.

Additional capabilities in the tool:

• AI Suggested Variations scrape your website to generate headline and description suggestions grounded in your actual content, not just existing ad copy
• Find and Replace lets you update outdated messaging across all RSAs in bulk, useful when product names, pricing, or seasonal copy needs refreshing across a large account
• Spell check is available in nine languages including English, French, German, Spanish, and Dutch, with a custom dictionary you can build out for brand terms and proper nouns

5. Automate refreshing Customer Match lists for personalization

Personalized ads perform better because they reach people at the right stage of their journey. Customer Match lets you upload customer data like emails or phone numbers and use it to target or re-engage audiences across Google Search, Shopping, Gmail, YouTube, and Display.

The challenge is that these lists go stale quickly if they aren’t refreshed. Google flags outdated or missing audience lists as a recommendation that can directly hurt your Optimization Score.

Optmyzr’s Customer Match List tool automates both creation and updates:

• Link a Google Spreadsheet with your customer data (you’ll need to grant view access to Optmyzr’s automation account so it can read the sheet)
• Choose how often the list should refresh: daily, weekly, or monthly
• The system updates your list automatically whenever changes are detected in the linked sheet
• You can pause or re-enable individual lists at any time without affecting others

This removes the manual CSV upload cycle entirely. Fresh, accurate lists mean higher match rates, more relevant targeting, and audiences that actually reflect where your customers are in their journey right now, not three months ago.

6. Keep a constant check on destination URLs

Broken or non-working landing pages waste ad spend, frustrate users, and lower your Optimization Score. Google often flags this as “Fix your ad destinations” in the Recommendations tab. Common issues include 404 errors, out-of-stock product pages, or policy violations that stop ads from serving.

Optmyzr’s URL Checker automates this across ads, keywords, sitelinks, and Performance Max asset groups. Run it in Preview mode to get a report without touching anything, or Apply mode to automatically pause entities with broken URLs.

You can monitor for specific error text like “out of stock,” exclude important pages like your pricing page from ever being paused, and schedule checks to run daily, weekly, or monthly with results delivered to your team by email or spreadsheet.

One practical note: the tool checks the Final URL configured on each entity, not the expanded landing destination after redirects. Those are monitored separately through the Landing Page URL Health Monitor on the Account Dashboard.

7. Revise budgets and move unused budgets across campaigns in need

Sometimes the problem isn’t that you need more budget overall, it’s that the budget you already have isn’t being used where it should. Some campaigns underspend while others hit limits and lose impression share.

The Reallocate and Optimize Budgets tool analyzes spend across campaigns and shared budgets, then recommends how to redistribute more effectively.

When you open the tool, it loads a Smart Strategy recommendation by default: the system tests multiple reallocation scenarios behind the scenes and surfaces whichever one has the highest projected impact given your account’s current data. If you’d rather optimize for a specific metric, you can switch to manual mode and target ROAS, conversions, conversion value, clicks, or CPA directly.

A few other things the tool does:

• The Budget Simulator lets you model different budget amounts for any individual campaign and see projected spend and KPI impact before committing to a change
• Budgets modified in the last seven days are automatically locked to prevent conflicting adjustments, and you can see a full change history before unlocking any of them
• For portfolios, the Summary and Media Mix Charts show how proposed changes will shift spend across platforms and channels, so you can assess cross-channel impact before applying anything
• Sidekick, Optmyzr’s AI assistant, is integrated directly into the tool. You can ask questions like “which budgets are underpacing this month?” or instruct it to apply reallocation suggestions without leaving the conversation

Everything is transparent: you see current spend, projected spend, and expected impact side by side. If a campaign is already at its spending potential, the tool won’t suggest putting more money into it.

8. Tie the tactics together using a Blueprint

Isolated fixes are easy. The harder part is building a workflow that repeats consistently, across accounts and team members, without having to recreate it from scratch every time.

That’s what Account Blueprints are for. You map out which tasks to run, how often, and who owns them. If you’d rather not start from scratch, you can describe the problem you’re trying to solve and let AI generate the Blueprint for you, or pick from a library of pre-built templates for common goals like PMax optimization or keyword management.

A Blueprint for understanding Search and PMax performance might include the PPC Investigator to pinpoint what drove a change, Performance Comparison to validate whether your optimizations are working, Traffic Segment Explorer to find which devices, geos, or audiences are over- or underperforming, and reporting tools to send a clean summary to your client or team on schedule.

Each task is editable, assignable, and schedulable. You can also add tasks that live outside Optmyzr, like a quarterly strategy review or a client check-in call, so your entire account workflow lives in one place.

For agencies asking whether Optmyzr connects to Claude, the answer is yes. The MCP connector pulls optimization suggestions, data insights, and impact analysis from Optmyzr directly into Claude so you can query your account data, run reports, and get recommendations without switching between platforms.

Note: The changes suggested through MCP are staged for review before being applied to your account.

Turn Google’s recommendations into results with Optmyzr

Improving your Google Ads Optimization Score isn’t about blindly chasing 100%.

It’s about making smart, selective changes that align with your business goals. From removing redundant keywords to refreshing Customer Match lists, every step you take should connect back to stronger performance, healthier accounts, and ultimately better ROI.

You don’t have to do it all manually. Optmyzr equips you with purpose-built tools that automate the majority of the tasks while keeping you in full control of strategy.

Want to see how much easier optimization can be? Start your fully functional 14-day free trial today!

FAQs

1. What is Google Ads optimization score?

Optimization Score is a Google Ads metric (0–100%) that reflects how well your campaigns align with Google’s best practices. It’s located on the Recommendations tab and updates in real-time based on changes in performance, settings, and available features.

You don’t need to chase a 100% score, but it serves as a useful compass for identifying quick wins and enhancing campaign health.

2. How does Google calculate it?

Google looks at things like:

• Missing ad assets
• Budget allocation
• Keyword targeting and match types
• Audience signals
• Bidding strategy alignment

Each recommendation shows the percentage increase it could bring. You can apply or dismiss them; both actions help your score.

3. Why should you improve your Optimization Score?

Improving your score helps you identify and fix performance gaps quickly, prioritize impactful changes, and stay aligned with Google’s latest features and best practices. A higher score can lead to better ad visibility, lower CPCs, and more conversions by ensuring your campaigns are running efficiently.

It also helps you capture quick wins like adding assets or fixing tracking, and gives you a competitive edge in auctions. For agencies, maintaining a strong Optimization Score is essential for retaining Google Partner status.

4. Should you apply every recommendation?

Not always. Apply what aligns with your goals, whether that’s better ROI, more conversions, or a cleaner structure. Be especially careful with experiment-based recommendations: Google now auto-applies winning experiment results by default, so if you’re running tests, turn that setting off and review results manually before committing to any change.

5. Does AI-driven optimization work for small accounts?

Yes, but the lookback window matters. If an account spends less than €400 a month, there typically isn’t enough data in a standard two-week analysis window for meaningful patterns to emerge. The fix isn’t a bigger budget — it’s a longer lookback. Extending the analysis period from two weeks to six weeks gives the algorithm more signal to work with. You can still connect small accounts and receive suggestions; they just become more reliable with a wider window.