Build a custom automation
A custom automation is an automation that you build yourself. You pick a signal, set a condition, and choose the action to take when the condition matches. A custom automation uses the same safety checks and the same history as the recommended automations. You can revert each action.
To build a custom automation:
- Click your profile picture at the bottom of the sidebar, then click Settings.
- Click Automations.
- Scroll to Custom automations, below the recommended cards.
- Click Create custom automation.
Use a custom automation for a case that the recommended cards do not cover. Examples are a different spend threshold, a different baseline, or a second rule on the same signal. If a recommended card already does what you want, turn on that card. See Recommended automations.
Before you build a custom automation
- One account. A custom automation runs only on the Google Ads account that is active when you save it. There is no account picker. If no account is active when you save, the automation runs on every connected account.
- Limit of 50. You can keep up to 50 custom alerts and custom automations in total.
- It also alerts you. A custom automation also sends an alert when its rule matches. By default, it alerts you by email, in Slack if you connected a Slack channel, and in the app. You can change this in Where to alert me.
- Keep a built in alert on. Keep at least one built in alert type or one recommended automation on, or custom automations do not run.
- Once a day. Custom automations check the account once a day, at 06:00 in the account's time zone. They run only while daily checks run.
The shape of a custom automation
Every custom automation is one sentence: when [signal] [rises above / falls below] [threshold], [take this action]. You build it in three parts.
1. Pick a signal
The composer shows only the signals that support an action:
- Cost per conversion (campaign). The CPA of a campaign.
- Return on ad spend (campaign). The ROAS of a campaign.
- Wasted spend (keyword). The spend of a keyword in the recent window, when it had zero conversions in that window.
Other signals, such as Daily spend (account), Impressions (campaign) and Ad approval status, have no automatic action. You can use them only in a custom alert, which only notifies you. To create a custom alert, open Settings > Alerts and click Create custom alert. See Create a custom alert.
2. Set the condition
- Direction. Rises above or Falls below. The composer sets the direction from the action, and you cannot change it. So you cannot build a rule that works against you, for example "ROAS falls, raise the budget".
- Multiple of baseline or Spend threshold ($). The signal sets which one applies. A multiple compares the signal with its own history, for example 1.3 times its average for the previous 28 days. Wasted spend uses a spend amount, for example 50.
- Baseline window and Baseline type. For a multiple of baseline, choose 14 or 28 days. Then choose Average, Median or Same weekday.
- Checks in a row. From 1 to 3. This is the number of daily checks in a row that must match before the automation acts. On the first check of a newly connected account, the automation does not wait for this number.
3. Choose the action
In Then, choose the action. The signal controls which actions are available:
| Signal | Direction | Available actions |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per conversion (campaign) | Rises above | Lower its daily budget |
| Cost per conversion (campaign) | Falls below | Raise its CPA target |
| Return on ad spend (campaign) | Rises above | Raise its daily budget · Lower its ROAS target |
| Wasted spend (keyword) | Rises above | Pause the keyword |
For a budget action, set the percentage of change for each action, from 5% to 50%. The default is 20%. For a target action, set the percentage from 5% to 15%. The default is 10%. A keyword pause has no percentage.
Save the custom automation
- Read the preview line below the rule. It shows the number of times that the rule would have acted in the last 30 days.
- Tick I've reviewed the preview and want Hero Marketer to make this change automatically.
- In Where to alert me, select one or more of Email, In app, and Slack. Slack shows only after you connect Slack in Settings > Alerts.
- Type a name in Automation name.
- Click Save automation.
The custom automation starts at once. It has no separate preview dialog.
The safety limits are fixed for each action
You set the threshold and, for budget and target actions, the percentage. The safety limits come with the action, and you cannot change them.
- Lower or raise the daily budget. Wait 7 days before the automation changes the same campaign again. At most 3 changes per account each UTC day. At most 50% total change over any 7 days. The automation never sets a daily budget below 1 unit of your account's currency. It skips all budget changes, raises and lowers, on campaigns that use Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value, or Target impression share. Hero Marketer knows the bid strategy of Search campaigns only. Before a raise, it reads Google's budget simulation. If the simulation predicts no extra conversions at the new budget, it skips the raise.
- Pause the keyword. Wait 14 days before the automation pauses the same keyword again. At most 3 pauses per account each UTC day. The automation never pauses a keyword that contains your product name. Brand keywords that you add on the Block wasting search terms card do not apply to pauses. The campaign must be an enabled Search campaign that is at least 60 days old, so late conversions have time to report.
- Raise the CPA target or lower the ROAS target. Wait 14 days before the automation changes the same campaign again. This gives Google's bid strategy time to learn. At most 2 changes per account each UTC day. At most 20% total change over any 7 days, and at most 15% for each change. Only enabled Search campaigns that already have that target qualify. The automation never changes the bid strategy.
What a custom automation cannot do
- It changes targets and budgets, not bid strategies. A custom automation can change a Target CPA or Target ROAS. It cannot move a campaign to a different bid strategy.
- It does not pause campaigns or ad groups. The only pause action is on one keyword. To pause a campaign, click Pause campaign in its row menu on the All campaigns page. Or ask Hero AI. Hero AI makes a change only after you click Approve and apply.
- It is not a script. A custom automation has one signal, one condition and one action. For a fix that needs judgment, or one change to a specific campaign, use Hero AI. Open the alert and click Analyze with Hero AI. Hero AI opens a new chat and sends the question at once. This uses credits like any Hero AI question.
Manage custom automations
The Custom automations section lists your custom automations. Each row shows a switch, the name and the rule. Click the switch to turn a custom automation off or on.
To delete a custom automation:
- Click the trash icon on its row.
- Click Delete automation.
A deleted automation stops at once. Its past actions stay in your automation history, and you can still revert them. On the history page, custom automation actions show under All automations. The Automation filter has no entry for them.