Ask marketers where they expect their next real gain in Google Ads performance to come from, and the answer points away from the platform’s own campaign features. A survey of 707 marketers found better creative and better first-party data named as the top two growth opportunities, together accounting for over 40% of responses. Platform-native levers like bidding strategy and Performance Max management rank much further down the list.

Essential Statistics

• 22% of marketers name better creative as their biggest Google Ads growth opportunity, the highest share measured.
• 19% name better first-party data.
• 16% name better landing pages or conversion rate optimization.
• Better bidding strategy and better AI Max adoption combine for only 16% of responses.
• Better Performance Max management ranks lowest at 4%.

Key Takeaways

• Creative and first-party data topping this list suggests marketers increasingly see growth as coming from inputs they control directly, rather than from platform settings.
• Landing pages and conversion rate optimization ranking third suggests post-click experience is viewed as a bigger lever than many in-platform adjustments.
• Bidding strategy and AI Max adoption combining for a relatively small share suggests marketers may feel these areas are already reasonably optimized or increasingly out of their direct control.
• Performance Max management ranking lowest suggests marketers see diminishing returns from managing this specific campaign type more closely.
• This pattern suggests the next wave of Google Ads performance gains is likely to come from outside the ad platform itself.

Actionable Insights

• Prioritize creative testing and refresh cycles before investing further time in bidding strategy adjustments, since creative ranks as the single largest perceived growth opportunity here.
• Invest in expanding and better activating first-party data, since this ranks as the second-largest opportunity and directly supports the automated systems doing more of the bidding work.
• Audit your landing pages and conversion rate optimization practices, since this ranks as a top-three opportunity that many teams may be underinvesting in relative to campaign-level tweaks.
• Don’t over-invest additional time in fine-tuning Performance Max management specifically, since this ranks lowest among the opportunities marketers identify here.
• Use this ranking to rebalance your team’s time allocation toward creative and data work and away from incremental bidding and campaign structure adjustments.

‘Nobody said their biggest opportunity was tweaking a bid strategy. It’s creative and first-party data. That tells you where the next real gains are sitting.’ – Neil Patel