Even as automation takes over more of Google Ads, marketers haven’t fully let go. A survey of 707 marketers asked where they still want manual control, and budget allocation tops the list, followed closely by search term management. Lower down the list, areas like landing pages and campaign structure see less demand for manual oversight, suggesting marketers are comfortable ceding control over the more mechanical, lower-stakes parts of a campaign.

Essential Statistics

• 48% of marketers want manual control over budget allocation, the highest share measured.
• 43% want manual control over search term management.
• 35% want manual control over creative messaging.
• Conversion tracking and audience targeting each draw manual control preference from roughly a quarter of marketers.
• Campaign structure draws the least demand for manual control at 16%.

Key Takeaways

• Budget allocation ranking highest suggests marketers see direct financial control as the one area automation hasn’t earned full trust in yet.
• Search term management ranking second suggests concerns about automation’s judgment on where ads actually show up remain significant.
• Creative messaging ranking third suggests brand voice and message control is something marketers are reluctant to fully hand over, even as other areas automate.
• Campaign structure and landing pages drawing the lowest demand for manual control suggests these are the areas marketers are most comfortable automating.
• This pattern suggests marketers are becoming comfortable automating execution while still wanting direct control over strategy, brand, budget, and business outcomes.

Actionable Insights

• Keep budget allocation decisions under direct human review even as you expand automation elsewhere, since this is the area marketers trust automation with least.
• Maintain a manual review process for search term management specifically, since this ranks as the second-highest area of concern and directly affects where your ads actually appear.
• Give your team more oversight over creative messaging rather than fully automating it, since over a third of marketers specifically want to retain control here.
• Feel comfortable automating campaign structure and landing page decisions further, since these areas draw the least demand for manual control in this data.
• Use this ranking as a guide for where to add automation guardrails rather than full automation, prioritizing guardrails on budget and search terms first.

‘Marketers aren’t afraid of automation. They’re afraid of automation touching the budget and the search terms without a human checking in first. That’s a reasonable line to hold.’ – Neil Patel