In short: when you create a campaign, Google fills in the settings the way that suits Google: more reach, more networks, more spend. The seven settings that quietly take the most money are search partners, Display expansion, "presence or interest" locations, languages, ad rotation, device adjustments and suggested ads. None of them is a scam, but almost none should stay as it comes.
When you create a campaign, Google fills in the settings for you. And it fills them in the way that suits Google: more reach, more networks, more spend. None of those defaults is a scam — they all have their use case — but several of them are a bad idea for most advertisers starting out. This lesson is a checklist: go through it before switching on any Search campaign.
1. Should I enable search partners?
Your ads also run on "hundreds of sites that are not Google" that show search results. The problem: you do not know which ones, you cannot choose them and their quality varies enormously. In many accounts partners bring a lower CTR and more expensive conversions.
Recommendation: untick it when you start. Switch it on later only if, segmenting the report by network, you can see that partners perform similarly to Google. And look at that segment now and then: it is one of the quietest budget leaks there is.
2. What happens if I leave Display expansion on?
With it, your Search campaign also spends on Display (banners on websites and apps) "when Google estimates it will perform just as well". It mixes intent with reach in the same campaign, on the same budget and with the same metrics: exactly what the campaigns lesson said you should never do.
Recommendation: always untick it. If you want Display, do it in a Display campaign with its own budget and its own placement monitoring.
3. Why am I getting clicks from other countries?
When you target "Madrid", the default option shows your ads to whoever is in Madrid or shows interest in Madrid. "Interest" is decided by Google from signals such as previous searches or the wording of the query. For a plumber in Madrid, that means paying for clicks from somebody in Buenos Aires who searched «hotels in Madrid» last week.
Recommendation: for local and national businesses, switch to "Presence: people in or regularly in your targeted locations" (it is under "Location options", expanded below the locations field). Leave "presence or interest" only if you sell to people travelling to your area (tourism, property, education): those are the sectors where Google reports improvements with that option.
The second half of the trap: exclusions. By default, excluding "Spain" only excludes people who are in Spain — not people showing interest. If you use "interest", review how you exclude as well.
4. What does the language setting really do?
"Language" is not the language of the search: it is the language of the user's Google interface (and other signals). Somebody with Google set to English who searches in Spanish will not get your ad if you have only set "Spanish".
Recommendation: in Spain, set Spanish and English (plenty of people have their browser or Google in English). In bilingual regions, add the local language. Never "all languages" without a reason: it opens the door to traffic that will not understand your ad.
5. How should I set ad rotation?
Google offers "Optimise: prefer best performing ads" or "Do not optimise: rotate ads indefinitely". With responsive ads and Smart Bidding, optimise is the right choice; "rotate" only makes sense if you are running a controlled test by hand and you know what you are doing.
6. Are device bid adjustments still useful?
By default, everything at 0%. That is not a mistake, it is a reminder: with manual bidding it is worth reviewing performance by device and adjusting (-30% on mobile if mobile converts worse, for example). With Smart Bidding, device adjustments do not apply (except -100% to exclude): the algorithm already bids by device. Knowing this saves you from "optimising" something that does nothing.
7. What do the campaign goal and suggested ads do?
When you pick a goal (sales, leads...), Google switches on the features it "recommends" for it: automatically created ads, automated assets, final URL expansion in PMax... Some are useful; others write copy in your name that you never approved, or send traffic to pages you never chose.
Recommendation: check in "Additional settings" and in the account settings which content automations are switched on, and turn off the ones you do not understand yet. You can switch them back on once you know what they do.
The checklist, ready to print
- Search partners: off to start with; review the network segment every month.
- Display expansion: always off in Search.
- Locations: "Presence" unless the business attracts travellers; review the exclusions.
- Languages: Spanish + English (+ local in bilingual regions).
- Rotation: optimise.
- Device adjustments: only with manual bidding; with Smart Bidding, only -100% to exclude.
- Content automations: switch off the ones you do not control.
💡 Ninja trick: these settings get reviewed once when the campaign is created... and then nobody looks at them again. But Google changes the defaults over time and adds new boxes already ticked. That is why the Ninja Scripts Agent's Campaign Audit checks these settings across every account and alerts you when a campaign has partners switched on and performing badly, Display expansion enabled or "interest" targeting on a local business.
What you should remember
- The defaults favour reach and spend, not your profitability.
- The three big traps: search partners, Display expansion and "presence or interest".
- Language = the user's Google language, not the language of the search.
- Run through the checklist on every new campaign, and run through it again now and then: the boxes change.