There’s been a fascinating debate bubbling up this week about how new Google Ads accounts should handle bidding strategies. For years, Google’s been pushing automated bidding—Maximize Conversions, Target CPA—as the way to go from day one. But there’s a counter-argument gaining traction: maybe starting with Manual CPC isn’t as old-fashioned as it sounds.
Let me walk you through what’s actually being discussed and why it matters for e-commerce businesses.
The Smart Bidding Problem Nobody Talks About
Google’s Smart Bidding strategies are powerful—when they have data to work with. The algorithms can optimise across signals that humans simply can’t manually track: device type, location, time of day, user behaviour patterns. But here’s the issue: they need conversion data to learn from.
When you launch a brand new account with Maximize Conversions enabled from day one, Google’s algorithm has nothing to work with. It doesn’t know which customers are valuable, what they’re worth, or which clicks are likely to convert. So it’s essentially guessing, often burning through budgets quickly whilst it figures things out.
When Manual CPC Makes Sense
The case for Manual CPC isn’t about refusing automation—it’s about building a foundation first. Start with manual bidding whilst gathering initial conversion data and understanding how the account performs. Once you’ve got maybe 30-50 conversions and understand the patterns, then switch to automated bidding when the algorithms have something meaningful to optimise against.
This is particularly relevant for accounts with smaller budgets (under £1,000/month) or businesses selling high-value products with infrequent conversions. In these cases, manual control during the learning period can prevent costly mistakes whilst you’re building up data.
When To Start With Automation
The flip side: if you’ve got a decent budget (£1,000+ monthly), solid conversion tracking, and realistic expectations of generating 15-20+ conversions per month, Smart Bidding can work from launch. Google’s algorithms can pull data from similar advertisers and auction patterns, not just your account history.
The key is having enough conversion volume for the system to learn quickly. Without that, you’re better off gathering data manually first.
Performance Max Gets Actual Reporting
In other news, Google’s finally addressing one of the biggest frustrations with Performance Max campaigns: the black box problem. New reporting improvements are rolling out that actually show you where your ads are appearing and which assets are performing.
Until now, Performance Max has been a “trust Google and hope for the best” situation. You’d hand over your products, images, and budget, and Google would show ads across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, Display—everywhere. But you couldn’t see which channels were driving results or which creative assets were actually working.
What’s Actually Changing
The new reporting breaks down performance by channel—how your Shopping placements are doing versus YouTube versus Display. More importantly, you can see which product images, headlines, and descriptions are actually converting versus just taking up space.
This matters because it moves Performance Max from a complete black box to something you can actually optimise. If you discover most conversions are coming from Shopping ads whilst Display is burning money, that’s actionable information. If certain product images consistently outperform others, you know what works.
Looking Ahead to 2026
There’s also been discussion about key trends shaping up for 2026 that are worth being aware of now:
Video is becoming non-negotiable. Google’s pushing video everywhere—Shopping campaigns, Performance Max, across YouTube. If you’re still relying solely on static product photos, you’re likely going to be at a disadvantage. Even simple product demonstrations shot on smartphones are better than nothing.
Privacy changes keep tightening. GA4 isn’t perfect, but it’s what we’ve got in a privacy-first world. The way we track conversions, target customers, and measure success continues to evolve. In practical terms: your conversion tracking needs to be absolutely spot-on, because with less data available, the data you do have must be reliable.
First-party data becomes your edge. Your customer email lists, purchase history, website behaviour data—this is increasingly valuable. Businesses that leverage their own customer data effectively will pull ahead of those relying solely on Google’s audience targeting.
What This All Means
These developments share a common thread: automation is getting more powerful, but that doesn’t mean blindly trusting it without proper foundations. Smart Bidding works brilliantly—when you’ve given it the right data to work with. Performance Max can deliver—when you can actually see what’s working and optimise accordingly.
The businesses that’ll succeed aren’t necessarily those with the biggest budgets or the fanciest tools. They’re the ones that understand when to use automation, when to take manual control, and how to adapt as the platform continues evolving.
That’s what these weekly updates are about: keeping you informed about what’s actually changing in paid advertising and what it means for your business going forward.