Recommendation Second Opinion
Google is showing you a recommendation. Should you apply it? An honest verdict on 25 of the most common ones — apply, apply with care, or usually skip — plus who each change actually benefits.
How to use
Find the recommendation
Search or scroll for the one Google is showing you in the Recommendations tab.
Read the verdict
Apply, apply with care, or usually skip — with one line on why, and who the change actually benefits.
Decide for yourself
Some of these are genuinely good. The point is that you choose, rather than clicking "apply all" and hoping.
These are opinions, not rules. Google’s recommendations are not a trick — several of them are genuinely good, and we say so. But Google and you do not always want the same thing, and the interface never mentions that. The verdicts here are ours, based on running small accounts; your business may be the exception. Reviewed quarterly, as Google changes what it suggests.
Frequently asked questions
Are Google's recommendations a scam?
No, and we will not pretend they are. Several are genuinely good — fixing disapproved ads, adding the negatives Google suggests, fixing conversion tracking. The issue is subtler: Google and you do not always want the same thing, and the interface never mentions when your interests diverge. That is the gap this tool fills.
Why does my Optimisation Score matter so little?
Because it largely measures how many of Google's own suggestions you have accepted. It is a compliance score, not a profitability score — and you can raise it simply by DISMISSING a recommendation, which tells you what it really tracks. A 60% account can comfortably outperform a 100% one.
What about auto-apply?
Leave it off. It grants Google standing permission to change your targeting and bidding without asking you. Even the good changes should be your decision, and reviewing them manually takes about ten minutes a week.
How often is this updated?
Quarterly. Google changes what it recommends, and a stale verdict is worse than none.