Google Ads is still one of the fastest-growing digital marketing channels in 2026 because it captures high-intent search traffic from people actively looking to buy what you sell. The platform delivers results in days, which is why businesses keep coming back to it.

We’ve been managing Google Ads campaigns for years at SlamStop. So we understand why some businesses succeed financially while others waste resources.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• Why Google Ads still delivers fast growth
• Google Ads changes in 2025
• How small businesses compete and win with Google Ads
• When you should avoid Google Ads entirely

Ready? Let’s begin.

Why Is Google Ads Still One of the Fastest Growth Channels?

Google Ads remains one of the fastest-growing channels, as it targets people who are looking to purchase from you immediately. It places your business in front of them at the exact moment they are searching, and it leads to quicker sales.

Here are the four main reasons why companies keep using Google Ads:

• High Purchase Intent: People search on Google when they need to buy something now. For instance, someone typing “emergency plumber Brisbane” isn’t browsing casually. Rather, they’ve got water flooding their kitchen and need help within the hour.
• Immediate Results: If you launch your first ad campaign on Monday morning, you’ll see website visitors clicking through and generating leads by lunchtime. This quick impact is important for small businesses to test new markets and increase brand awareness without waiting six months for organic traffic.
• Conversational Search Reach: We’ve seen that voice search has changed how people find businesses. Instead of typing short phrases, they now ask full questions on their phones, like “Where can I find fresh sourdough near me?” Google’s AI automatically shows your digital advertising for these natural and spoken searches.
• Cost-Effective Targeting: The average cost per click rose in 2025, though not for everyone. Specifically, advertisers who use signal-driven targeting pay less. That’s because Google analyses behaviour and location data to reach the right target audience instead of wasting ad spend.

When KW usage aligns with intent and timing, Google Ads becomes a consistent growth channel.

What Changed in Google Ads During 2025?

Google Ads moved from manual control to AI-driven automation across every campaign type during 2025. This is when this platform stopped treating artificial intelligence as an optional helper and made it the foundation of how initiatives work. And advertisers who adapted early gained a competitive edge over those who resisted this change.

We’ll explain these important changes now.

AI Now Drives the Entire Platform

Automation now handles campaign optimisation over all paid traffic campaigns automatically. You set your budget and conversion goals, and then the system does all the work based on your input.

For example, the AI adjusts bids hundreds of times per day based on which clicks are most likely to convert. It responds to competition changes, time-of-day shifts, and user behaviour patterns faster than you could manually (no need to worry about missed auctions anymore).

Once you’ve set up your campaign, you just need to track its performance through AI-powered insights in Google Analytics. The goal here is to find out which automated adjustments actually work well for your business.

Key 2025 Platform Updates

Four major updates changed how Google Ads will deliver results in 2026. In particular, one of the biggest shifts came from AI Overviews, which place ads inside AI-generated answers at the top of search results instead of just below them.

Another important shift is the increased use of AI-powered audience signals. Instead of relying solely on typed keywords, Google Ads now uses a combination of signals like location, device type, search behaviour, and intent patterns to better match ads with potential customers.

At the same time, Performance Max continues to play an important role. It delivers ads through Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover, and other Google properties from a single campaign. It also comes with improved reporting and controls now.

Finally, measurement and conversion tracking tools, including Enhanced Conversions, improve how accurately results are attributed and track campaign performance. This accuracy comes from securely using first-party data, which also helps guide better bidding and optimisation decisions.

Take a quick look at this table to understand what these updates mean for you:

Update	What It Does	Impact on Your Campaigns
AI Overviews	Integrates ads into AI-generated search results	Your ads can appear higher and more prominently in search
AI-Powered Audience Signals	Uses intent and behaviour data beyond keywords	Reaches relevant users you may miss with keywords alone
Performance Max	Runs digital ad campaigns across multiple Google platforms	One campaign delivers broad, automated reach
Enhanced Conversions	Improves conversion measurement using first-party data	More accurate tracking and smarter bidding decisions

First-Party Data Replaced Third-Party Cookies

With privacy changes and browser restrictions on third-party tracking, first-party data has become more important for advertising. Browsers, including Safari and Firefox, block many third-party cookies for this reason.

So, you now need to collect your own data. That means you have to grab email addresses and track user behaviour through signup forms, purchase history, and activity on your site.

Google Ads’ Enhanced Conversions uses this hashed first-party data. And the best part is that it improves your tracking accuracy without breaking any privacy rules.

How Do Small Businesses Win With Google Ads in 2026?

Small businesses do better with Google Ads marketing campaigns when they focus their budget on one proven offer and build data before scaling. In other words, success comes from testing one idea properly rather than testing everything at once.

Consider the steps below to get the best outcome from Google Ads:

• Focus on One High-Margin Offer: Many small businesses waste money by trying to advertise everything at the same time. For example, a bakery promoting bread, cakes, catering, and subscriptions can’t clearly see what works. Instead, it’s better to start with the most profitable product, where the margins can easily cover ad costs.
• Start with Search Campaigns First: Search ads reach people who are ready to buy straight away. Like, someone searching for “emergency electrician Fortitude Valley” needs help immediately and will likely contact the first business they see. For this reason, it’s best to focus on search before spending money on display or social ads.
• Use Customer Match for Repeat Buyers: We recommend uploading your existing customer list to create retargeting campaigns at a fraction of new customer costs. Last year, a landscaping company we worked with successfully targeted the previous year’s clients with spring cleanup offers for pennies on the dollar.
• Set Sustainable Daily Budgets: You’ll need to keep your ad budget consistent, since Google’s AI needs a steady flow of data to learn which audiences convert. That’s why if the budget is too small, the system can’t optimise properly. So, most small businesses need a meaningful daily budget to see real results.

Without thoughtful keyword usage, even well-structured campaigns can struggle to scale.

When Should You Avoid Google Ads?

You should avoid Google Ads if your profit margins can’t support pay-per-click (PPC) costs or your budget is too small to test properly. In those cases, paid ads usually don’t work well. Sometimes, the wiser choice is to wait until your business fundamentals improve.

Let’s get into more detail about the reasons.

Tight Profit Margins

Pay-per-click advertising only works with healthy profit margins. In our experience, a cafe selling $5 coffees can’t afford $3 clicks to get someone through the door when most customers buy one drink and leave.

That’s why you must calculate your profit margins to see if you can handle typical click-through rates (CTR) first before launching any campaigns. Otherwise, you’ll just burn through your budget without ever breaking even (CTR can never rescue bad margins).

Pro tip: Use exact match keywords first to avoid paying for exploratory or low-intent searches.

Insufficient Budget Commitment

If you test your ads with a minimal daily budget, it won’t allow Google to collect enough campaign performance metrics. The truth is, the algorithm needs hundreds of clicks across different times, days, and audience segments to figure out what actually converts.

Also, it’s not a good idea to stop-start your campaigns to save money because it will confuse the system and actually waste money. Like, you can’t test for three days, pause for two weeks, then restart and expect results. It simply doesn’t work.

Put simply, constantly evolving campaigns require continuous data from sufficient website traffic. It means you need to commit to at least 30 days of consistent spending to see real patterns emerge.

Start Testing Google Ads 2026

You now know why Google Ads still delivers fast growth even today. It captures high-intent search traffic, adapts to conversational queries, and uses AI to find customers you’d typically miss. And we can’t stress how important signal-driven targeting and first-party data have become.

If you’re a small business with healthy margins, start with one proven offer and a search campaign. Focus your budget there until you’ve got solid conversion data. And if your margins are tight or you can’t commit $30-50 daily, wait until your fundamentals improve.

If you’re ready to launch your first campaign, contact us today. Our team has been working with Google Ads for a decade now. Let’s connect and see what’s possible with the right setup.