What is actually working in paid search right now - an honest view from the coalface
Every year there are trend reports, predictions, and frameworks about where paid search is heading. Most of them are broadly correct in direction but light on specifics. Here is what I am actually seeing working in the accounts I manage.
I am cautious about making sweeping generalisations about what works in paid search because the answer is genuinely context-dependent. What works for a B2B SaaS business is different from what works for a local plumber. But there are patterns that I am seeing consistently across different accounts and categories right now that are worth sharing.
Smart bidding is better than it was, but signals still matter enormously
Smart bidding has genuinely improved. Accounts that were struggling with Target CPA or Target ROAS three years ago, partly because the algorithms were less mature, are seeing better results now. But the correlation between signal quality and smart bidding performance is stronger than ever. Accounts with clean conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions enabled, and regularly updated Customer Match lists are outperforming accounts with the same budget and targeting but messier data. The algorithm is better - but it is better at using good data, not at compensating for bad data.
Consolidation is outperforming fragmentation
The instinct to create granular campaign structures - a separate campaign for every product, every location, every audience - is increasingly working against performance. Smart bidding needs conversion volume to optimise. Fragmented campaigns each have too little data to learn effectively. Accounts where campaigns have been consolidated - fewer campaigns with larger budgets and broader targeting - are generally performing better than those with highly fragmented structures. This is counterintuitive for people trained on the precise control model of manual bidding, but it reflects how automated bidding systems actually work.
Landing page quality gaps are widening
As more accounts are technically well-managed - good structure, proper tracking, smart bidding - the differentiator between high-performing and average-performing accounts is increasingly the landing page. I am seeing bigger performance gaps between accounts with well-optimised landing pages and those with generic site pages than I was two years ago. The accounts getting the best results are those where the paid search strategy and the conversion experience are managed as a connected system rather than separate disciplines.
Brand investment is paying off more than it used to
As more traffic passes through AI Overviews and other non-traditional search surfaces, brand recognition is becoming a more significant driver of click decisions. Users who recognise your brand in a results page are more likely to click, more likely to convert, and more likely to pay attention to your ad copy. The businesses investing in brand presence - through PR, content authority, and consistent messaging - are seeing that investment reflected in their paid search metrics. Brand and performance marketing are less separable than they used to be.
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