Latest / Sidekick's What Just Shipped / Google Ads suggestions you can apply inside HubSpot | Shipped Aug 2026
Transcript
- Rob (AI host): Google keeps a running list of ways to improve your ad campaigns, and most teams never open it. Dana (AI host): Now HubSpot shows those suggestions right inside its Ads tool, with an Apply now button next to each one. Rob (AI host): Stay for the Monday routine that turns that list into a habit, plus the two filters that make it fast. Narrator (AI voice): This is Sidekick's What Just Shipped, presented by Sidekick Strategies. Narrator (AI voice): Your hosts, Rob and Dana, are AI. Narrator (AI voice): The voices are synthetic, the research is real, and humans check every claim before it reaches you. Rob (AI host): One thing first: Dana and I are AI hosts. Rob (AI host): We don't run ad budgets, and we're reading HubSpot's help article on Google Ads recommendations, updated in late October. Dana (AI host): And today I'm playing the part-time marketer at a family-owned heating and cooling company, who checks Google Ads on Monday mornings between service calls. Rob (AI host): Perfect. Here's the change. Rob (AI host): After you connect your Google Ads account to HubSpot, you can see Google's optimization recommendations for your campaigns directly in HubSpot. Rob (AI host): You review them, then apply them or dismiss them. Dana (AI host): Recommendations like what? Rob (AI host): Suggested changes to your campaigns, written by Google. Rob (AI host): HubSpot is clear that they come directly from Google, they may change frequently, and the list can vary from day to day. Dana (AI host): So HubSpot isn't the one making these up. Rob (AI host): Right. HubSpot just shows them where you already work. And they're optional. Rob (AI host): HubSpot says to review each one and decide whether to apply it. Dana (AI host): Okay, good, because Google has opinions about my budget. Rob (AI host): It does. Also, this is Google Ads only for now. Not your Facebook or LinkedIn ads. Dana (AI host): Which HubSpot plans include this one? Rob (AI host): HubSpot's help article lists Marketing Hub Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. Dana (AI host): Okay, where does it live in HubSpot? Rob (AI host): Click More, then go to Marketing, then Ads. Rob (AI host): If you don't see More, go to Marketing, then Ads directly. Rob (AI host): On the Manage tab, in the left sidebar, click Recommendations. Dana (AI host): And then it's one giant list? Rob (AI host): You can narrow it. Rob (AI host): At the top of the table there's an Account filter, for one ad account at a time, and a Status filter, for Active or Dismissed recommendations. Rob (AI host): That's handy if you run more than one ad account, or you just want today's open items. Dana (AI host): Rob, what does each row actually tell me? Rob (AI host): Three things: a description of the suggested change, which campaign it applies to, and the estimated weekly impact on your campaigns. Rob (AI host): Under each one, you click the action to apply it. Dana (AI host): Huh, weekly impact is a useful number. Rob (AI host): There's a second way in. Rob (AI host): On the Manage tab, each Google Ads campaign shows a count of available recommendations in the Recommendations column. Dana (AI host): So I can start from the campaign I care about. Rob (AI host): Exactly. Rob (AI host): Find the campaign in the table, click its recommendation count, and a panel opens on the right. Rob (AI host): Click Apply now to apply that change to the campaign or ad group automatically. Rob (AI host): Or click Dismiss to ignore it. Dana (AI host): And when I dismiss one, it's gone for good? Rob (AI host): Not right away. A dismissed recommendation stays on the Dismissed tab until Google removes it. Dana (AI host): Oh, a whole Dismissed pile. Rob (AI host): Here's a hypothetical. A made-up heating company runs three Google campaigns. Rob (AI host): On Monday, the marketer filters to Active, starts with the furnace tune-up campaign, reads each suggestion and its weekly impact, applies the two that fit, and dismisses one that would push the budget too far. Dana (AI host): That's ten minutes, not an afternoon. Rob (AI host): Why it matters: suggestions you never see can't help you, and now they sit next to the campaigns you already manage. Dana (AI host): And honestly, the problem was rarely bad suggestions. Dana (AI host): It was the second tab you had to open to act on them. Rob (AI host): Who benefits most? Dana (AI host): Our research names small teams without a paid search specialist, marketing ops leads who care about clean data, agencies managing several client ad accounts, and founders who want their ad spend working harder. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Hey, it's George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Full honesty, this is my AI voice clone, made with my permission. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): An Apply now button helps most when your team learns from practitioners who use these tools every day. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Our Marketing Hub training runs live inside your own portal, with your real contacts and campaigns, in sessions built for each role, and every one is recorded. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): We start by auditing how your team uses Marketing Hub today. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): It's under services at Sidekick Strategies dot com. Dana (AI host): Rob, where do our two write-ups disagree with HubSpot? Rob (AI host): A few places, and yes, we wrote about this twice, in August and again in October. Rob (AI host): First, plans. Both say every Marketing Hub tier, and the October one says Free too. Rob (AI host): HubSpot's help article lists Starter, Professional, and Enterprise, so Free isn't confirmed. Dana (AI host): Yikes, two different maps. Rob (AI host): Second, the filters. Our write-ups describe Category and Campaigns filters and a separate Recommendations tab. Rob (AI host): HubSpot's article describes Account and Status filters, with Recommendations in the Manage tab's left sidebar. Dana (AI host): And the number on each row? Rob (AI host): They call it an estimated optimization score improvement. HubSpot's article calls it estimated weekly impact. Rob (AI host): Go by what your screen shows. Rob (AI host): Third, our write-ups say you can check several rows and apply or dismiss them in bulk. Rob (AI host): HubSpot's article doesn't mention bulk actions, so treat that as unconfirmed until you see it. Dana (AI host): Anything they got right? Rob (AI host): Plenty. Rob (AI host): The count on each campaign in the Manage tab, Apply and Dismiss, and the point that these suggestions come from Google, not HubSpot, all match. Dana (AI host): And for agencies juggling several clients? Rob (AI host): Use the Account filter. Rob (AI host): Pick one ad account at a time, so you never apply a change to the wrong client's campaign. Dana (AI host): Fair. So what's the Monday routine? Rob (AI host): Step one: confirm your Google Ads account is connected to HubSpot. Dana (AI host): Step two: open Recommendations and set the Status filter to Active. Rob (AI host): Step three: start with your biggest campaign, and read each description and its weekly impact. Dana (AI host): Step four: apply what fits your goals, and dismiss what doesn't, on purpose. Rob (AI host): Step five: check back next week, since the list changes as Google updates it. Dana (AI host): Furnace-season verdict: I'd spend ten minutes on it every Monday, but I'd read every suggestion before touching that Apply button. Rob (AI host): Your Monday move: open Marketing, then Ads, and count your recommendations. Dana (AI host): HubSpot's help article and both of our write-ups are linked in the show notes, with more at Sidekick Strategies dot com. Rob (AI host): Thanks for listening, and good luck with the ad budget. Dana (AI host): Read it, then apply. Narrator (AI voice): Sidekick's What Just Shipped is presented by Sidekick Strategies, with AI hosts Rob and Dana and AI-generated music. Narrator (AI voice): We're independent, and not affiliated with HubSpot. Find our research at Sidekick Strategies dot com.