When we audited a new client's Google Ads account this fall, the conversion graph looked like a success story. Reported conversions had grown from 12,913 in December 2025 to 70,199 in May 2026. That's more than five times as many in five months.
The business told a different story. It sells remanufactured engines nationwide, and nearly every sale starts with a phone call. Over the same months, real tracked calls fell from 5,418 to 2,231. That's a 59% drop.
So the account was reporting record performance while the phone got quieter. The change behind it wasn't a strategy decision anyone remembered making. It was a Google recommendation that applied itself.
What changed, and who changed it
In February 2026, an auto-applied recommendation turned on AI Max for Search. By the time we saw the account, six campaigns were running AI Max with no URL exclusions. Nobody at the company had set out to turn it on. As best anyone could tell, someone had opted into auto-apply at some point, and Google took it from there.
That's how auto-apply is supposed to work. You choose which recommendation types Google can apply without asking you, and from then on it applies them on a schedule. Google's own help page on auto-applied recommendations says you can turn the feature on or off at any time in your auto-apply settings. The trouble is that people turn it on once, forget about it, and never look at what it's doing.
We've written before about which Google Ads recommendations are worth accepting. This account is what happens when nobody is deciding.
How conversions go up while the business goes down
A reported conversion is only as good as the definition behind it, and this account's definitions were loose. Here's what was counting as a conversion when we arrived:
- A short form on the homepage, which made up 95.9% of all conversion signal.
- Any phone call of 30 seconds or more, counted every time the same person called.
- Hand-typed conversion values of $1 per form and $2 per call, which meant Google had no idea what a sale was worth.
Now add AI Max. It widens the searches your ads can match and lets Google choose landing pages for you. When the account is also bidding toward a cost-per-conversion target, Google will find the cheapest conversions it can. On this account, that meant a flood of cheap homepage form fills and repeat calls. The people who actually buy engines were a shrinking share of what it was optimizing toward.
We can't prove that every extra conversion came from AI Max. Several things were wrong at once. What we can say is that after AI Max went on, the number Google optimized toward climbed for months, and the number the business lives on fell by more than half. The account's overall conversion rate was 18.96%. For a high-ticket product sold mostly by phone, a rate that high should have set off alarms long before we got there.
What we did about it
We split the cleanup into two parts: stopping the damage and fixing what Google counts.
We turned AI Max off on every campaign and switched off search partners at the same time. Search partners alone accounted for more than $8,000 a month of spend that we couldn't see clearly.
We tightened the conversion definitions. A phone lead now has to last at least 60 seconds and counts once per caller. The order form became the primary conversion and the homepage form became secondary. The $1 and $2 placeholder values came out.
We stopped the drift. About a week later, we found AI Max switched back on. This time it was someone on the client's side, trying to help. So we set a simple rule that's now in our notes for every account: only the agency and named, approved people make changes. Google's recommendation emails get forwarded to us instead of clicked.
That last one sounds small, but it isn't. Recommendation emails are written to be clicked. They lead with an "optimization score" and a promise of more conversions. To a busy owner, accepting them feels like free improvement. On an account with loose conversion tracking, it can mean telling Google to chase more of the wrong thing.
How to check your own account in 20 minutes
You don't need an audit to find out if this is happening to you. Do these five checks this week.
1. Look at your auto-apply settings
Go to Recommendations in Google Ads and open the auto-apply settings. See which recommendation types are switched on. If you don't remember turning them on, that's the finding. Keep only the ones you'd approve every single time without looking.
2. Read your change history for changes you didn't make
Open Change history and look back six to twelve months. Filter for changes that didn't come from someone on your team. Pay attention to anything that changed keyword matching, bidding, budgets, or which landing pages Google can use.
3. Compare reported conversions with real outcomes
Put two numbers side by side for each month: what Google Ads reports, and what actually happened. That might be calls in your phone system, orders in your store, or qualified leads in your CRM. If the first number is climbing and the second is flat or falling, you have a measurement problem, not a performance win. Our 30-minute conversion tracking audit walks through this in more detail.
4. Check what counts as a conversion
Open each conversion action and read the settings. How long does a call have to last? Does it count every call or one per person? Are values real or placeholders? If your primary conversion is something cheap and easy, Smart Bidding will deliver lots of cheap and easy. That's the root of most Smart Bidding problems we see.
5. If AI Max is on, look at what it's buying
Google describes AI Max for Search as a set of targeting and creative enhancements. Before you keep it, read the search terms it added and the landing pages it chose. Set URL exclusions for pages that shouldn't get ad traffic. Then judge it on real outcomes, not reported conversions.
Is AI Max the villain?
No. AI Max can work, and in some accounts it finds good searches you wouldn't have thought to add. It just does exactly what your conversion data tells it to. Give it clean, honest signals and it has something worth chasing. Give it a $1 homepage form fill and it will chase that instead.
The real problem in this account was two settings working together. One let Google change the account without anyone deciding. The other let Google score success by a number that had drifted away from sales. Fix the second one first, and the first one becomes a lot less dangerous.
Frequently asked questions
Can Google change my campaigns without my approval?
Yes, if auto-applied recommendations are turned on. Once someone opts a recommendation type into auto-apply, Google applies those recommendations without asking each time. You can review and turn them off in the Recommendations section of your account.
How do I turn off auto-applied recommendations?
Go to Recommendations, open the auto-apply settings, and switch off the recommendation types you don't want applied automatically. Then check Change history to see what was already applied while the setting was on.
Why would conversions go up while my calls go down?
Usually because the conversions Google is counting aren't the same thing as the leads you care about. Short forms, very short calls, and repeat calls from the same person all count unless you tell Google not to count them. When bidding is pointed at those, reported conversions can rise while real leads fall.
Should I turn AI Max off?
Not automatically. First make sure your conversion tracking reflects real leads or sales. Then review the search terms and landing pages AI Max is using, and judge it against real outcomes. If it's buying searches and pages that don't turn into customers, turn it off or limit it with URL exclusions.
The takeaway
If your Google Ads account looks better every month and your business doesn't feel it, believe the business. Check what Google is allowed to change on its own, check what it's counting, and make sure only the people accountable for results are making changes.
If you'd like a second set of eyes on your account, book a free consultation. We'll look at your auto-apply settings, change history and conversion definitions with you. You can also read how we approach Google Ads management.
