Google Ads scripts sound technical, but they’re one of the best-kept secrets for scaling and automating campaigns. If you’ve ever thought, “There has to be an easier way to do this” - there probably is, and scripts are the answer.
Whether you want to track budgets, automate bid changes, or spot broken links before they waste money, scripts save time and improve performance. And no - you don’t need to be a coder to use them.
The Basics: What You Need to Know Before Using Scripts
What Are Google Ads Scripts?
They’re small JavaScript-based code snippets that automate your Google Ads account tasks. They remove the need to do manual optimisations or reporting in your account and can interact with third-party tools like Google Sheets.
Why Use Them?
Save time – Automate repetitive tasks like bid changes and budget tracking.
Reduce mistakes – Scripts monitor your account 24/7, flagging problems before they cost you money.
Improve performance – Optimize campaigns faster and react to changes quicker.
Where to Find Google Ads Scripts
Log into Google Ads.
Click Tools & Settings (wrench icon).
Under "Bulk Actions," select Scripts.
Click the + button to add a new script.
How to Implement a Script
Using a script is easier than it sounds. Here’s how:
Step 1: Copy a Pre-Written Script
Most scripts you’ll use are already written by others. We’re going to list some of our favourites below and link out to some more collections.
Step 2: Paste It Into Google Ads
Go to Tools & Settings > Scripts and click the + button.
Delete the default text and paste your script.
Step 3: Authorize & Preview
Google will ask for permissions - approve them.
Click Preview to test the script before running it live.
Step 4: Schedule It
Once you’re happy with the results, set the script to run daily, weekly, or hourly, depending on your needs.
Essential Scripts Every Marketer Should Try
Here are some must-have scripts that I implement :
Broken Link Checker
What it does: This script checks your keywords, ads and sitelinks for broken links. You can customise it using the spreadsheet so you don’t even need to know code. It’ll save you money by not sending traffic to broken links.
Get the script: https://developers.google.com/google-ads/scripts/docs/solutions/link-checker
Schedule recommendation: Hourly
Negative Keyword Suggestions
What it does: This script mines your search terms and finds ones that have high clicks and no conversions saving you money on irrelevant tracking. It’ll then dump them into a Google Sheet where you can then add them to your negative keyword lists.
Get the script: https://nilsrooijmans.com/google-ads-script-negative-keyword-suggestions/
Schedule recommendation: Weekly
Account Heatmap
What it does: This script produces a colour-coded heat map of your account by the main metrics like cost, conversions and impressions. The two I like to review are CTR (clicks/impressions) and conversion rate (conversions/clicks). This is a great tool when you’re starting out to understand seasonality by day and hour and can be used to inform your bidding and budgeting
Get the script: https://searchengineland.com/see-hour-hour-trends-adwords-heat-maps-235578
Schedule recommendation: Monthly
N-Gram Analysis
What it does: This script produces an N-Gram analysis at the ad group, campaign and account level. What is an N-Gram? It’s a phrase of 2, 3 or 4 words and then tied to your ad performance. By looking at those N-Grams for your search queries, you can find patterns that are performant and non-performant. With a recent client, we found that “near me” didn’t perform and excluded it.
Get the script: https://nilsrooijmans.com/updated-google-ads-script-brainlabs-search-query-mining-for-n-gram-analysis/
Schedule recommendation: Monthly (for smaller accounts) / Weekly (for larger spenders)
Quality Score Dashboard
What it does: We all know that Quality Score is a key component of getting Google Ads performant. This script produces a nice dashboard of where you currently sit with your quality score and also trends it over time.
Get the script: https://www.ppc-epiphany.com/2016/03/11/introducing-the-quality-score-tracker-v3-0/
Schedule recommendation: Weekly
More Scripts
You can find many more script recommendations to experiment with at these links:
Tweaking and Customizing Scripts
Every script typically has a customisation area where you can change things like which campaigns to review and which ones to avoid, date ranges to analyse and input your email address to receive an email notification if anything needs actioning.
For more advanced tweaking of scripts, I’ve found hiring freelancers from Fiverr and UpWork to work well. I’ve also managed to do basic modifications myself by reading Google’s Official Script Documentation and using ChatGPT. If you do use ChatGPT, make sure to preview the script first as whilst it’s good - it still can be buggy.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
🚫 Forgetting to preview – Always test a script before running it live.
🔑 Not setting permissions – Some scripts need specific account access.
📅 Ignoring updates – Google Ads changes and old scripts can break.
Wrapping It Up
Google Ads scripts aren’t just for developers or advanced advertisers - they’re for any marketer who wants to work smarter. Start with a simple script, see how it works, and gradually add more.
Ready to automate? Pick one script, test it, and watch your workflow get easier.