Google Search Partners

Search partners are websites and apps outside Google that show Google search ads. Google's help page says placements vary and can include search results lists, site directory pages, product detail pages, and YouTube search results and Watch pages. In campaign settings, under Networks, the option is labeled Include Google search partners, and Google says partners are included by default for new Search campaigns. You can opt out at any time. Because the setting is a checkbox, advertisers often leave it as it was set at creation without realizing what it brings in. For small accounts, this checkbox can move a surprising share of the budget, so it deserves a deliberate decision.

The mechanics are simple. Your ads enter the same auction, but they can appear on partner sites where users arrive through those sites' own search boxes. Google notes that partner clicks may not always be highly targeted, and that partner-site click-through rate does not affect your Quality Score on Google. Prices on partners are often lower than on Google.com, which can make cost per click look attractive, but cost per click is not the goal; cost per conversion is. Google also says it generally does not report which partner site showed your ad, except for Performance Max campaigns. Google says partner placements vary across search results lists, directory pages, product pages, and YouTube pages, so quality differs by account and by keyword.

Because of that limited visibility, the setting interacts with how you read reports. You can compare Google Search to search partners by network segment, which is the main way to see whether the bundle earns its keep. You can also exclude specific partner sites if you identify one that wastes spend, though without site reporting this is hard to do on Search campaigns. Other controls matter more: tighter keywords, negative keywords, and a match type fit for your goal will clean up traffic on Google and partners alike, and the bidding strategy will adjust bids based on the conversions each source produces. Keep other variables steady during any partner test, or you will not know whether the setting or something else changed results.

The most common mistake is treating weak partner results as proof that a keyword is bad. If a keyword converts on Google Search and loses money on partners, the problem is the placement, not the word. The opposite mistake is leaving partners on without ever checking, so a quarter of your spend goes somewhere you have never examined. A third is turning them off forever after one bad month: for a campaign with thin volume, partners might add leads at an acceptable cost. Test, compare, and decide with at least a few weeks of data. Smaller accounts with limited volume sometimes benefit from partners, since extra impressions help bidding learn faster.

This week, open one Search campaign and segment by network. Compare cost per conversion and conversion rate for Google Search versus search partners. If partners are clearly worse, uncheck the setting, but note the date so you can read before and after. If they are close to Google Search or better, keep them on. Run the same check on each campaign separately, since service campaigns and product campaigns behave differently. Keep a note of the result, and revisit it once or twice a year or whenever bidding changes. Share the results with whoever manages the account, so the setting is not flipped back by someone who did not see the data.