TL;DR

Google Ads does a great job activating campaigns. But at enterprise scale, complexity across accounts, markets, and optimization goals demands more: SA360 gives you better budget control, outcome-aligned conversion goals, and automation that scales.

Introduction

Are you thinking of expanding your search capabilities or possibly moving to an enterprise search platform? As search behavior evolves, campaign management can become more complex. For many digital marketers, Google Ads is an effective tool. But for those seeking enterprise-level scale, cross-engine efficiency, and automation, Search Ads 360 (SA360) provides advanced features that enable smarter, multi-dimensional campaign management.

In this blog post, we list 7 reasons why a move to Search Ads 360 could be beneficial to your campaign management.

Read on our blog post: Why Search Still Matters in the Age of AI

1. Unify and Scale Bidding with Consolidated Portfolios

SA360’s enterprise bidding lets you create consolidated portfolios that optimize across multiple search engines and channels. This allows campaigns from Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, or even Performance Max to be managed together with a single strategy. 

Larger, consolidated portfolios reduce statistical noise, producing more stable bidding and faster adjustments. Google data shows advertisers typically see up to 5% more conversions or conversion value when optimizing in SA360 versus managing search engines separately.

2. Maximize Budget Efficiency with Budget Bid Strategies (BBS)

For advertisers with fixed or constrained budgets, budget bid strategies automate budget allocation across campaigns. Instead of setting daily budgets and hoping spend balances out, SA360’s budget bid strategies reallocates funds dynamically, ensuring campaigns with the most opportunity get the investment.

BBS_forecasted plan 1
Forecasted plan in budget bid strategy

This has been shown to drive up to 10% more conversions or conversion value at a similar spend and ROI. Unlike Google Ads’ daily budgets, BBS supports flexible date ranges, minimum allocations by engine, and detailed spend plans — giving marketers more control and efficiency.

3. Automate Campaign Creation at Scale with Templates

SA360’s templates feature replaces the old Inventory Management system, providing a durable way to automate campaign builds.

  • Retail advertisers can link to Google Merchant Center.
  • Non-retail advertisers can use custom feeds to power campaigns across industries like travel, auto, or finance.
  • Multipliers define campaign structures automatically, while dynamic updates ensure campaigns stay in sync with feed changes such as price, availability, or promotions.
templates_generate headlines, copies etc with AI 2
Templates feature in SA360 - able to generate headlines/descriptions in bulk with AI

This means your ads remain accurate and relevant, without requiring manual updates.

4. Enhance Ad Relevance with Custom Dimensions and Formulas

Templates can also work with SA360’s custom dimensions and formulas to create highly relevant ad copy.

  • Responsive Search Ad templates can reference custom dimensions at the ad group level, making it easy to localize copy or insert promotions.
  • Functions like if() or clean_keyword() allow you to dynamically adjust messaging, ensure keyword compliance, and avoid errors.

This makes campaigns more adaptive without the need for constant human intervention.

5. Integrate and Unify Measurement with Floodlight

Floodlight remains a core part of the Google Marketing Platform, and within SA360 it provides unified conversion tracking across channels.

  • Conversion goals are now defined at the campaign level, replacing older bid strategy settings.
  • Advertisers are encouraged to consolidate goals at the sub-manager level for improved modeling.
  • Conversion sharing between SA360 and Google Ads is now simpler, enabling features such as auction-time bidding.

This alignment helps advertisers not only measure performance but also activate audiences across campaigns.

6. Refine Bidding with Advanced Controls

Campaign environments like markets change quickly, and SA360 provides advanced controls to adapt:

  • Seasonality adjustments allow you to inform bidding of expected shifts during events like sales or holidays.
  • Data exclusions prevent temporary disruptions, such as a site outage, from skewing Smart Bidding.
seasonality adjustments 3
Screenshot of seasonality adjustment in SA360
data exclusion 4
Screenshot of data exclusion feature in SA360

Both controls help ensure strategies respond to context rather than anomalies.

7. Customize Conversion Values with Business Data

Not all conversions are created equal. SA360 lets you adjust conversion values to better reflect your business priorities.

CVR_value rules 5
Screenshot of conversion value rules

By refining the “biddable conversion value,” SA360 helps ensure spend goes toward the most profitable outcomes.

When Should You Move to SA360?

While there’s no magic value, you should consider migrating to SA360 if your organization faces challenges with scale and complexity. If you manage campaigns across multiple accounts or engines, need to automate campaign creation from a large product or service inventory, or want to leverage cross-channel portfolio bidding with Performance Max, SA360 is the enterprise solution designed to meet those needs.

Download our Google Ads Bid Strategy Best Practice - Learn More

Conclusion

Google Ads provides a strong foundation, but SA360 takes search management to the next level. With consolidated bidding portfolios, automated templates, flexible budget strategies, and conversion value adjustments, advertisers can unlock efficiency and growth at enterprise scale.

As a certified Google Marketing Platform Sales Partner, FiveStones helps brands migrate, implement advanced bidding, and maximize the full value of SA360. Connect with us at [email protected] to learn if SA360 is the right fit for your campaign needs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1. Do I need SA360 if I only advertise on Google Ads?
 Not necessarily. Google Ads is sufficient for smaller, single-market campaigns. SA360 is designed for advertisers managing multiple accounts and/or engines, larger budgets, or complex portfolios.

Q2. Is SA360 replacing Google Ads?
 No. Google Ads remains the core buying platform. SA360 adds a layer of enterprise management, automation, and forecasting that sits above it.

Q3. How does SA360 help with value-based bidding?
 Through Conversion Goals, Conversion Value Rules, and Custom Variable Adjustments, SA360 allows you to assign higher weight to more valuable conversions. This ensures bidding aligns with profitability, not just volume.

Q4. What industries benefit most from SA360?
 Retail, travel, automotive, finance, and any industry that relies on feeds, multiple markets, or cross-engine strategies will see the greatest benefit, though it is not limited to these industries.

Q5. What’s the typical performance lift from SA360?
 According to Google, advertisers can see around 5–10% more conversions or conversion value when leveraging portfolios and Budget Bid Strategies compared to managing campaigns separately.

Sources & References