Google AdWords Express Exposed: 5 Strong Reasons Why You Should Avoid It at All Costs

Updated 07/05/2025

So Google the giant of online advertising has maintained its lead in the industry despite recent upcoming ad giants such as Amazon Ads, Bing and other smaller Ad networks like AdsTargets.

It looks like Google has perceived some threats and is doing everything to stay afloat and above its rivals which led to the launch of new products such as Google Adwords Express and Google smart ads.

According to the claims by Google, it’s a way of making advertising easier for small businesses and marketers who are not used to the complex Google Ads system.

However, there has been a lot of backlash from a lot of marketers who believe it’s a wrong move for Google to launch such products.

let’s take a look at their reasons and why many advise advertisers not to even try this ad system.

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What is Google Adwords Express?

Google Ads Express, also known as AdWords Express is a simple version of Google Ads aimed at making advertising easier, faster and flexible.

Typically, advertising on Google ads takes a lot of time and effort to get good results.

You are required to do thorough audience research including the right keyword research, demographics, placements, and devices and continue to optimise after launching your ad campaigns.

Then write effective ad copies or hire a freelancer or an agency to write your ad copies and implement bidding strategy, set cost and other optimization practices.

In the case of Google Ads Express, you just get your ads running with a few clicks. All you are required of is to create your ads and tell Google what your business is all about and your ads will start running in a matter of minutes.

So simple right? well, this might come with a high cost.

There is a reason why they say shortcuts are dangerous at times and this might be one good example.

It takes just a few minutes to set up your campaign but in reality, you might just be dashing out your money to Google for nothing.

So What Are The key Differences Between Google Ads and Adwords Express

Here are some of the differences between Google ads and Google AdWords express platforms.

The traditional Google ads is a boost advertising platform that has helped a lot of businesses grow from small businesses to multinationals including Amazon.

It’s has a lot of ad optimisation features to help you target the right audience on all platforms and geographical regions.

On the other hand, Google AdWords express is the opposite with almost non-ad optimization capabilities.

However, the claim by Google is that the system uses AI or machine learning to understand your campaign goal and audience and target them as supposed.

Actually, it’s far from that. It might just be a tool that helps Google increase their revenue but not necessarily the advertiser.

Should SMBs Use Google Ads express?

Based on expert reviews so far, it’s a complete waste of money advertising with Google using Adwords Express.

Remember the saying that “Nothing good comes easy?” this might simply be the case.

Do not for the sake of ease and time saving spend your ad budget unwisely.

It will help you a great deal to take your time to do thorough keyword research and understand your customer’s lifetime value to set the right bid for your ads.

Optimise your ads regularly based on what is performing well to increase your ROI or ROAS in order to achieve the goal of your advertising campaign.

What is worth doing is worth doing well and this should be the case with your ad campaigns.

The bottom line is if you want to use Google ads, go ahead but avoid AdWords Express.

Why You Should Avoid It

At first glance, Google AdWords Express (now known as “Smart Campaigns”) seems like a blessing—especially for small business owners who want a fast, hands-off way to run ads. Google promises that it’s easier, faster, and doesn’t require much expertise. But here’s the hard truth: what you gain in convenience, you lose in control, precision, and ROI.

#1. Limited Control Over Keywords

One of the biggest red flags is that you don’t get to choose your own keywords. Google automates the targeting based on your business category and ad copy, which often leads to irrelevant traffic. Your ad could be triggered by searches that are loosely related—or completely off-base—draining your budget on clicks that never convert.

#2. Lack of Audience Targeting and Optimization Tools

In traditional Google Ads, you can refine your campaigns using audience segmentation, device targeting, ad scheduling, and location-specific bidding. AdWords Express strips away all those capabilities. It’s like driving blindfolded—you might end up somewhere useful, but chances are, you’ll crash into wasted spend.

#3. Minimal Data Insights and Reporting

Smart Campaigns provide oversimplified performance reports, showing vague data like “views” or “clicks,” with little transparency. If you’re serious about improving your ad performance or understanding what’s working, this platform doesn’t give you the insights needed to make informed decisions.

#4. Poor Budget Efficiency

Many users report that AdWords Express burns through ad budgets quickly without delivering meaningful conversions. Since you can’t fine-tune bids or pause underperforming keywords, your budget is at the mercy of Google’s broad automation—which often favors spend over smart strategy.

#5. No Real Testing or Iteration

With traditional Google Ads, you can A/B test ad copy, run different keyword match types, and adjust campaigns based on real-time data. Smart Campaigns? Not so much. There’s little room to experiment, and that means you lose out on the iterative growth that makes PPC effective.

If you’re serious about getting a return on your ad spend, skip AdWords Express. Either learn how to run standard Google Ads or partner with someone who does. The learning curve may be steeper, but the results are measurable, scalable, and more aligned with your goals.

Google AdWords Express might seem “easy,” but in digital advertising, easy doesn’t mean effective.

Still, want to try?

They say there is no harm in trying and here is the full video tutorial on how to set up ad campaigns on Google Adwords Express.

In this, you will learn all you need to know about the platform and how to set up your first campaign.

Conclusions

It’s important to always take a deep dive in looking at new products offered by the giants before putting your money into these platforms.

It goes a long way in saving you time and cost.

Although much has been said about this platform. You are free to try running some campaigns on it to see it for yourself.

It might be improved or might just work better at the time of your trial. You have nothing much to loss but ensure you test it very well before putting a lot into it.

If you have already tried the platform, Please share your experience with us here to help the community.

Share your tactics and let us know the outcome.