Turn Google search partners off for a campaign when the partner row in your own account shows spend without leads, or a cost per lead you wouldn’t accept, after the Google Search row has collected enough leads to make the comparison fair. Leave partners on when their clicks bring leads at a price you’d pay. That’s our reading. The network segment in your account shows what each source cost and produced, and the placement report shows where partner ads ran.

Google includes search partners by default when a Search campaign is created. So the box may be checked because nobody chose otherwise, not because the setting was weighed against your lead numbers.

The stakes run both ways. Budget can go to clicks that don’t turn into a call or a form. Switch off a source that’s producing leads and you lose the leads with it. Either mistake is quiet, which is why the decision belongs to your own numbers rather than to anyone’s opinion about the network.

What Are Google Search Partners?

Search partners are websites and apps outside Google’s own search results pages where your Search ads can also appear. According to Google’s help page on the Search Network, search partners are included by default when you create a campaign for the Search Network, and you can opt out of these networks at any time through your campaign settings.

That help page also says ads and listings can appear in different locations and placements, such as a list of search results (alongside, above, within or below the results), site directory pages, product detail pages, YouTube search results and Watch pages. Read that list before you picture partner traffic as a set of unfamiliar websites. Partner placements aren’t all obscure corners of the web.

The control itself is one checkbox. In a campaign’s settings you select the drop down for “Networks” and check the box for “Include Google search partners” to let that campaign’s ads appear on search partner websites, or uncheck it to stop them showing there. It applies to that campaign and no other.

Our reading: a campaign built long ago can still be carrying a default nobody has revisited. The checkbox doesn’t change on its own when your goals do. Somebody has to go and look.

Start With the Network Segment in Your Campaigns Table

Open the campaigns table and split it by network before you decide anything. Select the segment icon, pick the data you want to isolate, then choose “Network (with search partners)”. Google describes that segment as a way to compare Google Search, search partners and Display Network performance, so each campaign’s numbers break apart into a row per network.

Then read the columns that decide a lead-generation campaign. Cost and conversions for each row, plus the cost per conversion that falls out of them — cost divided by conversions, which is what a lead cost you on that network. Clicks aren’t the column that settles this. By leads we mean the calls and forms you can count.

None of it means much without conversion tracking that counts real leads.

Spilt Media’s Google Ads management sets up conversion tracking on every campaign, and that tracking is what makes a network comparison like this one possible.

One more condition before you read a verdict into the rows. A handful of leads in either row proves little. Wait until the Google Search row has gathered enough leads to act as a fair benchmark, then compare the partner row against it. That’s our rule for reading this table, not a rule from Google.

Then Open the Placement Report for the Sites Where Your Ads Ran

The segment tells you what the partner network cost and what it produced. It doesn’t tell you where. For that, Google’s placement report help page describes the route: go to Report editor within the Campaigns menu, scroll down to the “When and where ads showed” expandable menu and select Content suitability. The report lists the sites where your ads have run, with impression data for the dates you pick.

That report is part of the Content Suitability Report, and it covers Search, Shopping and App campaigns. The report has two parts. Placements lists the specific websites on the Search Partner Network where your ads ran, and Impressions gives the number of impressions your ads received on each specific site. Google’s Search Network help page says Google Ads doesn’t provide the website where a Search Network ad was shown unless the campaign is Performance Max, which doesn’t match this report page. Check Report editor in your own account to see what it shows for your campaigns.

What the report doesn’t carry matters as much. Google’s page lists only placements and impressions, so don’t expect leads or cost in it. A site is also listed only once it has met at least one performance threshold during the range you chose: five or more impressions, or any click, video view or conversion. Placements under that bar aren’t in the report.

So this report answers a different question than the segment does. Use it to spot placements that don’t fit your brand or the service you sell, rather than to rank sites by performance. It can show you a placement you’d rather not appear on. It can’t tell you which placement sent your last customer.

If you find one, Google’s Search Network help page says you can opt out of specific search partner websites or placements, and it points to its site exclusion instructions for the steps. Follow them there.

When Should You Turn Search Partners Off?

Our reading is this. Turn search partners off for a campaign when the partner row shows spend on clicks with no leads, or a cost per lead you wouldn’t accept, after the Google Search row has collected enough leads to make the comparison fair. Leave them on when partner clicks bring leads at a price you’d pay.

  • Spend on the partner row with no leads, or a cost per lead you wouldn’t accept, is the case for switching it off in that campaign.
  • Partner leads costing about what Google Search leads cost is the case for leaving it on.
  • When a few placements look wrong but the row is still earning leads, exclude those placements instead of switching the whole network off.
  • Change one campaign at a time and write down the date, then compare again once enough leads have come in.

As a general rule, a campaign’s budget covers everywhere that campaign’s ads run, so when a campaign is limited by its budget, money spent on partner clicks is money that didn’t go to clicks elsewhere in the same campaign. That’s why the partner row deserves a look.

Partners aren’t good or bad as a category, and we won’t tell you they are. Two campaigns in one account can earn opposite answers. Your own lead numbers decide each one.

How Do You Turn Search Partners Off?

Open the campaign’s settings, select the drop down for “Networks” and uncheck the box for “Include Google search partners”, then save. That’s a per-campaign setting, so repeat it in each Search campaign you want to change. The box can be checked again later if the numbers say otherwise.

While you’re in the Networks settings, look at the Display Network box as well. Google’s Search Network help page says to remember to also check your Display Network settings if you’re experiencing performance issues, and it sits in the same place, so there’s no reason to make a second trip.

One related sweep is worth doing while you’re there. If Google upgraded your Search campaigns to AI Max, other settings moved with that upgrade, and the settings Google switched on in the AI Max upgrade are worth reviewing in the same sitting.

Record what you changed and when. A setting you can’t date is a setting you can’t evaluate.

Frequently Asked Questions About Google Search Partners

Do search partners affect my Quality Score?

Google says the clickthrough rate (CTR) for ads on search partner sites doesn’t impact your Quality Score on Google. That leaves the decision resting on what the partner row costs you and what it produces in leads.

Can I block a few partner sites instead of turning them all off?

Yes. Google’s Search Network help page says you can opt out of specific search partner websites or placements, and it points to its site exclusion instructions for the steps. Use the placement report to find candidates, then follow Google’s steps rather than guessing at them. Our reading: exclusions fit when a few placements look wrong and the rest of the row is earning leads.

Is the Display Network the same thing?

No. The Display Network is its own setting in the same Networks area of a campaign’s settings, and the Network (with search partners) segment reports it as a separate row from Google Search and search partners. Google’s Search Network help page also says to remember to check your Display Network settings if you’re experiencing performance issues. Two settings, two decisions.

Can I turn search partners back on later?

Yes. The box under “Networks” can be checked again for that campaign whenever you want it back. Write down the date of each change as you make it, because a before-and-after comparison only works if you know where the line sits. Without that date, you’re comparing two blurred periods.

How many leads could I lose by turning search partners off?

Look at the conversions on the search partners row in the network segment. Those are the leads that came through partners, which makes that figure the closest answer your own account can give you. If the row shows no conversions, there’s nothing measurable to lose. That’s our reading of the question rather than a prediction.

What if my campaigns only get a few leads a month?

Then the comparison is thin, and splitting a handful of leads across network rows won’t settle much. Our reading: hold the setting steady and watch the cost sitting on the partner row. Decide on the plainer question of whether that spend is producing any lead at all. A thin comparison deserves a patient decision.

Not Sure What Your Network Numbers Are Telling You?

A segment with enough leads behind it makes this an ordinary decision. A thin one makes it a judgment call. If your rows aren’t telling you a clear story yet, that’s worth a conversation rather than a guess, so book a consultation with Spilt Media.