Google Search Partners: The Default Setting Wasting Your Ad Spend

If you've ever launched a Google Ads search campaign and left every setting on default, there's a good chance you're paying for clicks you never actually wanted. Buried inside your campaign's Networks section is a checkbox called "Search Partners" — and it's ticked on by default for virtually every new Search campaign. Most small business owners never notice it. That's exactly the problem.

What Is the Google Search Partners Network?

Google Search Partners is a network of third-party sites, portals, and non-Google search boxes that display your Search and Shopping ads alongside their own results. It sounds like a bonus — more visibility, more reach, more clicks. But the actual sites your ads appear on are not disclosed to you in any meaningful way. Google publishes no full list of partner sites, and until recently there was no placement-level report at all, meaning advertisers were essentially flying blind on where their budget was landing.

Why It's Turned On by Default

Google frames Search Partners as an easy way to extend your campaign's reach beyond the core Google Search results page. Google Search Partners is a network of non-Google search boxes, portals and some Google properties outside Google Search that can show your Search and Shopping ads, and it is a campaign-level checkbox under Settings then Networks, ticked by default on new Search campaigns, separate from the Display Network option. For an advertiser who's simply following the setup wizard, there's no obvious reason to uncheck it — and no warning that traffic quality can vary wildly from what Google Search itself delivers.

Why the Traffic Quality Is a Real Concern

The core issue isn't that Search Partners traffic is worthless — it's that it behaves differently than Google Search traffic, often in ways that quietly drain budget for small advertisers who aren't watching closely.

• Lower click-through and conversion rates: Analysis of Google Ads accounts consistently shows that search partners are usually a very small percentage of overall traffic, and the second item to note is the Search Partners often have a much lower click through rate than Google Search. That pattern continues with conversions, where accounts with more clicks on the search partner network show a common trend that the conversion rate is often much lower on search partners.
• Cheaper clicks that aren't actually cheaper: Search Partners CPCs are often lower, but the traffic from these partner sites is often poor — you may get plenty of clicks, and the cost per click is often much cheaper than Google Search, but you usually get what you pay for.
• Almost no control over placements: Unlike the Display Network, where you can exclude specific sites, with Google Ads your only options are to turn Search Partners on or off — you cannot control which Search Partner sites you want your ads to appear on or block individual Search Partners.

What's Changed Recently — and Why It Matters Now

Google has been quietly tightening up this corner of the platform. Parked domains, one of the lowest-quality corners of the network, were removed as an eligible ad surface entirely, and Google has rolled out new reporting tools that finally let advertisers see where their money is going. Google's January 2026 rollout of Performance Max channel reporting with Search Partner Network segmentation extends to all Customer IDs, providing campaign-level performance transparency so advertisers can evaluate whether this inventory contributes meaningfully to conversion goals or represents wasted spend on low-quality placements.

Even with the added transparency, real gaps remain. Advertisers can identify which domains received impressions but cannot definitively calculate the cost-per-click, conversion rate, or return on ad spend for individual Search Partner properties. In other words, you now get a peek behind the curtain, but not enough detail to fully audit performance site by site — which is exactly why so many advertisers choose to opt out rather than try to manage it.

Not Every Business Should Turn It Off

To be fair, Search Partners isn't universally bad. Google has invested in improving bid pricing and location targeting for this network, and its own data suggests some upside for certain advertisers. Google's updated performance claims assert that advertisers with at least 5% of spend on Search Partners achieve an 11% conversion uplift with volume-focused Smart Bidding strategies, and a 7% conversion value uplift with value-focused strategies, in campaigns not constrained by budget. If you have healthy conversion volume, Smart Bidding turned on, and budget room to spare, the network may genuinely add incremental value. The problem is that most small businesses running lean, budget-constrained campaigns don't fit that profile — and they're the ones most likely to get burned.

One Action to Take Right Now

Don't guess — check your own data. Log into Google Ads, open any Search campaign, and segment your performance table by "Network (with search partners)." Compare cost-per-conversion and conversion rate between Google Search and Search Partners over the last 90 days. If Search Partners is dragging down your blended numbers, uncheck the box at the campaign level. If your budget is tight or you're not running Smart Bidding with solid conversion data, opting out is usually the safer default.

Stop Guessing With Your Ad Budget

Small settings like this one are exactly why so many small business owners feel like their Google Ads account is a black box eating money with little to show for it. You don't need to become a full-time PPC analyst to protect your budget — you just need someone checking the right boxes, literally and figuratively. If you'd rather have a second set of eyes catch waste like this before it drains another month of spend, Kicks Digital Marketing can run a straightforward audit of your account and show you exactly where your dollars are going. No jargon, no lock-in contracts — just a clear look at what's working and what isn't.