Google has addressed concerns about a potential withdrawal of the feature and a steep decline in customer service.

Google Ads has confirmed that support is not being phased out.

With the introduction of a paid support service in August, concerns arose among advertisers about the potential withdrawal of the free feature. The perceived decline in customer experience further fuelled the belief that the free support might no longer be a priority.

However, Google Ads has now revealed that big changes are on the horizon with AI expected to play a major role moving forward.

Why we care. Advertisers, particularly those with smaller budgets, rely on support from their Google Ads rep to address campaign issues. Losing this service would make it more challenging to resolve problems affecting campaign performance and, consequently, ad revenue.

What Google is saying. During a live PPC Chat Q&A, Google Ads liaison officer Ginny Marvin addressed concerns about support being phased out. She said:

• “I’m very aware of questions and concerns about this topic.”
• “Support isn’t being phased out but changes are being made. There have long been challenges on this front, as everyone is likely aware. I’ve talked about this before, but Support was one of the areas I wanted to understand better when I joined.”
• “With the scope of inquiries, it’s not an easy solve. That said, I know there are real frustrations about the current state, including chat.”
• “I do think Support is an area where LLMs/Google AI will be able to make big strides in improving experiences. That’s not happening yet, but work is underway. Stay tuned.”

Support issues. SMX Next speaker and PPC expert Julie F Bacchini explained that advertisers suspected support was being phased out for several reasons, telling Search Engine Land:

• “A lot of people have made comments like this lately, so this seems like an important question to [address]. People think it is being phased out for a few reasons…”
  • “It has gotten worse and harder to get answers lately.”
  • “Everything takes longer to get resolved.”
  • “The pilot program where you can pay for an actual call.”

AI replacing human support? Commenting on Marvin’s explanation as to what support will look like moving forward with AI playing a more significant role, Bacchini added:

• “I’m not surprised Google Ads is trying to bring AI into support. I think, like many companies, Google would love to find ways to have AI take over functions.”
• “For some low level tasks, it might be fine – but I can’t see AI every totally replacing human support.”

Paid support pilot. Marvin later confirmed that Google Ad’s paid support pilot is still ongoing, however there is no update on this front. In August, the platform’s enhanced customer service feature, which offers one-on-one support tailored to specific customer needs, was rolled out to small businesses as part of a new paid pilot for the first time. Historically, this level of one-on-one support has historically only been offered to Google Ads’ biggest clients.