5 Proven Strategies to Increase Your ROAS in 2025

Google Ads is changing fast. Third-party cookies are on their way out and AI-powered campaigns now run a big part of the show. Below are the strategies we actually use at Saerens Advertising to push ROAS up, written so you can apply them yourself or know what to ask of an agency.

The 2025 benchmark: what is a good ROAS?

Before diving into strategies, you need to know where you stand. Recent benchmarks for Google Ads in 2025:

• Median ROAS: 3.52:1 (€3.52 revenue per €1 ad spend)
• Strong performance: 4:1 or higher
• Break-even ROAS: 2:1 (at a 50% profit margin)

Google Ads outperforms Facebook (2.21:1) and LinkedIn (2.89:1) on average. With the right setup, you can comfortably exceed those numbers.

1. First-party data: your new gold mine

With third-party cookies disappearing, first-party data has become the main competitive differentiator. This is data you collect directly from your customers, with their consent.

What should you collect?

• Email addresses via lead magnets, newsletters, and accounts
• Purchase history linked to customer IDs
• Website behavior via enhanced conversions
• CRM data such as customer lifetime value

How to use it

Upload your CRM lists (minimum 1,000 users for Search, 100 for Display) to build lookalike audiences and retarget high-value customers through Customer Match. Brands using first-party data for retargeting see up to twice as many orders per euro invested.

With Enhanced Conversions, you hash customer data to match ad clicks, even without cookies. That improves your tracking accuracy and gives Smart Bidding better signals to work with.

2. Using Smart Bidding well

Google's AI-powered Smart Bidding strategies optimize in real time at auction level. Picking the right strategy matters:

Strategy	When to use
Target ROAS	When you know what return you need
Target CPA	For lead generation with a fixed cost per lead
Maximize Conversion Value	When customers have different values
Maximize Conversions	To generate volume within budget

Pro tip: use Smart Bidding Exploration. It allocates around 20% of your budget to new audiences and placements while keeping 80% on target. Campaigns with Exploration enabled see roughly 18% more conversions on average.

3. Implementing value-based bidding

Traditional ROAS treats all revenue equally. But a €100 sale at 60% margin is worth a lot more than a €100 sale at 20% margin. Value-based bidding solves that.

How to implement it

1. Assign conversion values to each action in Google Ads
2. Use Target ROAS or Maximize Conversion Value
3. Prioritize campaigns or products based on lifetime value

One client we worked with shifted budget toward LTV-optimized products and grew annual revenue by €2.3 million while reducing ad spend by 18%.

4. Setting up Performance Max correctly

Performance Max can perform very well, but only with the right setup. The 2025 updates give you noticeably more control:

• Search Themes: add 8 to 12 keyword themes to guide the algorithm
• Campaign-level negative keywords: block competitors, job searches and free queries
• Asset Group Testing: test at asset group level (not campaign level) to avoid data starvation

Combined, these controls give you 30 to 40% more grip on your Search budget allocation.

5. Avoid the GA4 attribution trap

This is a common mistake: GA4 introduces a delay of 6 to 18 hours in conversion data. That cripples Smart Bidding.

The fix: use Google Ads conversion tracking directly instead of relying on GA4 alone. In our accounts that delivers 15 to 20% better performance than GA4-only tracking.

Action plan: start today

A short checklist to push ROAS up:

• Enable Enhanced Conversions with first-party data hashing
• Switch from Target CPA to Target ROAS for around 14% more conversion value
• Build Customer Match lists from your CRM
• Add negative keywords to Performance Max campaigns
• Test Smart Bidding Exploration
• Assign conversion values to all important actions
• Use Google Ads conversion tracking, not just GA4

Need help with your Google Ads?

At Saerens Advertising we help e-commerce and lead generation businesses raise their ROAS with data-driven strategies. We combine first-party data, value-based bidding and tighter campaign structures.

Want to know how your account is doing? Request a free audit and find out where you are leaving opportunities on the table.