What Is Search Partners?
Search Partners is Google's inventory of non-Google search sites (AOL, Ask.com, DuckDuckGo in some regions, hundreds of niche search engines and site-search boxes) where your Search and Shopping ads can also appear. It is opt-in by default at the campaign level; performance and quality vary widely by account.
Search Partners on a lead-gen account
A B2B account runs Search across Google plus Partners. Segment report shows Partners = 22 percent of impressions, 18 percent of clicks, 6 percent of conversions, at a 210 dollar CPA vs 78 dollars on Google.com. Opting out of Partners cuts spend by 12 percent and lifts blended CPA by 4 percent. On a different ecommerce account, Partners perform within 15 percent of Google.com and stay on. Test per account, do not assume.
Benchmarks
- Typical Partners share of Search impressions: 10 to 30 percent.
- Partners CPA vs Google.com: often 1.5 to 3x higher on B2B and lead-gen.
- On broad ecommerce, Partners often within 20 percent of Google.com CPA.
Why it matters
Search Partners is one of the fastest opt-out efficiency wins on Google Ads for lead-gen and B2B, and one of the fastest ways to lose incremental volume on ecommerce. Judge per account with the Network segment report, never on defaults.
Common mistakes
- 1.Leaving Partners on for lead-gen without segmenting Network. Silent CPA drag.
- 2.Opting out globally on ecommerce without checking. Cuts profitable incremental volume.
- 3.Judging on 7 days. Partners traffic is spikier; use 28 to 60 days.
- 4.Confusing Search Partners with Display Network. Different inventories, different opt-outs.
Put Search Partners to work
Free calculators
Related services
FAQs about Search Partners
How do I see Search Partners performance separately?
Add the Network segment to any Search campaign report. It splits Google Search from Search Partners and (if applicable) Display Network.
Can I opt out of Search Partners on PMax?
No. PMax runs across all Google inventory by design. On PMax you control it via brand exclusions, feed tuning, and audience signals, not network opt-out.
Related terms
Google's 1 to 10 rating of expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page.
Google's ML bid strategies (tCPA, tROAS, Max Conv, Max Value).
Google's banner and native inventory across 2M+ partner sites.
Ad spend divided by conversions, the price of one action.
Google's cross-inventory campaign driven by asset feeds and audience signals.