Leading Google Ads platform design

Outcome headline

Advertisers got a platform that adapts to them.

Google Ads · 2017–2022 · App Ads, Platform Services and the adaptive Ads experience

Summary box

My role: Interaction Designer, Google Ads → UX Manager, Google Ads, App Ads → Staff UX Manager, Google Ads
Team: The App Ads UXD team, then a Platform Services UXD team I stood up from zero in Mountain View and Bangalore (from 0 to 5 designers across 7 teams)
Timeframe: 2017–2022 · Platform Services UXD team stood up from zero in 2020
Partners: Draft note: to write
Scope: The AdWords → Google Ads redesign and App Ads; then Billing, MCC, Navigation, User Access & Security, Transparency, Deals & Incentives, reporting and creative direction, across Google Ads, DV360, Search Ads 360 and Google Advertisers CRM

The problem

In the Ads platform, one size does not fit all. Our frameworks needed to flex intelligently for multiple personas, from internal sales and large agencies (savvy) to SMB owners (basic). Instead we had complex navigation (5 navbars, 22 menu items and 33 subtabs), hard for SMB users to find their way through and repetitive for large advertisers and agencies. Billing was a generic UX shared across Cloud, YouTube, Play and Google One. Reporting was different across 3 Ads systems. And design decisions, and the way guidelines were applied, were inconsistent.

A row of six advertiser personas, from internal sales and large agencies to midsize companies and SMB owners, with their sophistication levels, above four thumbnails: complex navigation, generic billing UX, fragmented reporting UX and inconsistent design decisions. — In the Ads platform, one size does not fit all.

My leadership

I joined Google in 2017 to work on the AdWords → Google Ads redesign, across every aspect of a campaign's life. In 2019 I took on the App Ads UXD team, a nascent space that grew into a multi-billion-dollar business, and honed operational excellence there. In 2020 I was redrafted to stand up a new Platform Services UXD team from zero, across Mountain View and Bangalore, owning all things platform. In 2022 I moved to the Sales & Marketing Platform, for Ads-level influence and impact (Sales Intelligence & Customer Engagement, 2022–2025).

A timeline: consumer startups (Jobcase, Roomer), then joined Google in 2017, leading the App Ads UXD team, leading the Platform Services UXD team in 2020, and Sales & Marketing Platform in 2022. — My journey at Google.

confirm: this image says 2018 for the App Ads UXD team; LinkedIn says Feb 2019. Re-export the image with 2019, or remove it

Key decisions

Decision 1: An adaptive UX that grows with the advertiser.

Navigation. Adaptive navigation that grows with the advertiser's usage and helps them work efficiently (the image at the top of this page).
Billing for SMBs. From a generic Payments UX shared across Play, YouTube, Google One, Cloud and Ads to an experience Ads owns and operates, built from the ground up, with math that adds up across Ads surfaces. It's fully accessible and localized to global scale.

The Google Ads billing summary for a small business: next automatic payment, last payment, how automatic payments work, and a monthly activity list showing net cost and payments. — Billing for SMBs: math that adds up across Ads surfaces.

Billing for large customers. Tailored to large advertisers' top critical user journeys: identifying the most urgent invoices, seeing spend in local currency and local taxes, and invoice reconciliation.

The Google Ads invoices overview for a manager account: total amount due, a pie chart of invoice status, invoices in dispute, unapplied credits, and invoices grouped by currency. — Billing for large customers: the most urgent invoices first, in local currency.

Custom Columns. Reporting was fragmented across 3 Ads systems and 4+ personas. Custom Columns is an adaptive UX that grows with users' sophistication across Search Ads 360, Google Ads and Google Advertisers CRM.

The “Create a custom column” dialog in Google Ads, with a formula editor and formula ideas, above a Search Engine Land article excerpt: “Why we care. This is a monumental gift to Google Ads advertisers everywhere.” — Custom Columns, and Search Engine Land's take: “a monumental gift to Google Ads advertisers everywhere.”

Decision 2: Creative direction that goes beyond the pixels.

Consistency needed three layers. A design system and spec answers "How do we execute dropdowns and radio buttons consistently in the UI?" A pattern guide answers "How do we know which selection model to implement in which context?" A principles playbook answers "How do we know we're doing the right thing in this context?" We use dropdowns to apply a default that benefits the user. We use radio buttons to show every possibility without biasing the choice with a default.

"Assistive over Decisive." Principles transcend patterns and components. They act as a constitution: open enough to be interpreted, strict enough to dictate the right decision.

Three cards: a design system spec for a dropdown and radio buttons with measurements; a pattern guide explaining when to use a dropdown versus radio buttons; and a principles playbook card reading “Assistive over Decisive.” — Spec, pattern guide, principles playbook.

Impact

SMB billing: -30% support tickets, +2.7% retention, +5pp ease of use, across 15 user journeys. The Oct 2021 deck reports the same results.
Custom Columns: +33% engagement, -6% external reporting, 97% usage in Search Ads 360, and positive sentiment.
Breadth: I touched every aspect of the Ads experience: campaign construction, audience targeting, conversions and measurement, navigation and IA, billing, advanced platform capabilities across Ads, SA360, DV360 and CRM, and identity verification.

What I'd do differently

to write

→ Earlier work: building design from zero (2012–2017)