Test it rather than assuming. Search Partners performs differently by account, and the only way to know is to segment your own data — but segment it first, because most people turn it off on reputation rather than evidence.

On this page

• How do I decide whether to turn off Search Partners?
• When should I turn off Google Search Partners?
• When should I keep Google Search Partners on?
• Which related setting matters more than Search Partners?
• What is the bigger version of the Search Partners question?
• How should I test turning off Search Partners?

How do I decide whether to turn off Search Partners?

Pull performance by network. Compare Search against Search Partners on cost per acquisition and conversion rate, over a settled window.

Never read days younger than 4. Measured on an apparel account, a window ending 1 day ago backfilled +83.7% on re-read, while windows 4 or more days old backfilled 0.0%.

When should I turn off Google Search Partners?

• Materially worse cost per acquisition at meaningful volume.
• Very low conversion rate with reasonable click volume.
• Lead-gen accounts where partner traffic correlates with junk leads.

When should I keep Google Search Partners on?

• Comparable performance. You are buying incremental volume.
• Volume-constrained accounts that need reach.
• Small samples where the difference is not significant. Do not act on 30 clicks.

Which related setting matters more than Search Partners?

Placement exclusions apply to Search Partners too as part of the account-level exclusion scope, which also covers Search, Shopping, Display, Video, Demand Gen and Performance Max.

So if you are excluding domains for a Display or Demand Gen problem, understand the blast radius. There is no campaign-level placement exclusion for Demand Gen — account level is the only lever.

What is the bigger version of the Search Partners question?

On Performance Max, the equivalent question is far more expensive and far less visible, because the campaign reports one blended cost per click across Search, YouTube, Gmail and Display.

Measured on a software affiliate account across 12 days, all 8 Performance Max campaigns: non-Search inventory took $949.68 for 1.3 conversions, while every other conversion came from the Search slice. Roughly $2,406 a month.

Segment by network type before judging any Performance Max arm. That leak is bigger than the Search Partners question on most accounts.

How should I test turning off Search Partners?

One change, one read date, written down in advance. Turning off Search Partners in the same week you change a budget teaches you nothing about either.

Related questions

Why can't I see all my search terms in Google Ads, and how much of my spend is hidden?

Google withholds terms that were not searched by "a significant number of users," which on most accounts leaves a material share of spend unattributed to any visible query. The fix is not to recover the terms — it is to stop needing them. Read the full answer.

Why am I first on one Local Services Ads search and nowhere on the next?

LSA ranking is recomputed per search and is heavily driven by proximity to the searcher, your responsiveness, review profile, and whether your budget can still serve. Two searches minutes apart from different postcodes are genuinely different auctions. Read the full answer.

It's my slow season. Should I pause my Google Ads campaigns or just turn the budget down?

Turn the budget down. Pausing does not save you as much as it costs — the campaign re-enters a market that moved while you were away, and you lose the continuity that makes the bidder useful when demand returns. Read the full answer.

Written by Usama Khan, who runs Google Ads for e-commerce brands and home-services companies at AdventurAds. Figures are from accounts under active management and are anonymised. Last reviewed 2026-08-26.