SearchAI CEO Johnny Collins on Why Automation Needs Governance, Not Replacement

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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SearchAI Editorial: Let's start with the obvious question. SearchAI is an AI company that audits AI-powered advertising. Isn't there some tension there?

Johnny Collins: Not at all. I'm deeply pro-AI. What I'm against is unaccountable AI—systems that make decisions affecting millions of dollars with no visibility into why or how.

When Google runs Performance Max, they're using incredibly sophisticated AI. But that AI optimizes for Google's definition of success, which may not match yours. Our AI—Holly—is the independent auditor that asks: "Is this actually working for the advertiser?"

Think of it like autopilot in aviation. Autopilot is amazing. But pilots don't turn it on and go to sleep. They monitor instruments, verify the plane is on course, and take over when needed. SearchAI gives advertisers their instrument panel back.

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Editorial: You often talk about "forensic" auditing. What makes an audit forensic versus... regular?

Collins: A regular audit tells you what's happening at the surface level. Quality Scores, CTR, impression share. Those are symptoms, not diagnoses.

Forensic auditing means we trace every dollar to its destination. We look inside the black box. We quantify the financial impact of every issue. When we say "you have brand cannibalization," we don't just flag it—we tell you it's costing you $14,000 a month, here are the specific terms, and here's exactly how to fix it.

It's the difference between a doctor saying "you seem tired" and running bloodwork to find out why.

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Editorial: What's the biggest mistake you see advertisers making with Performance Max?

Collins: Trusting the reported ROAS without understanding what's behind it.

PMax gravitates toward branded search because it converts well. So your ROAS looks great, you think PMax is a miracle worker, but actually 20% of that spend is just intercepting people who were already searching for you by name.

I've seen accounts where the reported ROAS was 6x, but after removing brand traffic, the true non-brand ROAS was 1.8x. That's not a successful campaign—that's an expensive brand tax disguised as performance.

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Editorial: Some would say that's still incremental—maybe those branded searchers would have clicked a competitor ad instead.

Collins: That's the argument, and it's sometimes valid. But in most cases, the user searching "[Your Brand Name]" isn't comparison shopping. They want you specifically. The click you're paying for was probably yours anyway through organic or a dedicated brand campaign at a fraction of the cost.

We're not anti-brand bidding. Strategic brand bidding is fine. What we're against is accidental brand bidding inside automated campaigns that inflates your metrics while wasting money.

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Editorial: Let's talk about the future. Where is Google Ads heading?

Collins: More automation, less visibility. AI Max is the next step—even more AI control over targeting and creative. And look, the AI is genuinely good at many things. But the less visibility advertisers have, the more important independent oversight becomes.

I think we'll see a split in the market. Small advertisers who can't afford sophisticated management will go full auto-pilot and accept whatever Google gives them. Sophisticated advertisers will layer governance on top—using tools like SearchAI to verify, audit, and optimize.

The winners will be the ones who embrace automation and accountability.

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Editorial: You've been vocal about the phrase "Stop Guessing. Start Knowing." What does that mean to you?

Collins: For too long, advertising has been a faith-based activity. You spend money, you hope it works, you trust the platforms to tell you the truth about their own performance.

"Stop Guessing. Start Knowing" means evidence over opinion. Numbers over vibes. Independent verification over self-reported metrics.

When a CFO asks "is our ad spend working?" the answer shouldn't be "we think so." It should be "here's the data, here's the waste, here's the plan to fix it."

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Editorial: Final question: What's the one thing you wish every advertiser understood about their Google Ads account?

Collins: That the platforms are not neutral. Google makes money when you spend more. Their incentives are not perfectly aligned with yours. That's not evil—it's just business.

The advertisers who thrive are the ones who treat Google as a powerful tool, not a trusted advisor. Use the automation. Embrace the AI. But verify everything. Have a second opinion. Don't outsource your judgment to the party who benefits from you spending more.

That's what SearchAI exists to provide—the independent second opinion that advertising has always needed.

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Johnny Collins is the Founder and CEO of SearchAI. He can be reached at [email protected].