google-ads-optimizer

Process

1. Diagnose — Identify the specific performance problem (rising CPA, declining ROAS, low impression share, poor Quality Score, etc.)
2. Analyze root cause — Use the Diagnostic Decision Tree to pinpoint the issue
3. Select optimization lever — Match the problem to the right framework below
4. Implement changes — Follow the specific optimization playbook
5. Monitor learning phase — Wait 7-14 days before judging results
6. Iterate — Review, adjust 10-15% incrementally, repeat

Diagnostic Decision Tree

What's the primary symptom?

Symptom	Most Likely Cause	Start Here
CPA rising, conversions stable	Increased competition or bid inflation	Bid Optimization → Budget Reallocation
CPA rising, conversions declining	Tracking issue, audience exhaustion, or creative fatigue	Check tracking first → Audience Refinement
Low impression share (<30%)	Underbidding or budget constraints	Impression Share Analysis
High impression share (>95%) with low ROI	Overspending on low-value queries	Search Term Management → Negative Keywords
Quality Score declining	Landing page, ad relevance, or CTR issues	Quality Score Optimization
Good clicks, low conversion rate	Landing page problem or audience mismatch	Landing Page Optimization
PMax underperforming	Asset quality, audience signals, or budget	PMax Optimization
AI Max volatile	Still in learning or exploring new queries	Wait 7-14 days → review Smart Bidding Exploration

Bid Optimization

Smart Bidding Adjustment Rules

Scenario	Action	Increment
CPA consistently below target for 2+ weeks	Lower tCPA target to capture more efficient range	Decrease 10-15%
CPA consistently above target for 2+ weeks	Raise tCPA target (or algorithm delivery collapses)	Increase 10-15%
ROAS above target for 2+ weeks	Lower tROAS target to allow more volume	Decrease 10-15%
ROAS below target for 2+ weeks	Raise tROAS target to tighten efficiency	Increase 10-15%
Campaign in learning phase	Do nothing. Wait 7-14 days	No changes
Delivery collapsed (near-zero spend)	Target too aggressive — raise tCPA / lower tROAS	Increase 20-30% to restore delivery

Key rules:

• Never change targets by more than 15-20% at once (except delivery collapse rescue)
• Use bid simulators before making changes — forecast the impact
• Day-of-week and hour-of-day adjustments: analyze 90 days of conversion data, then apply bid modifiers to high/low performing time slots
• ECPC is deprecated (March 2025). If any campaign is running ECPC, it reverted to Manual CPC. Migrate to Maximize Conversions or tCPA immediately

Portfolio Bid Strategy Optimization

Portfolio strategies pool data across multiple campaigns for better optimization.

When to Use	Benefit
Multiple campaigns targeting same conversion	Shared learning = faster optimization
Related campaigns with different budgets	Dynamic reallocation across campaigns
Account-wide ROAS/CPA goal	Unified strategy. Typical lift: 19-27% ROAS improvement

Setup: Create portfolio strategy → assign related campaigns → set shared target → monitor at portfolio level, not individual campaign level.

Budget Reallocation

Intra-Account Reallocation Framework

Step	Action
1. Rank campaigns	Sort by primary KPI (CPA, ROAS, or conversion volume)
2. Identify donors	Campaigns with CPA > 1.5x target OR ROAS < 50% of target for 30+ days
3. Identify recipients	Campaigns with CPA < target AND impression share lost to budget > 10%
4. Shift budget	Move 20% of donor budget to recipients. Monitor for 2 weeks
5. Repeat	Continue rebalancing every 2-4 weeks

Scaling rule: Increase winning campaign budgets by 20% increments maximum. Larger jumps destabilize Smart Bidding.

Day-of-week pacing: Analyze 90 days of conversion data by day of week. If Tuesdays convert 2x better than Saturdays, use dayparting scripts or budget adjustments to concentrate spend on high-converting days.

For automated budget pacing and redistribution scripts, use the google-ads-scripts skill.

Impression Share Analysis

Metric	Threshold	Interpretation	Action
Search IS	<30%	Significantly underbidding or underfunded	Increase budget or raise bids (if profitable)
Search IS	30-70%	Room to grow	Evaluate if more spend is profitable before scaling
Search IS	>95%	Dominating — but is it efficient?	If ROI is strong, maintain. If ROI is weak, you're overspending
IS Lost (Budget)	>20% on profitable campaigns	Budget-constrained on winners	Priority budget increase
IS Lost (Rank)	>30%	Ad rank too low	Improve Quality Score or increase bids
Top IS	<50% for brand terms	Competitors above you on your brand	Increase brand campaign bids

Quality Score Optimization

Quality Score components, in order of optimization impact:

1. Landing Page Experience (widest impact)

Fix	Expected Impact
Page speed <3 seconds (GTmetrix / PageSpeed Insights)	Major — Google's 2025 quality system heavily weights navigation ease
Message match: landing page headline mirrors ad headline	High — direct relevance signal
Mobile optimization (responsive, thumb-friendly, no pop-ups)	High — mobile-first indexing active
Relevant content depth (not thin landing pages)	Medium
Clear CTA above the fold	Medium
Trust signals (testimonials, badges, reviews)	Medium

2. Ad Relevance

Fix	Expected Impact
Tighten ad group themes (5-15 related keywords per group)	High
Write intent-specific headlines matching the keyword theme	High
Use keyword insertion in headlines (where natural)	Medium
Create separate ad groups for distinct intent clusters	High

3. Expected CTR

Fix	Expected Impact
Add negative keywords to filter irrelevant impressions	High (removes low-CTR impressions)
Test new headline angles emphasizing benefits and CTAs	Medium
Add extensions (sitelinks, callouts increase ad real estate → CTR)	Medium
Improve ad position (higher position → higher CTR, but check ROI)	Low-Medium

QS impact on CPC: Moving Quality Score from 4 to 6 typically reduces CPC by 15-25%. From 6 to 8 reduces another 10-15%. Compounding effect is significant at scale.

Ad Copy Iteration

RSA Asset Performance Review

Use Google's 2025 asset-level reporting:

Asset Rating	Action
Best	Keep. This is a proven winner. Don't change it
Good	Maintain but consider testing alternatives
Low	Replace with new variation. Test a different angle
Unrated	Needs more data. Wait for significance

Replacement strategy:

1. Review asset ratings monthly
2. Replace 2-3 "Low" rated headlines per RSA
3. Keep at least 5 "Best" or "Good" headlines stable
4. Test new messaging angles: different benefit, different proof point, different CTA
5. Isolate one variable per test cycle

Ad copy testing areas:

• Value propositions (speed vs cost vs quality vs convenience)
• Social proof styles (numbers, names, ratings)
• CTA types (demo vs trial vs quote vs buy)
• Emotional vs rational appeals
• Price inclusion vs exclusion

Read references/rsa-copy-guide.md in the google-ads-campaign-builder skill for headline frameworks.

Audience Optimization

Action	When
Refresh remarketing lists	Lists approaching expiration or audience size dropping
Upload new customer match lists	Monthly CRM sync minimum
Test new in-market segments	Performance plateau — need new audience pools
Expand custom intent audiences	Add new URLs and search terms based on converting queries
Switch observation → targeting	Audience segment shows strong performance in observation mode
Remove underperforming segments	Audience with high spend, zero conversions for 30+ days
Add audience signals to PMax	Missing signals = slower PMax learning

Placement & Channel Optimization

PMax Channel Review (2025)

Use PMax channel performance reports to assess where budget is going:

Channel	Healthy Signal	Problem Signal
Search	Converting at or below tCPA	Queries irrelevant — add negatives
Shopping	Product-level conversions visible	Underperforming products need feed optimization
YouTube	Assists showing in conversion paths	Clicks but zero conversions — improve video assets
Display	Remarketing conversions	Low-quality placements — review placement reports
Discover/Gmail	Engagement leading to conversions	High impressions, no conversions — creative issue

PMax negatives (January 2025): Use campaign-level negative keywords to block irrelevant Search queries. Also add exact-match keywords in Search campaigns to control which campaign serves on high-value queries.

Display Placement Hygiene

• Review placement report monthly
• Exclude low-quality sites, mobile apps, and gaming apps
• Use third-party exclusion lists: DoubleVerify, IAS, Zefr (expanded for PMax in 2025)
• Exclude sensitive content categories

Landing Page Optimization

Test	Method	Priority
Headlines	A/B test headline messaging (match winning ad copy)	High
CTA button	Text, color, placement, size	High
Form length	Fewer fields vs more qualified leads	High (lead gen)
Social proof	Type, placement, volume of testimonials	Medium
Page layout	Long-form vs short-form, single-column vs multi	Medium
Mobile experience	Mobile-specific design, thumb-friendly buttons	High

Message match audit: After changing ad copy, always check that the landing page still matches the new message. Mismatched message = high bounce rate = lower Quality Score.

Speed target: <3 seconds load time. Re-test monthly. Use GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights.

Scaling Playbook

Phase	Timing	Action
Peak window	Days 7-14 post-launch	Algorithm has data but creative isn't fatigued. Best time to scale
Budget increase	When CPA < target for 2+ weeks	Increase by 20% max. Monitor for 1-2 weeks
New ad groups	When current groups saturated	Expand keyword themes based on search term mining
Campaign experiments	For aggressive tests	Google Campaign Experiments: 50/50 split without risking main campaign
New campaign types	When ready for full-funnel	Add Demand Gen (awareness) and PMax (full-funnel) per Power Pack strategy

AI Max for Search scaling: Monitor Smart Bidding Exploration for new query categories being discovered. If AI Max is finding converting queries that standard Search misses, consider shifting more budget to AI Max. Learning phase: 7-14 days.

Output Format

## Google Ads Optimization Plan

### Current Performance Summary
| Metric | Current | Target | Gap |
|--------|---------|--------|-----|
| CPA | $[X] | $[X] | [+/-X%] |
| ROAS | [X]x | [X]x | [+/-X%] |
| Impression Share | [X]% | [X]% | [gap] |

### Optimization Actions (ICE-prioritized)
| Priority | Action | Lever | ICE Score | Timeline |
|----------|--------|-------|-----------|----------|
| 1 | [action] | [bid/budget/QS/etc] | [score] | [when] |

### Changes to Implement
[Specific changes with exact values]

### Monitoring Plan
- Check [metric] after [X] days
- Success criteria: [what good looks like]
- Rollback plan: [if it doesn't work]

Example

Input: "My Google Ads CPA went from $85 to $140 over 6 weeks. I'm spending $12K/month across 3 Search campaigns and 1 PMax campaign. ROAS dropped from 5.2x to 3.1x. tROAS is set at 500%. What should I do?"

Output:

Google Ads Optimization Plan

Current Performance Summary

Metric	Current	Target	Gap
CPA	$140	$85	+65% above target
ROAS	3.1x	5.0x	-38% below target
Monthly spend	$12,000	$12,000	On budget

Root Cause Analysis

With tROAS set at 500% but actual ROAS at 310%, the algorithm is likely throttling delivery to try to hit an unrealistic target. This creates a death spiral: less data → worse optimization → worse performance → algorithm throttles more.

Optimization Actions

Priority	Action	Lever	ICE Score	Timeline
1	Lower tROAS from 500% to 350% (current actual + 10% buffer)	Bid	9×9×10 = 810	Day 1
2	Run n-gram analysis on search terms — find and negate $50+ zero-conversion terms	Keywords	9×8×9 = 648	Day 1-3
3	Review PMax channel performance — identify underperforming channels	Channel	7×7×8 = 392	Week 1
4	Refresh RSA copy — replace "Low" rated assets	Creative	6×6×7 = 252	Week 2
5	Test portfolio bid strategy across 3 Search campaigns	Bid	7×6×6 = 252	Week 2
6	Landing page speed audit + message match review	QS	6×7×5 = 210	Week 2-3

Changes to Implement

1. tROAS adjustment: Lower from 500% to 350% immediately. This matches actual performance with a 10% improvement buffer. Algorithm can deliver here. After 2 weeks at stable delivery, tighten by 10-15% increments toward 400%.
2. Search term cleanup: Export 90-day search term report. Run n-gram analysis. Flag n-grams with $50+ spend and 0 conversions. Based on typical accounts at this spend level, expect to find $1,000-2,000/month in waste.
3. PMax channel audit: Pull channel performance reports (2025 feature). If YouTube is consuming 30%+ of PMax budget with no conversions, create more targeted video assets or add negative keywords to block irrelevant Search queries in PMax.
4. Portfolio bid strategy: Consolidate 3 Search campaigns into a portfolio strategy with shared tROAS. Typical improvement: 19-27% ROAS lift from dynamic cross-campaign reallocation.

Monitoring Plan

• Day 7: Check if tROAS reduction restored delivery volume. Expect CPA to initially be above target — that's OK. Volume recovery matters first
• Day 14: Evaluate CPA trend. Should be declining toward $100-120 range
• Day 21: If stable, tighten tROAS by 10% (350% → 385%)
• Success criteria: CPA below $110 within 30 days, ROAS above 3.8x
• Rollback: If delivery collapses further after tROAS change, drop to Maximize Conversion Value (no target) for 2 weeks to accumulate data, then reintroduce tROAS target

Guidelines

• Don't change bid targets by more than 15-20% at once. Gradual adjustments let the algorithm adapt. Exception: delivery collapse rescue (increase 20-30%).
• Don't touch campaigns during learning phase. 7-14 days. Performance will fluctuate. Premature changes reset learning and waste the data collection period.
• Don't ignore the tROAS/tCPA death spiral. If targets are set above actual performance, the algorithm throttles delivery, gets less data, and performs worse. Always set targets at or slightly above current performance, then tighten gradually.
• Don't optimize on fractional conversions. Data-driven attribution creates fractions. Filter to > 1 conversion before evaluating keyword or ad group CPA.
• Don't skip search term review. Even with Smart Bidding, irrelevant queries waste budget. Weekly for new campaigns, bi-weekly for stable ones.
• ECPC is gone (March 2025). Any campaign still on ECPC reverted to Manual CPC. Migrate immediately to Maximize Conversions or tCPA.
• AI Max needs patience (September 2025). Smart Bidding Exploration tests new query categories. Initial volatility is expected. Monitor but don't intervene for 7-14 days.
• PMax now has transparency (2025). Campaign-level negatives, full search term reporting, and channel performance reports. Use them before declaring PMax doesn't work.
• Cross-references: For full account diagnostic, use the google-ads-audit skill. For keyword research and n-gram analysis, use the google-ads-keyword-engine skill. For automation scripts (budget pacing, anomaly detection, n-gram), use the google-ads-scripts skill. For Meta optimization, use the meta-ads-optimizer skill. For cross-channel budget allocation, use the ad-spend-allocator skill.
• Confidence: Bid simulator forecasts are directional, not guarantees. The 19-27% ROAS improvement from portfolio strategies is a Google benchmark — results vary by account. Always set rollback criteria before making major changes.