Essential Insights for Google Ads Management

The difference between profitable and failing Google Ads accounts often comes down to one thing: which metrics you're tracking. I've optimized accounts from $10K to $100K+ monthly spend, and the process always starts with setting up the right data columns. Most advertisers focus on vanity metrics while missing the numbers that actually determine profitability. For successful campaign management, you need to configure your Google Ads dashboard to show: conversions, cost per conversion, cost, impressions, clicks, and conversion rate. But there's a critical issue Google doesn't tell you about: conversion reporting lag. Your standard conversions column often shows incomplete data for recent periods (sometimes missing up to 30% of conversions!). This creates a dangerous situation where you might pause or reduce budget on campaigns that are actually hitting your targets. The fix is simple but powerful: create a custom column for "CPA by Conversion Time" using cost ÷ conversions by conversion time. This gives you accurate, real-time cost per conversion data rather than relying on delayed reporting. For e-commerce accounts, do the same with "ROAS by Conversion Time" to see your true return on ad spend as it happens. Also vital: monitor your Search Impression Share to identify scaling opportunities where you can capture more market share while maintaining profitability. If you're hitting your CPA targets with only 20-30% impression share, you're leaving significant growth potential on the table. Setting up these columns takes just minutes but transforms how you make decisions in your account. Comment "COLUMNS" below to get my complete Google Ads metrics setup guide with step-by-step instructions for both lead gen and e-commerce accounts. (Please send a connection request if we're not already connected so I can share it directly!) #GoogleAdsMetrics #PPCOptimization #DigitalAdvertising #PPC #SEA #SEM #googleadscolumns

Over the last 4 years, Directive has run over $65M in Google ads for the top companies in tech. Here are the 3 biggest mistakes I see SaaS companies make with Google ads (and how to fix them): 1. They spend their budget on “informational intent” queries that have no chance of converting This seems obvious, but *every* account we audit makes this mistake. Here’s how to fix it: Step 1: Analyze Non Brand Queries - Filter to look at non-brand keywords - Filter those keywords to look at "keyword text contains" and input all the modifiers - Compare these keywords to "keyword text does not contain" the modifiers Example commercial intent modifiers: Software, Services, Provider, Company, Quote, Vendor, Solution, Best, Tool, Platform, Buy, Top, Comparison. Step 2: Segment your Campaigns by Intent - Ensure commercial and non commercial keywords are not in the same campaign (i.e. do not have "employee recognition" in the same campaign as "employee recognition software"). - Control budget on the campaign level. Ensure you don't have commercial intent keywords fighting for budget with lower intent keywords that have more search volume. Step 3: Max out budget on those high intent Keywords - Grow your keyword pool by finding more commercial intent keywords from scraping relevant software directories 2. They Use Request a Demo CTA The most widely used CTA in B2B SaaS is “Request a Demo”. Unfortunately, this causes hidden psychological friction... When you request something there’s an opportunity you wont be able to have it. See IMAGE BELOW for CTA’s you should test instead. Backed by data from our portfolio. 3. They Don’t Audit Their Ad Experience From Search Term > Ad Copy > Landing Page > Form > CTA > Scheduling It ALL needs to be audited. - Search term: Google ads pretends to target by keywords, but the truth in how you show up is in your search term report. Audit and understand this first. - Ad Copy: Don’t give Google control of your messaging. They will keyword stuff your ads and that won't work. - Landing Page: Is it fast? Does it deliver on the promise of the ad? - Form: Is your form too long? Can you do a two column layout for field? Does it have copy to entice you to convert? How long is the trial? Are you using an enrichment tool? - CTA: What is the copy on your form submit button? Can you be more compelling or creative? - Scheduling: What happens after they convert? Can they schedule a call? Do they have to wait for sales? Are they added to a retargeting campaign to support your lifecycle conversion rates? TAKEAWAY: Anyone who says Google Ads don’t work anymore is lying to you. It’s poorly managed campaigns that don’t work. So, go be your prospect. Experience your ads. Be critical. Ask yourself... “If I had to narrow my search to three brands while searching on Google would I choose ours?” Then run AZ tests, not AB tests. And GET OUT of the platform. Great ads are optimized for the wild, not in platform

In early 2023, I KILLED a Google Ads campaign by OBSESSING over negative keywords... There I was, watching our conversion rates tank while frantically adding negative keywords to our smart bidding campaigns. "These search terms are irrelevant!" I told myself, as I systematically destroyed months of algorithm learning. My client was breathing down my neck, and I was desperate to show I was "optimizing" the account. What I discovered changed everything: Google Ads has fundamentally shifted from keyword targeting to audience targeting, and most advertisers haven't caught up. This is super important... Even though we are targeting keywords Google Switched this on us. We are actually targeting audiences... and here's what happens... Stop Fighting Your Smart Bidding Campaigns! Every time you dump a list of negative keywords into your smart bidding campaigns, you're essentially telling a Ferrari to drive like a Toyota Corolla. You are resetting Google's learnings and it has is trying to figure out and test new opportunities with the new restrictions. Advertisers switch to broad match with smart bidding, freak out at the search terms report, add tons of negative keywords, then wonder why their campaigns underperform. Meanwhile, their competitors who understand the new game of how google actually works and they have better CPAs and higher conversion rates. The choice is yours: adapt to the new way, or get left behind optimizing campaigns like it's 2015. Let me break down exactly how to thrive in this new era. #1. Recognize the Two Worlds of Google Ads This is the game-changing mindset shift you need. - Old World: Manual CPC and Maximize Clicks (keyword targeting) - New World: tCPA, tROAS, Max Conversions & Maximize Conversion Value (audience targeting) - Stop applying old-world tactics to new-world campaigns #2. Give Your Smart Bidding Campaigns Room to Breathe That urge to control everything? Fight it. - Focus on conversion trends and performance metrics - Wait the proper amount of time based on the # of conversions before making changes - Add negatives in batches and at the proper time. You can't add in negatives every day without seeing a dip in performance #3. Master the Hybrid Approach Here's how to get the best of both worlds. - Use manual campaigns for strict keyword control - Run smart bidding campaigns with minimal interference - Focus on account-level performance metrics Listen, I get it. That search terms report can trigger anxiety. But here's the truth: The moment I stopped micromanaging smart bidding campaigns was when the campaigns really took off. You can either fight the algorithm or let it work its magic. The choice is yours. Want to see exactly how I structure these campaigns? If you want to leverage the best of both worlds: Hyper Targeting + Google's Incredible Smart Bidding Strategies, drop a comment with the word "Strategies" below👇 #googleads #ppc #digitalmarketing #marketingstrategy #advertisingtips

Unify went from 0 ➝ 58 meetings/mo from Google ads in 8 weeks. Here were our 4 key learnings to finding success: 1/ Spend more to learn. We spent ~$2,000 on ads per month at first. We didn't find much success. Once we started spending 5-figures per month, we had critical volume to start learning about what worked and what didn't. If you want to get paid to work, be ready to invest 5-figures per month. At least for a few months to learn. 2/ Start broad, then narrow focus When we started testing, we tried to get specific from the beginning—only targeting a certain set of key words on exact match that related closely to our brand. We found that being broader worked better - broader key words, broader set of match types. Then use levers like negative search keywords—or just checking constantly to make sure you're not spending on the wrong key words and pausing keywords that aren’t working. This helped us narrow in on prospects who might not know what they need. This has been a sweet spot for us. 3/ Make sure you're optimizing on the right goal metric. Initially we optimized for clicks because we didn't have sufficient volume to use demos booked. Shortly after starting, we started maximizing for conversions—but for just submitting a form, not submitting a form and booking a demo. Once we had enough demos booked to use that as the goal metric, we saw massive impact. Making the change we saw meetings 2.5x and CAC go down by 70%. Night and day difference. 4/ Always be iterating. Paid spend isn’t something you just set and forget. You should constantly be iterating on budget and target CPA—both levers to pull for how much you spend and where Google bids. Even with Google working for us, Rhea is in our ads account 2-3x per day checking to see if we're spending our full budget. Iteration doesn't stop once you've found success, keep doubling down. Like many growth channels, there's no silver bullet with Google ads. Hope these learnings help you avoid a few road blocks that we ran into 🤝

Scaling a six-figure Paid Search budget by 20% month-over-month while maintaining efficiency isn’t easy. Here’s how we tackled this on a project for VEED.IO: 📊 𝗪𝗲 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗦, 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀 For subscription products like VEED, not all users are equally valuable—churn rates, retention, and ARPU vary widely. CAC alone doesn’t account for these differences, so we moved to ROAS reporting. This allowed us to measure campaign performance with a focus on long-term value, rather than just upfront conversions. 🤝 𝗪𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱, 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗨𝗧𝗠𝘀 To make ROAS reporting possible, we connected Google Ads spend data with VEED’s first-party payment (Stripe) and attribution models (Google Analytics). This integration allowed us to connect recurring revenue to specific campaigns, ad groups, and even keywords, providing a clearer picture of performance. 🐭 𝗪𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗦 𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 Our granular reporting revealed (expectedly) that ROAS varied significantly across campaigns, markets, and use cases. At the keyword level, we saw the most variation—some features and search terms drove much higher value than others. 🔎 𝗪𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 Using ROAS data, we pinpointed keywords and use cases with the fastest payback period and highest ROAS, ensuring they received a larger share of the budget. Similarly, we identified lower-performing strategies that were better candidates for reduced spend, enabling more efficient allocation overall. 📦 𝗪𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 VEED’s original campaign structure was organized by market at the Campaign level and by features at the Ad group level. We flipped this model, creating campaigns based on use cases (e.g., “Add Subtitles”) and countries within them. This shift improved controlled budget allocation to the most valuable features. 💯 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘀 Our ROAS insights led to a revamped campaign structure, which directly impacted VEED results: • 20% increase in subscriptions • 12% higher ARPU • Flat CAC despite increased spend This project is an A+ example of of how deep marketing analysis can (and should) drive actionable changes to campaigns. I’ll be sharing the full article article in the comments for those interested in reading about the set-up more in-depth. 👇

I just completed my second audit for God Tier Ads clients. These accounts are managed in-house, spending €50,000+ monthly. It's interesting seeing in-house management at this level since I typically only see such accounts when budgets are much higher. Here are 4 critical issues I found with these PMax-focused accounts: 💰 1) Unnecessarily Limited by Budget Both accounts had campaigns hitting above ROAS targets but were unnecessarily limited by budget. While PMax can sometimes overspend, these teams were being overly cautious rather than strategically managing budgets. Pro Tip: Schedule weekly budget and target reviews. This doesn't mean changing them weekly, but evaluating performance regularly so you can make informed adjustments. 🔄 2) Products Eligible Across Multiple Campaigns The same products were eligible to appear in both PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns (largely due to budget limitations). Since these campaign types don't share data, this splits your performance metrics and reduces Smart Bidding efficiency. 🏷️ 3) Brand Terms Not Excluded from PMax Brand terms weren't excluded in either account. About 80% of spend in these smaller campaigns went to branded search at inflated CPCs. The campaigns looked profitable on the surface, but the Channel Report revealed they were simply capturing brand searches inefficiently. Pro Tip: When you reach $20k/month in ad spend, always split out your brand terms. I personally do this from day one, but it becomes absolutely essential at higher budgets. 🧩 4) Lack of strategy Neither account had a coherent campaign organization strategy. One attempted category-based splits while another tried margin-level segmentation, but both lacked consistency. Products appeared in multiple campaigns, and categorization was inconsistent. It’s the classic pasta on the wall Google Ads strategy: Throw all your products into Google Ads, give it a target and hope you get what you need. — The underlying issue? Nobody was looking deeply enough. These weren't sophisticated observations - I spotted brand terms in PMax because I actually took the time to look at the data.

How I build Google Search campaigns (Step-by-step tutorial guide) 👇 1. Intent-first keyword planning → I don’t start with keywords. I start with the funnel. → Bottom-of-funnel: “Buy [product]” | “[service] pricing” | “[brand] reviews” → Mid-funnel: “Best [solution]” | “[product] vs [competitor]” | “Top tools for [job]” → Top-of-funnel: “How to [solve problem]” | “What is [solution]” → I group by intent, not just by match type. ↳ Then I build separate campaigns for each stage. 2. Match types & keyword structure → Exact Match = for bottom-of-funnel + control → Phrase Match = for mid-funnel + flexibility → Broad Match = ONLY with tight audiences + RSAs + Smart Bidding (I keep SKAGs dead — but I segment tightly by theme, CPC band, and search intent) 3. Ad copy that does 3 things: → Qualifies the click (not just gets it) → Mirrors the search (use DKI or smart keyword insertion) → Offers a next step (CTA = phone call, demo, form) ↳ Headline 1 = Keyword insertion ↳ Headline 2 = Unique Value Prop ↳ Headline 3 = Social Proof or CTA ↳ Descriptions = address objections + reinforce credibility 4. Bidding & budgeting → Manual CPC only for new accounts or branded search → Target CPA / Target ROAS for scale → Maximize conversions for lead-gen with tracking in place ↳ Each campaign gets a MIN daily budget of 10x target CPC. ↳ Anything lower = you’re flying blind. 5. Landing pages → 1:1 relevance with keyword + ad copy → Fast, mobile-optimized, scroll-tracked → Forms above the fold with real CTAs ↳ No generic homepages. No multi-intent pages. ↳ Every ad click should feel like: “Yep, this is exactly what I searched for.” Bonus tip: ↳ Use Google’s “Search Term Insights” weekly. ↳ Remove junk queries ↳ Double down on high-intent variants ↳ Discover new negative keywords Request a FREE Google Ads audit & strategy in the link below: https://lnkd.in/dBPzChJr ___________________ ♻ Repost if you found this helpful! ♻ Follow Marc Jordan Waldeck and Bounce Marketing for more! Need expert management? DM me! 🤓

Let’s face it, Google Ads can be a goldmine… or a bottomless pit. We audit so many stores just throwing money at campaigns without understanding the nuances that drive real results. Here’s how to avoid common pitfalls and turn your Google Ads into a profit engine: 👉 Negative Keywords Are Your Best Friend: If you’re not actively using negative keywords, you’re paying for irrelevant clicks. Add them religiously to filter out unqualified traffic. 👉 Quality Score Mastery: A low-quality score means higher costs per click. Focus on relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience to improve your score and reduce costs. 👉 Conversion Rate Optimization: It’s not about getting more clicks; it’s about converting those clicks into customers. Revisit your landing pages, align them with your ad copy, and streamline the user experience. 👉 Leverage Ad Extensions: Use all available ad extensions to provide more information and value, boosting your CTR and ad visibility. 👉 Bid Strategies: Don’t just set it and forget it. Monitor and adjust your bids based on performance data to ensure you’re not overspending on underperforming keywords. Here’s the truth: If your Google Ads aren’t working for you, they’re working against you. Get ahead of the game, optimize your ads, and watch your profits soar. If you want to see how we optimize our clients’ campaigns for maximum ROI, let’s connect.

I don’t believe in gatekeeping, So here’s the Google Ads checklist I’ve built over the last seven years, managing over $100M in ad spend. This will be a complete MASTERCLASS of information that your business NEEDS. (You better bookmark…you’ll be coming back to this one) Let’s get started: General Review (72-Hour Check) Every 3 days, you’re going to check that your campaigns are on track and running smoothly: Double-check budget and spending for budget optimization. Look at your ad positions and share impressions to maximize visibility. If you notice any underperforming keywords, pause them to optimize your ad spend, then monitor your Quality Score, which affects your CPC and ad rank. Click-Through Rate (CTR) is another key metric to watch for. Check your conversions to check the effectiveness of your keywords and ads. Don’t forget about error checks for ad integrity and delivery. If you want to make improvements to your keywords: Conduct a search term audit to find new opportunities and weed out irrelevant keywords. Add extra long-tail search terms to improve conversion rates. Identify and pause poorly performing keywords to adjust your strategy. Include extra negative keywords to avoid unnecessary costs. Review match types to fine-tune keyword triggering. Detailed Review (Every 5-7 Days) Once a week, you’ll dive a bit deeper into your campaigns by: Running a search query report to discover new keywords and add negatives. Check landing page performance (especially if you see high bounce rates or low time on site). Analyze device performance and adjust bids based on metrics. Similarly, you’ll look at geographic performance and modify bids for various locations. Then, enhance your ads with extensions to raise CTR and make bid adjustments to focus on high-performing elements. You want to make sure your budget pacing aligns with your monthly budget. For quality score: Identify and improve low-quality scores so they don’t impact CPC and ad rank. To optimize bids: Search for possible bid optimizations to improve efficiency. Monthly Review(Every 30 Days) At the end of each month, you will THOROUGHLY examine your campaigns: Prepare a monthly report summarizing performance and make new goals. Do a trend analysis to identify long-term changes. Expand your keyword list to create opportunities and redo strategies for different seasons. This kind of competitive analysis helps you stay ahead by helping you understand what others are doing. Evaluate your campaigns against performance benchmarks to measure ROI. Conversion Action Checks: Check call extension reports and conversion actions for accuracy. Location Targeting: Exclude non-targeted locations to avoid spending waste. Campaign Goal Settings: Review your goals to keep them aligned with your current business objectives. If you're having trouble scaling or can't figure out that one missing piece, implementing this review system might be exactly what you need.

A colleague of mine asked a great question recently: “Our display ads show solid view-through conversions, but how do I know if we’re spending too much or too little? Some of these conversions would happen anyway.” It’s a question I get a lot — and one that cuts right to the heart of modern measurement. Here’s what I told him: 1. View-through conversions ≠ incrementality. Just because someone saw your ad and later bought doesn’t mean the ad *caused* the sale. Many of those users might have converted anyway. So before increasing spend, it’s critical to know: *What’s the true lift?* 2. Incrementality testing is essential. The best marketers run geo holdouts, sophisticated A/B tests, or randomly selected matched market experiments. These give you a clean read on whether your display ads are actually *driving* results — or just taking credit. 3. Leading indicators matter too. One sophisticated client I have uses AI to track marketing metrics as leading indicators of effectiveness: increases in brand measures, branded search activity, CLV shifts among exposed audiences. These signals tell you if you’re moving in the right direction *before* the conversions show up. 4. Ask better questions, not just measure more. Don’t settle for surface-level metrics. Align your measurement to business impact. That means understanding how different channels contribute to awareness, consideration, and — most importantly — profitable growth. Efficiency metrics like CTR or ROAS don’t tell the whole story. The smartest brands go deeper. Art+Science Analytics Institute | University of Notre Dame | University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | University of Chicago | D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University | ELVTR | Grow with Google - Data Analytics #Analytics #DataStorytelling