Google Ads

Expert-level guidance for Google Ads — auditing, building, and optimizing search, shopping, display, video, Performance Max, and demand gen campaigns.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/google-ads ~/.claude/skills/

Core Capabilities

Campaign Auditing & Optimization

• Full account audit covering structure, settings, bidding, keywords, ads, and tracking
• Quality Score optimization (expected CTR, ad relevance, landing page experience)
• Search term analysis and negative keyword management
• Budget allocation and pacing optimization
• Wasted spend identification and elimination

Campaign Types

• Search — Text ads on Google Search and Search Partners
• Shopping — Product Listing Ads from Google Merchant Center
• Performance Max — AI-driven cross-channel (Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Maps)
• Display — Banner/responsive ads across Google Display Network (3M+ sites)
• Video — YouTube ads (in-stream, bumper, discovery, shorts)
• Demand Gen — Visual-first ads on YouTube, Discover, Gmail
• App — App install and engagement campaigns

Bidding Strategies

• Manual CPC / Enhanced CPC — Direct control, good for learning phases
• Target CPA — Optimize for cost per conversion
• Target ROAS — Optimize for return on ad spend
• Maximize Conversions / Maximize Conversion Value — Spend full budget optimally
• Target Impression Share — Competitive visibility
• Portfolio bid strategies for cross-campaign optimization

Audience Strategy

• First-party data: Customer Match, website visitors, app users
• Google audiences: In-market, affinity, detailed demographics, life events
• Custom audiences (by keywords, URLs, apps)
• Remarketing lists for Search Ads (RLSA)
• Optimized targeting vs observation mode
• Audience signals for Performance Max

Tracking & Measurement

• Google Tag (gtag.js) / Google Tag Manager implementation
• Conversion actions: website, phone calls, app, import, store visits
• Enhanced conversions (first-party data matching)
• Offline conversion import (GCLID / enhanced conversions for leads)
• Google Ads Data Hub and GA4 integration
• Attribution models: data-driven (default), last-click, cross-channel

Key Benchmarks

Account Structure Best Practices

Account
├── Brand Search (Exact + Phrase match)
│   ├── Pure Brand
│   └── Brand + Product/Service modifiers
├── Non-Brand Search (by theme/intent)
│   ├── High-Intent / Bottom-Funnel keywords
│   ├── Mid-Funnel / Consideration keywords
│   └── Category / Broad keywords
├── Competitor Search (optional)
│   └── Competitor brand terms
├── Shopping (Standard)
│   ├── Top Performers (high priority)
│   ├── Category groups (medium priority)
│   └── Catch-All (low priority)
├── Performance Max
│   ├── Asset Groups by product category or audience theme
│   └── Audience signals per group
├── Display (if separate from PMax)
│   ├── Remarketing
│   └── Prospecting (in-market / custom)
├── YouTube / Video
│   ├── Brand awareness (bumper, in-stream)
│   └── Action / conversions (in-feed, in-stream)
└── Demand Gen
    └── Visual-first prospecting

Workflow: Full Account Audit

When asked to audit a Google Ads account:

1. Conversion Tracking — Verify Google Tag, conversion actions, enhanced conversions, attribution model
2. Account Structure — Campaign organization, naming conventions, settings consistency
3. Budget & Bidding — Allocation across campaigns, bid strategy alignment with goals, target efficiency
4. Keyword Strategy — Match types, Quality Scores, search term relevance, negative keyword lists
5. Ad Copy — RSA asset quality (headlines, descriptions), pin usage, ad strength, extensions
6. Shopping / Merchant Center — Feed quality, disapprovals, competitive metrics, listing groups
7. Performance Max — Asset group quality, audience signals, URL expansion settings, cannibalizing Search
8. Audiences — First-party lists, remarketing, Customer Match, observation vs targeting
9. Landing Pages — Load speed, message match, conversion rate by landing page
10. Competitive Landscape — Auction insights, impression share losses (budget vs rank)
11. Recommendations — Prioritized by expected revenue impact with effort estimate

Performance Max Guidance

PMax-specific audit checklist:

• Asset group organization (themes, not catch-all)
• All asset types provided (text, image, video, logo)
• Audience signals configured (not left empty)
• URL expansion settings reviewed (exclude irrelevant pages)
• Search themes added for intent signals
• Brand exclusions applied
• Not cannibalizing high-performing standard Shopping/Search campaigns
• Conversion goals aligned (avoid mixing lead gen and ecommerce)

How to Use This Skill

Ask me questions like:

• "Audit my Google Ads account and find wasted spend"
• "My Quality Scores are low — help me diagnose and fix"
• "Design a Performance Max campaign structure for my ecommerce store"
• "Should I use Target CPA or Target ROAS?"
• "Help me build a negative keyword strategy"
• "My CPA is increasing — what should I investigate?"
• "Plan a YouTube advertising strategy for brand awareness"
• "Review my Google Merchant Center feed for issues"

For detailed Google Ads API reference, script templates, and advanced configurations, see [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md).

Hard Rules

These constraints must never be violated in recommendations:

1. Never recommend Broad Match without Smart Bidding. Broad Match + Manual CPC = uncontrolled spend.
2. 3x Kill Rule: Flag any campaign/ad group with CPA >3x target for immediate pause or restructuring.
3. Enhanced Conversions must be recommended if not already active. Foundation for data quality.
4. Consent Mode v2 required for any account serving EU/EEA traffic.
5. Negative keyword lists required — minimum 3 themed lists (Competitor, Jobs, Free, Irrelevant).
6. Never recommend edits during active learning phase — wait for learning to complete or reset intentionally.
7. Brand and non-brand must be separated into distinct campaigns with independent budgets and bidding.
8. PMax must have brand exclusions when a brand Search campaign exists.

Scored Audit

When performing an account audit, load skills/shared/scoring-system.md for the weighted scoring algorithm and CHECKS.md for the 74-check Google Ads audit checklist. Produce a health score (0-100, grade A-F) with Quick Wins and a prioritized action plan.