Google Ads Campaign Optimisation & Troubleshooting Hub

Start with diagnosis, not bid changes. The first question is whether stagnation is limited to the ads account, or business-wide. Is new customer acquisition down? Is total revenue is down. Then look at the account : conversion tracking - any silent failures or changes to the checkout on-site that are causing friction? Account structure: Has prospecting become diluted with retargeting? Is brand isolated from non-brand? Has spend mix changed across campaigns & channels? Has SKU spend mix changed? Has there been unaccounted for changes in the change history log. Most struggling accounts aren't suffering from the wrong bid strategy. They're suffering from the wrong objective. Before touching a tROAS target, understand where spend is going, what type of customer it's reaching, and whether the account structure reflects how the business actually grows.

It depends on incrementality and who else is bidding on you. The mistake is leaving brand inside a prospecting or generic campaign, where its cheap, high-converting traffic flatters the numbers and hides what real acquisition costs. Keep brand in its own campaign so you can judge everything else honestly.

High tROAS bidding reward the cheapest conversions - which are usually retargeting and existing-customer demand you would have won anyway. If growth is the goal, optimise towards new customers with lower tROAS targets and measure NCAC in combination with contribution margin, not an average ROAS.

When they share audiences, prospecting budget gets spent on people already in your funnel. You think you are acquiring new customers when you are really just harvesting existing demand. Distinct audiences and a clean structure keep the spend - and the reporting - honest.

No. Blended ROAS can fall while contribution margin and new customer volume both rise - which is often exactly what you want. Judge performance against your P&L: breakeven ROAS, contribution margin and NCAC, not the platform number in isolation.

First you have to understand the ads account in relation to other channels. Is it the demand generator, or a harvester of demand generated by other channels. Once you know this you can diagnose if you’re spend is strengthening/weakening acquisition. After that, look at where the money goes by objective. Are you over-investing in low-margin SKUs? Are you starving profitable heroes? Are you clearing the warehouse stock quick enough? Start with the channel mix and then work your way into the ads account.