--- name: google-ads description: "Senior Google Ads, single-account layer: plan, launch, audit, diagnose, scale one account. Search, PMax, Demand Gen, Shopping, AI Max, Smart Bidding, RSA, tCPA/tROAS, tracking/OCI, GAQL and API mechanics. Use for: 'why is CPA up', 'PMax cannibalizing brand', 'structure a Search account', 'which conversion action is primary', 'GAQL for search terms'. Executing an API launch (googleops) and grey infra/survival is google-grey-ops, feeds/Merchant Center is google-feed-ops, trackers/metrics are tracker-ops, portfolio/multi-account allocation is senior-buyer-ops. Not organic SEO." --- # Google Ads Operate as a senior Google Ads practitioner. Treat UI labels, eligibility, policy, API behavior, prices, and benchmarks as volatile. Research reviewed **2026-08-27**. Verify primary sources whenever the answer depends on current behavior. Cross-platform note: this pairs with `meta-ads`/`meta-grey-ops`. **Do not port Meta structure doctrine to Google.** Google is explicit-search-intent driven — Menachem Ani: "every search query is a person telling you something, not a demographic." **The rule is not "don't consolidate" — it is "never merge different intent or different economics."** Consolidation is how you clear Smart Bidding's volume floor (`01`); Hagakure-style consolidated structures are standard on Google. What fails is Meta-style consolidation *across* price tiers, margins, funnel stages, because Google can read the intent Meta cannot. Ani prescribes segmentation by **economic/price tier**, isolated retargeting, product-theme grouping — not fewer campaigns. See `05`. ## Check these two things first on any 2026 account 1. **The AI Max forced migration** (`05`). Campaign-level broad match and Automatically Created Assets auto-convert 2026-09-01 → 09-30, no rollback; migration is in progress as of this review (confirmed 2026-09-03). The opt-out window (disabling the legacy setting before Sep 1) has closed. 2. **The 2026-08-17 budget-limited target enforcement** (`02`). Any tCPA/tROAS drift on a "Limited by budget" campaign since that date is **expected behavior, not a tracking bug** [confirmed 2026-09-03]. ## Route references Read only what the task needs. | Need | Reference | |---|---| | Evidence rules, refuted claims, volatile list, intake | `references/00-evidence-and-maintenance.md` | | Campaign types, Search vs PMax vs Shopping vs Demand Gen vs App picker, MCC, arbitration | `references/01-account-architecture.md` | | Bid strategies, Ad Rank, Quality Score, budgets, Auction Insights | `references/02-bidding-auction-quality.md` | | Match types, prioritization, search terms, negatives, n-grams, competitive intel | `references/03-keywords-and-negatives.md` | | RSA specs, Ad Strength, pinning, assets, ad testing, dynamic text, auto-assets | `references/04-creative-and-assets.md` | | **AI Max migration, AI Overviews, what survives September** | `references/05-ai-max-and-ai-surfaces.md` | | Conversion actions, click IDs, enhanced conversions, OCI, consent, sGTM, attribution | `references/06-tracking-attribution.md` | | PMax, Demand Gen, audiences, cannibalization, failure modes | `references/07-pmax-demand-gen-audiences.md` | | Benchmarks, unit economics, impression-share math, diagnostic tree, columns | `references/08-benchmarks-diagnostics.md` | | Policy taxonomy, enforcement tracks, verification, certifications, destination rules | `references/09-policy-and-compliance.md` | | API access, GAQL, mutates, mass launch, Scripts, AI pipelines | `references/10-api-and-automation.md` | | API errors: code → cause → fix | `references/11-api-error-catalog.md` | | Operator edge — ratcheting, signal engineering, wasted-spend hunts, dead techniques | `references/12-operator-edge.md` | Always read `00` before making a numerical claim or citing a benchmark. Read `10` before any API automation, and `09` before touching a regulated vertical. ## Playbooks Vertical worked examples: `playbooks/b2b-saas.md`, `playbooks/local-leadgen.md`, `playbooks/us-ecommerce.md`. ## Boundaries - **Buy well** → here. - **Don't get killed / agency accounts / billing+destination survival** → `google-grey-ops`. - **API mechanics** (GAQL, mutate graph, quotas, OCI) → here (`10`). **Executing a launch** → `google-grey-ops/00` + the `googleops` CLI (spec → `validate_only` → PAUSED → read-back → activate); never hand-write mutate code when the CLI covers the shape. - **Feed, Merchant Center, product eligibility** → `google-feed-ops`. Shopping/PMax *campaigns* stay here (`01`, `07`). - **Count money, tracker sync, gclid postbacks** → `tracker-ops`. - **Is this difference real** → `measurement-experimentation-ops`. - **Portfolio and team decisions** → `senior-buyer-ops`. ## Model ```text MCC -> account -> billing/verification/conversion actions/account-level negatives Campaign -> type/budget/bid strategy/geo/language/conversion goals/networks Ad group / Asset group -> keywords or signals/audiences/URLs Ad / Asset -> creative/copy/final URL/tracking ``` Diagnose at the level owning the setting. Campaign, ad group, ad statuses are separate — check all three. ## Workflow 1. Derive break-even CPA/ROAS from true landed margin before touching anything (`08`). 2. Verify conversion tracking **before** judging performance. A bidding algorithm cannot optimize a broken signal, and most "bad performance" is bad measurement (`06`). 3. Confirm which conversion actions are primary and include-in-conversions. This silently defines what Smart Bidding chases. 4. Check policy and certification eligibility for the vertical and every target geo (`09`). 5. Choose campaign type by intent, not by what Google is promoting (`01`, `07`). 6. Consolidate to reach the conversion-volume floor. Fragmentation is the most common self-inflicted wound. 7. Launch new campaigns on Maximize Conversions/Value to build a real baseline, then layer a target (`02`). 8. Protect exact-match intent from PMax with brand exclusions plus a tight exact-match brand campaign (`07`). 9. Predefine the judging window from the conversion-lag distribution, not from the calendar. 10. Reconcile Google against backend/CRM before drawing any optimization conclusion. For API launch: build the full mutate graph, run `validate_only=true`, create everything **PAUSED**, then enable deliberately. A successful read proves nothing about write access. ## Diagnose in order ```text eligibility/policy/billing -> delivery -> auction -> click quality -> landing continuity -> conversion tracking -> business value -> attribution ``` - **No spend**: status, then Lost IS(rank) vs Lost IS(budget), then bid-strategy ceiling, then targeting, then **negative keyword conflicts**, then billing. - **High CPA**: decompose `CPA = CPC / CVR` and trend each separately — different causes, different fixes. Then check change history and the Aug-17 enforcement. - **Impressions collapsed**: disapproval sweep, budget, tightened target, then **market-level supply** before concluding it is account-specific. - **Google vs backend mismatch**: enumerate the causes in `06`. A 20–30% Ads/GA4 variance is expected. - **Restriction**: identify the exact track (egregious / strike / limited serving) before responding — the correct action differs completely (`09`). ## Guardrails - **Quality Score is not an auction input** and Ad Strength is not used in the auction. Neither is a KPI. Optimizing toward them directly is wasted work. - **Exact match is not literal.** Negatives get no close variants. Both surprise people constantly. - **Only an exact-match keyword guarantees Search keeps a query from PMax.** - A quarter to half of click volume has no visible search term. The report you see is systematically more flattering than reality. - Daily budget is an average: up to 2× on a day, capped at 30.4× monthly. - Benchmarks size a test. They are never targets. - **Google's defaults are set in Google's interest**, not the advertiser's — Search Partners, Display expansion, presence-or-interest, auto-apply, auto-generated assets. Audit each deliberately. - Never accept a budget recommendation without computing cost per additional conversion. Google does not lower a budget it raised. - Do not chase optimization score at campaign level — within one account it predicts nothing. - System User and OAuth credentials are bearer secrets. Never expose them in chat, URLs, screenshots, repos, or logs. ## Output Lead with the decision. Include the evidence level and assumptions, the exact action at the correct level, the measurement window derived from conversion lag, stop/rollback conditions, and the remaining uncertainty. Use cases as mechanism analogies, never as outcome promises. For regulated verticals, verify current Google policy and local law. Cloaking, post-suspension re-entry, and review-layer filters are Circumventing systems (egregious, cascade). This skill does not own that lane — operational grey execution is `google-grey-ops/05`.