Google Ads Campaign Planner

Pre-requisite

Read ~/.claude/skills/google-ads/knowledge.md in full before doing anything. If the current date is 6+ months after the research date at the top of that file, re-fetch the WordStream benchmarks URL and Google's bidding docs URL listed in section 10 to check for updated data.

Gather inputs

If not already known from context, ask the user for:

• •Business description (service/product, differentiators)
• •Average booking/order value and profit margin
• •Locations served (cities, radius)
• •Target customer segments (e.g. weddings, corporate, private)
• •Monthly budget range
• •Whether they have an existing Google Ads account or are starting fresh
• •Whether conversion tracking is set up
• •Landing pages available (URLs or descriptions)

Produce the strategy

Generate a complete strategy document covering:

1. Unit Economics

• •Calculate break-even CPA: booking value × profit margin
• •Calculate break-even ROAS: 1 / profit margin
• •Calculate max CPC: booking value × profit margin × estimated conversion rate
• •State the target CPA/ROAS (break-even + 20–30% buffer)

2. Campaign Structure

• •One campaign per city/location (reference knowledge base section 4 for why)
• •Within each city campaign: one ad group per service/customer segment
• •Explain the structure visually (tree format)
• •If applicable: propose a reverse location targeting campaign for remote searchers (weddings, tourism, destination events)

3. Budget Allocation

• •Per-city allocation based on estimated search volume and competition
• •Use the reverse-engineering formula from the knowledge base: revenue goal → bookings → leads → clicks → budget
• •Apply the 70/20/10 framework: proven/growth/experiment
• •State the recommended starting daily budget per campaign

4. Bidding Strategy

• •Phase 1 (launch): Manual CPC or Maximise Clicks
• •Phase 2 (after 30 conversions): Target CPA
• •Phase 3 (mature): Target ROAS if tracking revenue
• •Explain the 30-conversion threshold and why

5. Match Type Strategy

• •Exact match only at launch
• •Test broad match + Smart Bidding after 30+ conversions/month
• •Skip phrase match (reference the 43% CPC inflation data)
• •Negative keywords from day one

6. Conversion Tracking Requirements

• •What to track (form submissions, phone calls, bookings)
• •Where to place tags (thank-you page, GA4 events)
• •Why this is non-negotiable for Smart Bidding

7. Geo-Targeting Settings

• •"Presence" only (not "Presence or Interest") for local campaigns
• •Radius or city-level targeting per campaign
• •Reverse targeting setup if applicable

8. Timeline & Expectations

• •Weeks 1–2: data gathering, expect limited conversions
• •Weeks 3–4: first optimisation pass (search terms, negatives, ad copy)
• •Months 2–3: enough data for Smart Bidding transition
• •Months 3–6: full optimisation, scaling profitable campaigns

9. Pre-Launch Checklist

• • Google Ads account created
• • Conversion tracking verified
• • Campaigns structured (per city × per service)
• • Keywords added (exact match)
• • Negative keyword list applied (100+ minimum)
• • Ad copy written with extensions
• • Landing pages verified (one per campaign)
• • "Presence" targeting set
• • Auto-apply recommendations turned OFF
• • Daily budgets set
• • Manual CPC bidding selected

10. Risks & Mistakes to Avoid

• •Reference the common mistakes from knowledge base section 7
• •Flag any business-specific risks

Format

Output as a clean markdown document the user can save and reference. Use tables where appropriate. Be precise and data-backed, referencing the knowledge base.

Context: $ARGUMENTS