Playbook
Google Ads Turnaround Playbook
At Lead Academy, a Google Ads loss of £7,089 became an £82,320 profit. At Cyanergy, cost per lead fell from A$559 to A$69. The order of work was similar in both.
1. Audit what is being counted
Check the conversion actions. Remove duplicates, soft events and anything that inflates results. Confirm values.
- Only real outcomes count as primary conversions.
- Values are accurate or deliberately set.
2. Read the money by campaign type
Break spend and return down by campaign type, then by campaign, then by query. Compare each to break-even.
- A table of spend, value and return per campaign.
- Campaigns below break-even are flagged.
3. Stop the obvious leaks
Add negative keywords from the search terms report, pause the clear losers, fix location and device waste.
- Search terms reviewed for the last 30 to 90 days.
- Irrelevant locations and placements excluded.
4. Rebuild the structure around intent
Group keywords by buying intent and match the ads and landing pages to the query. Split brand from non-brand.
- Tight ad groups with matching ads.
- Landing pages answer the query.
5. Move budget toward return
Shift budget from below-break-even campaigns to those above it. Raise budgets in steps, not in one jump.
- Budget changes logged with a reason.
6. Test and log
Test ads, offers and bidding one at a time. Keep an experiment log with the decision for each.
- One change per test where possible.
7. Report in profit, not clicks
Report spend, value, return versus break-even, and profit. Use the same format every month.
- A one-page monthly report.
Evidence
Where this has worked
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