Paid Ads skill

Paid Ads — Expert Playbook

When to Use This Skill

• Planning or launching paid ad campaigns (Google, Meta, LinkedIn, Twitter/X)
• Writing ad copy or reviewing creative
• Setting up audience targeting or retargeting
• Diagnosing poor ROAS or high CPA
• Budget allocation across channels
• Attribution and measurement setup

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Campaign Architecture

Google Ads Structure

Account
├── Campaign (Budget + Settings)
│   ├── Ad Group (Keywords + Targeting)
│   │   ├── Ad 1 (RSA — 15 headlines, 4 descriptions)
│   │   ├── Ad 2
│   │   └── Extensions (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets)
│   ├── Ad Group 2
│   └── Ad Group 3
├── Campaign 2
└── Campaign 3

Golden rule: One theme per ad group. 5-20 tightly related keywords per ad group.

Google Ads Campaign Types

Meta Ads Structure

Campaign (Objective + Budget)
├── Ad Set (Audience + Placement + Schedule)
│   ├── Ad 1 (Creative + Copy + CTA)
│   ├── Ad 2
│   └── Ad 3
├── Ad Set 2 (Different audience)
└── Ad Set 3 (Retargeting)

LinkedIn Ads Structure

Campaign Group (Budget cap)
├── Campaign (Objective + Audience + Format)
│   ├── Ad 1 (Single Image / Carousel / Video / Text)
│   ├── Ad 2
│   └── Ad 3
└── Campaign 2

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Budget Allocation Frameworks

The 70/20/10 Rule

• 70% → Proven channels and campaigns with positive ROAS
• 20% → Scaling what's working — new audiences, expanded geo, new ad formats
• 10% → Experiments — new channels, creative concepts, audience tests

Channel Budget Split by Funnel Stage

AWARENESS (20-30% of budget)
├── YouTube / Meta Video / Display
├── Goal: Impressions, reach, video views
└── KPI: CPM, VTR, brand lift

CONSIDERATION (30-40% of budget)
├── Meta engagement, Google Display remarketing, LinkedIn
├── Goal: Clicks, engagement, lead gen
└── KPI: CPC, CTR, CPL

CONVERSION (30-50% of budget)
├── Google Search, Shopping, Meta conversion campaigns
├── Goal: Purchases, signups, demos
└── KPI: CPA, ROAS, conversion rate

Monthly Budget Minimums (to gather signal)

Below these thresholds you won't gather enough data for meaningful optimization.

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Bidding Strategies

Google Ads Bidding

Migration path: Manual CPC → Maximize Clicks → Maximize Conversions → Target CPA/ROAS

Meta Ads Bidding

Learning phase: Meta needs ~50 optimization events per ad set per week. Don't touch campaigns during learning phase (usually 3-7 days).

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Ad Copy Formulas

Formula 1: PAS (Problem → Agitate → Solve)

Headline: Tired of [Problem]?
Description: [Problem] costs you [consequence]. [Product] [solves it] in [timeframe]. [CTA].

Example:
Headline: Tired of Losing Leads to Slow Follow-Up?
Description: Every hour of delay drops conversion rates 7x.
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Formula 2: Before → After → Bridge

Headline: From [Bad State] to [Good State]
Description: [Before situation]. Now imagine [after situation]. [Product] bridges the gap. [CTA].

Example:
Headline: From Spreadsheet Chaos to Real-Time Dashboards
Description: Stop wasting 10hrs/week on manual reports.
DataFlow auto-generates dashboards from your data. Try free.

Formula 3: Social Proof Lead

Headline: [Number] [Users] Trust [Product] for [Outcome]
Description: Join [specific companies/users] who [achieved result]. [Key differentiator]. [CTA].

Example:
Headline: 12,000+ Teams Run Projects on TaskForge
Description: Join Stripe, Notion, and Linear in shipping faster.
AI-powered project management. Free for teams up to 10.

Formula 4: Specific Number

Headline: [Action] [X]% [Faster/Cheaper/Better]
Description: [Product] helps [audience] [specific outcome] with [mechanism]. [Proof point]. [CTA].

Example:
Headline: Close Deals 34% Faster
Description: SalesOS gives reps AI-generated follow-ups, meeting prep,
and deal scoring. Avg customer sees ROI in 3 weeks. Book demo.

Formula 5: Question Hook

Headline: What If You Could [Desirable Outcome]?
Description: [Product] makes it possible. [How it works in one line]. [Proof]. [CTA].

Formula 6: Urgency/Scarcity

Headline: [Offer] — [Time Limit]
Description: [Value prop]. [What they get]. [Deadline/scarcity element]. [CTA].

Example:
Headline: 50% Off Annual Plans — Ends Friday
Description: Get enterprise-grade security for startup prices.
All features included. Only 200 seats at this price. Upgrade now.

RSA Best Practices (Google)

• Write 15 headlines (use all slots) — mix branded, benefit, feature, CTA, proof
• Pin sparingly — only pin H1 if brand compliance requires it
• 4 descriptions — lead with different angles (benefit, proof, urgency, feature)
• Include keywords naturally in at least 5 headlines
• At least 3 headlines should work standalone without the others

Meta Ad Copy Structure

PRIMARY TEXT (125 chars visible before "See more"):
Hook line — stop the scroll. Lead with pain, outcome, or surprise.

BODY (after "See more"):
- Expand on the hook
- 2-3 bullet points of benefits
- Social proof line
- Clear CTA

HEADLINE (below creative): Short, benefit-driven (5-7 words)
DESCRIPTION: Supporting detail or offer terms

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Audience Targeting

Meta Ads — Audience Layering Strategy

Layer 1: Broad (Prospecting)

• Advantage+ audience (let Meta optimize)
• Interest stacking: 3-5 related interests per ad set
• Lookalike audiences: 1% of purchasers/high-value customers

Layer 2: Warm (Consideration)

• Website visitors (30-90 days)
• Video viewers (50%+ watched)
• Social engagers (90 days)
• Email list uploads (non-customers)

Layer 3: Hot (Retargeting)

• Add-to-cart but no purchase (7-14 days)
• Pricing page visitors (14 days)
• Trial users who haven't converted
• Past purchasers for upsell (exclude from prospecting!)

Audience size guidance:

• Prospecting: 1M-10M+ (let the algorithm work)
• Retargeting: As large as your traffic allows
• Lookalikes: Seed audience of 1,000+ for quality; 1% for precision, 3-5% for scale

Google Ads Audiences

LinkedIn Targeting

Best-performing combos (layer these):

• Job Title + Company Size — most precise
• Job Function + Seniority + Industry — broader reach
• Skills + Seniority — catches non-obvious titles
• Matched Audiences — website retargeting, email list, lookalikes

Minimum audience size: 50,000 for sponsored content. Below that, delivery stalls.

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Negative Keyword Strategy (Google)

Starter Negative Keyword List

Apply at campaign or account level:

// Job-seekers
jobs, careers, hiring, salary, interview, resume, glassdoor

// Education/Research
what is, definition, meaning, tutorial, course, certification,
how to become, examples, PDF, wiki

// Free-seekers (if not freemium)
free, cheap, discount, coupon, open source

// Wrong intent
review, comparison, vs, alternative (add these to branded campaigns)

// Irrelevant
DIY, template, sample, internship

Negative Keyword Mining Process

1. Weekly: Review Search Terms report
2. Flag: Any term with spend > $5 and 0 conversions
3. Flag: Any term clearly off-topic regardless of spend
4. Add as: Exact match negative for specific terms, phrase match for patterns
5. Create shared negative keyword lists by theme (job-seekers, researchers, etc.)

Negative Keyword Match Types

• Negative broad match (default): Blocks if ALL negative words appear (any order)
• Negative phrase match: Blocks if negative phrase appears in that order
• Negative exact match: Blocks only that exact query

Use phrase and exact for precision. Broad negatives can over-block.

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Retargeting Sequences

Standard Retargeting Funnel

DAY 0-3: Visited site, no action
→ Show: Value prop ad + social proof
→ Frequency cap: 3/day

DAY 4-7: Still no conversion
→ Show: Case study / testimonial ad
→ Frequency cap: 2/day

DAY 8-14: Getting cold
→ Show: Offer/incentive ad (discount, extended trial, bonus)
→ Frequency cap: 1/day

DAY 15-30: Last chance
→ Show: FOMO / urgency ad
→ Frequency cap: 1/day

DAY 30+: Exclude from retargeting
→ Move to nurture (email) or broad prospecting

Cart Abandonment Retargeting (Ecommerce)

HOUR 1-6: Dynamic product ad — exact items left in cart
HOUR 6-24: Same + "Still thinking about it?" copy
DAY 2-3: Add social proof — "X people bought this today"
DAY 4-7: Offer incentive — free shipping or small discount
DAY 7+: Broader category ads, not specific products

SaaS Trial Retargeting

TRIAL DAY 1-3: "Getting started" content — help them activate
TRIAL DAY 4-7: Feature highlight ads — show what they haven't used
TRIAL DAY 8-12: Case study — show outcomes from similar companies
TRIAL DAY 13-14: Urgency — "Trial ends in X days" + conversion offer
POST-TRIAL DAY 1-7: Win-back — extended trial or discount
POST-TRIAL DAY 7+: Exclude or move to long-term nurture

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Creative Testing Framework (Meta Ads)

What to Test (Priority Order)

1. Creative concept — The big idea, angle, or hook (highest impact)
2. Format — Static vs video vs carousel vs UGC
3. Hook — First 3 seconds of video / headline of static
4. Body copy — Supporting text after the hook
5. CTA — Button text and action
6. Offer — Discount vs free trial vs demo vs content

Testing Structure

Campaign: [Product] — Creative Testing
├── Ad Set: Broad Audience (1% LAL or Advantage+)
│   ├── Ad A: Concept 1 — Static + Benefit hook
│   ├── Ad B: Concept 2 — UGC video + Problem hook
│   ├── Ad C: Concept 3 — Carousel + Feature walkthrough
│   └── Ad D: Concept 4 — Testimonial video

Rules:

• Test 3-6 ads per ad set
• Same audience for fair comparison
• Let each ad spend at least 2x your target CPA before judging
• Winner = lowest CPA with sufficient volume (not just highest CTR)
• Graduate winners to scaling campaigns

Creative Fatigue Signals

• CTR drops >20% from peak
• Frequency >3 for prospecting, >8 for retargeting
• CPA increases >30% week-over-week
• Relevance/quality score drops

Refresh creative every 2-4 weeks for prospecting, 4-6 weeks for retargeting.

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Landing Page Alignment

Message Match Checklist

• Headline on landing page matches or mirrors ad headline
• Same offer mentioned in ad appears above the fold
• Visual continuity — similar imagery/colors as ad creative
• CTA on page matches the promised action (don't bait-and-switch)
• No navigation menu (for campaign-specific landing pages)
• Mobile-optimized (60%+ of paid traffic is mobile)
• Page loads in <3 seconds (every extra second = ~7% drop in conversions)

Landing Page Types by Campaign Goal

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ROAS Benchmarks by Industry

Google Ads

Meta Ads

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn is expensive — only worth it if LTV justifies it (B2B enterprise, high ACV).

Important: ROAS varies wildly by product price, margin, and sales cycle. For SaaS and B2B, measure blended CAC:LTV ratio (target 1:3+) rather than immediate ROAS.

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Measurement & Attribution

Attribution Models

What to Track

Conversion actions (set up BEFORE launching ads):

PRIMARY (optimize toward these):
- Purchase / Signup / Demo booked / Lead form submitted

SECONDARY (observe, don't optimize):
- Add to cart / Pricing page view / Key page engagement
- Phone calls / Chat initiated

MICRO (for funnel analysis):
- Video views / Content downloads / Email signups

UTM Parameter Standard

utm_source=google|meta|linkedin|twitter
utm_medium=cpc|paid-social|display|video
utm_campaign={campaign_name}
utm_content={ad_name_or_variant}
utm_term={keyword} (Google only)

Naming convention: platform_objective_audience_creative Example: meta_conversions_lal1pct_ugc-testimonial-v2

Post-Click Tracking Setup

1. Google Ads: Install Google tag + enhanced conversions
2. Meta: Pixel + Conversions API (server-side) — CAPI is essential post-iOS 14.5
3. LinkedIn: Insight Tag + offline conversion uploads for long sales cycles
4. GA4: Link to Google Ads, import conversions, set up audiences
5. CRM integration: Pass GCLID/FBCLID to CRM for closed-loop attribution

iOS 14.5+ / Privacy Considerations

• Meta: Use Conversions API (CAPI) alongside pixel — recovers 15-30% of lost signal
• Meta: Aggregated Event Measurement limits to 8 conversion events per domain — prioritize them
• Google: Enhanced conversions + consent mode recover signal
• All platforms: First-party data (email lists, CRM) is now your most valuable targeting asset
• Model: Expect 20-40% underreporting on Meta. Use incrementality tests to validate.

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Platform-Specific Playbooks

Google Search Ads — Quick Launch

1. Research keywords (Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs)
2. Group into tight themes (5-15 keywords per ad group)
3. Write 1 RSA per ad group (15 headlines, 4 descriptions)
4. Set up all relevant extensions (sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, call)
5. Start with Maximize Clicks, set a max CPC bid limit
6. Add negative keywords from starter list
7. Set up conversion tracking before spending a dollar
8. After 30+ conversions: switch to Maximize Conversions or Target CPA
9. Review search terms weekly, add negatives
10. Test new ad copy monthly

Meta Ads — Quick Launch

1. Install Pixel + set up Conversions API
2. Define conversion event (purchase, lead, trial signup)
3. Create Campaign: Conversions objective, CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization)
4. Ad Set 1: Broad/Advantage+ targeting (let Meta find the audience)
5. Ad Set 2: 1% Lookalike of best customers
6. Ad Set 3: Retargeting (website visitors 30 days)
7. 3-4 ads per ad set — different creative concepts
8. Let learning phase complete (50 events per ad set per week)
9. Kill underperformers after 2x CPA spend, scale winners
10. Refresh creative every 2-4 weeks

LinkedIn Ads — Quick Launch

1. Install Insight Tag on website
2. Campaign objective: Lead Gen or Website Visits
3. Target: Job titles OR job function + seniority + industry
4. Audience size: 50,000-500,000
5. Format: Single image for testing, then expand to video/carousel
6. Bid: Maximum delivery (start), then manual CPC once you have data
7. Use Lead Gen Forms (higher conversion than landing pages on LinkedIn)
8. Budget: Minimum $50/day per campaign
9. Run for 2+ weeks before judging performance
10. Upload offline conversions from CRM for true ROI measurement

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Performance Max (Google) Playbook

Asset Groups

Asset Group = theme-based collection of:
├── Images: 15+ (landscape, square, portrait)
├── Logos: 5+
├── Videos: 5+ (or Google auto-generates — they're bad, provide your own)
├── Headlines: 5 (30 char) + 5 long headlines (90 char)
├── Descriptions: 4 (60 char) + 1 (90 char)
├── Final URL
├── Display path
├── CTA
└── Audience signals (suggestions, not restrictions)

Audience Signals (Critical)

Audience signals don't restrict targeting — they guide the algorithm. Provide strong signals:

• Custom segments: Your best keywords + competitor URLs + apps
• Your data: Customer lists, converters, high-value segments
• Interests/demographics: In-market segments relevant to your product

PMax Gotchas

• PMax cannibalizes brand search — add brand terms as negative keywords (via Google rep or account-level negatives)
• You can't see which placements/audiences are working (limited reporting)
• Run PMax alongside standard search campaigns — don't replace search entirely
• Asset performance ratings (Low/Good/Best) guide optimization
• Give it 4-6 weeks and 50+ conversions before major changes

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Audit Checklist

Monthly Paid Ads Audit

• Review ROAS/CPA trends vs targets
• Check search terms report (Google) — add negatives
• Review audience overlap between campaigns
• Check frequency (Meta) — replace fatigued creative
• Verify conversion tracking is firing correctly
• Review landing page performance (bounce rate, load time)
• Check budget pacing — is spend on track?
• Review quality scores (Google) — improve below 5/10
• Test new ad copy or creative
• Update negative keyword lists
• Check bid strategy performance — time to graduate?
• Review device performance — adjust bids if needed
• Competitive analysis — any new entrants or messaging changes?
• Update ROAS benchmarks and targets

Pre-Launch Checklist

• Conversion tracking verified (test conversion)
• UTM parameters on all destination URLs
• Landing page live, mobile-optimized, fast
• Negative keyword lists applied
• Audience exclusions set (existing customers if needed)
• Budget and schedule confirmed
• Ad copy reviewed for policy compliance
• Extensions/assets complete
• Billing method active
• Notification settings configured

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Common Mistakes

1. No conversion tracking — You're flying blind. Set this up first.
2. Too many keywords per ad group — Keep it tight. One theme per group.
3. Broad match without smart bidding — Broad match + manual CPC = budget drain.
4. Editing during learning phase — Let Meta learn. Don't touch for 3-7 days.
5. Ignoring search terms — Check weekly. You'll be shocked what you're paying for.
6. Same creative for 3+ months — Refresh regularly. Creative fatigue is real.
7. No retargeting — Cheapest conversions you'll ever get. Set it up day one.
8. Optimizing for vanity metrics — CTR doesn't pay bills. Optimize for revenue.
9. Not excluding converters — Stop showing ads to people who already bought.
10. Giving up too early — Most campaigns need 2-4 weeks to optimize. Be patient.