Google Ads Budget

Read first:

• google-ads/references/operator-thesis.md
• google-ads/references/intent-map.md
• google-ads/references/tracking-playbook.md
• google-ads/references/structure-playbook.md
• google-ads/references/budget-playbook.md
• google-ads/references/deliverable-templates.md

Read workspace if available:

• workspace/ads/account.md
• workspace/ads/goals.md
• workspace/ads/intent-map.md
• workspace/ads/winners.md
• workspace/ads/findings.md
• workspace/ads/change-log.md
• workspace/ads/learnings.md
• workspace/ads/drafts/_index.md — check if tracking fixes are pending (gates scaling)

Data Acquisition

Connected Mode (MCP available)

Pull via the search tool on google-ads-mcp:

Primary: Campaign budgets and spend:

SELECT
  campaign.name,
  campaign.status,
  campaign_budget.amount_micros,
  campaign_budget.delivery_method,
  campaign.bidding_strategy_type,
  metrics.cost_micros,
  metrics.conversions,
  metrics.cost_per_conversion,
  metrics.impressions,
  metrics.search_impression_share
FROM campaign
WHERE campaign.status = 'ENABLED'
  AND segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

Primary: Impression share and budget-limited detection:

SELECT
  campaign.name,
  metrics.search_impression_share,
  metrics.search_budget_lost_impression_share,
  metrics.search_rank_lost_impression_share,
  metrics.cost_micros,
  metrics.conversions
FROM campaign
WHERE campaign.status = 'ENABLED'
  AND campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'SEARCH'
  AND segments.date DURING LAST_7_DAYS

Supplementary: Tracking confidence check:

SELECT
  conversion_action.name,
  conversion_action.type,
  conversion_action.counting_type,
  conversion_action.include_in_conversions_metric,
  metrics.conversions
FROM conversion_action
WHERE conversion_action.status = 'ENABLED'
  AND segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
ORDER BY metrics.conversions DESC

See data/gaql-recipes.md for additional queries.

Date Range Fallback

If LAST_30_DAYS returns 0 rows, fall back to LAST_90_DAYS. For budget analysis, older data is less useful — if 90 days is also empty, note "Account dormant: no activity to base budget decisions on" and recommend a plan or audit instead. Always state the date range used.

Export Mode (no MCP)

Ask the user for:

• Campaign budget report: Budget, Spend, Conversions, Search IS%, Budget Lost IS%
• Last 30 days preferred

Process

1. Announce mode (connected/export).
2. Check tracking confidence first — from workspace findings or quick tracking check.
   • If tracking confidence is Low/Broken, flag that budget decisions are provisional.
   • Check workspace/ads/drafts/_index.md for pending tracking fix drafts.
3. Identify which buckets are buying clean signal vs. noisy traffic.
4. Assess impression share — where is budget the constraint vs. where is it quality?
5. Distinguish between budget constraints and structural/intent problems.
6. Recommend:
   • Scale — clean signal, budget-limited, good CPA
   • Protect — working well, don't starve it
   • Reduce — noisy traffic, poor signal, overfunded
   • Hold — needs more data or structural fix before budget decision
   • Fix-before-scaling — blocked by tracking, structure, or intent problems

Draft Output

Budget Reallocation Draft

Trigger: Analysis identifies campaigns where budget is clearly misallocated (strong campaign starved while weak campaign overfunded), AND tracking confidence is at least Medium.

Create using drafts/templates/budget-draft.md:

• Write to workspace/ads/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD-[account-slug]-budget-realloc.md
• Include: current daily budget, proposed daily budget, change amount, reason, expected impact
• Show net budget change (budget-neutral reallocation vs. total spend change)
• Note tracking confidence gate
• Update workspace/ads/drafts/_index.md

Blocking conditions

Do not produce a budget draft if:

• Tracking confidence is Low or Broken (recommend tracking fix instead)
• A pending tracking fix draft exists that hasn't been applied

Instead, note: "Budget decisions are blocked until tracking fix draft [X] is resolved."

Always update workspace memory:

• workspace/ads/findings.md — budget observations
• workspace/ads/learnings.md — what we learned about spend efficiency

Rules

• Do not scale ambiguous traffic just because volume is available.
• Do not mistake structure problems for budget problems.
• If tracking confidence is low, say that budget decisions are provisional.
• Budget scaling is the highest-risk action in the system. Gate it behind tracking trust.