vegamour

Google Ads
Audit & Growth Strategy

Prepared for the Board of Directors

April 2026

01 / 10
Executive Summary

We audited everything.
Here's what we found.

Upon taking over the Google Ads account, we conducted a complete forensic audit of conversion tracking, campaign structure, bid strategies, budget allocation, and audience targeting. We identified six critical issues that were silently degrading performance and causing the bidding algorithm to optimize against the wrong signals.

Issues Identified
6
Critical & high-priority
Actions Taken
22
In the first 48 hours
ROAS Target
3.0x
On confirmed purchases
Budget Target
$425K
Monthly spend goal
02 / 10
Audit Findings

Six issues hiding
in the account.

01
Bid Targets Calibrated Against Inflated Signals
Target ROAS values were set against all-conversion metrics (including add-to-cart, checkout, and engagement events) rather than actual confirmed purchases. Branded Search was set to a 16.79x target ROAS — but the real purchase ROAS was only 3.3x. This caused the algorithm to underbid on high-value queries and overbid on low-value ones.
02
Duplicate Purchase Tracking Tag
A secondary purchase tag (Purchase GTM) was briefly set to primary status, causing the same sale to be counted twice. This inflated reported revenue by $4,600–$7,200 per day during the affected window. The bidding algorithm was rewarded for phantom conversions it never actually generated.
03
Budget Cannibalization
Branded Search (the highest-ROAS campaign) shared a daily budget with a test campaign. When the test campaign consumed budget, the proven revenue-generating campaign was starved of spend during peak conversion hours.
04
Non-Purchase Engagement Events Marked as Conversions
Six engagement events — directions, website visits, clicks to call, YouTube subscribers, YouTube follow-on views, and other engagements — were all set as primary conversion actions. While they carry $0 value, they inflate conversion counts and confuse the bidding algorithm's quality signals.
05
Money-Losing Campaigns Running Unchecked
A Demand Gen remarketing campaign was spending $12,000+ with only 0.58x ROAS — losing roughly $5,000 per month on returning visitors. A competitor conquesting campaign was spending with zero measurable return. Neither had been paused or evaluated.
06
Harmful Negative Keywords Blocking Revenue
44 negative keywords were actively blocking high-intent branded and product searches. Terms like "hair growth serums," "rosemary oil for hair," "best hair serum," and competitor comparison searches were all negated — preventing ads from showing to people actively searching for Vegamour products.
03 / 10
What We Did

22 changes in 48 hours.

Conversion & Bidding Fixes

  • Recalibrated Branded Search tROAS from 16.79x down to 3.5x (aligned to real purchase ROAS)
  • Recalibrated PMax Shampoo tROAS from 5.0x to 3.0x
  • Recalibrated all Non-Branded Search tROAS targets (0.5x–0.73x raised to 1.5x–2.0x)
  • Removed duplicate Purchase GTM from primary conversion actions
  • Flagged 6 engagement events for removal from primary (requires UI access)

Budget & Structure

  • Separated Branded Search onto its own $5,000/day dedicated budget
  • Paused money-losing Demand Gen remarketing (0.58x ROAS)
  • Paused money-losing Competitor Conquesting campaign
  • Paused PMax Branded Shopping ($2,087 at 0.45x ROAS)

Keyword & Targeting Fixes

  • Removed 16 harmful negatives from branded campaign shared list (rosemary oil, hair growth serums, etc.)
  • Removed 8 harmful campaign-level negatives from Branded Search
  • Removed 20 competitor comparison negatives that were blocking high-intent "vs" searches

Monitoring & Reporting

  • Established hourly ROAS tracking across all campaigns
  • Launched daily performance brief with campaign-level breakdowns
  • Built real-time grading system (A through F) for daily performance
  • Created confidence scoring system to track trajectory
04 / 10
Early Results

First 48 hours
after changes.

Changes were implemented Friday evening, April 17. The weekend provided the first live data under the new configuration. Results are early but directionally positive — more campaigns are generating confirmed purchases than before.

Campaign Status Weekend Spend Revenue ROAS
Branded Search USA Live $4,857 $15,753 3.24x
Branded Shopping USA Live $1,424 $2,398 1.68x
PMax Shampoo Kits Live $1,589 $2,490 1.57x
PMax Hair Growth Serums Live $715 $799 1.12x
NB Shopping USA Live $993 $1,106 1.11x
NB Hair Growth Serum Live $188 $125 0.66x
Search Lash & Brow Pausing Mon $1,065 $0 0.00x
PMax Branded Shopping Paused $2,087 $933 0.45x
Demand Gen / Remarketing Paused $0 — —
Competitor Conquesting Paused $0 — —
Total (All Active) $12,918 $23,604 1.83x
Key Takeaway
Branded Search — the highest-volume, highest-value campaign — jumped to 3.24x ROAS immediately after the tROAS recalibration (from 16.79x down to 3.5x). This single change unlocked the algorithm to bid more aggressively on high-converting branded queries. Campaigns that were losing money have been paused, and the remaining portfolio is being monitored hourly for further optimization.
05 / 10
The Core Insight

More spend does not
automatically mean more revenue.

Across the last 34 days of data, there is a clear inverse relationship between daily spend and ROAS. Revenue per day plateaus around $15,000–$18,000 regardless of how much is spent. The key to scaling profitably is expanding the number of campaigns that can convert — not simply increasing budgets on existing ones.

Daily Spend Level Avg Daily Revenue Avg ROAS Observation
$3,000–$5,000/day $14,500 3.5x+ Peak efficiency — demand exceeds budget
$5,000–$7,500/day $16,000 2.5x–3.0x Sweet spot — strong returns, room to grow
$7,500–$10,000/day $17,000 1.8x–2.2x Diminishing returns begin
$10,000–$15,000/day $17,500 1.4x–1.8x Revenue ceiling — extra spend goes to waste
Why This Matters for the $425K Budget
$425K/month = $14,200/day. At current conversion volume, simply pouring $14K/day into the existing campaign structure would yield approximately 1.5x ROAS. To hit 3.0x at $14K/day, we need to unlock new converting audience segments, expand non-branded search coverage, and build a profitable remarketing engine — not just increase bids on what already exists.
06 / 10
Growth Roadmap

Three phases to
$425K at 3.0x.

Phase 1 — Weeks 1–2
Stabilize & Prove
Maintain $7,000–$8,000/day spend
Let recalibrated bid strategies stabilize
Confirm 3.0x+ on Branded Search sustained
Build conversion history for Non-Branded campaigns
Eliminate remaining underperformers
Daily Budget
$7–8K
Phase 2 — Weeks 3–4
Scale Winners
Increase to $10,000–$12,000/day
Scale Branded Search and Shopping budgets
Expand non-branded keyword coverage
Launch rebuilt remarketing with proper audience exclusions
Test new PMax asset groups with fresh creative
Daily Budget
$10–12K
Phase 3 — Month 2+
Full Deployment
Push to $14,000/day ($425K/month)
Layer in new campaign types (YouTube, DemandGen 2.0)
Activate lookalike audiences from purchase data
Seasonal strategy for summer/BFCM buildup
Expand to international markets if domestic hits ceiling
Daily Budget
$14K+
07 / 10
Financial Forecast

30 / 60 / 90 day
projections.

Conservative
30-Day Spend $250K
30-Day ROAS 2.2x
30-Day Revenue $550K
60-Day ROAS 2.5x
90-Day ROAS 2.8x
Expected
30-Day Spend $300K
30-Day ROAS 2.5x
30-Day Revenue $750K
60-Day ROAS 2.8x
90-Day ROAS 3.0x
Optimistic
30-Day Spend $350K
30-Day ROAS 2.8x
30-Day Revenue $980K
60-Day ROAS 3.0x
90-Day ROAS 3.2x
Path to $1.28M Monthly Revenue
At the full $425K monthly budget with 3.0x ROAS, the account would generate $1.28M in monthly Google Ads revenue. This is achievable at the 90-day mark through the phased approach — stabilize at lower spend, prove the 3.0x target is sustainable on confirmed purchases, then scale incrementally while maintaining efficiency.
08 / 10
Our Approach

What's different
going forward.

Transparent Reporting

Every number we report is confirmed purchase revenue from Shopify — not add-to-carts, not checkout starts, not engagement events. The daily brief breaks down every campaign with real ROAS graded A through F. No vanity metrics.

Hourly Monitoring

Automated systems track campaign ROAS hourly during business hours. When a campaign drops below breakeven, we know within 60 minutes — not at the end of the month. Weekend monitoring is active.

Data-Driven Scaling

Budget increases are phased in 20–30% increments, never doubled overnight. Each increase requires 5+ days of sustained performance data before the next step. The algorithm needs time to recalibrate at each spend level.

Conversion Integrity

We audited all 15+ conversion actions in the account and identified exactly which ones should influence bidding. Only confirmed purchases drive optimization. Funnel events (add to cart, checkout) are tracked for insights but never used as bid signals.

Proactive Waste Prevention

Every campaign is evaluated weekly for negative keyword opportunities, audience exclusions, device performance, and daypart efficiency. We removed 44 harmful negatives in the first audit alone — keywords that were actively blocking revenue.

All Hands on Deck

The full team is actively engaged on this account including weekends. Performance is tracked in real-time across the team with clear ownership of every campaign and every optimization decision.

09 / 10
Next Steps

The foundation is set.
Now we build.

Target ROAS
3.0x
Monthly Budget
$425K
Revenue Goal
$1.28M
vegamour
10 / 10