NO. 05 · PAID ADS · EDITION 1.0

Google Ads in the Automation Era

What you still control in Performance Max and broad match, and what to stop fighting.

$149

PDF · 83 pages · 12 templates · 30-min call · Verified 2026-10

Includes a call of 30 minutes with a specialist from the desk. Book within 60 days of purchase.

Full refund within 30 days, no questions. Free updates to this edition.

Google reports conversion lifts of 35% for broad match and 18% for Performance Max, measured by Google. This is the working manual for running an account where automation makes most decisions: what you still control, how to feed the system, and how to prove what it adds.

About this book

Smart Bidding, broad match, AI Max and Performance Max now decide most of what happens at each auction. Google's own figures for what these features add are large, and they are Google's own figures. This book reads those claims carefully and maps every control an advertiser still has.

It covers the conversion data the automation learns from, targets and budgets set from margin, search terms and negatives with broad match and AI Max, Performance Max channels and assets, account structure, and experiments that show what automation adds in your account. It ends with an operating rhythm and a 13-week plan.

It is written for in-house paid search leads, agency account managers and the marketing leads who answer to finance for the spend. It comes with twelve templates, including a target calculator and a search terms n-gram script. Every number carries its source and date.

How to use this book 5
01 What changed, and the claims to test 9
02 The control map 15
03 Feed the machine the right conversions 23
04 Targets, budgets and Smart Bidding 31
05 Broad match and AI Max without losing the plot 39
06 Performance Max without fighting it 47
07 Structure: fewer campaigns, clearer jobs 55
08 Proving what the automation adds 63
09 The operating rhythm and the 90-day plan 71
How this book was verified 75
All sources 77
The template pack 79
Changelog for this edition 81

INCLUDED

Your 30-minute consultation

Every copy of this book includes one video call with a specialist from the desk, to apply the book to your situation.

01Get your linkIt comes with your download, by email and in your account.
02Book within 60 daysPick a time. Send your site, account or question ahead if you can.
03Leave with next stepsWe work through your case using the book's method and its templates.

The call is practical marketing guidance. It is not legal, tax or financial advice.

What's inside

The book, plus 12 templates you can use the same day.

control-map.xlsx SPREADSHEET The control map as an audit: every lever with the questions above, a status (deliberate, default, wrong, not reviewed), the evidence, the owner and the next review date. Summarises which levers nobody is pulling.
conversion-value-calculator.xlsx SPREADSHEET Calculates a value for each lead stage from your CRM counts and average deal value, suggests which stages to import as primary, and shows the effect of a margin-based value for e-commerce. Includes a column for the conversion action name in Google Ads.
conversion-tracking-audit.xlsx SPREADSHEET The conversion audit: every conversion action with status, source, counting, value, the money test, a comparison with your source of truth and the gap, duplicate checks, consent and enhanced conversions status, and an action list.
target-calculator.xlsx SPREADSHEET Calculates break-even and target ROAS from margin and repeat purchase rate, and target CPA from customer value and acquisition share. Also estimates the daily budget a campaign needs to reach Google's documented conversion thresholds at that target.
search-terms-sample.csv SAMPLE DATA A sample search terms export to run the script on first, so you can see the report format before using your own data.
ngram-negatives.py SCRIPT A Python script that reads a search terms export (CSV) and aggregates cost, clicks and conversions by one-, two- and three-word phrases. Flags phrases with high cost and no or few conversions as negative candidates, and phrases with strong results as keyword or theme candidates. No packages to install.
negative-keyword-starter.txt TEXT FILE Starter negative keyword themes for B2B and e-commerce accounts (employment, education, free and DIY, irrelevant product types, support and login), each with a short list to adapt and a warning about when not to use it.
pmax-planner.xlsx SPREADSHEET A planner for Performance Max: asset groups by theme with their landing pages, signals and asset counts against Google's limits; listing groups by custom label; budget and conversion estimates against the documented thresholds; and the exclusions in place.
structure-planner.xlsx SPREADSHEET Lists current campaigns with conversions, spend and the reason each exists; applies the four-question test; and proposes a consolidated structure with conversion volumes per campaign against Google's documented thresholds.
experiment-log.xlsx SPREADSHEET The experiment log: hypothesis, campaign, change, split, start and end dates, decision rule, results per arm (cost, conversions, value), the difference, a significance check using the method in this chapter, and the decision. Calculates whether each arm reached the conversions needed.
weekly-account-review.docx DOCUMENT A one-page weekly review: conversion health, search term patterns and negatives, budget limits, experiments in flight, changes made, and decisions for next week. One per account per week.
google-ads-90-day-plan.xlsx SPREADSHEET The 13-week plan below as a tracker with owners, exit criteria and due dates calculated from a start date.

THE RECEIPTS

Sources this book draws on

The main sources behind the numbers in this book. The book cites each one in the sentence where it is used, and lists every source with the date we accessed it.