Weekly Optimisation Checklist

1. Objective

The objective of this procedure is to conduct a routine weekly “health check” on all active Google Ads accounts. This SOP ensures that we can:

• Monitor Performance: Quickly identify performance trends compared to the previous week and against KPIs.
• Optimise Spend: Eliminate wasteful ad spend and reallocate budget to high-performing areas.
• Continuously Improve: Make small, impactful, data-driven adjustments.
• Early Problem Detection: Identify and address potential issues before they become serious.

2. When to Use this SOP

This procedure is to be executed once per week for every active client account.

• Recommended Timing: Monday or Tuesday morning.
• Analysis Timeframe: Last 7 days compared to Previous 7 days.

3. Responsible Parties

• Ads Specialist: Primarily responsible for executing the entire checklist.
• Account Manager: Reviews notes and outcomes to stay informed of the account’s status.

4. Prerequisites & Tools

• [ ] Access: Google Ads, Google Analytics 4.
• [ ] Documents: The client’s KPI dashboard, original strategy & setup SOPs for reference.
• [ ] Logging Tool: A “Change Log” Google Sheet or a project management tool to record significant changes.

The Weekly Optimisation Checklist

The checklist is divided into three phases: High-Level Review, Granular Analysis & Action, and Final Checks.

Phase 1: High-Level Performance Review

Goal: Get a quick 5-10 minute snapshot of the account’s health.

• [ ] 1.1. Compare Key KPIs (Last 7 days vs. Previous 7 days):
  • Cost: Any sudden spikes or drops?
  • Impressions & Clicks: Is reach and engagement stable?
  • CTR (Click-Through Rate): Has ad relevance changed?
  • Avg. CPC (Cost-Per-Click): Are click costs rising or falling?
  • Conversions: The most important metric. Up or down?
  • Cost / Conversion (CPA): Is our efficiency improving?
  • Conv. Rate: Is the traffic quality consistent?
  • ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): (For E-commerce) Is it meeting the target?
• [ ] 1.2. Check Budget Pacing:
  • Action: Look at the “Status” column at the campaign level.
  • Question: Are any high-performing campaigns “Limited by budget”? If so, make a note to recommend a budget increase or restructure.

Phase 2: Granular Analysis & Action

Goal: Dive into specific campaigns to perform targeted optimisations.

A. For SEARCH Campaigns

• [ ] 2.1. Analyse the Search Terms Report (MOST IMPORTANT WEEKLY TASK):
  • Action: Go to Keywords > Search terms.
  • Optimisation #1 – Add Negative Keywords: Identify irrelevant, wasteful search queries. Select them and add them to your negative keyword lists.
  • Optimisation #2 – Discover New Keywords: Find search terms that are converting well but are not yet in your keyword list. Add them to relevant Ad Groups as phrase or exact match keywords.
• [ ] 2.2. Review Keyword Performance:
  • Action: Sort your keywords by Cost.
  • Optimisation: Pause or lower bids for keywords that have spent significantly without converting in the last 7-14 days. Consider increasing budgets for top-performing keywords.
• [ ] 2.3. Review Ad Performance (RSA):
  • Action: In each Ad Group, click View asset details.
  • Optimisation: Look at the “Performance rating” column. Identify assets (headlines, descriptions) with a “Poor” rating. Pause them and replace them with new variations based on ideas from “Good” and “Best” performing assets.

B. For PERFORMANCE MAX (PMax) Campaigns

• [ ] 2.4. Review Asset Group Performance:
  • Action: Compare the performance (CPA, ROAS) between different Asset Groups to see which audience/product themes are working best.
• [ ] 2.5. Analyse Asset Performance:
  • Action: Within each Asset Group, click View details.
  • Optimisation: Similar to RSAs, identify any images, videos, headlines, or descriptions with a “Poor” rating and replace them with new assets.
• [ ] 2.6. Check the “Insights” Tab:
  • Action: Spend time reviewing the Insights tab to find new search category trends or high-performing audience segments suggested by Google. Use these findings to enrich your Audience Signals.

C. For ALL Campaign Types

• [ ] 2.7. Review Device Performance:
  • Action: Go to Devices. Compare performance between Mobile, Desktop, and Tablet.
  • Optimisation: If the bid strategy allows (if not fully automated or using Smart Bidding), apply positive or negative bid adjustments to devices that are performing significantly better or worse.
• [ ] 2.8. Review Location Performance:
  • Action: Go to Locations. Check performance by State/City/Region.
  • Optimisation: Exclude locations that are spending money with sero conversions.

Phase 3: Final Checks & Logging

• [ ] 3.1. Review the “Recommendations” Tab:
  • Action: Quickly scan Google’s recommendations.
  • Optimisation: Apply only the recommendations that make sense and align with your strategy (e.g., “Add new keywords,” “Pause redundant keywords”). Critically evaluate and dismiss recommendations that are not suitable (“Change your bid strategy,” “Use Broad match keywords”). Never blindly “Apply all.”
• [ ] 3.2. Log Changes:
  • Action: Open your “Change Log” file.
  • Optimisation: Briefly document the significant changes made this week. Example: “2025-08-22: Added 15 negative keywords to Search Leads campaign. Refreshed 2 ‘Poor’ image assets in PMax campaign.”
  • Rationale: Helps to track and explain performance fluctuations in the future.

5. Reporting & Communication

• Internal: Send a brief summary to the Account Manager via a chat tool or email. Example: “Account X this week: CPA is down 10%, optimised Search Terms and refreshed PMax assets. Performance is on track.”
• Client-Facing: Key findings and actions will be consolidated into the monthly report, unless there is a major fluctuation that requires immediate communication.