Doodla Farms Google Ads Optimization Audit (2026-03-25)

Live audit conducted during the ^[1]. The account's Optimization Score was sitting at 60%, below the ~80% threshold at which Google begins throttling impressions. The session identified and fixed several critical issues across campaigns.

Pre-Audit State

Findings & Fixes

1. Display Remarketing — Broken Conversion Tracking

Problem: The Display 90-Day Remarketing campaign was spending ~$300/month with zero recorded conversions despite 115,000+ impressions and a high click volume. This was flagged as almost certainly a tracking error rather than genuine zero-conversion performance.

Root Cause: Conversions were occurring but not being counted. The audit surfaced 574 uncounted conversions. Additionally, the campaign was targeting a broad 90-day visitor audience with beans-only creative — a poor match for a remarketing objective.

Fixes Applied:
- Conversion tracking error identified and flagged for resolution
- Campaign rebuilt to target cart abandoners specifically (higher-intent audience)
- Creative messaging updated from beans-only to all-product cart recovery ("Your cart is waiting," "Complete your order")
- Budget held flat; audience and messaging overhauled

2. Missing Ad Extensions — Sitelinks, Callouts, Snippets

Problem: Most active campaigns had no sitelinks, callout extensions, or structured snippets. This wastes free ad real estate and suppresses click-through rates.

Fix: Eight new sitelinks (with full descriptions and URLs), callout extensions (free shipping over $50, USDA-certified, chemical-free, etc.), and structured snippets were created at the account level, so they serve across all campaigns without needing per-campaign setup.

Principle: Ad extensions are free real estate. Every active campaign should have sitelinks, callouts, and snippets at minimum. Google rewards completeness with better ad rank and larger ad units.

3. PMAX Campaigns — Bid & Budget Misalignment

Problem: PMAX campaigns were either underbidding relative to actual CPA or under-budgeted relative to their ROAS performance.

Fixes Applied:

Note on PMAX lifecycle: PMAX should be used for ~90 days to gather performance signal, then converted to dedicated Search or Shopping campaigns where the learned data can be applied more efficiently. The Black Beans, Popcorn, and Cornmeal PMAX campaigns are approaching or past this window and should be migrated. See ^[2].

4. Brand Search Campaign — Impression Share Gap

Problem: The Brand Search campaign (recently created) was running on Manual CPC at $0.34/click and capturing only 76% impression share — meaning 23% of searches for the brand name were going unanswered.

Fix: Bid strategy switched from Manual CPC to Target Impression Share at 95% absolute top, with a $1.00 max CPC cap.

Principle: For brand search campaigns, the goal is presence, not efficiency. You should appear every time someone searches your brand name. Target Impression Share (95%+ absolute top) is the correct strategy; conversion-focused bidding is secondary here.

5. Old World Search Campaign — Wrong Bid Strategy

Problem: The Old World Search campaign was spending ~$37/month with zero conversions. It was running on Maximize Clicks.

Fix: Switched from Maximize Clicks to Maximize Conversions (no target CPA set, given the campaign is new and lacks conversion history).

Caveat: This campaign is only ~2 weeks old. Performance should be monitored before drawing conclusions or making further structural changes. The Maximize Conversions switch gives the algorithm a chance to optimize toward the right objective rather than just volume.

6. Catch-All Shopping Campaign — 58 Untargeted Products

Problem: Google's optimization recommendations flagged that 58 products in the Merchant Center feed were not being advertised in any campaign.

Fix (planned): Create a new low-budget "catch-all" Shopping campaign to ensure all products have at least minimal advertising coverage. This follows the standard tiered campaign structure:

1. Tier 1 — Hero campaigns: Black Beans, Popcorn, Cornmeal (dedicated PMAX or Search/Shopping with real budgets)
2. Tier 2 — Catch-all: Everything else at a low bid, ensuring no product is completely dark

7. PMAX Videos — Missing or Incorrect Format

Problem: Several PMAX campaigns had low asset scores partly due to missing or improperly formatted video assets. Videos must be uploaded to YouTube and linked; aspect ratios must match platform requirements.

Fix (planned): Gilbert and Karly to create/upload correctly formatted videos for all PMAX campaigns. Google's in-platform video builder can be used as a starting point, but assets should be built in Canva first to ensure correct dimensions and branding.

Post-Audit Optimization Score

After applying the above fixes (extensions, bid strategy changes, campaign rebuild), the account Optimization Score was raised from 60% → >80%, clearing the impression throttling threshold.

New PMAX for Old World Products

A dedicated PMAX campaign for Old World products does not yet exist — only a Search campaign. A new PMAX should be created and connected to the Old World Merchant Center feed to enable Shopping placements. This follows the same ~90-day learning window approach before converting to Search/Shopping.

Action Items from This Audit

Related

• ^[4]
• ^[5]
• ^[2]
• ^[6]
• ^[7]