wiki/clients/current/reynolds/2026-02-04-google-ads-performance-drop.md · 475 words · 2026-02-04
Overview
During the [1], a significant and unexplained performance decline in the Reynolds Transfer & Storage Google Ads account was flagged. The drop began in September and has continued, with impressions, clicks, and total conversions all falling sharply. The situation is complicated by conflicting metrics that require further investigation before a clear diagnosis can be made.
Problem Summary
The Reynolds Transfer & Storage account experienced a sharp, sustained decline beginning in September 2025. Key symptoms:
- Impressions: Falling significantly since September
- Clicks: Down in line with impressions
- Total Conversions: A fraction of what they were earlier in 2025
- Cost Per Conversion: Jumped from ~$32 to over $100
- Conversion Rate: Appears elevated relative to prior periods — but this conflicts with the other metrics (see below)
No campaign changes were identified in the account history that would explain the drop. Gilbert reviewed the change log and found nothing significant.
Conflicting Metrics
A key analytical problem was surfaced during the call: the reported metrics do not fully add up.
"How can impressions be down, conversions be down, and conversion rate be up? That didn't make any sense." — Mark Hope
If impressions, clicks, and total conversions are all declining, a rising conversion rate is mathematically suspect unless the denominator (clicks) has dropped faster than conversions — which would itself require explanation. This inconsistency needs to be resolved before drawing conclusions about campaign health.
Hypotheses
No root cause has been confirmed. Leading hypotheses to investigate:
- Tracking or attribution issue — A broken conversion tag, changed landing page, or goal misconfiguration could produce conflicting metric signals.
- Competitive pressure — Increased competition could be driving up CPCs and suppressing impression share, though this is more clearly documented for [2] in the assisted living vertical.
- Keyword or targeting drift — Changes in match types, negative keywords, or audience targeting could have reduced reach without a visible campaign-level change.
- Seasonal or market shift — The moving/storage industry may have natural seasonality that coincides with the September drop.
Current Status
- Status: Under investigation — no resolution as of this meeting
- Owner: Gilbert Barrongo
- Escalation path: Findings to be shared with Sebastian (account manager)
Action Items
- [ ] Gilbert to dig into the account and attempt to identify the cause of the September performance drop
- [ ] Gilbert to reconcile the conflicting metrics (conversion rate up vs. conversions and impressions down)
- [ ] Gilbert to send findings to Sebastian for discussion
- [ ] Consider whether landing page quality or destination URLs changed around September