How We Scaled a Supplement Brand’s Google Ads Performance & Cut Wasteful Spend

Before partnering with us, the brand’s Google Ads account was managed in-house by a team member juggling multiple platforms—Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Without a dedicated specialist focusing on Google Ads, the account lacked structure, leading to:

• Overspending on brand campaigns with excessively high CPCs
• Underutilised search campaigns, relying too heavily on Performance Max
• Poor tracking visibility, making it difficult to measure profitability
• Unoptimised audience targeting, missing out on high-intent users

We quickly identified the key areas for optimisation and implemented a structured strategy to turn the account around.

Step #1: Fixing the Brand Campaign Waste

One of the biggest inefficiencies was in the brand campaign. The CPCs were unnecessarily high due to Maximise Conversions bidding—a costly mistake for brand keywords.

Switching from Maximise Conversions bidding to Manual CPC completely changed the campaign's efficiency. The previous setup was draining budget unnecessarily, while our approach maximised profitability and efficiency.

This transformation highlights the importance of having a dedicated Google Ads specialist who understands bidding strategies and cost control. Without intervention, this brand would have continued wasting budget on an inefficient campaign.

When we first audited the account, we discovered it was entirely reliant on Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. While PMax can be a powerful tool, it comes with limitations—a lack of control over search placements, unclear budget allocation across networks, and an inability to target high-intent search queries directly.

Without standard search campaigns, the brand was missing out on directly targeting users actively searching for their products. Instead, PMax was spreading the budget across Search, Display, YouTube, and Shopping placements without clear visibility into what was driving actual conversions.

The Problem with Over-Reliance on PMax

• No Control Over Search Placements – The brand couldn’t bid on specific high-intent keywords, leading to wasted spend on lower-quality traffic.
• Budget Spread Too Thin – PMax was allocating a significant portion of the budget to low-converting Display and YouTube placements, which contributed to higher costs and a lower ROAS.
• No Visibility on Keyword-Level Performance – The client had no clear data on which search terms were driving conversions, making it impossible to optimise bids effectively.

Our Solution: Testing Dedicated Search Campaigns

We introduced dedicated search campaigns for key products, focusing on high-intent, bottom-of-the-funnel keywords—queries where users were actively looking to buy. Instead of leaving keyword selection up to Google’s automation, we:

• Manually built out exact and phrase-match keyword lists, prioritising high-intent terms with strong conversion potential.
• Split campaigns by product category, ensuring more granular budget control.
• Implemented bid adjustments to focus on audiences that had previously engaged with the brand.

By doing this, we gained full control over keyword targeting, bidding, and budget allocation, allowing us to direct more ad spend toward the traffic that actually converted.

When we took over the account, ad spend was being spread across all products equally, regardless of whether they were driving conversions. This lack of performance-based optimisation meant that high-performing products weren’t getting enough budget, while low-performing SKUs were eating into ad spend without delivering results.

For an e-commerce brand, not all products convert at the same rate. Some products have stronger demand, better margins, or a more established customer base. Without a clear strategy to prioritise winners, the account was bleeding budget on SKUs that weren’t delivering a strong return.

The Problem with the Original Setup

• Underperforming SKUs Were Draining Ad Spend – Budget was being wasted on products with low conversion rates and high cost-per-acquisition (CPA).
• No Bid Adjustments Based on Performance – Every product was treated equally in terms of bids, leading to inefficient allocation of budget.
• No Clear Testing Strategy for New Products – Newly launched products were thrown into campaigns with minimal data, making it difficult to measure their true potential.

Our Solution: Identifying Winners & Cutting the Dead Weight

We implemented a three-tiered product segmentation strategy to ensure the highest-performing SKUs received the majority of the budget:

1️⃣ Top Performers: Products with the highest ROAS and conversion rates were prioritised. We increased bids and allocated more budget to ensure they dominated search results.

2️⃣ Test Group: Newly launched products or SKUs with inconsistent performance were put into a separate testing campaign. We applied controlled budgets and monitored conversion rates before deciding whether to scale them up or pause them.

3️⃣ Underperformers: SKUs with consistently high CPCs, low ROAS, or low conversion rates were either paused or had their bids significantly reduced. Instead of draining the budget, these products were re-evaluated to determine if they needed better ad creative, different messaging, or a landing page update.

One of the biggest challenges with Performance Max (PMax) campaigns is the lack of transparency. While PMax distributes budget across multiple placements—including Search, Display, YouTube, Shopping, and Discovery Ads—Google doesn’t provide a clear breakdown of where the spend is going.

Without this visibility, the brand had no way of knowing which placements were driving the best results and which were wasting ad spend. This meant:

• Budget was likely being over-allocated to Display and YouTube, which historically have lower conversion intent.
• High-performing search placements were not getting enough budget, leading to missed revenue opportunities.
• There was no way to accurately adjust bids or optimise for profitability.

Our Solution: A Custom Cost Breakdown Script

To solve this, we implemented a custom Performance Max reporting script that allowed us to break down spend, conversions, and ROAS across different placements.

With this script, we were able to:

• See exactly where budget was going within PMax, identifying overspending on low-performing placements.
• Reallocate budget from poor performers (like Display ads) to higher-converting placements (like Shopping and Search).
• Track performance trends over time, ensuring budget shifts were based on real data, not just assumptions.

The immediate impact was that we could clearly see how much of the budget was being funneled into low-intent placements and make informed decisions to reallocate spend. This level of transparency gave us the ability to refine the PMax strategy and push more budget into the highest-performing placements, ensuring better overall efficiency.

With the account structure optimised, low-performing products paused, and budget allocation under control, we turned our attention to audience segmentation and scaling.

One of the most common mistakes in Google Ads is treating all visitors the same—but not all users have the same intent or level of engagement with your brand. By refining audience targeting, we could ensure that:

• High-intent users saw the most relevant ads at the right time.
• New customer acquisition increased without drastically increasing ad spend.
• Scaling efforts were built on profitability, not just increasing spend blindly.

The Problem With the Original Audience Targeting

The brand was relying on broad targeting, meaning:

• New users were being lumped in with past buyers, leading to inefficient ad spend.
• Retargeting wasn’t fully utilised, missing opportunities to convert warm leads.
• Lookalike & interest-based audiences weren’t tested, leaving potential customers untapped.

Our Solution: Audience Segmentation for Maximum Efficiency

We segmented the audience into three key groups, each with its own bidding strategy:

1️⃣ High-Intent Audiences (Past Website Visitors & Engaged Users)

• We set up dedicated campaigns for users who had previously visited the website but hadn’t converted.
• These users were shown tailored messaging, with strong CTAs and urgency-driven ad copy.
• This allowed us to more efficiently allocate budget towards the users most likely to convert.
  
  

2️⃣ New Customer Acquisition (Lookalike & Custom Audiences)

• We built lookalike audiences based on previous purchasers and high-value customers.
• This allowed us to find new users with similar buying behaviour, increasing first-time purchases.
  
  

3️⃣ Broad Audiences (Cold Traffic Testing)

• To scale, we expanded into new interest-based audiences, testing different messaging and offers.
• We closely monitored CPA and ROAS to ensure spend was controlled.
• The end result was a more structured, efficient use of budget that allowed us to scale spend without sacrificing profitability.

• Lowered CPCs on brand campaigns by switching from Maximise Conversions to Manual CPC
  
  
• Unlocked new revenue potential by diversifying campaign types beyond PMax
  
  
• Improved spend allocation by identifying and eliminating wasteful product ad spend
  
  
• Increased visibility into performance with a custom PMax reporting script

Are your Google Ads campaigns bleeding budget with little to show for it?

Most businesses don’t realise just how much they’re overpaying for clicks, missing out on high-intent customers, or letting Google’s automation run wild. That’s where we come in.

At 5X Growth, we specialise in fixing what’s broken, cutting wasted spend, and scaling campaigns the right way. No fluff—just a strategy built on data, experience, and proven results.

Let’s turn wasted ad spend into real, profitable growth. Ready to get started?