Account Structure Review

Account Structure Review — Google + Meta

Expert-level guidance for evaluating paid media account structure against goals, budget, and conversion volume thresholds. Identifies structural anti-patterns that fragment data, starve budgets, or block algorithms from learning.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/account-structure-review ~/.claude/skills/

Core Capabilities

Structural Anti-Pattern Detection

• Over-segmentation: Too many campaigns/ad sets splitting data and budget below learning thresholds
• Under-segmentation: Everything in one campaign, can't isolate performance by intent or funnel stage
• Budget fragmentation: Daily budgets too low to exit learning phase or sustain delivery
• Targeting overlap: Multiple campaigns competing in same auctions, bidding against yourself
• Objective mismatch: Using Traffic when you need Conversions, mixing lead gen and ecommerce goals in one campaign

Google-Specific Structure Auditing

• Campaign type separation (Search ≠ Display ≠ Shopping ≠ PMax)
• Ad group theme coherence (SKAGs are dead, STAGs with 5-15 keywords)
• Match type strategy alignment per campaign intent
• PMax cannibalizing branded Search
• Shared budgets causing cross-campaign interference
• Search Partners eating budget without conversions
• Automated bid strategies applied to low-volume campaigns

Meta-Specific Structure Auditing

• CBO vs ABO alignment with goals and budget levels
• Advantage+ Shopping adoption readiness
• Prospecting vs retargeting separation
• Funnel exclusions (retargeting excludes purchasers, prospecting excludes retargeting audiences)
• Advantage+ Audience stability (broad targeting with signal-based constraints)
• Campaign duplication testing without isolation
• Multiple ad sets in prospecting CBO campaigns (common waste vector)

Consolidation Decision Framework

• How to merge campaigns without losing historical data
• Campaign experiments for migration testing (Google) or 50/50 A/B tests (Meta)
• Incremental changes vs wholesale restructure
• Sequencing: What to consolidate first, what to defer

Structure Health Criteria

Google Ads: Minimum Conversion Volume Thresholds

Learning Phase: Campaigns need ~50 conversions in 30 days to exit learning. Campaigns with <30 conversions/month perpetually re-enter learning with every creative refresh or bid change.

Meta: Ad Set-Level Conversion Volume Thresholds

Learning Phase: Ad sets need ~50 conversions/week to exit learning. Ad sets with <50/week perpetually re-enter learning with every edit.

Budget Fragmentation Thresholds

Critical Rule: If your campaign can't sustain the minimum daily budget for 30 consecutive days without pausing, your account is over-segmented.

Targeting Overlap Indicators (Meta)

Check overlap in Meta Ads Manager > Tools > Audience Overlap. Run this monthly for all active prospecting campaigns.

Google: Keyword Overlap Indicators

Run Search Terms Report monthly and cross-reference against all campaigns to find cannibalization.

Platform-Specific Structure Best Practices

Google Ads: Campaign Hierarchy

Search Campaigns (Hierarchy: Campaign > Ad Group > Keywords > Ads)

• One theme per campaign: Brand, Competitor, Category, Product Line, Intent Stage
• Ad groups: 5-15 keywords per ad group, tightly themed (STAGs, not SKAGs)
• Match types: Use Phrase and Broad in most campaigns. Exact only for ultra-high-intent/high-value terms.
• Negatives: Aggressive negative keyword lists at campaign level to prevent overlap
• Structure example:
  • Campaign: Brand Search
    • Ad Group: Brand Exact (5 exact match brand terms)
    • Ad Group: Brand Misspellings (10 phrase match variants)
  • Campaign: Category - Running Shoes
    • Ad Group: Trail Running (8 phrase match keywords)
    • Ad Group: Road Running (10 phrase match keywords)
    • Ad Group: Racing Flats (5 phrase match keywords)

Shopping Campaigns

• Standard Shopping: One campaign per product category OR one campaign with ad groups by product type
• PMax: One campaign for entire catalog OR separate campaigns by margin/goal (e.g., high-margin PMax vs volume PMax)
• Do NOT run PMax + Standard Shopping simultaneously — PMax will dominate, Standard Shopping becomes a reporting shell

Performance Max (PMax)

• When to use: E-commerce with feed, lead gen with dynamic assets, omnichannel goals
• Structure: 1-3 campaigns max. PMax is designed to consolidate. Multiple PMax campaigns only if goals differ (ROAS target, audience strategy, geo)
• Asset groups: 3-5 per campaign, themed by product category or customer segment
• Critical negative keywords: Add brand terms if you want branded search to stay in Search campaigns

Display Campaigns

• Separate campaigns by goal: Prospecting vs Retargeting
• Prospecting: Use Responsive Display Ads (RDA) with demographic/interest targeting or Custom Audiences
• Retargeting: Website visitors, cart abandoners, customer lists. Lower bids, higher ROAS targets.

Meta: Campaign Hierarchy

Campaign (Objective + Budget type)

• Choose objective: Awareness, Traffic, Engagement, Leads, App Promotion, Sales
• Choose budget: Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) or Ad Set Budget Optimization (ABO)

Ad Set (Audience + Placement + Optimization)

• Define audience (Advantage+ Audience, Custom Audiences, Lookalikes)
• Choose placement (Advantage+ Placements or manual)
• Set optimization event (Purchase, Add to Cart, Lead, etc.)
• Set bid strategy (Lowest Cost, Cost Cap, Bid Cap)

Ad (Creative)

• Image, video, carousel, collection
• Primary text, headline, description, CTA

CBO vs ABO Decision Tree:

• Use CBO when:
  • Budget >$300/day
  • Testing multiple audiences against each other
  • Want Meta to auto-allocate budget to best performers
  • Have 2-5 ad sets per campaign
• Use ABO when:
  • Budget <$300/day
  • Need strict budget control per ad set (e.g., prospecting gets $100, retargeting gets $50)
  • Testing one audience or creative set in isolation
  • Running Advantage+ (CBO is required)

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

• Consolidates prospecting + retargeting into one campaign with one ad set
• Requires Conversions API (CAPI) + pixel
• Needs 50+ purchases/week to perform (ideally 150+/week)
• Best for brands spending $10K+/month on Meta with mature pixel
• When NOT to use: New pixels (<1000 events), low conversion volume, need granular audience control

Prospecting vs Retargeting Separation

• Always separate prospecting and retargeting into different campaigns
• Prospecting: Broad targeting (Advantage+ Audience with interest/demo signals), lookalikes, cold traffic
• Retargeting: Website visitors (180d), cart abandoners (30d), video viewers (30d), engaged users
• Critical exclusions:
  • Prospecting: Exclude website visitors 180d, customer lists
  • Retargeting: Exclude purchasers (unless running replenishment/upsell)

Consolidation Decision Framework

Step 1: Conversion Volume Audit

Pull last 30 days of data. For each campaign/ad set:

1. Count conversions
2. Compare to minimum threshold (see tables above)
3. Flag campaigns/ad sets below threshold as "Under-Volume"

Step 2: Budget Fragmentation Audit

For each campaign:

1. Calculate average daily spend
2. Compare to minimum daily budget threshold
3. Flag campaigns below threshold as "Under-Budget"
4. Check: Does campaign run out of budget before end of day? If yes, flag "Budget-Constrained"

Step 3: Targeting Overlap Audit

Google:

1. Run Search Terms Report for all Search campaigns
2. Cross-reference search terms against all other campaigns' keyword lists
3. Flag any search term appearing in 2+ campaigns

Meta:

1. Go to Ads Manager > Tools > Audience Overlap
2. Compare all active prospecting audiences
3. Flag any overlap >25%

Step 4: Objective Mismatch Audit

For each campaign:

1. Check objective (Google: bid strategy; Meta: campaign objective)
2. Check conversion tracking setup
3. Flag mismatches:
   • Google: Manual CPC or Maximize Clicks when conversions are tracked
   • Meta: Traffic or Engagement objective when Purchase pixel fires
   • Mixing lead gen (form fills) and ecommerce (purchases) in same campaign

Step 5: Consolidation Plan

For each flagged campaign, decide:

• Merge: Combine with similar campaign (same intent, same goal, compatible targeting)
• Pause: Discontinue if redundant or no clear goal
• Restructure: Keep separate but change targeting/budget/objective
• Defer: Flag for later (e.g., seasonal campaigns, test campaigns)

Merge Rules:

• Google Search: Merge campaigns with similar keyword themes and match types into one campaign with multiple ad groups
• Google PMax: Consolidate multiple PMax campaigns into one unless goals differ by >20% (e.g., tROAS of 300% vs 500%)
• Meta Prospecting: Merge lookalike audiences into one Advantage+ Audience campaign with signals
• Meta Retargeting: Merge retargeting ad sets into one campaign with CBO, separate ad sets by funnel stage (website visitors, cart abandoners, etc.)

Step 6: Migration Plan

Option A: Campaign Experiments (Google)

1. Create experiment in original campaign
2. Build new consolidated structure in experiment arm
3. Split traffic 50/50 for 14-30 days
4. Compare performance, roll out winner

Option B: Gradual Migration

1. Launch new consolidated campaigns at 25% of total budget
2. Run for 7 days, compare performance
3. Increase to 50%, decrease old campaigns to 50%
4. Run for 7 days, compare again
5. If new campaigns outperform, shift 100% budget and pause old campaigns

Option C: Immediate Cutover (risky, only for emergencies)

1. Launch new campaigns
2. Pause old campaigns same day
3. Expect 7-14 day learning phase, performance dip

Historical Data Preservation:

• Do NOT delete old campaigns — pause them
• Export historical data to spreadsheet/dashboard before pausing
• Keep old campaigns paused for 90 days for reference, then archive

Minimum Viable Structure by Budget Level

$5K/month ($167/day)

Google:

• 2-4 campaigns max: Brand Search ($50/day), Category Search ($70/day), Display Retargeting ($30/day), Shopping or PMax ($17/day)
• Do NOT run PMax + Shopping simultaneously at this budget

Meta:

• 2 campaigns: Prospecting CBO ($100/day, 2 ad sets), Retargeting ABO ($67/day, 2 ad sets)
• If running Advantage+, go all-in: 1 Advantage+ campaign ($167/day)

$20K/month ($667/day)

Google:

• 5-8 campaigns: Brand Search ($100/day), Competitor Search ($100/day), Category Search ($150/day), PMax ($200/day), Display Retargeting ($50/day), Display Prospecting ($67/day)
• Or: Consolidate into PMax ($400/day) + Brand Search ($100/day) + Display Retargeting ($167/day)

Meta:

• 3-4 campaigns: Prospecting CBO ($400/day, 3-5 ad sets), Retargeting CBO ($150/day, 3 ad sets), Testing Campaign ($117/day, 2 ad sets)
• Or: Advantage+ Shopping ($500/day) + Retargeting ($167/day)

$100K/month ($3,333/day)

Google:

• 10-15 campaigns: Brand Search, Competitor Search, 3-5 Category Search campaigns, PMax, Display Prospecting (demographics), Display Prospecting (interests), Display Retargeting, YouTube Prospecting, YouTube Retargeting, Discovery
• Budget allocation: 40% PMax, 20% Search (Brand/Competitor/Category), 20% Display, 20% YouTube/Discovery

Meta:

• 6-10 campaigns: Advantage+ Shopping, Prospecting Lookalikes, Prospecting Interests, Prospecting Broad, Retargeting (Website), Retargeting (Engaged), Creative Testing, Offer Testing, New Market Testing
• Budget allocation: 50% Advantage+, 20% Prospecting (other), 15% Retargeting, 15% Testing

$500K/month ($16,667/day)

Google:

• 15-25 campaigns: Separate by geo (US, CA, UK, etc.), product line, margin tier, funnel stage, device (if performance warrants), dayparting (if 24/7 doesn't work)
• Heavy investment in PMax ($8K/day), Brand ($2K/day), Category Search ($4K/day), YouTube ($2K/day)

Meta:

• 10-20 campaigns: Multiple Advantage+ campaigns by geo or product line, separate prospecting campaigns by demo or interest cluster, retargeting by funnel stage and recency, heavy creative testing budget
• Budget allocation: 60% Advantage+, 15% Prospecting, 10% Retargeting, 15% Testing

Key principle: Structure complexity should scale with budget and conversion volume, not with number of products or "just because."

Output Format Template

When conducting an account structure review, provide output in this format:

# Account Structure Review — [Client Name] — [Date]

## Executive Summary
- Total monthly spend: $X
- Total campaigns: X (Google: X, Meta: X)
- Campaigns flagged: X (X% of total)
- Primary issues: [List top 3]
- Recommended consolidation: X campaigns → X campaigns
- Expected impact: [Estimated improvement in CPA, ROAS, or learning phase stability]

## Structural Health Score: X/100
- Conversion volume: X/30 (campaigns meeting minimum thresholds)
- Budget allocation: X/25 (campaigns with sufficient daily budgets)
- Targeting efficiency: X/25 (overlap score)
- Objective alignment: X/20 (campaigns using correct objectives for goals)

## Google Ads Findings

### Campaign Inventory
[Table: Campaign Name | Type | Daily Budget | Monthly Conversions | Status | Flag]

### Issues Identified
1. **[Issue Category]** (e.g., Over-Segmentation, Budget Fragmentation)
   - **Finding**: [Specific data point]
   - **Impact**: [Why this matters]
   - **Recommendation**: [What to do]

### Google Consolidation Plan
- Merge: [Campaign A + Campaign B] → [New Campaign Name]
- Pause: [Campaign C] (reason: redundant with PMax)
- Restructure: [Campaign D] (change from Maximize Clicks to tCPA)

## Meta Findings

### Campaign Inventory
[Table: Campaign Name | Objective | Budget Type | Daily Budget | Weekly Conversions | Status | Flag]

### Issues Identified
1. **[Issue Category]**
   - **Finding**: [Specific data point]
   - **Impact**: [Why this matters]
   - **Recommendation**: [What to do]

### Meta Consolidation Plan
- Merge: [Ad Set A + Ad Set B] → [New Campaign Name] (CBO)
- Migrate to Advantage+: [Campaign E] (conversion volume meets threshold)
- Pause: [Campaign F] (overlap with retargeting campaign)

## Migration Roadmap

### Phase 1 (Week 1-2): [Immediate Actions]
- Launch: [New Campaign X] at $X/day
- Reduce: [Old Campaign Y] to $X/day (from $X/day)
- Pause: [Campaign Z] (no conversions in 60 days)

### Phase 2 (Week 3-4): [Performance Validation]
- Monitor: [Campaigns] for learning phase completion
- Compare: [Old vs New] performance
- Decision: Roll out 100% or revert

### Phase 3 (Week 5-6): [Full Migration]
- Shift: 100% budget to new structure
- Pause: All old campaigns
- Archive: Export historical data

## Expected Outcomes
- **Learning phase stability**: [X campaigns] will exit learning phase with consolidated volume
- **Budget efficiency**: [X campaigns] will sustain delivery throughout day instead of exhausting budget early
- **Reporting clarity**: [Benefit of cleaner structure]
- **Algorithmic performance**: Expect CPA to improve [X%] as algorithms get more signal

## Risks & Mitigations
- **Risk**: Performance dip during learning phase
  - **Mitigation**: Gradual migration, keep 50% budget in proven campaigns during transition
- **Risk**: Loss of granular reporting
  - **Mitigation**: Use labels, UTM parameters, or asset groups (PMax) to maintain visibility

## Next Steps
1. [Action 1]
2. [Action 2]
3. [Action 3]

Worked Example

Scenario: Mid-market DTC brand, $30K/month spend, Google + Meta

Google Ads Audit:

• 28 Search campaigns (Brand, Category, Product, Competitor)
• 22 campaigns have <20 conversions/month (below tCPA threshold)
• 15 campaigns have daily budgets <$20 (exhaust by 10am)
• PMax campaign active + Standard Shopping campaign active (PMax dominating, Standard Shopping getting <5% of budget)
• Shared budget across 8 campaigns causing unpredictable allocation

Findings:

1. Over-Segmentation (Search): 28 campaigns should be 6-8 campaigns grouped by intent
2. Budget Fragmentation: 15 campaigns can't sustain delivery
3. PMax Cannibalization: Standard Shopping is redundant
4. Shared Budget Chaos: 8 campaigns competing for shared budget instead of predictable allocation

Consolidation Plan:

• Merge Search campaigns: 28 → 6 (Brand, Competitor, Category A, Category B, Category C, Generic)
• Pause Standard Shopping, increase PMax budget from $200/day to $400/day
• Remove shared budgets, assign fixed daily budgets to each campaign
• Resulting structure: 6 Search campaigns + 1 PMax + 1 Display Retargeting = 8 campaigns total

Meta Audit:

• 12 campaigns (10 prospecting, 2 retargeting)
• 10 prospecting campaigns have overlapping audiences (Lookalike 1%, Lookalike 2-3%, Interest: Fitness, Interest: Running, Broad, etc.)
• Audience overlap tool shows 35-60% overlap across all prospecting campaigns
• 6 campaigns have <30 purchases/week (below Conversions optimization threshold)
• Using ABO with $50/day per campaign

Findings:

1. Targeting Overlap: 10 prospecting campaigns bidding against each other
2. Under-Volume: 6 campaigns don't have enough conversions to optimize
3. Budget Fragmentation: $50/day per campaign is marginal for Conversions objective

Consolidation Plan:

• Merge prospecting campaigns: 10 → 2 (Advantage+ Shopping at $700/day, Lookalike Testing at $100/day)
• Consolidate retargeting: 2 campaigns → 1 CBO campaign with 3 ad sets (Website 7-30d, Cart Abandoners, Engaged Video Viewers) at $200/day
• Resulting structure: 3 campaigns total (Advantage+, Lookalike Testing, Retargeting)

Expected Impact:

• Google: Campaigns will have 40-60 conversions/month (vs 8-15 currently), tCPA will stabilize, learning phase will complete
• Meta: Advantage+ will have 120+ purchases/week (vs 20-30 per campaign currently), audience overlap eliminated, CBO will optimize budget allocation
• Overall: CPA expected to improve 15-25% within 30 days post-migration

Guidelines

• Never consolidate blindly: Check conversion data, budget sustainability, and targeting logic before merging
• Preserve historical data: Pause, don't delete
• Test migrations when possible: Use experiments (Google) or gradual budget shifts (Meta)
• Monitor learning phases: Expect 7-14 days of instability after structural changes
• Document everything: Keep audit findings, consolidation plan, and migration steps in shared doc for team visibility
• Revisit quarterly: Account structure should evolve as budget, conversion volume, and goals change

How to Use This Skill

Ask questions like:

• "Audit my Google Ads account structure and identify consolidation opportunities"
• "My Meta campaigns have low conversion volume — should I consolidate?"
• "I'm inheriting a messy account with 40+ campaigns — where do I start?"
• "What's the right campaign structure for a $50K/month budget on Google and Meta?"
• "My campaigns keep re-entering learning phase — is my structure the problem?"
• "Should I migrate to Advantage+ Shopping or keep my current prospecting setup?"
• "Create a consolidation plan for my Search campaigns — they're all under $30/day budget"

Safety & Data Handling

• Analysis only — this skill produces recommendations, not live changes. Always review before implementing in any ad platform.
• No PII — do not paste customer emails, phone numbers, names, or order-level data. Use aggregated/anonymized exports only.
• Projections are estimates — financial forecasts are based on historical data and carry uncertainty. Label them as projections in client deliverables.
• Confirm before acting — never pause, delete, or modify live campaigns based solely on this analysis without human review.