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I run wasted-spend forensics on every new account in week one. The pattern of where waste hides is consistent enough across accounts that it deserves a playbook. This is the order I work through it, with the toolkit that does each step.
Most accounts leak 15 to 30% of budget across seven specific categories. Work them in this order, top to bottom. Each row links to the toolkit that does the analysis.
| # | Waste category | Typical recovery | Difficulty | Toolkit to run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Search term waste | 8-15% | Easy | wasted-spend-forensics finds it; negative-keyword-analyzer builds the negatives; negative-keyword-ai runs in a Sheet |
| 2 | Geographic waste | 3-8% | Easy | account-snapshot-export → location report. Switch to “Presence” not “Presence or Interest” |
| 3 | Schedule waste | 2-5% | Easy | pacing-intelligence → hour and day breakdown |
| 4 | Device waste | 2-6% | Medium | account-snapshot-export → device segmentation |
| 5 | Audience waste | 3-7% | Medium | search-term-intent-classifier → flag misaligned intent |
| 6 | Placement waste (Display / PMax) | 5-20% | Medium | pmax-asset-dump, pmax-health-check → placement and brand cannibalization |
| 7 | Bid strategy misalignment | 5-15% | Hard | bidding-strategy-playbook, smart-bidding-audit-prompt → diagnose and fix |
Stop the highest-recovery, lowest-difficulty leaks first. A finding worth $730/mo at “Easy” beats a $2,000/mo finding at “Hard” if the Hard one takes a month to ship.
“Search-term waste of $830/mo” gets fixed. “8% wasted spend” gets filed. Use the wasted-spend-forensics report to dollar-quantify every leak before reporting it to the client.
RED FLAGS:
- Cost > $50 with 0 conversions
- CPA > 3x your target
- Irrelevant intent (informational when you need transactional)
- Competitor brand terms (unless intentional)
- Job-related queries ("salary", "hiring", "careers")
- DIY queries ("how to", "tutorial", "free")| Spend Level | Action | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| >$100 no conv | Add exact negative immediately | Day 1 |
| >$50 no conv | Add phrase negative | Day 1 |
| High CPA terms | Add to observation list | Week 1 |
| Low volume waste | Batch add negatives | Week 2 |
LOOK FOR:
- Countries you don't serve showing spend
- Cities with 0 conversions but significant spend
- "Presence or interest" targeting leaking budgetDEAD ZONES = hours where:
- CPA is 2x+ your average
- OR spend > $100 with 0 conversions
- AND this pattern holds for 4+ weeks| CPA vs Average | Action |
|---|---|
| >3x average | Exclude hour completely |
| 2-3x average | Bid adjustment -50% |
| 1.5-2x average | Bid adjustment -25% |
| Below average | Bid adjustment +15% |
Continue the same pattern for Device, Audience, Placement, and Bid Strategy waste. Each section includes analysis queries, red flag patterns, and prioritized fix tables.
| Category | Waste Found | Fix Applied | Date | Savings/Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search Terms | _____ | _____ | _____ | $_____ |
| Geographic | _____ | _____ | _____ | $_____ |
| Schedule | _____ | _____ | _____ | $_____ |
| Device | _____ | _____ | _____ | $_____ |
| Audience | _____ | _____ | _____ | $_____ |
| Placement | _____ | _____ | _____ | $_____ |
| Bid Strategy | _____ | _____ | _____ | $_____ |
| Total | $_____ |
