The Budget Balancer

Most advertisers spread budgets evenly across campaigns based on gut feeling or historical inertia.

Meanwhile, Google's own data shows exactly which campaigns are starving for more budget (via Impression Share Lost) and which are overfunded relative to their performance.

The Budget Balancer makes this invisible waste visible and actionable.

Common symptoms:

The fix isn't spending more—it's reallocating what you already have.

Step 1: The system pulls daily budget, spend, revenue, and Search Impression Share Lost (Budget) from Google Ads API.

Step 2: It calculates an Opportunity Score for each campaign:

Opportunity Score = ROAS × IS Lost Budget %

A campaign with 6x ROAS and 40% IS Lost scores 2.4 — a high-priority reallocation target.

A campaign with 1.2x ROAS and 10% IS Lost scores 0.12 — low priority.

Step 3: Campaigns with Opportunity Score above threshold become Rocket Ships. Campaigns with ROAS below target and high spend become Dogs.

Step 4: The simulator models the revenue impact of transferring budget from Dogs to Rockets, factoring in diminishing returns based on historical elasticity.

Example:

Recommendation: Transfer $200/day (50% cap of source) from Dog → Rocket

Projected outcome: Portfolio ROAS improves from 2.8x to 3.4x with zero net spend increase.

Visual: Two-column layout with drag-and-drop functionality

Left Column: Sources (Dogs & Underperformers)

Campaigns ranked by "waste potential" — low ROAS, high spend, low IS Lost (already maxed out on bad traffic).

Each card shows: Campaign name, Daily budget, Current ROAS, IS Lost %, Max transferable amount (50% cap).

Right Column: Destinations (Rockets & Stars)

Campaigns ranked by Opportunity Score — high ROAS, high IS Lost (starving for budget).

Each card shows: Campaign name, Daily budget, Current ROAS, IS Lost %, Projected ROAS at new budget level.

The Transfer Flow:

Bulk Mode: Select multiple Sources, one Destination. System distributes proportionally.

The system includes multiple safeguards to prevent knee-jerk reallocation:

1. Transfer Cap (50%)

No single transfer can exceed 50% of the source campaign's daily budget. This prevents shocking Smart Bidding's learning algorithm, which treats sudden budget changes as destabilizing events.

2. Cooldown Period (48 hours)

After executing a transfer, the same pair of campaigns enters a 48-hour cooldown. This gives the bidding algorithm time to adjust and gives you time to observe the impact before making further changes.

3. Learning Phase Protection

Campaigns flagged as "Exploration" or "Calibration" in the Growth Engine (Level 6) are protected from budget cuts. You can add to them, but not take from them.

4. Minimum Conversion Threshold

The system requires at least 30 conversions in the last 30 days before flagging a campaign as a "Dog." This prevents premature judgments on campaigns that simply haven't gathered enough data.

5. Volatility Guard

If a Rocket campaign's ROAS has >25% standard deviation over the past 7 days, the transfer recommendation gets a ⚠️ warning: "Destination campaign is volatile. Scale cautiously."

Typical results from Budget Balancer optimization:

The Diminishing Returns Curve:

Scaling isn't linear. The first $200/day added to a Rocket might yield 3x returns. The next $200 might yield 2x. The next might yield 1.2x.

The simulator models this curve using historical elasticity data:

Projected Marginal ROAS = Current ROAS × (1 - Saturation Factor)

Where: Saturation Factor = New Budget / (New Budget + Historical Budget at Current ROAS)

When Projected Marginal ROAS drops below your target ROAS, the system warns: "Diminishing returns ahead. Consider stopping here."

The key insight: You're not spending more money—you're spending the same money in smarter places. The net budget change is zero. The net revenue change is positive.

Every Wednesday (20 minutes):

Why Wednesday? Budget changes need 48-72 hours to stabilize. Wednesday gives you Thursday-Friday to observe, and the full weekend for data accumulation before Monday review.

Step 1: Scan the Landscape (3 min)

Look at the two-column layout. How many Dogs vs Rockets?

Step 2: Identify the Top Transfer (5 min)

Find the Dog with the highest waste and the Rocket with the highest Opportunity Score. This is your #1 transfer.

Step 3: Preview Impact (2 min)

Drag the Source onto the Destination. Review the projected ROAS change. Does it make sense?

Step 4: Execute (1 min)

Click "Execute." Budget adjusts via API. Confirm no undo needed.

Step 5: Record (2 min)

Note what you changed and why. The system logs this automatically, but adding your reasoning helps future audits.

Step 6: Verify Next Wednesday

Check if the transfer worked: Did Rocket's ROAS hold? Did IS Lost decrease? Did portfolio ROAS improve?

Use Budget Balancer when you want to:

Don't use Budget Balancer when you want to:

Who Should Use This:

✅ Media Buyers (daily PPC optimization)

✅ Campaign Managers (weekly budget tuning)

✅ Founders managing ad spend directly

❌ Executives (use PCC for high-level view)

❌ Analysts (use Growth Engine for statistical rigor)

How Often: Weekly (Wednesday recommended). Daily only if you just launched 3+ new campaigns and need rapid rebalancing.