Campaign Wizard

Launch intelligence-backed campaigns in 5 steps

The Problem: Google's Default Settings Favor Google

Google Ads' campaign creation has 47+ settings across multiple tabs. Most advertisers either:

1. Copy an old campaign (inheriting past mistakes and stale targeting)

2. Accept all Google defaults (which are optimized for Google's revenue, not yours)

3. Accidentally enable "Display Expansion" on Search campaigns (wasting up to 30% of budget on irrelevant placements)

The Campaign Wizard is a strategic guardrail. It forces you to declare your financial objective first, then builds the entire campaign structure around that goal — with wasteful defaults already disabled.

The 5-Step Launch Flow

Step 1: Pick Your Outcome

Choose from 4 business models:

E-Commerce Sales (Shopping + Dynamic Remarketing)

High-Intent Leads (Search + Call Extensions)

Brand Awareness (Display + YouTube)

App Installs (Universal App Campaigns)

The engine auto-selects the correct Channel based on this choice.

Step 2: Define Your Strategy (Playbook)

For Search campaigns, the wizard asks: What's your competitive posture?

Brand Defense: Exact match bidding to protect your brand name from competitors

Competitor Conquest: Aggressive bidding on rival brand keywords

Intent Capture: Standard high-intent service keyword targeting

Each playbook has pre-built keyword templates and match type recommendations.

Step 3: Set Your Financial Guardrails

Daily Budget: Your maximum daily spend tolerance

Target ROAS: Your efficiency goal (e.g., 400% means $4 revenue per $1 spent)

Bidding Strategy: The engine recommends "Maximize Conversion Value" for E-Commerce and "Maximize Conversions" for Lead Gen

Step 4: Asset Library (Creative Scan)

The wizard scans your existing Google Ads account for:

Logos (auto-detects square format for responsive ads)

Landscape images (1.91:1 ratio for Performance Max)

Portrait images (4:5 ratio for social placements)

Videos (for YouTube campaigns)

For Shopping campaigns, the wizard auto-detects your Google Merchant Center ID. No Merchant account? It switches to guided Store Setup mode.

Step 5: Review & Launch

You see a preview of campaign structure, estimated daily clicks (based on historical CTR), and projected 30-day spend. Click "Launch" and the engine creates the campaign via Google Ads API.

Merchant Center Integration (E-Commerce)

If you select "E-Commerce Sales," the wizard checks for a linked Google Merchant Center account.

If Linked (Green Light)

The wizard pulls your product feed showing total products, approved vs. disapproved breakdown, and top products by impression share. You can filter which products to include using custom labels.

If Not Linked (Setup Mode)

The wizard switches to a mini-onboarding flow:

Create Merchant Center account (via API)

Connect your website or Shopify store

Upload product feed (CSV or XML)

Verify ownership (meta tag or DNS)

Once verified, the wizard auto-links Merchant Center to Google Ads and proceeds to campaign creation.

Auto-Save: Never Lose Progress

The wizard caches your progress after every step using browser storage.

How it works:

After each step, your selections are persisted locally. Close the browser, lose internet, or crash — reopen and see a "Resume Campaign Creation?" prompt.

Recovery scenarios:

Close the tab → Reopen and continue from last completed step

Lose internet → Data persists locally until reconnected

Browser crash → Relaunch and resume

The cache expires after 7 days or when you successfully launch the campaign.

Safety Defaults: What the Wizard Auto-Disables

Google's default campaign settings are optimized for Google's ad revenue, not your business outcomes. The wizard automatically disables common waste triggers:

For Search Campaigns:

Display Network Expansion (OFF) — Shows your text ads on random blogs. CTR drops ~60%, conversion rate drops ~80%.

Search Partners (OFF) — Low-quality partner sites. Unless you're testing reach, it's noise.

Exact Match Only (ON for Brand Defense) — Prevents broad match from bleeding your brand budget into competitor queries.

For Shopping Campaigns:

Smart Shopping Auto-Expansion (OFF) — Prevents Google from showing your products on YouTube and Display where ROAS typically collapses.

For Display Campaigns:

Auto-Optimized Targeting (OFF) — Prevents Google from ignoring your audience selections and showing ads to whoever it thinks might click.

Technical FAQ

Q: Why can't I just copy an old campaign?

Copying campaigns inherits past mistakes — wrong bid strategies, outdated keywords, stale creatives. The Wizard forces you to rethink strategy from first principles, ensuring every new campaign is purpose-built for its specific goal.

Q: What happens if I don't have a Google Merchant Center account?

If you select 'E-Commerce Sales,' the wizard detects the missing Merchant Center and switches to guided 'Store Setup' mode. It walks you through account creation, product feed upload, and website verification — all within the interface.

Q: Can I edit the campaign after launch?

Yes. The wizard creates campaigns in 'Paused' state by default. You can review in Google Ads, make adjustments, then enable manually. Or select 'Launch Live' to go straight to active status.

Q: Why does the wizard disable Display Network Expansion?

Display Expansion shows your Search text ads on random blogs and YouTube placements. This typically tanks CTR and conversion rate by 60-80%. Unless you're explicitly testing broad reach, it's a budget drain.

Q: What's the difference between 'Brand Defense' and 'Competitor Conquest'?

Brand Defense uses exact match keywords on your own brand name to prevent competitors from stealing your branded clicks. Competitor Conquest bids on rival brand names to capture their traffic. Both are valid strategies — the wizard builds different keyword structures and bid approaches for each.

Q: Does the wizard support Performance Max campaigns?

Not yet. Performance Max requires extensive asset variety (15+ images, 5+ videos, multiple headline variations). The current wizard focuses on single-channel campaigns (Search, Shopping, Display). Performance Max support is on the roadmap.