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the first 30 days on a new account determine how the next 6 months go.

most people come in with changes. they restructure campaigns, update creative, adjust bids. sometimes this helps. often it resets the learning phase on campaigns that were working, surfaces problems that were already being managed, and creates noise in the performance data right when you need clean data most.

the better approach:

days 1-7: audit, don't touch.

run a conversion audit. verify the data is clean. check that what the account is reporting matches what the client says is true. pull the search term history. look at where budget is going. form a picture of the account before you form opinions about it.

days 8-14: fix data problems only.

if the conversion setup is wrong, fix it before touching anything else. a duplicate tag, a wrong event, a missing enhanced conversions mapping. fix the foundation. do not adjust bids until you know what the bids are optimizing against.

days 15-21: identify the biggest waste.

pull 90 days of search terms. sort by spend, no conversions. add negatives. this is usually the highest-ROI change you can make in the first month and it doesn't disrupt the learning phase.

days 22-30: one structural change maximum.

if there is a clear campaign to restructure or consolidate, do one. document why. watch the performance for 3-4 weeks before making the next structural change.

the accounts that struggle after onboarding: they made too many changes in week one and can't tell what caused what.

/conversion-audit at the start of every new account engagement: https://paidmedialab.com/pack

saku