Your Niche
Account Audit
May 2026 · Prepared by Justine Baker
Google Ads Account Audit · Prepared for Sarab

Band of Boys + The Girl Club · Account Audit, May 2026

A full account-health review across tracking, conversions, campaign structure, geo targeting, bid strategy and budget allocation. The headline is short: the account is structurally sound, there's nothing on fire, and the biggest remaining levers are bidding and budget allocation. Both are addressable this week. Three strategy calls do sit with you.

Done
4
Cleanups completed safely during the audit
This Week
8
Bid + budget actions, no approval needed
For You
3
Strategy decisions that need your call
01 · Performance Snapshot

Last 30 days, in numbers.

Date range: 19 April to 18 May 2026. Reporting on Revenue and Orders rather than Conv. value (closer to what shows in Shopify). The gap between the two was NZ$231 in this window, which is fine.

Spend
NZ$4,303
Across 7 active campaigns
Revenue
NZ$15,339
134.82 orders
Cost / Order
NZ$31.92
Blended across all campaigns
Blended ROAS
3.56x
Revenue ÷ spend

Campaign-Level Performance

Campaign Spend Revenue ROAS Pace
Search Brand NZ NZ$364 NZ$4,372 12.02x 61%
Clever Social Shopping Low NZ$56 NZ$492 8.78x 12%
PILOT Shopping High Priority BoB NZ$180 NZ$1,360 7.55x 60%
Clever Social Shopping High NZ$93 NZ$405 4.35x 21%
PMAX Brand NZ$1,069 NZ$2,866 2.68x 119%
PMax Non-Brand NZ$2,318 NZ$5,595 2.41x 64%
Search Generic NZ NZ$223 NZ$249 1.12x 37%
Account total NZ$4,303 NZ$15,339 3.56x 62%
Where the spend goes vs. where the ROAS is

Account spend is concentrated in PMax. The higher-efficiency layers (Search Brand, Shopping) are the smallest slices of the budget. The bar below is share of daily spend; the number on the right is the ROAS that layer is producing.

PMax (combined)
79%
2.4 – 2.7x
Search (combined)
14%
1.1 – 12.0x
Shopping (combined)
8%
4.4 – 8.8x
The proven, efficient layers are getting the least spend. Search Brand alone is delivering 12x on roughly NZ$12/day. Shopping is producing 4–9x on roughly NZ$11/day combined. This is the lever with the biggest upside, and it's addressed in the action list further down.
02 · Tracking & Conversions

Foundation, checked.

Pixels, conversions, GA4 link and the Google tag are all firing on live pages. One small Google tag warning is noted for a controlled review later. Nothing here is affecting current campaign performance.

Done

Meta Pixel + Shopify tracking

Pixel is firing browser-side events (PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout). Conversions API is enabled through Shopify native, Advanced Matching is on, data sharing is at Maximum. Purchase event Event Match Quality is strong.

One thing to keep an eye on: PageView EMQ is weaker than Purchase. The AddToCart → InitiateCheckout drop looked large but live testing confirmed InitiateCheckout does fire, so this reads as behavioural rather than broken tracking.

Done

Google Ads conversions cleaned

Multiple old and duplicate conversion actions existed: Shopify app conversions, GA4 imports, old UA imports, Google-hosted and local actions. Page View, View Item, Search, Add To Cart and Begin Checkout moved to Secondary so they aren't pulling bidding. Purchase stays Primary. Nothing was deleted, so attribution history is preserved.

Done

Campaign goal check

PMax and Search campaigns are using account default goals. Account default is Purchases. Google is optimising toward Purchase, not Add To Cart, Begin Checkout, Page Views or Search events. No rogue campaign-specific goals.

Done

GA4, Merchant Center, YouTube links

GA4, Merchant Center, YouTube and Business Manager are all linked. Google tag is firing on live pages, Google Ads tag is firing, GA4 tag is present. View item and page view events are firing correctly.

Watch

Google tag quality warning

Google tag quality is showing "Needs attention" and Tag Assistant is showing multiple Google tags firing, likely duplicate or overlapping setup. Google is also prompting to migrate the Shopify Google tag. Live tracking is working, so the tag was deliberately not migrated during the audit. Worth a controlled review later when there's bandwidth.

Watch

UTM structure

Auto-tagging is on. No consistent UTM structure across campaigns at the moment. A standard will be applied going forward on new campaign builds rather than retro-fitting now.

03 · Campaign Structure

Where the real story is.

Campaign names don't quite match what the campaigns are actually doing. PMAX Brand isn't behaving like a brand campaign, and Search Brand and Search Generic shouldn't be sharing one optimisation surface. The brand exclusion setup elsewhere on the account is correct, so this isn't a misconfiguration. It's drift.

For You

PMAX Brand isn't really brand

Of NZ$532 in visible PMAX Brand spend, only NZ$5.67 (1.1%) went to clear Band of Boys / Girl Club brand queries. NZ$499.54 (93.9%) went to zero-conversion visible terms (competitor and generic searches). The brand exclusion setup is correct on the rest of the account (PMax Non-Brand has the BoB brand exclusion applied; PMAX Brand doesn't, which is right). So this isn't misconfigured. The campaign has drifted into being a mixed prospecting campaign.

Three options sit with you in the "For Your Call" section below.

This Week

Search portfolio is the wrong shape

Search Brand (12.02x ROAS) and Search Generic (1.12x ROAS) are sharing one "Portfolio Maximize Conversion Value" strategy with no Target ROAS set, plus one NZ$20/day shared budget label. The algorithm averages them, which means it can't push spend to Brand or pull back from Generic independently.

Splitting these into standalone strategies this week.

For You

PILOT Girl Club Search

Currently paused after NZ$222 in spend with zero conversions. Two clean paths: re-attempt with TGC-specific keywords, copy and product pages, OR fold TGC into the existing PMax structure as the demand-gen layer.

Done

Brand exclusion setup

PMax Non-Brand has the Band of Boys brand exclusion applied. PMAX Brand doesn't. This is the right configuration. The exclusion isn't reversed. The issue is that PMAX Brand has drifted away from its name, which is the finding above.

04 · Spend & Bid Strategy

The biggest lever.

Account blended ROAS is 3.56x, but the spend mix is upside down. This is the section with the most room to move, and the action list at the end of the report addresses the bigger calls.

This Week

Spend mix is inverted

PMax combined takes 79% of daily spend at 2.4–2.7x ROAS. Search combined takes 14% (Brand and Generic together), and Brand alone is doing 12x on its share of that. Shopping combined takes 8% at 4–9x. The highest-efficiency layers are the smallest budget slices.

Addressed via the budget and bid changes below.

This Week

PMax Non-Brand self-throttling

Target ROAS is set to 326%, campaign is delivering 241%. Google won't burn the daily budget if it can't hit target, so the campaign is pacing at 64% with NZ$43/day unused. Dropping tROAS to 250% should unlock spend. Watch for 7 days.

This Week

PILOT Shopping BoB target too low

Campaign is delivering 755% with the target set to 100%, so tROAS is doing nothing. The campaign is effectively running like Maximise Conversions with no efficiency floor. Lifting target to 400% gives it a real signal. Also lifting budget from NZ$10 to NZ$15/day, currently flagged "budget constrained soon".

This Week

Search Generic overfunded

At 1.12x ROAS, Search Generic is the weakest performer in the account. Dropping budget from NZ$20 to NZ$10/day while the new negative list takes effect. Don't want to starve it, also don't want to keep overfeeding it.

Done

Generic Search negative list built & applied

Generic Search was burning on broad and competitor-adjacent terms with zero visible conversions across NZ$158 of spend. Across all match types, ~NZ$311 was wasted (Broad Match NZ$118, AI Max NZ$18, Phrase close variants NZ$17).

Built a separate "YN Generic Search Competitor + Irrelevant Negatives" list and applied it to Search - Generic NZ only. Kept off the master list so it doesn't bleed into Shopping. Includes Cotton On, Country Road, H&M, Bandit Boys, plus irrelevant terms.

Investigate

Clever Shopping underspend

Clever High pacing at 21%, Clever Low at 12%. ROAS is strong (4.35x and 8.78x) but the campaigns can't find impressions. This is an impression supply problem, likely feed health, product priority or bid floor. Investigating before any budget change.

Done

Trend check vs 90-day baseline

PMax Non-Brand: 5.17x → 2.41x (efficiency halved). Search Generic: 2.32x → 1.12x (also halved). PILOT Shopping BoB: 21.78x → 7.55x (normal scaling decay). Search Brand: 10.38x → 12.02x (slightly stronger). PMAX Brand: 2.78x → 2.68x (flat, but spend rate has doubled). The trend reinforces the budget moves below.

Watch

PMAX Brand tROAS noted

Target ROAS is 296%, delivering 268%, missing by 28 points. Not far off. No bid changes here until the PMAX Brand future decision (in "For Your Call") is made, otherwise we'd just be optimising a campaign whose structure may change.

05 · Geo & Product Feed

Tightened, with one open question.

Geo leak to Australia has been closed. Product feed is mostly healthy after a small cleanup. The open question is what to do about AU shipping currency, which is a shipping/business call rather than a paid media one.

Done

Geo bleed closed

0.9% of spend was going to Australia: NZ$40.61 in cost, 2.5 conversions. The cause was Google's default "Presence or interest" location setting on all 7 active campaigns. Switched all to "Presence: People in or regularly in your included locations". This stops casual interest leak without removing AU expat traffic, which actually converts well on Brand Search.

AU clicks should drop to near zero over 5–7 days. Worth a spot check on Matched Locations next week.

For You

AU shipping currency mismatch

Merchant Center is showing NZD shipping rates against 872 products for Australian customers (e.g. NZ$27.26, NZ$40.34). Shipping and currency is a business decision, not a paid media one. Two options sit with you below.

Done

Product feed cleanup

8 products were flagged for missing price or unavailable product page. Checked in Shopify, they were draft, archived or unavailable. Excluded from Google & YouTube where relevant. No prices were edited, no old products reactivated. Low impact, no urgent feed rebuild needed.

Done

AU expat traffic, context for the shipping call

Before the geo fix, AU traffic produced the cheapest conversions in the whole account: 2 conversions on 10 clicks via Search Brand NZ, 20% conversion rate, NZ$6.74 cost per conversion. Likely expat customers searching for Band of Boys. This is what the AU shipping decision affects. Fix shipping and keep them, or exclude AU entirely and lose them.

06 · For Your Call

Three decisions that sit with you.

These aren't audit findings, they're business calls. Shipping, brand strategy and product positioning all sit above paid media. No rush, but they're the things that'll shape what happens next.

Decision 01

Australia shipping currency

Merchant Center is showing NZD shipping rates against 872 products for Australian customers. Separately, geo data shows the cheapest conversions in the account are AU expat customers searching for Band of Boys via Search Brand at NZ$6.74 cost per conversion.

Two options
  • Fix AUD shipping via Shopify Markets or a manually set AU rate, keep AU expat traffic flowing.
  • Exclude Australia entirely from all campaigns and accept losing the 2 expat conversions a month.
Decision 02

PMAX Brand future

Of NZ$532 in visible PMAX Brand spend, only NZ$5.67 (1.1%) went to actual brand queries. The other NZ$499.54 (93.9%) went to zero-conversion competitor and generic terms. The brand exclusion setup elsewhere is correct. This campaign has drifted into mixed prospecting.

Three options
  • Keep and reposition as mixed prospecting with the name updated.
  • Pause and redirect spend into Brand Search and Shopping (far more efficient).
  • Rebuild with a tighter role and clearer brief.
Decision 03

PILOT Girl Club Search relaunch

Currently paused after NZ$222 spend with zero conversions. The first attempt didn't work, but the campaign hasn't had a proper TGC-specific run yet.

Two options
  • Re-attempt with TGC-specific setup. Own keywords, ad copy, product pages.
  • Fold TGC into existing PMax structure as the demand-gen layer for the brand.
07 · This Week · No Approval Needed

What's getting done.

Inside the scope of normal account management. No strategy calls, no spend changes that need sign-off. These will be worked through this week and the next monthly report will show the early impact.

  1. Break the Search portfolio. Detach Search Brand and Search Generic from the shared "Portfolio Maximize Conversion Value" so each can be optimised independently.
  2. Search Brand → standalone Manual CPC or Target CPA at NZ$12–15. Playbook-aligned setting for brand at current volume.
  3. Search Generic → standalone Manual CPC. Hold off on value-based bidding until volume builds and the negative list cleans up search terms.
  4. Drop Search Generic budget from NZ$20 to NZ$10/day. Overfunded relative to 1.12x ROAS while cleanup takes effect.
  5. Drop PMax Non-Brand tROAS from 326% to 250%. Unlocks the daily budget the campaign is currently leaving unused. Watch 7 days.
  6. Lift PILOT Shopping BoB tROAS from 100% to 400%. Gives it a real efficiency floor. Watch 7 days.
  7. Lift PILOT Shopping BoB budget from NZ$10 to NZ$15/day. Flagged "budget constrained soon" and proven at 7.55x ROAS.
  8. Investigate Clever Shopping underspend. Likely feed health, product priority or bid issue. Digging in before changing anything.
Verify First

Search Brand impression share. If it's already 90%+, the campaign doesn't need more budget. The lever is bids, not spend. If it's below 90%, budget is on the table.

Clever Shopping root cause. Both Clever campaigns pacing at 12–21% with strong ROAS. That's an impression supply problem, not a budget one. Understanding why before throwing money at it.

08 · Watch List

Workstreams for later.

Not urgent, not part of this report's action list, but worth flagging so they don't get lost. These come back into focus once the bigger calls above have been made.

That's the audit.

Have a read when you've got a minute, and let me know your thinking on the three decisions in "For Your Call". The "This Week" list will be worked through and the next monthly report will show the early impact. Happy to walk through any of it on a call, or chat it through over WhatsApp. Whichever suits.