Google Ads audit · bolddocserver
2026-11-12 15:47 · success · score 42· by sarathkumarvenkatesan · reviewed by sarathkumarvenkatesan on 2026-11-12· backend claude-code 2.1.322 (claude-opus-5-5)
Checklist: demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md
Summary
Headline
BoldDocServer has no Google Ads account of its own. Its two search campaigns, BoldDocServer | US and BoldDocServer | Tier3, are in the syncfusion.com account (9780479270). Both are paused, and neither has spent anything in the last 12 months. So this run audits the build before launch, not live performance. The hygiene basics are solid: phrase match only, no Search Partners or Display, "presence" geo targeting, auto-apply off, all ads approved. Fix these before launch: bidding is set to optimize on raw form fills with no CRM import, every ad lands on the homepage, and the "OOS support ends Dec 31, 2026" copy goes stale in 7 weeks.
Score
- Pass: 5 | Fail: 4 | Warn: 3 | n/a: 3 | Not checked: 1
- Pass rate: 5 of 12 scored items = 41.7% (n/a and not-checked excluded).
overall_score= 42.
Top 3 actions
- C2: map landing pages to ad-group intent before launch. All 6 ads point to
https://www.bolddocserver.com/, including ads that offer a "Quick Start Guide". - B3/B4: set up a CRM-imported qualified-opportunity conversion and capture GCLID on the trial and talk-to-sales forms, so bidding can move from clicks to qualified pipeline.
- C4: prepare post-2026-12-31 copy for every "OOS Support Ends Dec 31, 2026" asset, and record the Microsoft source for that date.
Findings
Ads account audit: bolddocserver, syncfusion.com (9780479270), 2026-11-12
Period: 2026-10-15 to 2026-11-11 (vs 2026-09-17 to 2026-10-14; 12-month spend history also checked) | Run by: Claude
| ID | Item | Result | Evidence | Est. monthly waste | Proposed fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Broad match without negatives | Pass | 20 keywords, all PHRASE; 45 campaign negatives each | 0 USD | None |
| A2 | Search Partners and Display bleed | Pass | Both campaigns: Search Partners off, Display off | 0 USD | None |
| A3 | No student/free/job-seeker negatives | Fail | Campaign-level negatives have free, tutorial, course, job(s), salary, hiring, crack, torrent. Missing: student, careers, internship. No shared negative list attached. "free" blocks "free trial", which is a campaign goal | 0 USD (paused) | Add student, careers, internship; review "free" vs trial goal |
| A4 | Geo "presence or interest" | Pass | Positive and negative geo type = PRESENCE; US (2840), Tier3 (2356) | 0 USD | None |
| A5 | Search-term waste | n/a | 0 impressions and 0 cost in both periods and in the last 12 months | 0 USD | Review 2 weeks after launch |
| A6 | Audience Network (Microsoft Ads) | Not checked | No Microsoft Ads MCP connected | unknown | Check manually |
| B1 | Auto-applied recommendations | Pass | All 24 recommendation subscriptions PAUSED; no change events in period | 0 USD | None |
| B2 | PMax cannibalizing brand | n/a | No enabled PMax campaigns in the account | 0 USD | None |
| B3 | Wrong conversion goals | Fail | Campaign goal "Bold Doc Server" = Start Free Trial Sign-up + Talk To Sale Sign-up (website form fills); no CRM import | unknown | Add CRM qualified-opp conversion as primary |
| B4 | Offline conversion import | Fail | No offline upload summary in the account; auto-tagging on; form GCLID capture not verifiable via API | unknown | GCLID capture + scheduled import |
| B5 | CPA vs pricing model | Warn | Maximize clicks (TARGET_SPEND), no tCPA/tROAS; budget 100 USD/day each | unknown | Plan the move to Maximize conversions + tCPA after launch |
| B6 | Brand exclusion | n/a | No BoldDocServer brand campaign exists | 0 USD | Add brand negatives if a brand campaign is created |
| C1 | Competitor trademark issues | Warn | Microsoft names (Office Online Server, SharePoint) used descriptively; all approved; competitors appear only as negatives | 0 USD | Product marketing to confirm usage |
| C2 | Landing page mismatch | Fail | All 6 ads across 3 themes go to the homepage; "Quick Start Guide" copy has no guide link | unknown | Theme-specific landing pages |
| C3 | Disapproved or limited ads | Pass | All 6 ads and all assets APPROVED / REVIEWED | 0 USD | None |
| C4 | Claims | Warn | No prices. "OOS Support Ends Dec 31, 2026" in every ad: unsourced in repo and stale after 2026-12-31 | 0 USD | Source it; prepare replacement copy |
Score
- Pass: 5 | Fail: 4 | n/a: 3 (plus Warn: 3, Not checked: 1)
Proposed changes (need human approval before applying)
See the section below.
Not checked
- A6 Audience Network (Microsoft Ads): no Microsoft Ads MCP server was connected for this run.
- C2 (partial): landing-page content and the website buyer-fit audit were not run; only the final-URL mapping was checked.
- B4 (partial): whether the BoldDocServer forms capture GCLID/GBRAID/WBRAID can't be seen in the Ads API.
- Date range: the checklist asks for 90 days vs the prior 90. The run parameters gave 28 days vs the prior 28. Because the campaigns have had no spend at all in 12 months, the longer window would not change any result.
Proposed changes (need approval)
None of these have been applied. The campaigns are paused, so none change current spend, but each changes the setup that goes live at launch.
- BoldDocServer | US and Tier3, negatives: no student/careers/internship → add them as phrase negatives, ideally in a shared list. Also decide whether to keep "free" while "Start Free Trial" is a goal. Reason: A3.
- Conversion goal "Bold Doc Server": two website form fills → add a CRM-imported qualified-opportunity action as primary and keep the form fills secondary. Reason: B3.
- Forms and CRM: no offline import → capture GCLID/GBRAID/WBRAID on trial and talk-to-sales forms and schedule an import. Reason: B4.
- Bidding: Maximize clicks with no target → after launch, once qualified conversions accumulate, move to Maximize conversions with a tCPA that fits BoldDocServer pricing. Reason: B5.
- Final URLs: all six ads go to the homepage → OOS-replacement ad groups to an OOS migration page, SharePoint on-prem editing to the SharePoint integration page, Quick Start Guide copy to the docs. Reason: C2.
- Ad copy: "OOS Support Ends Dec 31, 2026" → record the source now, and prepare and schedule replacement assets for 2027-01-01. Reason: C4.
Data sources
- Google Ads API via the
google-adsMCP server (read-only GAQL), account 9780479270 "syncfusion.com", USD. Accounts 5756012005 (_bolddesk.com), 1266231717 (boldsign.com), 7669175401 (boldreports.com) and 2545735992 (Bold BI) were checked by name only; none is a BoldDocServer account. - Queries: campaign settings and budgets, campaign performance (current, previous, 12-month monthly), keyword_view, campaign_criterion (negatives, locations), campaign_shared_set, ad_group_ad (RSA text, policy, final URLs), conversion_action, conversion_goal_campaign_config, custom_conversion_goal, recommendation_subscription, change_event, offline_conversion_upload_client_summary, customer settings.
- Raw exports:
raw/campaigns.json,raw/keywords.csv,raw/campaign-negatives.csv,raw/ads.csv,raw/recommendation-subscriptions.csv. - Reminder: add these results to the team's shared results log (location TBD in the checklist).
Findings
| ID | Item | Status | Severity | Effort | Recommendation | Checklist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A3 | No student/free/job-seeker negativesneeds approval Campaign negatives (no shared negative list attached) include free, tutorial, course, job, jobs, salary, hiring, crack, torrent. Missing from the checklist list: student, careers, internship. 'free' is a phrase negative while the campaign goal includes 'BoldDocServer Start Free Trial Sign-up', so it also blocks 'free trial' queries. | fail | medium | S | Add student, careers, internship as phrase negatives, ideally via a shared negative list. Decide whether 'free' should stay negative given the free trial is a goal; if trial queries are wanted, replace 'free' with narrower negatives (e.g. 'free download', 'free alternative'). | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| B3 | Wrong conversion goalsneeds approval Both campaigns use campaign-level custom goal 'Bold Doc Server' (6459926693) = 'BoldDocServer Start Free Trial Sign-up' + 'Bold Doc Server Talk To Sale Sign-up'. Both are WEBPAGE/SIGNUP website actions (raw form fills), not CRM-imported qualified pipeline stages. No BoldDocServer CRM import conversion action exists. | fail | medium | M | Create a CRM-imported qualified-opportunity conversion for BoldDocServer, make it the primary goal, and keep the two form fills as secondary. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| B4 | Offline conversion importneeds approval offline_conversion_upload_client_summary returned no rows for account 9780479270, so no import has run. Auto-tagging is enabled (GCLIDs are generated). Whether the BoldDocServer forms capture GCLID/GBRAID/WBRAID could not be verified from the Ads API. | fail | medium | L | Capture GCLID/GBRAID/WBRAID on the trial and talk-to-sales forms, store them in the CRM, and schedule an offline conversion import before launch. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| C2 | Landing page mismatchneeds approval All 6 ads in all 3 ad-group themes (OS Replacement for SharePoint, SharePoint On-Prem Editing, Self-Hosted Doc Editing) use the same final URL https://www.bolddocserver.com/. Several ads include 'Read the Quick Start Guide', but none link to a guide. Page content and the website buyer-fit audit were not checked in this run. | fail | medium | M | Point the OOS-replacement ad groups to an OOS migration/replacement page, SharePoint on-prem editing to the SharePoint integration page, and send 'Quick Start Guide' copy to the docs. Run the website buyer-fit audit on these pages. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| B5 | CPA vs pricing modelneeds approval Both campaigns bid with TARGET_SPEND (Maximize clicks) and have no target CPA or ROAS. Each has a daily budget of 100000000 micros (100 USD). Pricing fit was not compared, because no target is set. | warn | medium | S | Maximize clicks is acceptable for a launch with no conversion history. Plan the switch to Maximize conversions with a target CPA based on the BoldDocServer pricing model once qualified conversions accumulate. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| C4 | Claimsneeds approval No prices in the ads. Every ad states 'OOS Support Ends Dec 31, 2026' / 'Office Online Server support ends Dec 31, 2026'. This is a dated third-party claim with no source recorded in the repo, and it goes stale after 2026-12-31 (7 weeks from the audit date). | warn | medium | S | Record the Microsoft source for the end-of-support date. Prepare post-2026-12-31 variants (e.g. 'Office Online Server is out of support') and schedule the swap. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| C1 | Competitor trademark issues All 6 RSAs use Microsoft product names in headlines/descriptions (e.g. 'Replace Office Online Server', 'OOS Replacement for SharePoint', 'SharePoint WOPI Integration'). Copy is factual and positive. All ads and assets are APPROVED/REVIEWED; no disapprovals. Competitor names (onlyoffice, collabora, thinkfree) appear only as negatives. | warn | low | S | Product marketing to confirm descriptive use of Office Online Server / SharePoint names is acceptable under policy and internal guidelines. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| A6 | Audience Network (Microsoft Ads) No Microsoft Ads MCP server was connected for this run; only google-ads was available. | not-checked | low | S | Check manually in Microsoft Ads if BoldDocServer runs there. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| A1 | Broad match without negatives All 20 keywords across BoldDocServer | US and BoldDocServer | Tier3 are PHRASE match; no broad match keywords. 45 campaign-level negatives on each campaign. Bidding is TARGET_SPEND (Maximize clicks). | pass | low | S | None. If broad match is added later, pair it with Smart Bidding and enough conversions first. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| A2 | Search Partners and Display bleed Both campaigns: target_google_search=true, target_search_network=false, target_content_network=false. | pass | low | S | None. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| A4 | Geo presence or interest Both campaigns: positive_geo_target_type=PRESENCE, negative_geo_target_type=PRESENCE. Locations: US campaign geoTargetConstants/2840; Tier3 campaign geoTargetConstants/2356. | pass | low | S | None. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| B1 | Auto-applied recommendations All 24 recommendation_subscription rows in account 9780479270 have status PAUSED (incl. USE_BROAD_MATCH_KEYWORD, SEARCH_PARTNERS_OPT_IN, KEYWORD). change_event for the two campaigns from 2026-10-15 to 2026-11-11 returned no rows, so none were applied in the period. | pass | low | S | None. Microsoft Ads side not checked (see A6). | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| C3 | Disapproved or limited ads All 6 ads are policy_summary APPROVED / REVIEWED; every headline and description asset is APPROVED. | pass | low | S | None. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| A5 | Search-term waste Both campaigns are PAUSED with 0 impressions and 0 cost in 2026-10-15..2026-11-11 and in 2026-09-17..2026-10-14; a monthly query for 2025-11-01..2026-11-11 returned no rows. No search terms to review. | n-a | low | S | Review the top search terms 2 weeks after launch. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| B2 | PMax cannibalizing brand No ENABLED Performance Max campaigns in account 9780479270. | n-a | low | S | If a PMax campaign is added, add BoldDocServer brand exclusions. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
| B6 | Brand exclusion There is no BoldDocServer brand campaign. Neither campaign targets brand keywords, and 'bolddocserver' is not a negative, so brand queries can match these campaigns. That is acceptable while no brand campaign exists. | n-a | low | S | If a brand campaign is created, add 'bolddocserver' / 'bold doc server' as negatives in these non-brand campaigns. | demand-gen/paid/ads-account-audit.md#checklist |
Metrics
| Metric | Value | Previous | Change | Period | Dimensions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ad spend ads.spend | 0 | 0 | – | 2026-10-15 – 2026-11-11 | account: 9780479270, scope: BoldDocServer campaigns |
| Estimated monthly waste ads.wasted_spend_est | 0 | – | – | 2026-10-15 – 2026-11-11 | account: 9780479270, scope: BoldDocServer campaigns, basis: campaigns paused, 0 cost |
| Audit items passed ads.audit_pass_rate | 41.7% | – | – | 2026-10-15 – 2026-11-11 | basis: pass / (pass + warn + fail) = 5 / 12; n/a and not-checked excluded |
Folder: reports/publish/bolddocserver/google-ads-audit/20261112-1547_google-ads-audit_bolddocserver_82e4