Paid media · build guide
SEO/PPC Opportunity
Finds queries you pay for but already rank for — and flags where budget should move.
What it does
On a set cadence, this automation joins your Google Ads search terms, Search Console queries, and GA4 landing page data, then sorts every query into three lists: cannibalization (you pay for clicks you already earn organically), content gaps (high-intent paid queries with no organic coverage), and budget reallocation candidates. Each run ends in an action pack — a negative keyword list, landing page briefs for the top gaps, and a proposed budget shift — not just a dashboard.
The reason to run it on a cadence is drift: paid and organic pull apart every month as new search terms appear, rankings move, and seasons change. A one-off overlap audit decays; a recurring one keeps catching the overlap as it re-forms, and the accumulated negative list and brief backlog become a channel split you actually govern.
This version runs entirely on scheduled exports and one spreadsheet — no API work beyond your normal logins. It suits a marketer who owns both channels and can give the analysis part of a day each month. Every change is applied by hand, so the approval gate is you.
The same loop, run by an agent over live connections: read-scoped access to Google Ads, Search Console, and GA4, a scheduled job that joins and classifies queries, and an approval gate before anything touches the account. It suits teams with clean conversion tracking that want the cadence enforced by the system, not the calendar.
Before you start
Prerequisites.
Path A
Build it with manual data extracts.
This version runs entirely on scheduled exports and one spreadsheet — no API work beyond your normal logins. It suits a marketer who owns both channels and can give the analysis part of a day each month. Every change is applied by hand, so the approval gate is you.
Pull the three exports
Export the Google Ads search terms report, the Search Console query report, and GA4 landing page performance, all for the same 3-month window. Drop each into its own tab of one workbook. If you track competitors, keep the domain list in a fourth tab for context.
Normalize and join the queries
Lowercase everything, strip match-type noise and near-duplicates, then join paid search terms against Search Console queries. For each matched query, line up paid clicks, cost, and conversions next to organic position, clicks, and CTR.
Classify every query into three lists
Cannibalization: strong organic position and you are still paying for the click. Gaps: paid queries that convert but have no organic coverage. Reallocation: spend concentrated where organic already carries the intent. Score each row by cost so the biggest overlaps rise to the top.
Draft the action pack
Turn the cannibalization list into a negative keyword list. Write short landing page briefs for the top gap queries — target query, intent, page angle. Add a one-paragraph budget note: what you would pause, what you would fund instead.
Apply by hand with a change log
Apply the negatives through Google Ads Editor as one reviewable batch. Log every change with the date and before/after values so you can reverse the whole batch if organic traffic does not pick up the slack. Next cycle, compare lists against this one — that trend becomes your channel attribution baseline.
Cadence: Monthly; a cycle takes roughly half a day once the workbook template exists.
Path B
Integrate it with MCP connections.
The same loop, run by an agent over live connections: read-scoped access to Google Ads, Search Console, and GA4, a scheduled job that joins and classifies queries, and an approval gate before anything touches the account. It suits teams with clean conversion tracking that want the cadence enforced by the system, not the calendar.
Connect and reconcile the three sources
Wire up Search Console, GA4, and Google Ads with read-only credentials. Before trusting the loop, run one pull and reconcile it against the reports you already use — if the numbers do not match your dashboards, fix that first.
Write down the cross-channel baseline
Agree which conversions belong to SEO and which to PPC, and encode that rule in the agent's instructions. Every recommendation gets scored against this shared model, so neither channel claims the other's wins.
Schedule the gap-analysis run
The orchestrator pulls the three datasets on your cadence, normalizes and joins the queries, and classifies each into cannibalization, gap, or reallocation. The agent drafts the negative keyword list, the gap briefs, and a proposed budget shift with the evidence rows attached.
Hold recommendations for sign-off
Each run posts a digest — to a Sheet, Slack, or email — listing proposed negatives, briefs, and budget moves with the data behind them. Nothing is applied until a human approves the batch. Rejected items are logged with a reason so the agent learns your thresholds.
Apply within caps, log everything
Approved negatives go live as one staged batch, via the API write path or exported to Google Ads Editor. Budget shifts above your per-cycle cap always escalate. Every applied change lands in an audit log with timestamp and before/after values, reversible as a batch.
Review the loop monthly
Sample the audit log, check the attribution baseline still holds, and tighten or loosen the classification thresholds. The overlap trend across runs is your evidence that the split between channels is actually improving.
Tools & guardrails
Run it safely.
- No auto-apply: negative keywords and budget moves ship only as an approved, staged batch — the agent recommends, a human releases
- Set a per-cycle cap on budget reallocation; any proposed shift above it escalates for explicit sign-off
- Every applied change is logged with timestamp and before/after values, and each batch is reversible in one step via Google Ads Editor or change history
- Read-only scopes on Search Console and GA4 at all times; Google Ads write access limited to the negative-keyword path
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We stand this automation up as a governed sprint on the stack you already run — scoped, built, and handed over with the guardrails configured. No new platform, no migration.