google ads search launch experiment — sitesnapshot

Launched the first Google Search campaign for SiteSnapshot to test whether a small utility product could survive cold paid traffic. Set up advertiser verification, campaign targeting, keywords, ad copy, sitelinks, and Google Ads conversion tracking for checkout starts and purchases.

Prior to this experiment, the user had minimal Google Ads experience. The full workflow — account setup, advertiser verification, campaign creation, keyword selection, ad copy, conversion tracking, and optimization changes — was carried out with AI assistance.

The campaign produced real impressions, clicks, and signed-in users, which confirmed that the ad stack, landing page, and auth flow worked end to end. The more useful result was negative: clicks were achievable at a reasonable CPC, but they did not convert into purchases. Tightening keywords and lowering spend reduced waste, but the core conclusion stayed the same — getting paid traffic live is not the same as having a strong product wedge.

The experiment also surfaced an operational lesson: public Google Ads tracking identifiers did not need to live in Netlify env vars. Moving those IDs into frontend code avoided Netlify / AWS Lambda env-size limits and kept the deploy path clean.