Paid Ads Engine

What it does

The Paid Ads Engine reports on and optimizes a client's paid media on Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Meta. It grades every campaign against the client's own targets and finds what to change. On Google Ads, approved changes are applied through Nexus when live apply is turned on for your account; otherwise you apply them by hand from the plan. On LinkedIn and Meta it gives exact instructions for a person to apply.

Set it up

"What's left to set up for the paid ads engine?" shows which steps are done for the client and the next one to do.

1. At least one ad account — Add the Google Ads customer id / LinkedIn ad account / Meta ad account.
2. Go-to-market strategy (G2M) — Build it from the website, or import an existing strategy doc.
3. Paid ads strategy — Build the strategy (benchmarks + targets per objective).
4. What the ads optimize for — Set the target (CPA, ROAS, pipeline…), budget limits and risk appetite.
5. CRM outcome attribution (optional) — For B2B: map HubSpot stages so optimization steers by SQLs / pipeline.

• ✋ Connect at least one ad account. For Google Ads or LinkedIn, give Nexus the account ID: "Their Google Ads customer ID is 123-456-7890." or "Add their LinkedIn ad account 123456789." For Meta, "Connect Meta for them." posts a sign-in link. Someone with admin access to the client's Facebook Pages and ad accounts clicks it and picks the accounts to share.
• The G2M comes first: the paid ads strategy is built from it. See the G2M guide.
• "Build a paid ads strategy for them." researches benchmarks and sets targets for each campaign objective. See the paid ads strategy guide.
• ✋ Tell Nexus what the ads optimize for: a target (cost per lead, cost per SQL, ROAS, pipeline), budget limits and how careful to be. "Target cost per SQL is 900." See the ads optimization guide.
• Optional, for B2B: link HubSpot deals to campaigns so the ads steer by SQLs and pipeline, not form fills.

Your Nexus team turns the engine on once the required steps are done.

Use it

• "Analyze ads performance." A cross-channel review: what to change, ranked against the client's target. It changes nothing.
• "Run the Google Ads monthly report." The retainer report for each channel. See the Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads and Meta guides.
• "Run the weekly paid ads pulse." A quick week-over-week check between monthly reports.
• "Build a Google Ads campaign." A new Search campaign, as a sheet for Google Ads Editor or pushed to the account paused.

Maintain

• Rebuild the paid ads strategy each quarter, or after a big change in budget, product or buyer. Benchmarks move.
• Nexus never changes a live account on its own unless you allow it. Every Google Ads change is shown first and needs a "yes".
• After someone applies LinkedIn or Meta changes by hand, tell Nexus, so it can measure them (see the ads optimization guide).

Troubleshooting

• A channel shows no data. It isn't connected, or the read failed. The analysis names which and quotes the error. Check the account ID, or reconnect Meta.
• Meta stopped working after about two months. The Meta sign-in lasts about 60 days. Run "Connect Meta for them." again.
• Reports grade against generic numbers. There's no paid ads strategy yet. Build one.

Prompts

• "What's left to set up for the paid ads engine?"
• "Their Google Ads customer ID is 123-456-7890."
• "Add their LinkedIn ad account 123456789."
• "Connect Meta for them."
• "Build a paid ads strategy for them."
• "Target cost per SQL is 900."
• "Analyze ads performance."
• "Run the Google Ads monthly report."
• "Run the weekly paid ads pulse."
• "Build a Google Ads campaign."

Machine twins: /help/paid-ads-engine.json · /help/paid-ads-engine.md · /help.json · /llms.txt

Reviewed 2026-10-15. In Slack, ask Nexus how do I … and it answers from this guide, with where your company stands.