How the 80/20 Google Ads budget strategy can maximise your ROI

You’d be surprised to know how many businesses are wasting their Google Ads budget, with up to 60% of marketing budgets wasted due to inefficient planning and execution, according to research carried out by Proxima Group. Enter the Pareto Principle to help with your Google Ads budget strategy: the idea that 80% of your revenue comes from just 20% of your products or services. For advertisers spreading themselves too thin, this mindset could completely transform your ad performance. 

What is the 80/20 Rule?

A small portion of what you do usually drives most of your results, so instead of trying to do everything, you must create a strategy focusing on the few things that make the biggest impact. For example, you may be a workwear supplier for companies across the UK with hundreds of products and only a certain budget to do so. By identifying your top performing products, you can create campaigns that have dedicated budgets built to bring in sales, while lower-budget campaigns cover the remaining product range.

Why it applies to a Google Ads budget strategy 

If you’re new to Google Ads, your instinct might be to target everything just in case — or maybe you’re already running campaigns that bring little return on investment because your strategy is spread too thin.

Just because you’ve structured your campaigns by themes or product types doesn’t guarantee conversions. In reality, only a small handful of products might actually be driving results. That’s where the 80/20 rule comes in: your job is to find those winners and reallocate your budget to maximize their impact.

How to identify the Top 20%

Simply put, it’s all about looking at the data. If you’re the owner of your business you may already know what your top products are but if this is still something you’re yet to establish then it’s about collating that data and giving your current campaign structure time to gather results, this is something that is necessary to factor in when considering your Google Ads marketing budget. 

Use available tools like:

• Google Ads
• Google Analytics
• Looker Studio

Review performance over time, considering different date ranges and seasonal trends.

Key metrics to focus on include:

• Conversions
• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
• Click-through rate (CTR)

Seeing high amounts of these metrics over a six or twelve month period will be more than enough data to help you establish your Google Ads budget strategy. Diving deeper into this data and segmenting it by product, SKU, or service will help you to define your top product in each category.

Ready to take your PPC to the next level? Don’t let wasted budget hold your business back. Get in touch with our expert team today and learn more about our PPC management services — so you can rank higher, engage users better, and grow your business faster.

How to reallocate and optimise your Google Ads budget

You’ve collated and reviewed your previous data, you’ve identified your top products or services and now naturally you want to know how you reallocate your budget, well I’m here to help with that! Your first instinct might be to move top performers into a brand new campaign, but if you’re using Smart Bidding, don’t rush it. Removing those products from their original campaign can reset valuable algorithm learning.

Instead, consider moving underperformers into a separate, low-budget campaign. This preserves the data strength of your main campaign while giving top performers room to shine.

How to avoid the common pitfalls

You might feel like you’re almost ready to take the leap and find out how you can change your account for the better, whether it be with experts like ROAR Digital Marketing or by yourself but it’s important to consider these common pitfalls: 

• Don’t make decisions too fast. Give campaigns time to collect meaningful data both before and after making changes.
• Account for seasonal patterns. You know your business better than anyone — be mindful of high or low seasons when reviewing performance.
• Keep testing. Even after identifying your top performers, set aside 20% of your budget for experimentation, especially if your product mix changes often.

Benefits of the 80/20 Google Ads budget strategy approach

1. Higher return on ad spend (ROAS) – more budget on top performers = better results
2. Simplified campaign management – less time wasted tweaking low-performers
3. Easier reporting – segmenting winners makes success easy to track
4. Less ad waste – more budget goes where it matters most

Key Takeaways to help you focus on the winners

• Don’t try to promote everything — focus your budget on what’s proven to convert
• Use tools like Google Ads, GA4, and Looker Studio to identify top performers by conversions, ROAS, and CTR
• Preserve Smart Bidding learnings by separating underperformers, not top performers
• Be patient — allow time for meaningful data, and consider seasonal trends when making decisions

Don’t let wasted budget hold you back. Quick wins like focusing your budget on your top products can help you, or let our experts take a deep dive into your site’s performance, get in touch today.