Google Ads

Platform Overview

The Google Ads MCP server enables Claude to manage and analyze Google Ads campaigns using the Google Ads API with full GAQL (Google Ads Query Language) support. It provides access to campaign management, keyword and search term analysis, performance reporting, geographic insights, conversion tracking, and asset-level performance breakdowns — allowing you to retrieve comprehensive advertising data and insights across multiple reporting levels.

Your prompt → Claude + Hopkin → Google Ads API
                                    ↓
                              Campaign Data
                              Keyword Performance
                              Search Terms & Categories
                              Geographic Performance
                              Asset Reports
                              Conversion Actions

Common Workflows

Performance Reporting

"Show me the performance of all my campaigns over the last 30 days, broken down by device type."

Uses google_ads_get_performance_report with segments=['device'] to retrieve funnel metrics (impressions, clicks, cost, conversions) and per-conversion-action breakdown. Returns complete performance data with search impression share metrics.

"What's my account-level summary for the last 7 days? I need impressions, clicks, cost, and conversions."

Calls google_ads_get_account_summary with date_preset='LAST_7_DAYS' for a standardized cross-platform comparison view. Always fetches fresh data with normalized metrics identical to Meta Ads summaries.

"Break down my campaign performance by daily trends for the last week."

Uses google_ads_get_performance_report with segments=['date'] and date_preset='LAST_7_DAYS' at campaign level to show day-by-day performance variation.

Campaign & Ad Group Management

"List all my active campaigns."

Calls google_ads_list_campaigns with status=['ENABLED'] to get enabled campaigns with caching and background refresh. Pass refresh=true for real-time data.

"Show me all ad groups in campaign ABC123."

Uses google_ads_list_ad_groups with campaign_id='ABC123' to retrieve all ad groups and their status information with pagination support.

"What ads are in ad group XYZ789?"

Calls google_ads_list_ads with ad_group_id='XYZ789' to list all ads in that ad group, including status and creative details.

Keyword & Search Term Analysis

"Which keywords are driving the most conversions this month?"

Uses google_ads_get_keyword_performance with date_preset='LAST_30_DAYS' and order_by='conversions' to rank keywords by conversion volume. Includes quality score, match type, and ad network breakdown.

"Show me the search terms that aren't covered by my current keywords."

Calls google_ads_get_search_terms_report with date_preset='LAST_7_DAYS' and search_term_status=['NONE'] (unmapped) to identify gaps. Optionally include landing page data with include_landing_pages=true.

"What search terms are driving clicks on Search Partners?"

Uses google_ads_get_search_terms_report with segments=['ad_network_type'] to see which channels (SEARCH vs SEARCH_PARTNERS) drove each term.

Geographic & Audience Insights

"Which countries are my top performers by spend?"

Calls google_ads_get_geo_performance with geo_level='country' and date_preset='LAST_30_DAYS' to compare performance across countries with automatic location name resolution.

"What's the city-level performance breakdown for my campaigns in the last 7 days?"

Uses google_ads_get_geo_performance with geo_level='geo_target_city' and level='CAMPAIGN' to segment by city with both AREA_OF_INTEREST and LOCATION_OF_PRESENCE data.

Recipes

"Analyze my Performance Max campaign's channel breakdown for the last 30 days. Which channel (SEARCH, YOUTUBE_WATCH, DISPLAY, DISCOVER) is driving the most conversions?"

Calls google_ads_get_insights with campaign_id='your_pmax_id', segments=['ad_network_type'], and default metrics to see channel-level performance. This reveals which ad networks within PMax are performing best and helps inform budget allocation.

"Generate a search impression share diagnostic for my brand campaigns this week. I need top impression share, budget lost share, and rank lost share at the campaign level."

Uses google_ads_get_insights with level='CAMPAIGN', date_preset='LAST_7_DAYS', metrics=['search_impression_share', 'search_top_impression_share', 'search_budget_lost_impression_share', 'search_rank_lost_impression_share'] to diagnose competitive gaps and budget constraints.

"Show me all my assets (headlines, descriptions, images) and how each is performing. Which assets get the most impressions and conversions?"

Calls google_ads_get_asset_report with date_preset='LAST_30_DAYS' to break down performance by creative asset at all hierarchy levels. Optionally request include_change_history=true to see asset creation/edit events.

"Find search terms that are converting well but aren't yet mapped to any keyword. What landing pages are they going to?"

Uses google_ads_get_search_terms_report with search_term_status=['NONE'], include_landing_pages=true, and order_by='conversions' to identify high-value unmapped terms and their landing page destinations.

"Compare conversion action performance across my account. Which conversion actions contribute the most value this month?"

Calls google_ads_get_insights with segments=['conversion_action_name'], metrics=['all_conversions', 'all_conversions_value', 'value_per_all_conversions'], and date_preset='LAST_30_DAYS'. The tool auto-filters incompatible cost-based metrics and returns a warning.

"Audit my negative keywords. Are there any aggressive broad match negatives at the campaign level that might be blocking good searches?"

Uses google_ads_list_negative_keywords with level='CAMPAIGN' and match_type=['BROAD'] to identify potentially over-broad negative keyword exclusions that could suppress valuable traffic.

"I'm managing multiple child accounts under my MCC. Show me the performance summary for each child account."

Calls google_ads_get_account_summary for each child account using login_customer_id='your_mcc_id' and the child customer_id to aggregate normalized metrics across the managed portfolio.

Tips

GAQL queries and segments: When using google_ads_get_insights, specify custom metrics and segments to unlock flexibility the performance report doesn't offer. Use ad_network_type segment to break down Performance Max by channel. Segments must be compatible with your metrics — the tool auto-removes conflicting cost-based metrics when conversion_action segments are used and returns warnings about what was filtered.

MCC (Manager Account) hierarchy: If you're querying child accounts under an MCC, always pass login_customer_id with the parent MCC's Customer ID. Without it, API calls to managed accounts fail with permission errors. Use google_ads_list_mcc_child_accounts to discover children of a specific MCC.

Geographic performance constraints: The geographic_view resource requires exactly one geo level per query (country, city, region, state, metro, etc.). Combining multiple geo levels silently loses data. Criterion IDs are auto-resolved to human-readable location names, and both AREA_OF_INTEREST and LOCATION_OF_PRESENCE location types are always returned.

Caching and freshness: List tools (accounts, campaigns, ad groups, ads) use cache-first fetching with background refresh (data is fresh within minutes). Pass refresh=true when you need real-time data. Reporting tools (insights, performance report, keyword/search term metrics, geo performance) always fetch live data from the API — no caching.