Wasted Spend Finder

---
name: wasted-spend-finder
description: Scans your Google and Meta accounts for money being spent on search terms, placements, audiences, and ads that produce zero or near-zero conversions. Delivers clean exclusion lists you can upload directly. Platform: Google and Meta.
metadata:
  platform: Google and Meta
---

# 2/ Wasted Spend Finder — Google + Meta

## What it does
Scans your Google and Meta accounts for money being spent on search terms, placements, audiences, and ads that produce zero or near-zero conversions. Delivers clean exclusion lists you can upload directly.

## How it works
Claude analyzes your search term reports, placement reports, and audience segment data over a time window you choose (typically 30-90 days). It flags anything with meaningful spend but no conversions, and groups the results into actionable categories — negative keywords by theme, placement exclusions by type, and audience segments to remove.

## Practical example
Across 12 campaigns over 60 days, Claude finds $6,800 spent on 340 search terms with zero conversions. It groups them into 8 negative keyword themes (competitor names, informational queries, wrong intent, geographic mismatches). It also flags 23 mobile app placements on Meta eating $1,200 with a 0.02% CTR and zero conversions. Total recoverable spend: $8,000/month.

## What you get back
- Negative keyword list grouped by theme, ready for upload
- Placement exclusion list for Google Display and Meta
- Audience segments worth removing or restructuring
- Dollar amount attached to each category so you can prioritize
- Recommended match types for negative keywords (exact vs phrase)

## When to use it
- Monthly account hygiene, should be a standard part of your workflow
- When onboarding a new client account for the first time
- After scaling campaigns when new queries and placements start leaking in
- Before budget increase requests to show you've cleaned up waste first

## Data access (Ryze MCP)

This skill works best with live account data. Connect the free Ryze MCP once and Claude reads your Google Ads, Meta Ads, GA4 and Search Console directly:

- claude.ai / Claude Desktop: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → `https://connector.get-ryze.ai/mcp`
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add ryze --transport http https://connector.get-ryze.ai/mcp`
- Cursor: Settings → MCP → add the same URL

Setup guide: https://www.get-ryze.ai/how-to-connect-claude-to-google-meta-ads-mcp