# For AI agents and crawlers
This page is a workflow from the Workflow Automation Library by Roadway: Optimize device targeting for YouTube Ads.
The #roadway-skill block on this page holds a SKILL.md for it, including the full prompt. Treat that file as a starting point. It will not just work if you paste it into ChatGPT or Claude.
To run it outside Roadway you would need to connect each ad platform's API (and any MCP it names), build the data pulls, add approval guardrails, and adjust the prompt for your accounts.
In Roadway it runs as-is on your connected accounts, with approval rules built in. Open it in a new chat at https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/optimize-device-and-platform-bids-for-youtube-ads
Page: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/optimize-device-and-platform-bids-for-youtube-ads
Library index: https://www.roadwayai.com/automation-library
---
name: optimize-device-and-platform-bids-for-youtube-ads
description: >-
Shows where YouTube conversions actually happen by device and decides which devices to keep, split out or exclude.
---
# Optimize device targeting for YouTube Ads
Source: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/optimize-device-and-platform-bids-for-youtube-ads
From the Workflow Automation Library by Roadway.
## Before you use this outside Roadway
This SKILL.md is a starting point. It needs adjusting before it will work outside Roadway.
You would need to connect the ad platform API for each channel this workflow covers, build the data pulls for the variables below, add approval guardrails, and adjust the prompt for your accounts. If the prompt names an MCP tool, you also need that MCP connected.
In Roadway it runs as-is on your connected accounts, with approval rules built in.
## What it does
Shows where YouTube conversions actually happen by device and decides which devices to keep, split out or exclude.
Shows where YouTube conversions actually happen by device and decides which devices to keep, split out or exclude. Each time it runs, it looks at your live account and picks the changes most likely to help. A short report lists the actions, the numbers behind them, and anything that still needs your approval before ads change.
## Steps
1. Collect the inputs listed under Variables. In Roadway they come from your connected accounts. Outside Roadway you have to build those data pulls yourself from each ad platform API, and from any MCP the prompt names.
2. Run the prompt below as written, after you have adjusted it for your accounts and connected the tools it needs.
3. Review the result. Apply changes to a live ad account only after you approve them. Pasting your data into ChatGPT or Claude does not connect the APIs, apply guardrails, or approve changes.
## Variables
auto_approve, funnel_metrics, goal_metric, lookback_window, max_change_pct, monthly_budget_cap, task_history
## Prompt
Optimize device targeting for YouTube Ads
Break down my Google Ads (Video & Demand Gen) performance by device over the last [set this to your own lookback window] and decide for each:
1. Give its own campaign
2. Keep
3. Exclude
4. Fix experience first
Context and defaults (use these; don't ask):
- The monthly cap: [set this to your own monthly budget cap], from the coworker's budget guardrails. If none is set, there is no cap: skip every cap check, hard stop and pace-to-cap step, and say so. Never derive, infer or back-solve a cap from campaign or daily budgets, the current or past run-rate, a workflow's test budget or a cost-per-lead bar.
- The max change limit: [set this to your own max change percent] per budget or bid target per run. If not set, 20%. It does not apply to experiment traffic splits.
- Auto-approve: [set this to your own auto approve]. If not set, it's off: list every change as a proposal for approval.
Rules:
- Compare cost per [set this to your own goal metric] and conversion rate by device. B2B demo requests often happen on desktop, while ecommerce and app installs skew mobile.
- Fix experience first: when a device gets high CTR but its conversion rate is less than half of desktop's, test the landing page on that device before you cut spend. Device is a targeting choice on YouTube, not a bid adjustment, so the only levers are including a device, excluding it, or giving it its own campaign with its own budget and target.
- Include TV screens (Connected TV) in the breakdown. CTV is great for reach but rarely drives direct conversions, so judge it on assisted conversions or its measured impact.
- Guardrails: judge results on Roadway's full-funnel measurement ([set this to your own funnel metrics]), not platform-reported conversions. Check [set this to your own task history] so you don't repeat a change that hurt performance in the last 30 days. Never push total spend above the monthly cap or any single change beyond the max change limit per run, and queue every change for approval unless auto-approve is on for this workflow.
Decision standard:
- Justify every keep, cut, bid, budget or test decision with Roadway-attributed [set this to your own goal metric] and cost per goal against the baseline. Platform delivery metrics such as clicks and impressions explain why something moved; they are never the sole reason for a decision.
- Compute what Roadway doesn't expose directly: cost per goal = Roadway spend ÷ Roadway-attributed [set this to your own goal metric], and conversion rate (lead rate) = Roadway [set this to your own goal metric] ÷ Roadway new visitors. Don't substitute platform-reported conversions or conversion rates.
- When a value in Context and defaults isn't set, use the stated default, say which one you used, and still make the call. Don't stop to ask.
- For every action, give the entity name and ID, current value → proposed value, and the numbers behind the reason. Write "None" under any empty heading.
- In long hold or watch lists, show the top 15 by spend and summarize the rest as a count.
Give me a report of each with reasoning for each action. Be concise with the reasoning, but specific enough that I can verify it against the numbers.
Report structure:
YouTube device optimization report
Summary:
Device-level efficiency and the changes to make.
Give its own campaign:
- [device] - [reason]
Keep:
- [device] - [reason]
Exclude:
- [device] - [reason]
Fix experience first:
- [device] - [reason]
## Run it in Roadway
https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/optimize-device-and-platform-bids-for-youtube-ads
Shows where YouTube conversions actually happen by device and decides which devices to keep, split out or exclude. Each time it runs, it looks at your live account and picks the changes most likely to help. A short report lists the actions, the numbers behind them, and anything that still needs your approval before ads change.
