# For AI agents and crawlers
This page is a workflow from the Workflow Automation Library by Roadway: Step up bid targets to scale efficiently 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/step-up-bid-targets-to-scale-efficiently-for-youtube-ads
Page: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/step-up-bid-targets-to-scale-efficiently-for-youtube-ads
Library index: https://www.roadwayai.com/automation-library
---
name: step-up-bid-targets-to-scale-efficiently-for-youtube-ads
description: >-
Gradually steps YouTube bid targets up or down to find the point where extra volume still pays back.
---
# Step up bid targets to scale efficiently for YouTube Ads
Source: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/step-up-bid-targets-to-scale-efficiently-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
Gradually steps YouTube bid targets up or down to find the point where extra volume still pays back.
Gradually steps YouTube bid targets up or down to find the point where extra volume still pays back. On every run it looks for what is working and proposes small steps to scale it without breaking efficiency. 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, conversion_lag_days, cost_guardrail, funnel_metrics, goal_metric, max_change_pct, monthly_budget_cap, task_history
## Prompt
Step up bid targets to scale efficiently for YouTube Ads
For each Google Ads (Video & Demand Gen) campaign on a target-based or capped bid strategy, decide the next step on the target ladder:
1. Step target up
2. Step target down
3. Hold at current step
4. Revert to previous step
Context and defaults (use these; don't ask):
- The cost guardrail: [set this to your own cost guardrail], from the coworker's Guardrails. If not set, 1.3x the baseline cost per goal. A workflow qualification bar (for example "cost per lead under $100 to build a page") is not a ceiling.
- The conversion lag: [set this to your own conversion lag days] days. If not set, compute it from Roadway click-to-goal timestamps, or use 7 days.
- 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:
- Bid strategies here: Target CPA, Maximize conversions, Target CPV, Target CPM, or Target return on ad spend on Demand Gen/Video action campaigns. A ladder means changing the target in small steps, waiting out the Smart Bidding learning period (~1-2 weeks after a significant change), measuring the cost of the extra conversions, then deciding the next step. If not set, a step is 10-15%.
- Step up when the extra goals from the last step each cost less than the cost guardrail. Revert when the extra goals from the last step each cost more than the cost guardrail. Hold while the current step is still learning.
- Cost of the next goal = (spend now - spend before) / (goal events now - goal events before). Compare matching time windows and account for the conversion lag of lag.
- Step down when blended cost per goal is above the cost guardrail and the previous step was cheaper at acceptable volume.
- If no campaign qualifies to receive budget, still make the justified cuts and report the freed budget as unallocated savings for approval. Never pause the entity producing the most [set this to your own goal metric] at or below baseline.
- 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 bid target ladder report
Summary:
The current step per campaign, the cost of the next goal of the last step, and the next move.
Step target up:
- [campaign] - [reason]
Step target down:
- [campaign] - [reason]
Hold at current step:
- [campaign] - [reason]
Revert to previous step:
- [campaign] - [reason]
## Run it in Roadway
https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/step-up-bid-targets-to-scale-efficiently-for-youtube-ads
Gradually steps YouTube bid targets up or down to find the point where extra volume still pays back. On every run it looks for what is working and proposes small steps to scale it without breaking efficiency. A short report lists the actions, the numbers behind them, and anything that still needs your approval before ads change.
