# For AI agents and crawlers
This page is a workflow from the Workflow Automation Library by Roadway: Test whether brand search ads add results before defending the results page.
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/test-brand-search-incrementality-before-defending-the-serp
Page: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/test-brand-search-incrementality-before-defending-the-serp
Library index: https://www.roadwayai.com/automation-library
---
name: test-brand-search-incrementality-before-defending-the-serp
description: >-
Decides how much to spend on brand search by testing whether brand ads are incremental when you already rank first organically and competitors are absent.
---
# Test whether brand search ads add results before defending the results page
Source: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/test-brand-search-incrementality-before-defending-the-serp
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
Decides how much to spend on brand search by testing whether brand ads are incremental when you already rank first organically and competitors are absent.
Decides how much to spend on brand search by testing whether brand ads are incremental when you already rank first organically and competitors are absent. 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, brand_terms, funnel_metrics, goal_metric, impression_share_target, max_change_pct, monthly_budget_cap, task_history
## Prompt
Test whether brand search ads add results before defending the results page
For each brand campaign on Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, review competitor presence on [set this to your own brand terms], organic rank and past brand-pause tests, and decide:
1. Keep full coverage
2. Reduce bids
3. Run a brand pause test
4. Increase defense
Context and defaults (use these; don't ask):
- The impression share target: [set this to your own impression share target]. If not set, 90% on brand campaigns.
- 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:
- Increase defense when competitors appear on a meaningful share of brand auctions, since brand ads protect clicks they would otherwise steal. If not set, 20%+ of brand auctions.
- Run a brand pause test (a geo split or a 2-week on/off) when no competitor bids on the brand and you rank #1 organically. Measure total brand clicks and conversions (paid + organic).
- Reduce bids when tests show low true impact, but keep impression share on the main brand term above the impression share target whenever competitors return.
- 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:
Brand defense report
Summary:
Competitor presence, the true-impact evidence, and the brand budget decision.
Keep full coverage:
- [brand campaign] - [reason]
Reduce bids:
- [brand campaign] - [reason]
Run a brand pause test:
- [brand campaign] - [reason]
Increase defense:
- [brand campaign] - [reason]
## Run it in Roadway
https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/test-brand-search-incrementality-before-defending-the-serp
Test whether brand search ads add results before defending the results page
Test whether brand search ads add results before defending the results page
Decides how much to spend on brand search by testing whether brand ads are incremental when you already rank first organically and competitors are absent.
Decides how much to spend on brand search by testing whether brand ads are incremental when you already rank first organically and competitors are absent. 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.
