# For AI agents and crawlers
This page is a workflow from the Workflow Automation Library by Roadway: Trade paid for organic when rankings climb or slip.
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/trade-paid-for-organic-when-rankings-climb-or-slip
Page: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/trade-paid-for-organic-when-rankings-climb-or-slip
Library index: https://www.roadwayai.com/automation-library
---
name: trade-paid-for-organic-when-rankings-climb-or-slip
description: >-
Tracks organic rank changes by page and query, and lowers non-brand bids where you rank in the top 3, then raises them where rankings slip.
---
# Trade paid for organic when rankings climb or slip
Source: https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/trade-paid-for-organic-when-rankings-climb-or-slip
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
Tracks organic rank changes by page and query, and lowers non-brand bids where you rank in the top 3, then raises them where rankings slip.
Tracks organic rank changes by page and query, and lowers non-brand bids where you rank in the top 3, then raises them where rankings slip. When a query moves in or out of your top 3 organic results, it will cut paid bids when organic wins, and raise them when you lose the spot. It keeps watching for this trigger, so you can respond within hours instead of at the next review. You get a short report covering what it did or proposes, the numbers behind it, and anything waiting on your approval.
## 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, max_change_pct, min_sample_size, monthly_budget_cap, seo_rank_changes, task_history
## Prompt
Trade paid for organic when rankings climb or slip
Join [set this to your own SEO rank changes] with paid keyword performance on matching queries, and decide for each query group:
1. Lower bids
2. Raise bids
3. Hold
4. Test true impact
Context and defaults (use these; don't ask):
- Organic rank changes by page and query: [set this to your own SEO rank changes]. If it isn't available, say so and skip the rules that depend on it.
- The brand and product names and their misspellings: [set this to your own brand terms]. If it isn't available, say so and skip the rules that depend on it.
- Minimum conversions per variant before declaring a test: [set this to your own min sample size]. If not set, 30 conversions per variant.
- 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:
- Only act on non-brand queries ([set this to your own brand terms] are excluded), with 3+ days of stable rank, and a query that has at least [set this to your own min sample size] paid clicks.
- Lower bids by up to [set this to your own max change percent] when you rank 1-3 organically and the paid listing's incremental conversions are low. Raise bids when rank falls below 4 and the page converts above baseline.
- Test true impact before any big cut: pause paid on a share of matching queries for 14 days, and compare total conversions (paid plus organic) with the control. If not set, 20% of matching queries.
- Keep paid on queries where competitors bid on your name or the SERP shows ads above you, whatever the rank.
- Judge on blended conversions from Roadway attribution, not paid conversions alone.
- 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:
Paid and organic trade report
Summary:
The queries moved, the bid changes, and total conversions against control.
Lower bids:
- [query group] - [reason]
Raise bids:
- [query group] - [reason]
Hold:
- [query group] - [reason]
Test true impact:
- [query group] - [reason]
## Run it in Roadway
https://www.roadwayai.com/workflows/trade-paid-for-organic-when-rankings-climb-or-slip
Tracks organic rank changes by page and query, and lowers non-brand bids where you rank in the top 3, then raises them where rankings slip. When a query moves in or out of your top 3 organic results, it will cut paid bids when organic wins, and raise them when you lose the spot. It keeps watching for this trigger, so you can respond within hours instead of at the next review. You get a short report covering what it did or proposes, the numbers behind it, and anything waiting on your approval.
