# Diagnose a Google Ads spend drop fast

> Tier: recipe. Operating recipe: real tool sequence, core rules, known traps.

The Google-specific spend-drop sequence: change log, budgets, policy, then auction pressure.

**Intent.** Why Google spend fell: humans, budgets, policy or auction, in that order.

## When to use

- Google spend fell hard against its norm.

## When not to use

- Slow drifts: use account-audit.

## Sources

Required: Google Ads

## Preconditions

- The account is ticked in the dashboard, confirmed via list_accounts.

## Inputs

- `window`: Analysis window. Default: last 30 days.

## Procedure

1. Confirm the drop: date, magnitude, scope. — tools: `google_ads_get_insights`
2. Check the change log around the date. — tools: `google_ads_get_change_events`
3. Check budgets and statuses. — tools: `google_ads_get_budgets`, `google_ads_get_campaigns`
4. Scan policy via GAQL for disapprovals on the scope. — tools: `google_ads_run_gaql`

## Decision rules

- **When** A budget or status edit predates the drop by hours → **conclude** Human cause: attribute, date, decide whether to revert via Safe Writes.
- **When** No edit, no policy, but impressions fell at stable rank → **conclude** Auction volume fell: demand-side, name the affected inventory.

## Evidence requirements

- Every figure carries its account, metric and window.
- Anything below a readable sample size is reported as unjudged, not as zero.

## Human approval boundary

- The readout changes nothing. Any change it motivates goes through Safe Writes: preview, human confirmation, then apply.

## Failure modes

- Shared budgets starve campaigns without any edit on the campaign itself: read the budget object.

## Output

- **Readout**: The figures, with windows and accounts named.
- **Flags**: What deserves a deeper skill or a human decision.

## Related

- Skill: [campaign-anomaly-investigation](https://www.getmcpads.com/skills/campaign-anomaly-investigation.md)