Founder Playbook · Sub Club by RevenueCat
9 tactics from Ashley Black
The Right (and Wrong) Way to Grow with Google App Campaigns
Watch the full episode“On Android you have the benefit of actually serving your ads in the Play Store — that's super high intent. You cannot get that inventory anywhere else. It doesn't exist. You can't buy it. I always liken Play Store traffic to branded search: you're reaching people at the highest intent moment possible, when they're actively searching for something they want.”
Android Play Store placement = the highest-intent UA inventory that exists anywhere
Ashley Black spent 6 years leading Google's App Ads team and calls Play Store placement the defining advantage of UAC on Android. Unlike Meta (Facebook + Instagram) or TikTok, Google uniquely controls intent-level search inventory: Play Store browse, Google.com search, and YouTube. No other network can replicate someone actively querying 'fitness app' while staring at the Play Store.
“In the US on Android, anywhere from $200 to $300 a day. On iOS it's got to be more significant — at a minimum about $500 a day to see if you can get enough traffic and then actually have something to do with that traffic to be able to make adjustments.”
Minimum viable UAC budgets: $300/day Android, $500/day iOS — anything less gives unusable data
iOS campaigns cost significantly more than Android because CPMs and install costs are higher. These figures from someone who saw thousands of accounts at Google are the true floor for getting the algorithm enough signal to optimize — not arbitrary recommendations. Below these thresholds the algorithm runs in permanent learning mode.
“The engineers at Google are always like '20% — no more than 20% in any given day on bids and budgets up or down.' I got burned pushing it more, and what happens is the system goes crazy. I only adjust by 20% every two to three days, not every single day, otherwise it keeps kicking back into learning mode at too great a frequency.”
Scale UAC budget max 20% every 2-3 days — not daily — or the algorithm goes rogue
Google's UAC algorithm treats large budget jumps as a signal to re-explore the entire inventory landscape, throwing it back into learning phase and tanking short-term performance. The 20% rule is an internal Google engineering guideline that Black could share only after leaving. Two-to-three day spacing between changes further stabilizes cohort comparisons.
“I always encourage people to build out multiple ad groups and I theme them around use cases or features. Build out maybe five ad groups per campaign, get traction, see what's resonating. A really common mistake: the first ad group you create is the one Google runs with, even if another one performs better.”
Run 5 themed ad groups per campaign — Google favorites its first child regardless of later performance
Google doesn't give budget control at the ad group level — the algorithm decides how to distribute spend. But you can influence creative testing by segmenting into themed groups. Five groups gives enough surface area to find a resonant angle without splitting signal too thin. Knowing the 'first child' bias helps: your original ad group often stays dominant regardless of later entrants.
“Text assets are the most crucial part of your Google ads campaigns, contrary to maybe other platforms where people aren't even reading it. Search only shows text assets. Even in the Play Store they pull in a bit of text you write in Google Ads. A lot of people overlook them or use Google's own recommendations — and I don't know why Google doesn't abide by regular punctuation and grammar in those.”
Text assets are the most critical UAC element — not videos — because search only shows text
On Meta or TikTok, the headline is a thumbnail overlay most users ignore. On Google Search and Play Store, the text is the entire creative. Black's concern: Google's auto-generated copy suggestions are poorly formatted. Operators should write text assets manually with deliberate copy, punctuation, and clear value propositions — one of the highest-leverage creative decisions in the whole UAC setup.
“A lot of times cheaper CPMs mean worse traffic — not always, but a lot of times. If there's a big decline in performance, I check if there was also a decline in CPM. Google's algorithm can blend high-quality and low-quality inventory and average it out. People are like 'I don't want the crap' — but you have to actively manage it.”
Cheaper CPMs in UAC are a warning sign — low cost usually means low-quality display traffic
UAC blends Play Store, Search, YouTube, Admob, and Display Network traffic into a single averaged performance number. If CPMs suddenly drop, the algorithm has shifted spend toward cheaper Display Network inventory. Black monitors CPMs as a leading indicator of traffic quality — a counterintuitive practice since most UA managers optimize for CPI. She also audits specific sites serving ads and excludes spammy placements.
“Google overlays so much within your image asset — they pull in your app icon, an install button, and even your app store rating. If you have a fully designed image asset with text, a call-to-action, and your rating, it's really redundant. I usually tell people: use a stock image. They work just as well and they're free.”
Don't over-design UAC image assets — Google overlays your icon, rating, and install CTA automatically
The instinct to produce polished banner ads for Google UAC is largely wasted effort. Google renders its own overlay (icon, install button, star rating) on top of your image asset, so a heavy design adds clutter rather than conversion. Stock images with simple, clean composition let Google's rendering system do its job — saving creative budget for higher-leverage video formats.
“I typically don't like people to optimize their campaigns for purchases or trial complete — those tend to happen way too far out. If you're a 7-day trial, for Google to get that data back seven days later is just too much lag. Optimizing for those earlier signals — most of the time a start trial — is the right approach.”
Optimize for trial starts not purchases — subscription purchase events lag too far for UAC to learn
Google UAC's algorithm needs conversion signals within a short window to optimize bidding effectively. For subscription apps, final purchase events are delayed by the trial period — meaning the algorithm flies blind during the most critical early optimization phase. Setting the optimization event to 'trial start' gives faster feedback while still serving as a strong proxy for downstream revenue.
“You want a 6-second video because that's one ad format in YouTube. You want a 10 to 15 second video. Around 20 seconds is great for YouTube Shorts. 30 seconds or longer is probably going to serve in-stream as a skippable ad. You have to have a lot of variety in terms of lengths on Google — compared to Meta where you mostly see a 15- or 20-second Reel.”
Video assets need multiple lengths for YouTube: 6s, 10-15s, 20s for Shorts, 30s+ for in-stream
YouTube alone has at least four distinct ad inventory formats (bumper, non-skippable, Shorts, in-stream skippable) with very different optimal video lengths. Most UAC advertisers upload one or two video lengths and wonder why performance is inconsistent. A proper video asset library covering all four duration buckets gives the algorithm more surface area to match ad format to inventory type.