How we scaled a PPE brand by going against Google’s playbook, keeping MER profitable after changing campaign defaults.

Werko operates at the intersection of scale and necessity.

As a supplier of PPE products, medical supplies and industrial gear (e.g. face masks, gloves, protective wear, disposable gowns and scrubs, etc.), this is one brand that grew unimaginably during the pandemic. 

But after all that dust settled, Werko needed to rebuild momentum and reach new goals.

Fortunately, in the realm of many B2B industries, demand for PPE is consistent, high-intent, and often urgent – driven by businesses that need reliable supply, fast delivery, and competitive pricing. 

So, the question became: How do we maintain a consistently profitable MER without necessarily relying on urgency messaging but rather, a BAU need?

Scaling wasn’t as simple as increasing spend.

We uncovered two key challenges:

• A disconnect between Google Ads reported performance and actual business results, making it difficult to trust alleged platform-reported ROAS.
• A heavy reliance on Performance Max, where ~68% of spend was being allocated to Display placements — limiting control, transparency, and efficiency.

Some advertisers out there think of Paid Search as a set-and-forget strategy that can only be scaled through extra spend – but as one of Australia’s top Google Ads agencies (proven and certified by our Google Premier Partners badge), that’s not us. 

We ideated plenty of levers to test, and these are the ones that WORKED.

Things might get a little technical from here, but we’ll split this up into three main points.

1. Moving away from Google Ads’ recommended campaigns.
2. Capturing long-tail demand with AI Max.
3. Fixing reporting and measurement from ROAS to MER.
   
   

Performance Max → Standard Shopping

This is a story about a digital marketing agency going against the grain.

While Performance Max (P-Max) has been Google’s default recommendation since 2021, the data told a different story when it came to Werko. 68% of P-Max spend was allocated to Display placements – which wasn’t the most apt nor relevant option for a brand selling PPE supplies. 

It also caused a major disparity between what Google Ads was reporting and actual performance. So, huge call… We decided to switch off Performance Max entirely.

Our Paid Search gurus reallocated budget back into Standard Shopping, which felt unintuitive given that we were basically reverting back to an older product.

But the results soon after? Agreed with us > best practice.

Standard Shopping campaigns gave us:

• Greater control over spend allocation
• Clearer visibility into performance
• Ability to prioritise high-intent traffic over passive Display placements 

This shift quickly unlocked:

• 41% increase in total site revenue period-on-period
• 59% uplift in revenue year-on-year

And much like our agency values say – get yourself a digital marketing agency that challenges the status quo and gets experimental with solutions.

Capturing long-tail demand with AI Max

People know what they want in this space, which makes the best PPC ads hyper-specific. Brands, businesses and all sorts of service providers have very clear preferences when it comes to PPE – and Google search behaviour reflects that.

Google reports that 44% of queries in this space are 8+ words long, making it nearly impossible to fully capture demand through manual keyword builds alone.

But we implemented AI Max (within generic search campaigns) to bridge this gap.

This allowed us to surface high-intent, long-tail queries – all whilst maintaining competitive CPCs on core generic terms. AI-selected queries further drove strong conversion rates, and we quickly expanded coverage without sacrificing efficiency – plus aligned even more with what users are browsing for too.

Fixing measurement from ROAS to real revenue.

Not that ROAS isn’t real revenue, but it does have the tendency to be over-reported / inflated by platforms like Google Ads taking a little extra credit.

For Werko, we’ve long preferred using an MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) model to establish goals and performance targets – and this case study confirms it really was the best metric grounded in overall business performance. 

By eliminating view-through inflation, misleading attribution and spend inefficiencies, we created a clearer picture of what was actually driving growth – then scaled.

Scalable, efficient growth. Exactly what we sought after from the start, whilst further exceeding our initial MER targets as well. 

• +33.8% increase in revenue YoY
• +59% growth in total site revenue within a 35-day YoY comparison window
• +22.93% increase in GA4’s attributed Google revenue, with
  
  • +42% increase in sessions
  • +35% increase in purchases

Proving that even in the absence of inflated Google Ads reporting, zooming out across total site revenue highlights that Paid Search was a key source of growth, demand AND sales.

We asked our Strategy Lead, Aaron, what some key takeaways might be for this account.

His response?

1. Platform defaults may not always be right for your account. Performance Max is Google's recommendation, not a guarantee. When the data says otherwise, follow the data instead – even if it means challenging best practices. 
2. Reported ROAS isn't real revenue. View-through conversions inflate platform numbers, whereas MER cuts through the noise for greater accuracy.
3. You don't always need more budget, you need better allocation. Diagnosing (then reallocating) where spend was leaking made every dollar that followed work harder.
4. Leverage AI where it actually adds value, such as expanding into Google search terms and keywords real human marketers might not think to consider before.

This is what happens when you stop optimising for the platform, and start optimising for the business instead. We could do the same for yours with a quick audit.

Get in touch with us here if you’re keen.