Most PPC budget discussions focus on finding the right split between brand awareness and conversion-focused campaigns. That’s usually the wrong goal.
The optimal balance changes constantly based on business stage, market saturation, seasonality, competitive pressure, and revenue objectives.
Yet many teams still treat the funnel split as a fixed decision: 40% upper funnel, 60% lower funnel, set it and forget it. That might be the right ratio today and completely wrong in six months.
Every budget conversation eventually comes down to the same argument. Someone wants to cut brand awareness spend because it doesn’t convert directly. Someone else warns that if you only chase conversions, the pipeline dries up in 12 months.
Both are right, which is what makes this so difficult.
The lower-funnel case is easy to make
When most PPC managers talk about the lower funnel, they mean Shopping, Performance Max, and high-intent Search.
Someone typing “buy running shoes new york” has already decided they want the product. Shopping shows the right SKU at the right price. PMax chases the conversion signal across every Google surface. The attribution is clean, the ROAS is visible, and the CFO is happy.
The problem is that this demand already exists. These campaign types harvest intent. They don’t create it. Every conversion you get from a high-intent search term or a Shopping click is the result of awareness that was built somewhere else:
- A YouTube pre-roll.
- A friend’s recommendation.
- A social post.
- Years of brand presence in the market.
You’re collecting fruit from a tree you didn’t plant.
Search is worth treating separately here because it doesn’t sit neatly at the bottom of the funnel. A query like “best running shoes for marathon training” is informational.
The person is researching, not buying. AI Max and broad match expansion in Google Ads are pushing Search campaigns further into this territory, meaning Search can serve both ends of the funnel depending on how it’s configured and which queries it actually captures.
It’s worth auditing your Search terms regularly through this lens: How much of your Search spend is closing existing demand versus reaching people earlier in their decision-making process?
This works until it stops working. And the signal that it’s stopping usually arrives too late.
When branded search volume flatlines, CPCs on your core terms keep climbing because the same pool of high-intent users is getting more expensive to reach, and new customer acquisition starts to plateau while retention holds steady. These are the symptoms of a brand that’s been living off existing demand without replenishing it.
Lower-funnel efficiency is real. But it’s also borrowing against the future.
Dig deeper: PPC budget planning: Aligning business goals, ad spend, and performance
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