The Client
Concealment Express (operating as Rounded Gear) is a Jacksonville, FL-based e-commerce brand specializing in American-made KYDEX holsters for concealed carry. They manufacture holsters for 30+ firearm brands — from Glock and Sig Sauer to Smith & Wesson and Springfield — across 15+ holster types including IWB, OWB, appendix, light-bearing, and athletic wear holsters.
Their product catalog spans 800+ SKUs, serving concealed carry permit holders nationwide with holsters, magazine carriers, CCW apparel, and accessories. With an average order value in the $40-80 range, profitability depends on efficient acquisition and high conversion rates across a massive product catalog.
The Challenge
When we took over the Google Ads account, we inherited:
- 130+ campaigns with inconsistent structure — legacy campaigns from previous agencies mixed with automated experiments
- Self-blocking negative keywords that were actively suppressing revenue — brand names like "Glock," "Sig Sauer," and "Ruger" were being negated, preventing holster searches for those brands from triggering ads
- No cohesive campaign architecture — Search, Shopping, and PMax campaigns were competing against each other with no traffic sculpting strategy
- Conversion tracking fragmentation — multiple overlapping purchase tracking tags (Hawke, WDS, GA4, Elevar) causing attribution confusion
The account was spending, but it was hemorrhaging money on structural inefficiencies.
Our Approach
1. Architecture Overhaul
We rebuilt the campaign structure from the ground up:
- Brand Campaign (EXACT match) — captures high-intent "Concealment Express" and "Rounded Gear" searches at maximum efficiency
- ROAS Campaign (brand + model queries) — targets "Glock 19 holster," "Sig P365 holster" with ROAS-focused bidding
- TOF Campaign (category queries) — captures top-of-funnel "best IWB holster," "concealed carry holster" searches
- Shopping Campaigns — segmented into 5 tiers by product performance index (Over Index, Index, Near Index, Under Index, LTV Top 4)
- Performance Max — 3 focused campaigns: core holsters, CCW for women, and top-of-funnel discovery
- Display — dynamic remarketing for cart abandoners
2. Negative Keyword Surgery
This was the game-changer. Our audit discovered catastrophic negative keywords that previous agencies had left in place:
- Brand name negatives blocking holster searches — "Glock" as a PHRASE negative was blocking "Glock 19 holster" entirely
- Product category negatives like "IWB" EXACT match was blocking all IWB holster queries on brand campaigns
- Self-industry negatives from a shared "Firearms & Concealed Carry" list that was linked to all Search campaigns
We removed 47 self-blocking negatives and unlinked destructive shared lists, immediately unlocking suppressed search volume.
3. Traffic Sculpting
We implemented precise traffic routing:
- Brand searches → Brand Campaign (highest priority, lowest CPA)
- Brand + model searches → ROAS Campaign (e.g., "Glock 19 holster Concealment Express")
- Generic holster searches → TOF Campaign or Shopping
- Product browsing → Shopping campaigns segmented by performance tier
- Remarketing → Display dynamic + PMax retargeting signals
4. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
Through our proprietary system, every campaign receives daily attention:
- Bid adjustments across 6 time-of-day tiers
- Device bid modifiers based on conversion data
- Negative keyword additions from search term reports
- Audience layering with 100+ demographic and interest signals
- Shopping product group optimization by performance tier
The Results
Since taking over the account, we've generated $8.7 million in tracked e-commerce revenue from $2.84 million in ad spend — delivering 145,096 purchase conversions across 18 simultaneously running campaigns.
The most significant achievement has been the steady improvement in return on ad spend. Through continuous optimization — daily bid adjustments, negative keyword refinements, audience layering, and campaign architecture improvements — we've more than doubled the account's ROAS from 2.9x to 6.7x over the course of our management.
This wasn't one dramatic change. It was the compounding effect of hundreds of small, disciplined optimizations executed daily through our Ad Campaign Concierge™ system.
The Numbers
- $8.7 million in tracked e-commerce revenue
- 145,096 total purchases driven by ads
- 6.7x ROAS — current return on every dollar spent
- 18 campaigns running across Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Display
- 130% ROAS improvement since we took over (2.9x → 6.7x)
Key Takeaways
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Negative keyword audits can unlock revenue overnight. We found brand names like "Glock" and "Sig Sauer" were being negated — blocking holster searches for those exact firearms. Removing these self-blocking negatives immediately increased qualified traffic at zero additional cost.
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Architecture matters more than budget. This account was already spending $2.8M+. The problem wasn't budget — it was structure. Rebuilding the campaign architecture turned the same spend into dramatically better returns.
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Daily optimization compounds. The jump from 2.9x to 6.7x ROAS wasn't a single breakthrough — it was hundreds of small daily improvements stacking up over months and years. That's what separates managed campaigns from "set it and forget it."
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Product catalog complexity requires Shopping segmentation. With 800+ SKUs, a single Shopping campaign can't optimize effectively. Segmenting by product performance tiers lets you concentrate budget on winners while still testing underperformers.
What the Client Says
"We went through three different agencies before finding Live PPC Ads, and the difference was night and day. Within the first month, Ilya found negative keywords that were literally blocking our best-selling products from showing up in search. Our ROAS has more than doubled since they took over, and the communication is outstanding — we always know exactly what's happening with our campaigns. They treat our ad budget like it's their own money."
— Director of E-Commerce, Rounded by Concealment Express
About This Campaign
This campaign is managed by Live PPC Ads using our Ad Campaign Concierge™ optimization system. The account runs 18 simultaneous campaigns across Google Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Display with daily optimization, automated bid management, and continuous negative keyword refinement.
Industry: E-Commerce — Firearms Accessories Platforms: Google Ads, Meta Ads, Microsoft Ads Account Duration: 2020 — Present (ongoing)