I see Google rolling out new Agency Admin and Standard roles in Merchant Center for Agencies, giving agencies a more centralized way to control client access while improving security and day-to-day efficiency.
What is new: I can now look at client access differently because clients are linked directly to an agency instead of being tied to individual users. That makes it easier to manage permissions from one place, especially when team members join, move roles, or leave.
I also see custom labels becoming a useful part of this update. Agency Admins can organize client accounts by brand, business vertical, internal team, or another structure that fits how the agency works.
Those labels can then be used to give Standard users access to groups of accounts in bulk. For me, that is the practical improvement: agencies no longer need to configure access one account at a time when the same permission logic applies across multiple clients.
Why I care: Agencies managing several Merchant Center accounts have often had to depend on user-level permissions, which can make onboarding, offboarding, and account management more cumbersome than they need to be. This role-based structure moves client management to the agency level, which should reduce administrative work and strengthen access controls.
How it works: Agency Admins get full administrative privileges inside the Merchant Center agency account. In that role, I can link and unlink clients’ Merchant Center accounts, add or remove Standard users, modify Standard users, manage their access to client accounts, and create custom labels for organizing clients.
Standard users receive more limited permissions, which helps agencies follow stronger security practices. I see this as a way to make sure team members only access the client accounts they actually need.
Bottom line: For agencies managing large client portfolios, I expect centralized client linking, bulk access management, and customizable account labels to reduce manual work while making Merchant Center administration more secure and scalable.
I think every PPC professional has at least one mistake they wish they could erase. For Danny Gavin, founder of Optidge, it was not a failed bidding strategy, a blown budget, or a campaign that never found its footing. It was something much simpler, and in many ways, much more painful.
When Danny joined me on PPC Live The Podcast, he shared the story of a technical issue that kept landing page leads from reaching the client. For one to two months, the campaigns were still generating qualified prospects, but the client believed nothing was working because those enquiries never appeared in their inbox.
The mistake that no one spotted
At the time, Danny’s agency was still small, with only a handful of people managing client accounts. One client, an autism therapy provider, appeared to be getting strong results inside Google Ads.
Clicks were rising. Cost per lead looked healthy. From inside the ad platform, everything pointed to success.
But the client was growing more frustrated because no enquiries were coming through.
The problem was not Google Ads.
It was not the landing page.
It was the email notification system.
Every form submission was being stored correctly in the database, but a technical failure stopped the notification emails from reaching the client. Because neither side realized those emails had failed, the issue went unnoticed for weeks.
By the time the problem was found, dozens of leads had already gone cold.
Why the emotional impact was worse than the technical problem
What stood out to me was that the financial loss was not the part Danny remembered most. The harder part was the feeling that his agency had let the client down. Because he knew the client personally, the mistake felt even more personal.
His team had spent weeks reporting positive campaign performance while the client saw no return from their investment. That disconnect created guilt, regret, and a real sense of helplessness.
As Danny explained it, the agency felt as if it had taken the client’s money without delivering value, even though the campaigns themselves were actually working.
Honesty became the first step
Once the problem became clear, Danny did not try to hide it. His view is straightforward: when mistakes happen, honesty is the only response that gives you any chance of repairing trust.
Instead of making excuses, the agency investigated immediately, exported every lead stored in the database, and gave the client everything they could recover. Many of those opportunities had already gone cold, but at least the client had access to the data that still existed.
From there, the focus had to move from blame to prevention.
Building systems that stop the same mistake happening twice
That experience changed the agency’s processes in a lasting way.
Instead of relying on one notification email, Danny’s team introduced multiple safeguards:
CC’ing the agency on every lead notification.
Automatically logging every lead into a shared Google Sheet.
Testing forms regularly to confirm submissions and notifications both work.
Checking with clients routinely to confirm leads are actually being received.
Those checks are now part of the agency’s standard operating procedures. They are no longer assumptions about technology working in the background.
Why communication matters as much as optimisation
Looking back, Danny sees the technical failure as only part of the issue. Communication failed too. No one had asked the simple question: “Are you actually receiving the leads?”
Today, communication is one of Optidge’s core values.
Rather than expecting PPC specialists to manage constant client communication while also running campaigns, the agency brought in dedicated account managers whose primary role is to keep clients informed.
The lesson I took from this is simple: campaign metrics alone do not define success.
Success only happens when the client experiences the results you are reporting.
Sometimes clients remember how you responded
At first, the relationship with the client ended. Danny assumed the mistake had permanently damaged the trust they had built.
Years later, though, that same client reached out again about potentially working together. In her email, she described Optidge as the most professional agency she had worked with. For Danny, it was a reminder that clients do not forget mistakes, but they also remember how agencies respond to them.
Transparency, professionalism, and a genuine effort to improve can leave a stronger impression than perfection.
Common PPC mistakes Danny still sees today
Although this happened years ago, Danny still sees agencies making similar mistakes today.
One of the biggest is focusing only on traffic instead of business outcomes. Sending visitors to a page is no longer enough.
Strong lead generation requires understanding what happens after someone clicks.
When Danny audits accounts, he often finds agencies failing to:
Feed qualified lead data back into advertising platforms.
Review search terms thoroughly and maintain negative keywords.
Build landing pages that match campaign intent.
Measure lead quality instead of simply counting conversions.
Without those fundamentals, campaign optimisation is based on incomplete information.
Where AI is genuinely helping lead generation
Danny believes AI has real potential in lead generation, but not always in the way marketers expect.
One of the most useful opportunities is phone call analysis.
Instead of manually listening to every conversation, AI can now help agencies:
Generate call transcripts.
Categorise calls by quality.
Identify whether a call became a genuine sales opportunity.
Feed qualified conversion data back into Google Ads.
That makes it possible to optimise around real business outcomes instead of surface-level metrics.
Why AI still needs human oversight
Even though Danny is using AI, he does not treat it as an infallible system.
Like automation inside advertising platforms, AI can make mistakes, miss context, and confidently reach the wrong conclusion.
For industries with strict privacy requirements, such as healthcare, AI may not be appropriate for handling sensitive customer information at all.
His advice is to trust AI enough to improve efficiency, but always verify the work.
Human expertise still matters.
The biggest lesson
I do not think any PPC professional can avoid mistakes completely.
What defines a strong agency is how it responds when something goes wrong.
That means being honest, fixing the immediate problem, building safeguards, and making sure the same issue does not happen again.
As Danny puts it, a mistake only becomes valuable when you have genuinely learned from it.
When it comes to PPC, some of the toughest lessons aren’t about bidding strategies or keywords. It’s about knowing when to walk away from a client. On a recent episode of PPC Live The Podcast, I, Laura Abreu, a performance marketing strategist, shared a pivotal experience from early in my career that taught me invaluable lessons.
My first client was launching an ecommerce store featuring beauty products from well-known brands. On paper, it looked promising, but deep down, something felt off. The products were available at the same price elsewhere, giving consumers little reason to choose our store. Despite this, I ignored my instincts and accepted the project.
Despite our team’s best efforts with search campaigns, Meta ads, seasonal offers, and product bundles, we didn’t manage a single sale over three months. The issue wasn’t with our marketing strategies—it was the lack of a unique value proposition in the business model itself.
I’ve learned that great marketing won’t fix a weak business proposition. Engaging with a new client now involves ensuring they’ve done market validation before investments in advertising.
This experience also revealed the importance of not letting personal preferences cloud judgement in marketing. We focused heavily on creating visually appealing content without realizing that resonating with customer needs and desires is what truly drives sales.
The emotional turmoil from this misstep was profound, affecting my confidence to the point where I took a break from PPC clients. I realized I was unfairly shouldering the blame for a structural business issue beyond my control.
Setting clear expectations from the start with every client has become another cornerstone of my practice. I ensure advertising is positioned as a way to test assumptions instead of promising immediate growth. This approach helps in maintaining honest conversations and prevents misunderstandings.
I’ve also decided never to mix business with personal relationships. Working with friends and family often involves emotional challenges that can interfere with objective decision-making.
Protecting one’s reputation is crucial, especially when campaigns don’t meet expectations. Honest dialogue, even if it means discussing failures or refunding fees, is necessary to build trust, which is invaluable in our referral-driven industry.
Through auditing various PPC accounts, I often encounter the mistake of treating campaigns as “set and forget.” It’s vital to constantly refresh ad copy, scale winning creatives, and streamline lead-generation processes for better conversion rates.
AI has become a significant asset in automating routine tasks, allowing more time for strategic thinking and client interactions. However, I advise marketers to maintain human oversight to avoid the pitfalls of poor-quality AI outputs.
While working with a major B2B SaaS account, I learned a valuable lesson about fundamentals through a €30,000 underspend. I initially tightened a target CPA to boost efficiency but neglected to monitor the consequences closely. This oversight resulted in the account falling short of its monthly budget target.
Underspending isn’t merely a media issue—it can affect future budget allocations. The unspent funds had to be returned to finance, making it challenging for the marketing team to justify similar investment levels in upcoming cycles.
The toughest part wasn’t the monetary mistake, but owning up to it. I had to personally explain the situation to the client, taking full responsibility without making excuses.
Even though the client was understanding, trust was undoubtedly shaken. To rebuild confidence, I introduced weekly budget pacing updates to demonstrate transparency and assure them that such an issue would not recur.
Throughout this experience, I realized the enduring importance of fundamentals like budget pacing, account monitoring, and conversion tracking. These basics are crucial, regardless of how advanced our advertising platforms become.
Reflecting on what I would do differently, I underestimated how impactful a target CPA change could be. Now, I consider any spend-related adjustment as a significant account change necessitating careful observation.
While I support using AI-powered tools, I’ve learned to be cautious about adopting every new feature indiscriminately. Balancing experimentation with human insight and strategic oversight is essential to me.
One of the industry’s recurring blind spots is conversion tracking, often flawed due to poor implementation. Accurate data is essential, as it drives optimization decisions and performance.
Building strong client relationships is also pivotal. When mistakes happen, open communication and honesty can be just as critical as producing solid performance results.
Ultimately, mistakes in PPC are unavoidable, but how we handle them defines our success. This experience reminded me that mastering the basics and maintaining trust lay the groundwork for enduring success.
As I delve deeper into the world of ad platforms, it’s fascinating to see how algorithms are transforming the landscape—putting a spotlight on marketers and their expertise.
Managing ad accounts today is a whole new ball game compared to just a few years back. With automation taking center stage through tools like Meta’s Advantage+ and Google’s Performance Max, the skills needed for effective account management have evolved significantly.
Recently, I’ve conducted numerous B2B account audits, for companies both in-house and those transitioning from agencies. It’s striking how rare it is to find operators who truly grasp these systems.
Even with advanced technology at our fingertips, many proficient B2B marketers continue to make costly errors. Here are the frequent mistakes I’ve identified recently on LinkedIn and Google.
Mistakes Advertisers Are Still Making on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is indispensable for B2B outreach, yet some advertisers persist with avoidable blunders like these.
1. Ignoring Audience Targeting
Shockingly, I still see this rookie error. Ads end up targeting entry-level individuals, students, and irrelevant businesses instead of the intended audience.
2. Neglecting to Adjust Targeting Over Time
LinkedIn’s professional targeting can be excellent, but not infallible. It often lets unrelated roles and titles slip through, wasting budget on irrelevant audiences.
3. Over-relying on Automated Settings
This is more common than a mere oversight. Keeping options like audience expansion active leads to ads appearing in less relevant, low-quality spots.
4. Stagnating Creative Content
Veteran LinkedIn marketers know that LinkedIn’s ad structure complicates creative testing, emphasizing the need for creative refreshes and theme variations.
Here are the top pitfalls I’ve discovered in Google Ads accounts recently.
5. Using Conversion Strategies Without Adequate Data
Ad accounts employing conversion-based strategies without any conversion data often mislead algorithms, targeting the cheapest and least effective actions.
6. Defaulting to Display and Search Partners
This blunder reallocates budget from high-intent searches to less effective, lower-quality placements, wasting resources.
7. Forgetting Sitelinks
Omitting sitelinks diminishes the potential to occupy more space in search results, reducing appeal to potential customers.
8. Ignoring Non-Converting Keywords
Failure to scrutinize and modify ads for non-converting keywords results in wasted investment.
9. Overusing Broad Match
Exclusively using broad match without employing phrase or exact match can lead to unnecessary expenditure.
10. Unrestricted PMax Utilization
While PMax for B2B has evolved, neglecting enhanced conversions and educational setup is a recipe for low-quality leads.
11. Discounting AI Max Testing
With Google constantly innovating ad serving and optimization through AI, early adoption can offer a competitive advantage.
Critical gaps often occur post-data collection, where follow-up sequences and accurate data linking are necessary to optimize Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
Focusing solely on past practices like granular negative keywords without adapting to newer automation capabilities highlights inefficiencies.
Mistakes might appear minor, but they signal deeper mismanagement when left unattended, stressing the need for skilled supervision even in an automated environment.
Remember, effective ad management still necessitates quality inputs, accurate measurement, and vigilant oversight.
I often find myself grappling with the essential need to make sure AI-generated work aligns with our brand’s identity and campaign history. This is where a structured ‘client brain’ comes in handy, providing context that grounds AI in brand guidelines and technical nuances.
Each SEO agency I know deals with what I like to call a ‘context tax.’ It’s the unspoken burden when strategists and analysts have to remember intricate account details like brand voice, past keyword decisions, CMS limitations, and what angles the founder disliked.
The challenge with integrating AI into complex SEO tasks is giving it enough context to be genuinely useful. One approach I’ve been exploring is the concept of a ‘client brain,’ a system that retains account-specific knowledge, allowing AI to act with the intelligence of someone who’s been involved from the start.
Context is the Problem
Understanding context is crucial for any successful worker or AI. As a senior SEO lead, I onboard new team members by sharing vital details about client preferences, past strategies, and technical constraints. Without this, even AI struggles to deliver effectively.
In SEO, we’re increasingly focused on data integration—bringing together metrics from various sources to have a comprehensive view. However, AI isn’t just about data. It’s about using that data in the context of what we’ve learned from the client so far.
I’ve realized that having a centralized repository of client-specific insights—what I consider ‘institutional memory’—is indispensable. It helps our AI avoid suggesting ideas or strategies we’ve previously dismissed or accepted.
A Client Brain is the Solution
Creating a ‘client brain’ means systematically recording all critical decisions, feedback, and client idiosyncrasies. It’s not a substitute for human intuition but rather a framework that aids in applying that intuition consistently across teams and tasks.
In my experience, effective SEO requires multiple hands—strategists set the path, content leaders draft plans, writers create, and analysts evaluate performance. Without shared context, each transition becomes a potential point of drift, where critical details can be lost.
What a Client Brain Is
A client brain is essentially a detailed, organized knowledge base that AI refers to before launching into any task. I like to think of it as carving out the soul and memory of an account, enabling AI to understand both stable brand tenets and evolving client experiences.
Not all knowledge is created equal. Some parts remain constant, like brand identity and audience details, while others evolve, such as campaign outcomes or technical limitations. It’s vital to separate these layers to ensure clarity and usability.
In practical terms, I categorize this into two layers: the ‘soul,’ which includes static brand knowledge, and the ‘memory,’ which documents dynamic experiences and learning moments from working with clients.
The Technical Anatomy of a Brain
I aim for simplicity when building a client brain. It starts as a collection of plain-text Markdown files, eliminating the need for complex systems or special software. The organization into a ‘soul’ and ‘memory’ folder structure helps keep everything manageable.
Building Core Logic of the Soul
To initiate this process, I recommend creating a directory named ‘brain/soul’ and populating it with core files: company profile, style guide, audience, keyword map, and a ‘never do’ list. Each serves to capture essential client insights succinctly.
Within the ‘brain/memory’ folder, I record decisions we made and their rationales, identify recurring patterns in our work, and maintain a chronological log of notes and client interactions. It’s invaluable for maintaining institutional knowledge over time.
brain/memory/
├── decisions/ — choices made and why
├── patterns/ — things that worked or didn’t, by task type
└── log/ — chronological notes by date
Documenting the logic behind decisions is as critical as the decisions themselves. It ensures AI can align with evolving strategies, adapting as contexts change over time.
It’s crucial to start small, choosing the client where losing context costs the most time. Long-running accounts with a distinct brand voice and a history of ideas are ideal candidates.
Step 2: Block 90 Minutes and Write the Soul Together
I gather the account lead and strategist, focusing on crafting five vital files in straightforward language. It’s about capturing the unspoken knowledge that guides our best decisions.
Step 3: Decide Where the Brain Lives
For solo practitioners, a local folder suffices. Teams, however, benefit from a shared location. Options include Google Drive, Notion, or even a version-controlled system, as long as it serves as a trusted central repository.
Step 4: Set Ownership Rules
I find friction helpful for changes to the soul. The account lead reviews changes, ensuring consistency. Memory changes should be easy for anyone to add, thereby capturing fresh insights on-the-go.
Step 5: Schedule Maintenance
Regular brain maintenance is crucial to prevent rot. Tasks include consolidating duplicates, updating entries, and resolving conflicts. A stale client brain can create more harm than good if left unchecked.
How AI Agents Read the Brain
In practical use, AI tools benefit from having access to the client brain, which helps maintain consistency in outputs and aids collaboration. Whether through comprehensive or selective file loading, the integration should preserve context and avoid unnecessary readjustments.
Version A: Load Everything
A straightforward method is to have AI read all files in the brain folder before starting a task. It incurs some cost, but is often more efficient than repeatedly reexplaining account details.
Version B: Route by Task Type
Selective loading simplifies tasks by having AI access only the necessary files based on the specific task type. It’s a balanced approach many agencies are adopting to optimize efficiency and relevance.
Version C: Vector Retrieval
For agencies managing numerous clients, vector retrieval provides a sophisticated solution. It involves using metadata tags for entries, allowing AI to fetch relevant content effectively while ensuring accuracy and specificity.
Using the Brain Across Different AI Platforms
I ensure the consistency of AI outputs by integrating the client brain into various AI workflows, be it Claude Code or Cowork. The emphasis remains on the AI engaging the soul files at the start of tasks, securing alignment and coherence.
Where This Breaks and How to Fix It
Even a well-maintained client brain can encounter issues like drift or fabrication. Remedy these by ensuring the style guide includes clear examples and that memory entries are frequently reviewed for accuracy and relevancy.
Trust in the client brain derives not from its structure but from its content. A reliable source underpins every memory entry, bolstering confidence and effectiveness.
How to Get Started This Week
To implement this system efficiently, I’ve found it useful to start with a single client, gather the team for a focused session, and conduct a test. This initial phase acts as a proof of concept, validating the utility of a client brain in enhancing SEO tasks.
The real payoff from AI doesn’t come from speed alone but from the context it provides. With a client brain, the gaps usually lost in transition are preserved, ensuring the work is not just faster, but smarter.
I want to share an experience that tested my cyber awareness: my Google Ads Manager Account (MCC) fell into hackers’ hands at midnight on January 5. Fortunately, my team wasn’t alone in this ordeal. It’s estimated that hundreds, if not thousands, of similar accounts were hijacked, impacting vast networks of ads.
Reflecting on this unsettling event, I’ve gained valuable insights that I hope will help you safeguard your own MCCs from facing a similar fate.
How Hackers Gained Control of My Account
Despite having two-factor authentication (2FA) in place, the hackers breached my account using an employee’s email. This targeted hack saw them exploiting multiple email accounts before succeeding on their third attempt.
Phishing or password compromises likely granted them initial access. We later discovered that their chosen email had been compromised for months, cleverly bypassing our security by setting up their own 2FA tailored for deceit.
Their takeover was swift, removing all access to our MCC and altering allowed domains to Gmail. They brazenly invited over a dozen people into a newly created MCC under our company name, which thankfully, our clients ignored.
Within just hours, chaos ensued: users were removed, payment methods were altered, and unauthorized campaigns launched. Attempted fraudulent charges reached half a million on some accounts—remarkably without ads running to justify such expenses.
Regaining Control After the Hack
In a stroke of luck, we managed to reclaim our account within eight hours. Financial damage was surprisingly minimal, capped at $100, with unsuccessful credit card charges adding to our recovery timeline.
The journey to restoration relied on clear steps, beginning with contacting Google.
Step 1: Reaching Out to Google
Our first action was reaching out to our trusted Google reps. Their ongoing support proved invaluable, guiding us through the process and maintaining pressure on resolving our cases.
Even if you don’t have a dedicated rep, following the recommended steps still aids in timely resolution.
Step 2: Submitting Necessary Forms
Google directed us to their compromised account resources, prompting us to file multiple Account Takeover Forms for each affected account, including our MCC.
Though initially advised against using this form for MCCs, updated guidance now includes it as a vital step in swift recovery.
Step 3: Client Communication
I urged our clients with remaining access to disconnect from the compromised MCC and connect to secure emails. This immediate action helped us secure accounts and minimize potential damage.
Step 4: Managing Billing Chaos
Disconnecting was pivotal in resetting billing details. By editing the payment manager, we managed to undo the tangled web the hackers spun, simplifying future re-connections.
Step 5: Analyzing Change History
Upon regaining access, analyzing change history at MCC speed was essential. The detailed timestamps allowed us to construct a timeline and rectify ongoing issues.
Implementing Best Practices
A number of best practices helped us not only in recovery but also in preventing future breaches. Let’s dive into some critical strategies.
Ensure Client Access
I believe ethically, clients should always have access to their accounts. Additional admin presence provided a safety net, enabling us to regain control swiftly.
Google also supported us on blocking unauthorized changes, reinforcing the importance of multiple secure admin accounts.
Maintain MCC Integrity
Cleaning up by removing obsolete clients and unused MCCs is now a priority. This preventive measure could have lessened our vulnerability pre-hack.
Restricting Access Wisely
The breach was through a junior member needing minimal access. Restricting admin access to necessary personnel reduces potential entry points.
Despite their persistence, this measure could limit hacker penetration.
Financial Safeguards
Opting for credit or invoice payments meant banks swiftly flagged any irregular transactions, ensuring no charges landed.
Nurture Key Relationships
Building relations with Google reps and agency peers is vital. Their involvement during crisis management cannot be understated.
Proactive Protection Measures
Keeping your MCC secure demands proactive strategies. Here are some to fortify your digital fortress.
Initiate a Complete Reset
By periodically purging all account users and device sessions, we could have silently ousted the lurking hacker, curtailing their prepared attack.
Fortify with 2FA and Domains
Establish dedicated 2FA for each user, with authenticators ensuring stronger defenses compared to traditional device notifications, which attackers exploited.
Review and Limit Access
Minimizing access helps defensively, as fewer touchpoints result in decreased vulnerability.
Deploy Multi-party Approvals
Google’s recent multi-party approval feature requires a second admin confirmation for major changes, adding a security layer.
Regular Account Backups
Leveraging Google Ads Editor for backups ensures past configurations are recoverable, mitigating potential disruptions.
Secure Your Passwords
Encouraging unique, site-specific passwords shields MCCs from cascading breaches originating from other compromised accounts.
Invest in Monitoring
Employing cybersecurity tools and experts provides peace of mind. Their vigilance uncovers phishing attempts early, shoring up defenses.
A Client’s Caution: Stay informed about access requests for your Ads. Verify unexpected ones with your managing team to preempt unauthorized intrusions.
Stay Vigilant and Secure
While Google evolves its security toolkit, ensuring your practices are robust aids in thwarting breaches. Let this recounting bolster your prep, mitigating future risks.
Hi there! I’m Maddie Lightening, Head of Paid Media at Hallam, and I’ve had my fair share of lessons and challenges in the fast-paced world of PPC. Over the last decade, I’ve navigated through search, social, and digital programmatic channels, and I’m excited to share some of these experiences with you.
The journey has been a mix of mistakes, insights, and shifts in mindset. Through it all, I’ve come to realize the importance of adaptability and a clear understanding of reporting metrics. Let’s dive into some notable points from my career.
The Misreported ROAS That Taught Me a Big Lesson
Early in my career, I encountered a significant reporting error due to different account currency settings. While working with an Australian billing system and reporting in GBP, conversion values were miscalculated, dramatically skewing performance results. This error only came to light when we compared with CRM data, revealing actual performance was double what had been reported. A reminder of how crucial it is to get technical setups right!
Outdated Account Structures: When Old Strategies Meet New Technologies
Managing legacy account structures can be tricky, especially in today’s AI-driven marketing world. I worked with a travel client who had an outdated setup, which used thousands of campaigns. While it worked in the past, this granular approach clashed with modern strategies, highlighting the necessity for streamlined data and advanced AI bidding tactics.
The Right Timing for Strategy Implementation
Another lesson learned was the importance of timing. We had an account restructure plan ready but delayed its implementation to avoid peak season disruption. This delay cost us when performance dipped in January, forcing us to make rapid changes. In hindsight, an earlier start could have mitigated these risks.
Navigating Real-Time Performance Pressure
Dealing with performance declines during critical periods is stressful, especially when clients are heavily invested in their peak seasons. This pressure-cooker environment underscores the importance of teamwork, maintaining composure, and focusing on solutions rather than succumbing to panic.
How a Max CPC Cap Helped Rebalance Performance
One effective strategy was implementing a max CPC cap within portfolio bidding, even while using automated systems. This tactic significantly reduced CPCs without impacting performance, proving that it’s possible to guide AI to deliver better outcomes with the right constraints.
Embracing AI: A Pathway to Growth
Rejecting AI in marketing is a mistake. During my time in an agency that opposed AI tools, I realized this limits potential. Embracing AI doesn’t mean losing control, but rather finding strategic ways to harness its power for growth.
The Power of Quality Prompts in AI
In my AI experience, detailed input is crucial for quality results. Vague prompts lead to weak outputs, whereas providing detailed context such as goals and target audience enhances outcomes. AI should augment our work, not replace it.
The Importance of Curiosity and Experimentation in PPC
Staying curious is key! I encourage ongoing experimentation, even if success isn’t guaranteed. My “test and learn” approach emphasizes that lessons learned from failures are as valuable as those from successes.
Learning from Small Mistakes
We all make mistakes—like sending the wrong client report—but the important part is how we handle them. Quick accountability and problem-solving maintain perspective and prevent minor slips from becoming major issues.
The Big Picture: Adaptability and Growth
Success in PPC comes down to adaptability and a learning mindset. Whether it’s tackling legacy systems or embracing AI, evolving our strategies is crucial for distinguishing strong teams from the rest.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, my experiences illustrate that mistakes, when managed well, refine strategies and boost performance. Staying curious, proactive, and open to change is essential for thriving in the paid media landscape.
I’ve spent a decade delving into PPC strategies and what I’ve learned is that chasing ‘best practices’ often limits true performance potential. Real growth stems from daring to deviate and experiment with new methods.
PPC conversations frequently revolve around sticking to best practices. These mandates include maintaining clean account structures, controlling match types, scaling budgets incrementally, ensuring campaigns don’t overlap, and keeping everything logical and easy to explain.
While these fundamentals do promote consistency and prevent inefficiencies, they are not the secret to achieving significant gains.
Looking back, many of the most impactful improvements came from testing unorthodox ideas that didn’t neatly fit into the established frameworks, but instead aligned with how platforms like Google Ads and Meta actually operate. These platforms don’t optimize for best practices, but rather for signals, prompting a rethink in approach to performance.
Control Still Matters: Revisiting SKAGs
In several accounts, reintroducing Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs) for high-intent, high-revenue keywords led to improved performance. Ad relevance shot up, conversions grew, and query matching became more precise. It’s not about reverting to old structures, but recognizing where control adds value.
The narrative that machine learning abolishes the need for such control is overly simplistic. My experience shows that precision matters, but only in contexts where the intent justifies it.
Harnessing Broad Match with Control
Historically, broad match has been met with skepticism due to its expansive nature. However, combining broad match with aggressive negative keyword management allows Google to explore broadly while you shape the output through strategic query mining.
By continuously refining query inputs, broad match can expand reach without compromising relevance, redefining how control is applied.
When Visibility Trumps Efficiency: Target Impression Share
Target Impression Share often supports defensive strategies, but applying it to high-value, non-branded terms can boost SERP dominance even at the cost of efficiency. In such cases, ensuring visibility can outweigh concerns over cost efficiency, especially when aiming for market dominance rather than mere competition.
Focusing on Conversion Quality: Weighting Over Tracking
Most lead generation accounts capture multiple conversion actions, but treating them equally can lead to suboptimal interpretations. In one instance, assigning different values based on conversion likelihood—like prioritizing phone calls—shifted optimization to improve conversion quality rather than volume.
This approach emphasizes what’s truly valuable, ensuring platforms optimize effectively based on input.
Competitor Bidding: Leveraging Existing Intent
Despite their reputation for inefficiency, competitor campaigns succeed by capturing existing intent. Users searching for competitor brands often convert thanks to their advanced position in the decision process, proving crucial when strategically managed with clear positioning and relevant landing pages.
Rethinking Top-of-Funnel Keywords
Although often removed for low conversion rates, top-of-funnel keywords can indirectly enhance account performance by strengthening remarketing pools and audience signals, thus supporting high-intent campaign efficiency.
These queries play an unseen but vital role in driving conversions across the account.
Trusting the Data Over Assumptions
Initial audience hypotheses frequently miss the mark, whereas data often pinpoints the most efficient converters. By trusting data and adjusting strategies accordingly, accounts can improve performance by aligning with audience realities.
Revisiting Account Structure’s Role
While clean setups simplify management, they’re not always the most effective. Controlled overlaps between campaigns can leverage shared signals for better auction outcomes, challenging the notion that rigid structures lead to optimal performance.
Treating Product Feeds as Dynamic
In Shopping campaigns, product feeds are often overlooked. Yet, revisiting and adjusting feed details—like product titles and attributes—can significantly enhance product visibility and click-through rates, underscoring their strategic importance.
Retargeting: A Hub for Testing Strategy
Retargeting is not just about conversions; it’s ideal for testing variations in messaging and creative content due to its high-intent audience. Successful test results can then be confidently scaled, reframing retargeting as a strategic testing ground.
The Real Secret Behind Top Account Success
Over the years, I’ve realized that outperformance doesn’t stem from strictly adhering to playbooks, but from understanding and influencing platform signals and stepping beyond conventional boundaries to outperform beyond expectations.
I recently stumbled upon a tricky issue in Google Ads Editor that’s affecting many advertisers. A bug is causing structured snippet extensions copied between accounts to unintentionally stay linked. Whenever I change the language setting in one account, it seems to magically update the extension in another account too.
Why this matters to us. For those of us running multi-market campaigns, this bug could introduce hidden inconsistencies, especially if we’re managing accounts that require different languages.
What I’ve been experiencing. This issue came to light for digital marketer Marcin Wsół while handling Czech and Slovak e-commerce accounts. A change in snippet language in one account inadvertently altered the same setting in another.
The extensions appear separate at first glance but act like they’re mysteriously synced.
Zoom in on the details. If you use the Google Ads web interface, you can temporarily correct this, but any further edits in Editor might cause the language settings to toggle again.
A deeper issue. This bug isn’t confined to cross-account use. PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzová discovered that even copying structured snippets within the same account can lead to incorrect language settings after making additional edits.
Reading between the lines. For those of us who depend on bulk edits in the Editor, there’s a risk of unintentionally overwriting localization settings, which could lead to mixed messaging across our markets.
The bottom line. Until Google fixes this, I recommend double-checking structured snippet languages after copying or editing in Google Ads Editor, especially when you’re working across different accounts or regions.
When this issue was first seen. This was initially identified by Marcin Wsół and later reported by PPC News Feed.
