Google Ads Strategy
Bidding, match types, negatives and account structure — general Google Ads questions.
Does ad copy still belong to us now that AI Max can rewrite the headlines?
Working through what AI Max means for how we write, and the headline generation is the part I keep circling. In a regulated profession the copy is not a…
AI Max is enabled on one of my campaigns and I am fairly sure I did not enable it
Checked settings this morning and one of our four search campaigns has AI Max switched on. I didn't turn it on and neither did my colleague. It may have been…
We turned off all our broad match and nothing happened. What does that tell us?
Genuine puzzle rather than a humblebrag. Six weeks ago we paused every broad match keyword in the account (about 40 percent of the keyword count, roughly 25…
How do you explain a learning period to someone who wants results this week?
We changed bidding strategy nine days ago. Performance is worse than it was. My director wants to know whether to revert, and "it is still learning" sounds to…
Demand Gen or PMax for the same budget - has anyone run both properly?
Client wants to put money into something above the search funnel and I have to recommend one. Both are pitched at the same job and they're not the same thing,…
Account level vs campaign level negatives - when does the difference actually matter?
We have negatives in three places now: an account level list, campaign level lists, and a scattering at ad group level added over the years by various people.…
Black Friday post-mortem - one week that ruins every annual average
Not asking for help exactly, more looking for company and possibly a better method. Our Black Friday week did roughly four times normal volume at roughly half…
A competitor started bidding on our brand name. What are the actual options?
Noticed a competitor appearing above us on searches for our own company name last week. Our brand CPC has roughly doubled since. I understand that bidding on a…
Impression share lost to budget or lost to rank - which do you actually chase?
Perennial argument and I would like to hear where people land. Lost to budget says you ran out of money. Lost to rank says you were in the auction and not good…
Does writing ad copy per ad group still matter, or has RSA made it pointless?
Client asked me why we charge for copywriting when Google assembles the ad itself, and I gave an answer I wasn't fully satisfied with. The steelman of their…
AI Max beta - anyone got access, and does it eat your exact match traffic?
Rep mentioned AI Max on the last call and the description made me uneasy. As I understand it you turn it on for a search campaign and it starts matching…
At £40 a click, how do you test anything at all?
Personal injury. Our average CPC is around £40 and the good keywords are north of £60. A hundred clicks is four thousand pounds, and a hundred clicks is not a…
whats the actual downside of maximise conversions with no target
been on maximise conversions no target for about 8 months. leads are fine, cost per lead is ok, budget gets spent every day. everyone online says you should…
Enhanced conversions for leads - worth the implementation effort on a B2B account?
Our dev team will do this but it will cost me a sprint's worth of goodwill, so I would like to know what I'm buying before I spend it. The pitch is better…
Winding bidding back down after a seasonal peak without tanking volume
Peak finished mid February and I have been putting this off ever since, which is its own answer I suppose. During the peak I loosened the target CPA because…
I tried the broad match switch everyone argues about. 90 day results.
Someone asked last summer whether anyone had switched from phrase to broad and not regretted it. I did it in December on a client account and promised myself I…
Has anyone rebuilt an account around intent themes rather than match types?
Following on from something I was chewing over last year about what the ad group is even for now. The conventional structure separates by match type: an exact…
Probably a dumb question - what is the difference between a keyword and a search term?
Probably a dumb question but I have been running my own ads for four months and I am not confident I have this right. I thought keywords were what people type.…
Through a seasonal peak, do you loosen the target or raise the budget first?
Our booking peak runs from the first week of January to about mid February, and every year I have the same argument with myself in December! Conversion rates…
Managing negative keyword lists across 40 accounts - what actually scales?
Forty locations, same services, same junk queries turning up in all of them. Right now each account has its own negative list and they have drifted badly -…