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How does your landing page performance compare? by Digital Marketing Depot 12 Mar 2:07 PM (13 hours ago)

Is your landing page converting better—or worse—than your competitors’? If you’re not sure, now’s the time to find out.

Unbounce’s new Conversion Benchmark Report provides a clear, data-backed look at how landing pages are performing across industries. The report includes median conversion rates by sector, giving marketers a useful baseline to assess their own performance.

The report also offers helpful guidance for interpreting your own results—whether you’re outperforming the median or identifying areas for optimization. It reminds marketers that conversion rate is just one piece of the puzzle: lower conversion rates might still represent high-value leads, and even high-performing pages often have room to improve.

Whether you’re looking to benchmark your performance or spot opportunities to increase conversions, this report is a valuable reference for digital marketers across all industries.

Download the full report to see where your landing pages stand.

Google Ads Editor 2.9 brings 8 new features for advertisers 12 Mar 10:58 AM (16 hours ago)

Google released version 2.9 of Google Ads Editor, adding new campaign management tools, video ad enhancements, and better support for Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.

Key updates:

• Manager Account Labels. Advertisers can now attach labels from Google Ads Manager (MCC) accounts to campaigns, ad groups, and keywords.
• Expanded Shopping Ads. Retail Performance Max campaigns can now serve shopping ads on brand-related searches, even if those brands are typically excluded.
• Vertical Video Generation. Responsive video ads now support automatic vertical video creation for Video Views campaigns.
• Masthead Ads Support. Advertisers can create and manage YouTube Masthead ads directly within Ads Editor.
• Better Measurement. Limited support for lift measurement now allows adding or removing campaigns from existing studies.
• Performance Max Age Exclusions. Advertisers can now set negative age criteria at the campaign level.
• VRC Campaign Conversion Tool. Standard Video campaigns with Target CRM bidding are transitioning to VRC 2.0, which includes inventory control settings and requires responsive video ads.
• Multi-Tab Google Sheets Export. Advertisers can now export data to Google Sheets with separate tabs for different entity types, improving usability.

Why we care. The latest update helps you streamline workflows, improve video ad performance, and better manage audience targeting across multiple campaigns.

The big picture. These updates reflect Google’s push for automation, video-first advertising, and improved measurement capabilities to help advertisers optimize campaigns more efficiently.

What’s next. Google Ads Editor 2.5 and older versions will no longer be supported, making it essential for advertisers to upgrade to the latest version to access these new features.

Google upgrades Display & Video 360 for CTV advertisers 12 Mar 10:38 AM (17 hours ago)

Google is rolling out performance upgrades for Display & Video 360’s connected TV (CTV) ad solutions, enhancing audience targeting, measurement, and campaign insights.

Key upgrades:

• Enhanced audience targeting. Marketers can now reach households based on demographics, shared interests, or purchase intent.
• Improved measurement. New conversion tracking capabilities in Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager 360 will help advertisers connect CTV ads to household purchasing behavior.
• Household-level insights. Reach metrics will now include household-level data alongside existing people-based reach, improving comparisons between CTV and traditional TV.

Why we care. As CTV viewership grows, advertisers need better tools to reach the right households and measure ad performance across devices. The update introduces custom bidding experiments, enabling A/B testing of bidding strategies to determine the best-performing approach.

Additionally, the new multi-goal bidding capability lets advertisers optimize for multiple objectives (e.g., conversions, viewability) within a single campaign, which could lead to better performance and ROI.

The big picture. By leveraging IP addresses and other privacy-aligned signals, Google aims to help advertisers optimize CTV campaigns while respecting user privacy.

What’s next. These updates will roll out over the coming months, with automatic benefits for advertisers using Display & Video 360 across YouTube and top streaming platforms.

Meta wants its advertisers to connect to Google Analytics 12 Mar 9:58 AM (17 hours ago)

Meta is encouraging advertisers to integrate Google Analytics with its ad platform, offering early access to ad system updates that have shown a boost in conversions.

Details. Meta says setting up the connection takes just 5-10 minutes. Advertisers with a high-quality integration saw an additional 5% increase in conversions, according to internal Meta data.

How it works:

• Advertisers must connect Google Analytics to their Meta ads account.
• Meta will roll out system updates first to those with established connections.

Why we care. Advertisers who establish a strong connection between Meta and Google Analytics could see improved campaign performance, gaining an edge in a competitive ad landscape.

The big picture. As privacy changes continue reshaping digital advertising, deeper integrations between analytics and ad platforms are becoming critical for performance tracking and optimization.

First seen. We saw this update when paid search and social consultant Samantha Noble mentioned seeing the message on LinkedIn.

What’s next. Advertisers who act early may benefit from future updates before the broader rollout. Expect Meta to further incentivize integrations across its ad ecosystem.

Google Shopping now shows ‘Price at Checkout’ 12 Mar 9:37 AM (18 hours ago)

Google has begun showing the ‘Price at Checkout’ within Google Shopping listings, both for paid ads and organic results.

Merchants who alter prices at checkout risk suspension from Google Shopping, but this new feature provides an added layer of clarity for users.

The big picture: Google has strict policies against misleading pricing, and this enhancement aligns with its broader efforts to improve trust in Shopping listings.

Transparency in pricing could also pressure retailers to maintain consistency between advertised and final prices.

Why we care. Online shoppers often encounter price discrepancies between initial listings and final checkout prices, leading to frustration and abandoned carts. This new feature could help searchers make more informed decisions without unexpected price changes.

First seen. This update was first seen by industry expert, Arpan Banerjee, when Adriaan Dekker called it out on LinkedIn:

What’s next. It remains unclear whether this is a full rollout or a limited test. Merchants should monitor their listings to ensure accurate pricing is displayed to avoid potential policy violations.

Using Date published + Date updated can wreck your organic CTR 12 Mar 9:14 AM (18 hours ago)

Adding both “Date published” and “Date updated” to articles can confuse Google, causing it to display outdated dates in search results.

The impact? A 22% drop in CTR for one site, according to an SEO case study shared by SEO professional Abby Gleason on LinkedIn today.

Why we care. Your position in the search results only matters if people click. Searchers may be less likely to click on your fresh content if Google displays an older publication date.

What happened. Gleason shared this screenshot of an unspecified website and explained what happened:

• The site in question saw a sharp decline in CTR starting in late August, when “Date updated” was added alongside “Date published.”
• Despite content updates in 2024 and 2025, Google displayed publish dates as old as 2021 in search results.

The fix. If you have both, remove one date that appears on the page. Use whichever date best represents its freshness – either the date the content was published or updated, not both.

The datePublished and dateModified Schema doesn’t seem to matter as much as the on-page date, Gleason further explained in a follow-up comment:

• “…only having one date on-page is more impactful than the schema changes. Definitely limit on-page to just one date (the most recent update) but it shouldn’t hurt to maintain both datePublished and dateModified attributes in schema.”

Google advice. This echoes a best practice Google shared in this help doc:

• “Minimize the presence of other dates on the page: If you’ve followed the best practices and find incorrect dates are being selected, consider removing some or all other dates that appear on the page.”

Dig deeper. 4 SEO tips to boost click-through rate

Google expands Search Max beta to more accounts 12 Mar 7:45 AM (20 hours ago)

Google’s AI-powered match type Search Max is rolling out to more accounts, bringing automated ad optimization to Search campaigns.

How it works:

• Expanded search term matching. Google extends beyond existing keywords and match types, using landing pages, headlines, and descriptions to surface new, relevant searches.
• Text & URL optimization. Google dynamically selects the most relevant landing pages and pairs them with optimized headlines and descriptions.
• Automatically created assets. Search Max now incorporates AI-generated ad components, further streamlining ad creation.

Why we care. Search Max aims to increase conversions by dynamically tailoring ads based on user searches, ad assets, and landing pages – going beyond traditional keyword targeting. By expanding search term matching beyond traditional keywords, dynamically optimizing ad components, and leveraging AI-generated assets, it could help reach new audiences with minimal manual effort.

However, with greater automation comes less control, meaning advertisers will need to closely monitor performance and adapt strategies as Google continues refining the feature.

First seen. We discovered this update via PPC News Feed, citing search marketing consultant Jerome Fleck:

Why website content won’t boost your Google Maps keyword rankings 12 Mar 7:00 AM (20 hours ago)

If you’re spending time and money adding keyword-rich content to your website, hoping to improve your Google Maps rankings, you’re wasting resources.

Website content does not influence your visibility in Google Maps – but there are proven strategies that do.

The SEO myth: Blogging and Google Maps rankings

When Google Maps first launched, it appeared to pull keywords from local business websites to help match businesses with local searches. 

Because of this perceived influence, local SEO experts have long advocated for blogging and content marketing. 

However, this belief is based on incorrect correlations. 

Adding content to your website – if it is not part of your Google Business Profile (GBP) – does not impact Google Maps rankings.

This misconception is significant because it has led to widespread misinformation about local SEO. 

As a result, businesses may invest resources in efforts that will not produce the expected results. 

Testing the theory: A keyword experiment

To test this idea, I conducted an experiment over the past year. I created a page optimized for a completely fabricated keyword phrase, “hypnerotomachia enhancement.” 

“Hypnerotomachia” comes from Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a book published in 1499 by early printer Aldus Manutius. 

The phrase itself sounds like a niche service a marketing agency might offer, but in reality, no business or website has ever used it before.

By selecting a phrase that did not exist on any business profile or website, the experiment aimed to determine whether Google Maps absorbs new content added to a website and associates its keywords with the corresponding business profile. 

To test this, we:

• Created a dedicated page for “hypnerotomachia enhancement” on my agency’s website.
• Linked it in the sitewide top navigation.
• Submitted it to Google Search Console for indexing.

Given that Google Maps may take time to process content from business websites, we left the page live for several months. 

The results: Organic search vs. Google Maps

Despite all this, our business listing never appeared in Google Maps searches for “hypnerotomachia enhancement.”

In contrast, the page ranked at the top of Google’s organic search results for the exact phrase.

This demonstrates that while the content was recognized in organic search rankings, it had no influence on Google Maps results. 

The takeaway: Your keyword-rich website content has little impact on Google Maps visibility

Although this may seem like a minor distinction, local SEO experts have long advised that optimizing website content with keywords could improve Google Maps rankings. 

This claim may have been true before Google introduced GBP listings. 

However, over time, this guidance has evolved from “could affect rankings” to the widely accepted but incorrect belief that it “definitely does affect rankings.” 

As a result, this misunderstanding continues to spread through blog posts, social media discussions, and industry conversations. 

In reality, website content now appears to have little to no direct impact on keyword relevance in Google Maps.

If you are investing significant resources into blogging and creating new pages with the expectation that this will help your business rank in Google Maps – or improve your visibility for keyword phrases beyond those in your Google Business Profile – you are wasting your budget.

This also applies to another common misconception.

Creating location-based pages (often called “city pages,” “city area pages,” or “geo pages”) will not help your Google Business Profile appear more frequently in searches from those locations. 

Website content does not influence keyword relevance in Google Maps or Google Local searches. 

Additionally, these types of pages may violate Google’s spam policies, as they can be considered doorway pages, which have long been against the rules.

Dig deeper: How to use location-specific authority content for SEO

But keywords still matter for local search

Adding keyword-rich content to your website does not create keyword relevance for your Google Business Profile or improve Google Maps rankings. 

That said, it can help your pages appear in regular search results outside the map pack. 

Depending on the query, these listings can drive traffic to your business, particularly for unique or low-competition keyword combinations.

However, creating geographic pages is unlikely to make your Google Business Profile appear in search results for users searching from local areas – unless your business is physically near them or your profile settings include that location. 

Many users do not include a geographic name in their searches, as they expect Google to automatically provide locally relevant results.

For some local search queries, appearing in Google Maps is crucial, especially as mobile searches continue to outpace desktop searches. 

Consumers often rely on Google Maps more than standard search results when looking for local businesses. 

This is why some businesses prioritize Google Maps optimization – and why it’s important to understand the differences between ranking in regular search results and ranking in Google Maps.

Dig deeper: Top SEO tips for location-specific websites

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Where should I focus efforts to rank for keywords in Maps?

What should you do if optimizing website content does not help your keyword relevancy? 

Google’s guidance is not vague about this, as it turns out. 

You need to optimize your Google Business Profile. 

On its help page for “How to improve your local ranking on Google,” Google states: 

“Relevance refers to how well a local Business Profile matches what someone is searching for. Add complete and detailed business information to help Google better understand your business and match your profile to relevant searches.”

Nearly 20 years ago, I wrote “Anatomy & Optimization of a Local Business Profile,” which is still worth reading – though some aspects are outdated. 

For example: 

• GBP business names must now strictly follow Google’s guidelines.
• DMOZ is no longer relevant.
• Mail store addresses should be avoided.
• Some rating sites prohibit soliciting reviews. 

However, most core principles remain applicable and provide a strong foundation for optimizing your GBP.

Write a strong business description

• Your description should clearly highlight your main products, services, and unique differentiators. 
• Keep it concise and compelling – avoid AI-generated text, as it often lacks the nuance and authenticity needed for effective local SEO.

Maximize your business categories

• Each category you add increases your potential visibility. While Google’s official guidance suggests using only your primary business category, this approach can be limiting. 
• Businesses often operate in multiple relevant categories, and Google’s category list is not always comprehensive. 
• For example, some niche specializations may not have a perfect category match. To maximize exposure, add all directly relevant and valid business categories to your profile.

Dig deeper: How to pick the right Google Business Profile categories

List your products and services

• This is one of the best ways to incorporate specialized keywords that don’t fit within Google’s predefined business categories. 
• Google offers a set of standard service names based on your category, but you can also add custom services to target more specific searches. 
• For example, if Google doesn’t include a precise service your business offers, you can manually enter it here – which is more effective than trying to influence Maps rankings through website content.

When and how Google uses website content for Maps visibility

Google Maps does use website content for certain aspects of search, such as:

• Link value (PageRank): Used as part of the prominence signal in rankings.
• NAP (name, address, phone number) consistency: Helps verify business details.
• Business hours: Cross-referenced with the GBP.
• Local business structured data: Used for verification and consistency.
• Product inventory content: Can be associated with GBP, though not directly tied to product pages.

This is why there has been confusion about how website content factors into local search and the display of map pack results.

As SEO myths go, the idea that adding keyword content to a local business website improves Google Maps rankings is relatively harmless since those pages can still appear in organic search results. 

However, this demonstrates why it’s important to reassess longstanding assumptions to better understand how everything fits together.

Should you use optimized targeting in Google Ads? A quick guide 12 Mar 6:00 AM (21 hours ago)

Optimized targeting is one default Google Ads feature that gets a ton of vitriol.

Sure, it’s not the best choice for everyone. However, there are definite use cases for this automated targeting feature.

Let’s explore: is optimized targeting your friend or foe in Google Ads? We’ll cover:

• What is optimized targeting in Google Ads? 
• Which campaign types are compatible with optimized targeting?
• Which bid strategies are compatible with optimized targeting?
• Optimized targeting vs. Audience expansion
• Optimized targeting vs. Performance Max
• How to evaluate optimized targeting: is it working? 
• Should you use optimized targeting?

What is optimized targeting in Google Ads?

The quick answer is this: optimized targeting turns your targeting into signals.

The more detailed answer is this:

Optimized targeting gives Google Ads permission to show your ads to whomever it thinks is most likely to convert, even if they don’t match your chosen audience or content targeting.

While your targeting selections may be a starting point, Google takes those as “suggestions” and uses them as a starting point, but it’s free to roam outside those boundaries if it thinks it’ll find the right people for your business.

Which campaign types are compatible with optimized targeting?

Optimized targeting is turned on by default in Display campaigns and Demand Gen campaigns.

• In Display, optimized targeting will go beyond your content targeting (keywords, topics, placements) and/or audience targeting to find users who it thinks are likely to convert.
• In Demand Gen, optimized targeting will go beyond your audience targeting.

Which bid strategies are compatible with optimized targeting?

Because optimized targeting is focused on finding likely converters, it only works with conversion-focused smart bidding strategies. That means:

• Maximize Conversions.
• Maximize Conversion Value.
• Target CPA.
• Target ROAS.

If you’re using a reach-focused or engagement-focused bid strategy, like Maximize clicks or Target CPV, then you may see a similar option called Audience expansion.   

Optimized targeting vs. Audience expansion

Optimized targeting is no longer compatible with Video campaigns, since you can no longer run a conversion focused video campaign. Instead, you’ll find a feature called audience expansion.

While it sounds similar to optimized targeting, it’s not the same thing.

Audience expansion is all about reach. It lets Google show your ads to a broader audience, but it’s focused on views and engagement from that audience, not necessarily conversions.    

Optimized targeting vs. Performance Max

If you’re familiar with Performance Max campaigns, you’ve already got a good grasp of optimized targeting. 

In Performance Max, you can provide audience signals and search themes, but ultimately, Google’s AI decides who to show your ads to.

Optimized targeting works the same way. It’s how you can let Google’s AI find the most likely converters for your campaign.

How to evaluate optimized targeting: is it working?

If you want to see how your optimized targeting is performing vs your provided signals, head to Audiences, keywords and content > Audiences.

You can compare the performance of your initial signals against what Google’s algorithm has found.

For a broader view, check out Audience Insights under Insights and Reports > Insights.  There, you’ll see which audiences were part of your original signals, which ones optimized targeting discovered, and how they compare.    

Should you use optimized targeting?

For most Google Ads campaigns, you’re going to want to start with optimized targeting off.

Make sure you turn it off during the campaign setup process, or go into your ad group settings to turn it off in an existing campaign.

If your campaign is not achieving your conversion goals, it could be because:

• You aren’t reaching the right audience.
• Your ad creative is not enticing to your audience.
• Your landing page is not effectively guiding your audience to conversion.
• Your offer doesn’t match the audience’s wants or needs.

Optimized targeting can help you test issue number 1, to see if perhaps you’re just not reaching the right audience with your ads. Turn it on, give it at least 2 weeks or 50 conversions (whichever comes first), and then decide whether it’s helping or hurting performance.

In a nutshell, optimized targeting can help you get more conversions and/or get more efficient conversions.

It’s not magic, though.

In order to work effectively, you’ll still need the Google Ads fundamentals: accurate conversion tracking, standout creative, an excellent landing page, and a compelling offer.  

This article is part of our ongoing weekly Search Engine Land series, Everything you need to know about Google Ads in less than 3 minutes. Every Wednesday, Jyll highlights a different Google Ads feature, and what you need to know to get the best results from it – all in a quick 3-minute read.

Outsmarting Google Ads: Insider strategies to navigate changes like a pro 12 Mar 5:00 AM (22 hours ago)

When the rules change, smart players adjust their strategy.

Google Ads has changed a lot since it first launched. But shifting PPC strategies isn’t always easy.

What happens if the rules change and you don’t know about it? Or you’re too confused by the new rules to take decisive action?

Here’s how to adapt to changes in Google Ads while keeping your competitive edge and sanity.

Google Ads stacks the deck in its own favor

Google Ads constantly makes changes to increase its revenue. If there were a Serenity principle for advertisers, it might be:

“Grant me the clarity to accept the Google Ads changes I can’t control,
the knowledge to push back on the ones I can,
and the insight to recognize when I’m being manipulated.”

Here are the three main types of changes you’ll see with Google Ads and how to outsmart the platform at each step.

1. Forced adoption: You don’t have a choice

With forced adoption, there’s no workaround or way to opt out. Google makes changes, and advertisers are forced to adapt.

Take search term visibility. Advertisers once had access to 100% of their search term data. 

Now? In the campaign below, 90% of clicks are hidden under Other search terms. 

There’s no setting to change this. You’re paying for the clicks, but you don’t get to see where they came from.

The recently announced “asset flexibility” change would also fall in this category. 

Don’t want your unpinned headlines to be used as sitelinks or your description lines to vanish entirely? Too bad! 

What can you do?

When you can’t fight the change, you must change how you play. 

For example, CTR isn’t what it used to be. 

When Google Ads were limited to three on the right rail, competing for clicks was a different game. 

Today, an ad can dominate the entire above-the-fold space. 

If you’re still using CTR as a primary KPI, you may be optimizing for a world that no longer exists.

Dig deeper: Google Ads optimization: What to stop, start, and continue in 2025

2. Persuasion tactics: Opting out feels like a mistake

With persuasion tactics, you control how you respond to platform changes, but Google makes saying no feel like a mistake. 

The platform is designed to nudge, pressure, and gamify decisions in Google’s favor.

You’ve seen it before:

• Interface nudges pushing you toward automation and expanded targeting.
• Warning alerts implying your campaign is failing without Google’s recommended action.
• Language framing that sells changes as “upgrades” or “best practices” to make them seem like the only smart choice.

Then there’s gamification. 

Ad Strength and Optimization Scores tap into your instinct to “fix” low numbers, even when it doesn’t help performance. 

Google Ads reps are often incentivized to push automation adoption over actual results.

What can you do?

Persuasion tactics work because they shift responsibility onto you. 

If you choose to make a change, you’re less likely to push back when it doesn’t work. But that choice was never as independent as it seemed.

Outsmart these tactics by:

• Ignoring false urgency: Just because an alert appears doesn’t mean something is wrong.
• Slowing down your decisions: Is this good for my account or just for Google?
• Second-guessing Google reps: Many are incentivized to push automation, not to improve your performance.

The more aware you are, the more confident you can be in making decisions that serve your business, not Google’s.

Dig deeper: Google Ads best practices: The good, the bad and the balancing act

3. Deceptive patterns: The real choices are hidden

Deceptive patterns in Google Ads rely on unexpected defaults, buried settings, and misleading options that quietly steer you into decisions you wouldn’t make if the choice were obvious. 

With these changes, you never notice the choice in the first place, and your budget gets wasted without you ever realizing it.

The challenge with deceptive patterns is that you don’t know what you don’t know. 

However, the more familiar you are with Google’s interface and the ways it quietly reshapes your choices, the better equipped you are to take back control.

What can you do?

• Check the defaults: Many settings automatically enroll you in things you wouldn’t knowingly choose, like broad match expansion or automated asset placements.
• Explore the interface: Google regularly moves or renames settings, making it harder to find what you can control. Take time to see what’s changed.
• Ask questions: Your coworkers, industry forums, and fellow marketers have likely already spotted things you weren’t aware of.
• Grab the PDF: Your 22-page companion guide to this SMX session – covering the most common deceptive defaults and where to find them.

Dig deeper: Top Google Ads recommendations you should always ignore, use, or evaluate

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Make sense of complex updates and announcements

If you’re anything like me, your day is a constant stream of Google alerts, updates, and notifications.

Someone’s breaking news on LinkedIn. An email from Google insists on immediate action. A story in your feed begs to be unpacked and interpreted

Even if you went on a news diet, you’d still have to deal with the fact that what worked for your Google Ads account last year might not work for you this year.

What’s frustrating about updates isn’t just the pace and frequency; it can also be hard to even know what they’re talking about. 

Say there’s a new campaign type called “Enhanced Max Select for Conversions” that claims to reach new customers at the right moment with the right message.

You read the email and follow the links to the press release and blog post, but you’re still left wondering:

• What action, if any, do I need to take?
• What happens if I don’t take action?
• How will this affect my results?
• What hidden agendas might be driving this change?
• What do clients and leadership teams care about?

You can’t find answers to your basic questions, and you’re stuck wondering how to move forward.

To help you combat this analysis paralysis, I created a custom GPT.

Meet Nora, the Paid Search Decoder. Nora helps you break down announcements, so you actually know what action to take.

Let’s see Nora in action with this Google Ads announcement, “New features and controls for your AI-powered campaigns.” 

In it, you’ll find the vaguest of headlines like “Media management, your way.”

If you ask regular ChatGPT, “What actions can I take from this update?” you’ll get a pile of non-actionable babble. 

Things like “leverage AI” and “enhance brand control.”

Now, let’s ask Nora the same question, “What actions can I take from this update?”

Nora gives you a clear breakdown of what’s immediately available and what’s rolling out later. 

The usual cautions apply. Always verify sources and be on the lookout for AI hallucinations. 

But with Nora, along with other trusted sources, you can make sense of new rollouts faster and actually know what to do next.

Dig deeper: How to tank your Google Ads account in 10 days

Stay focused: Let your account goals drive your decisions

In any paid search discussion, the same questions always come up: 

• “What’s the best bidding strategy?” 
• “How many keywords should be in an ad group?”

These aren’t bad questions, but they’re starting in the wrong place. 

Great marketing doesn’t come from chasing tactics. And it definitely doesn’t come from chasing every new Google Ads feature.

If you want to outsmart Google Ads, get strategic. 

Instead of starting with which tactics to use, start with your goals. 

Ask:

• “What does my account need?” 
• “How do I get it?” 

Then, choose the tactics that support your strategy.

I’ll show you what I mean.

Here’s a campaign where CPCs were creeping up, CPA was at an all-time high, and the agency had made 51 budget changes in just eight months.

When we took over, we defined clear goals and then built a strategy to match. 

Objectives

• Keep CPL low.
• Increase conversions and conversion rate.
• Reduce budget changes.
• Target demand-side interest (not supply-side).

Strategy

• Edit and pin ad copy to clarify demand-side targeting.
• tCPA with a portfolio bid strategy to limit max bids.

The result

• 50% more conversions.
• 25% lower CPA.
• No more budget-whiplash.

Will this exact approach work for you?

Probably not. And that’s the point.

A personalized decision tree can help you focus on what actually drives results for your account without getting distracted by shiny objects. (Download the PDF for access.)

[Watch] Outsmarting Google Ads: Insider strategies to navigate changes like a pro

Find more insights and strategies for outsmarting Google Ads in my SMX Next session: