Google Ads

Split-screen pop art showing green Google Ads conversion dashboard beside a flatlined Stripe revenue chart with trial signup forms scattered between them

Google Ads Counts Every Trial Signup as a Win (Even the 75% That Never Pay)

A thread on r/PPC this week described a problem I suspect is way more common than the conversation suggests. A SaaS advertiser was staring at two dashboards: Google Ads showing healthy trial conversion numbers, steady CPA, everything green. Stripe showing revenue that barely moved. The campaigns looked like they

Pop art illustration of a Google AI Mode product panel showing a sponsored stores ad label above organic retailer listings with Gap chinos at $29

Sponsored Stores Hit Google AI Mode (and Organic Links Landed on Top)

Search analyst Glenn Gabe flagged it on X last Wednesday afternoon: a "Sponsored Stores" unit sitting inside a Google AI Mode product detail panel, right above the organic "All stores" block. A day later, Search Engine Roundtable wrote it up. Google, as of this morning, has

Dark data visualization showing three data streams converging into a single glowing API endpoint with lock icons

Google's Data Manager API Consolidated Three Pipelines Into One Dependency

Google's official pitch for the Data Manager API: “one centralized, secure connection so advertisers can easily get the most out of Google AI for their campaigns.” That sentence contains three value propositions and exactly zero mentions of what it replaces or why the old thing had to die.

Pop art illustration of search ad CTA buttons with Compare vs Shop Now and a bar chart showing CTR uplift data

29 Million AI Search Queries Later, "Shop Now" Is the Wrong Button

Adthena just published what might be the most useful dataset in paid search this year, and the headline finding isn't about budgets or bidding. It's about your call-to-action button. Across 29.1 million queries in 10+ industries and three markets, the "Compare" CTA outperformed

Pop art illustration of Google Ads dashboard with fading keyword blocks and bold account structure blueprint with conversion funnels

Broad Match Made Everyone's Keywords Identical. The Edge Moved to Structure.

Google's AI Max for Search has been live long enough that a pattern is starting to emerge: the advertisers who reorganized around it are pulling ahead, and the ones still running keyword-heavy account structures are watching CPAs drift upward without a clear explanation. John Williams argued on Search

Pop art illustration of colorful control dials and levers on a digital advertising dashboard

Google Ads Strategy Guide: How to Run Campaigns Without Letting Google Run You

Every Google Ads strategy guide starts the same way: set up conversion tracking, pick your keywords, write your ads, optimize. That advice is technically correct, which is the problem. It skips the part that actually determines whether your account is profitable or just busy spending money. Here's what