On episode 331 of PPC Live The Podcast, I speak to Dale Olorenshaw, Head of Paid Media and Search at StrategiQ, who shares a painful but valuable experience involving a high-budget test campaign and a critical oversight. The costly PPC mistake The story centers on a test campaign with a £15,000 budget. Despite strong clicks […]
Small tests to yield big answers on what influences LLMs
Undoubtedly, one of the hot topics in SEO over the last few months has been how to influence LLM answers. Every SEO is trying to come up with strategies. Many have created their own tools using “vibe coding,” where they test their hypotheses and engage in heated debates about what each LLM and Google use […]
Google rolls out total campaign budgets for PMax beyond the U.S.
Google’s long-awaited total campaign budget option is now appearing in Performance Max campaigns across non-U.S. This could be the start of a global beta rollout. What’s happening: The total budget option now appears alongside the traditional average daily budget in PMax. Google previously said the feature would expand to Search, Shopping, and PMax, and this […]
Google adds asset-level reporting to display campaigns
Google is rolling out asset-level reporting for Display campaigns, giving advertisers a clearer view of how individual creative assets perform — a move that brings Display closer to the visibility already seen in Performance Max campaigns. Why we care. Until now, Display campaign insights have been limited to overall ad performance. With this update, advertisers […]
Answer the hidden questions or vanish in AI search
ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity: these are the new operating environments. Your content must be invokable inside them, or no one will see it. At SMX Advanced, I broke down how to build an AI visibility engine: a system for making your net-new facts reusable by humans and agents across synthesis-first platforms. It goes beyond publishing to […]
YouTube locks sidebar on mobile ads, removing close option
YouTube has removed the “close” button on sidebar panels in some horizontal video ads on mobile, making the ad’s sidebar — often used for shoppable products or sitelinks — permanently visible during playback. Why we care. The change means users can no longer dismiss the sidebar to view the ad full-screen, leaving part of the […]
SEO and AI search optimization have ‘a lot of overlap’
Want your business to show up in Google’s AI-driven results? The same principles that help you rank in Google Search still matter – but AI introduces new dimensions of context, reputation, and reasoning, according to Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search. PR for AI. In an interview with Marina Mogilko of Silicon Valley Girl, […]
90% of businesses fear losing SEO visibility as AI reshapes search
Nearly 90% of businesses are worried about losing organic visibility as AI transforms how people find information, according to a new survey by Ann Smarty. Why we care. The shift from search results to AI-generated answers seems to be happening faster than many expected, threatening the foundation of how companies are found online and drive […]
Google Ads to auto-generate videos from existing Demand Gen image ads
Google is rolling out a new video creation tool for its Demand Gen campaigns that automatically turns advertisers’ existing image and text assets into videos across all aspect ratios. Driving the news. According to a notice sent to advertisers, the feature will apply to all image-only ad groups created before August 27th, with auto-generated videos […]
Google Performance Max adds support for vertical 9:16 image ads
Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns now support vertical 9:16 image ads, bringing the popular mobile-friendly format to the platform’s most automated campaign type. What’s new. Google Ads specialist Thomas Eccel spotted the update, noting that vertical “Story Image Ads” – first seen in Demand Gen campaigns earlier this year – are now available in PMax. […]