Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 134 - Party Like It’s 2026

Due to the length of this pre-recorded podcast and the presence of two speakers, this transcript may contain errors.

Google Ads has changed. Have you? 

One of the most common mistakes I'm seeing Google Ads practitioners of all levels make is treating their accounts like it's still 2016. And let me be clear, the 2016 trend may have taken over social media, but it is not a trend you want for your Google Ads campaigns.

In this special episode, I'm sharing an interview I recently did on Talia Wolf's Heart Before Cart podcast. Talia Wolf is a conversion rate optimization expert, author of this best-selling book, Emotional Targeting. And in this conversation, we talk about that intersection between your ad campaigns, your website, and your offer, and how to get the best results today and in the future.

I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent six years working for big brands at Google and now I work for you.

This is Inside Google Ads, Episode 134: Heart Before Cart. 

Let's get into it.

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Talia: My favorite question is always just to get kind of straight into it. What are the biggest mistakes that people are making right now with Google ads because so much has obviously changed like what you were doing a year ago or 5 years ago. What are the biggest mistakes that you're seeing people make right now?

Jyll: The number one biggest mistake is more of a mindset mistake than a tactical mistake and it's the people hanging on for dear life to the tactics that work 10 years ago. And the thing is it's not that those tactics don't work today. By which I mean if you want to have your Exact Match keywords and your manual bids and try to manually pull all the levers and push all the buttons, you can still do that. But it does not work as well today as it worked 10 years ago. 

And so I find a lot of Google Ads practitioners react to that by trying to clamp down harder and clamp down harder and clamp down harder rather than saying the world has changed. We wish it hadn't, but it has. And so why don't we try to embrace the change, figure out how to let automation work for our business rather than continuing to fight against it. It's definitely the most common challenge. 

The analogy I use is, you know, trying to sail into the wind and fighting the storm and going against it rather than just like turning the boat around, the wind at your sails, at your back, gliding along. You know, if you try to fight AI, you will lose. It doesn't mean there's no control at all, but the way we control Google Ads today has changed. And the folks who try to fight that are not succeeding and and will continue to not succeed.

Talia: Yeah. I guess people are fighting it because you know whenever we talk about AI everyone's like well I'm worried about my job and when you think about Google Ads I guess you think tactical. You think like okay my job is to go in and create ads and monitor them and boop boop boop. And then like if I let AI do that then where am I? 

So I guess the follow-up question would be if I do run its magic and do its thing where does that stop? So what are the things that you let AI do and what are the things you're like Talia no matter what you do this one or two things like always keep close always do yourself what where is that.

Jyll: You have the simple answer and then the longer answer. The simple answer is that the human needs to do the strategy and the AI can do the execution and that is not unique to Google Ads at all so tactically what that means in Google Ads is control today means controlling the information you give to AI and so the number one thing in Google Ads and all ads is conversion tracking. What counts as a conversion for your business? E-commerce, probably a purchase lead gen. You want to have at least a quality lead if not a closed one deal. And while that's easy to say, it's really difficult to implement conversion tracking because it's not just about the conversion anymore. There's consent management and server side tracking and permission. Like, it's really complicated. And so that's the number one most important thing that humans need to do is give it the right conversion data. 

And then a few other maybe Google Ads more specific pieces are also leveraging your customer data, importing your real customer data into Google Ads so that those bidding algorithms and targeting algorithms have your own personal business context to learn on. 

And then the creative key messages need to be brought to AI and let it build upon that. So those are actually the three C's I ended my book with and I'll continue now. It's conversion tracking, customer data, and creative still very much need to come from humans. You bring that to AI and AI can build on that and help you achieve extraordinary results. 

Talia: What comes first? 

Jyll: Conversion tracking always. I say it's like the foundation of the house, right? all the fancy stuff we're used to controlling like your keywords and your ads and your bids, all of that is, you know, your structure, your rooms, your furnishings, but the foundation of the house is the conversion tracking. And so with no foundation, the house will crumble.

Talia: Yeah. I mean, I guess it really is very hard to track conversions, which I know as a CRO I'm like, why am I saying this? But it's true. It is really hard, especially when you've got multiple tools and multiple things that you're tracking. And if you're like a service- based company, then you're tracking leads, but you're also tracking calls and you're also tracking like submissions and everything kind of gets all wacky. So now with AI, does it make it easier to to track that kind of stuff?

Jyll: Yes and no. As is the answer with most things AI, the thing that AI does easier is, for example, I had a Google Ads coaching client last week and they needed to update one of their Google tags. And Google Tag Manager is not my expertise. I work in Google Ads. I refer people to specialists for analytics or tag manager or other things. And he said, "It's okay. I'll ask Chat GPT to help me." And you know what? Chat GPT helping you install a Google tag is something it can do. It can't do it for you. It can't tell you what tag you need or what to do with it, but literal step-by-step directions of how to do that. Great use of AI. So, there are absolutely places where AI can help you. 

But something that I teach a lot of my clients now and that I've spoken about on my podcast as well is the idea of a conversion strategy. Again, it used to be that you would set up your conversion tracking with a purchase, here’s a phone call. Done. Move on to Google Ads. But the way you set up your conversions, what is primary versus secondary in different campaigns have different actions and using micro-conversions, something that's not the end goal, but a good signal on like there's so many settings and options that you can actually fundamentally change your Google Ads strategy just by changing your conversion setup for better and for worse. 

And so although it's sort of the unsexy part of Google Ads, it's the part where at least two thirds of my Google Ads coaching calls, I do about 8 to 12 a week, start with a conversation about conversions because there's something there that needs to be adjusted before we can talk start talking about keywords and AI Max and YouTube and video and all this other stuff.

Talia: Yeah, that makes sense. So I guess where creative comes into the mix? So we're talking about messaging or design, what is your goto approach here? Is this something that you also think that could be automated or is this something part of the strategy you just discussed? Like what is the process for you when you start thinking about that with your clients?

Jyll: It's both. You bring the strategy and the consumer understanding and AI fills in the rest. And I would say this is a place where Google Ads practitioners, myself included, are the weakest because even 10 years ago, you did not need to have good customer understanding in order to get good results from Google Ads. You would just pick the right keywords, throw up some basic ad, “Buy Yoga Pants Now,” and like you could absolutely drive amazing results doing that bare minimum, and you just can't anymore. 

So typically, you know, brand new to Google Ads will start with Search ads. That's the bread and butter. And we want to craft a handful of headlines, seven or eight different headlines that really touch on like what do you do? What are you selling? But also, why should someone care? You know, what are the features, the benefits, all the things you focus on once they get to the landing page? Because of course, what the user searched for and what the ad conveys needs to match what's on the landing page or they're not going to convert. And so, one of the most underrated tools is what I call the Google Ads library. The official name is the Google Ads Transparency Center. And so you can go there. You can see what your competitor's Search, Image, and Video ads look like. And then you can also go and see what the ads look like. Maybe not from competitors, but from people who do what you do somewhere else. 

So  let's say you're a plumber in Alabama, go look at plumber ads in New York, in California, in Wyoming. You know, it doesn't always have to be a direct competition. And the same with Image ads and Video ads. It's a really great way to see what else is out there and see from the user experience what's your ad showing up next to and how can you stand out. 

And this isn't important just for conversions. There's also a foundational concept in Google Ads called Quality Score. And in a nutshell, the higher the quality of your ads, the less you have to pay-per-click. And so having higher quality ads, more engaging, creative that people want to click on isn't just a yay, we get more clicks. like it actually fundamentally reduces the cost of your ads and it's as a result very important.

Talia: Yeah. Very cool. And I think so one of the things we're seeing right now is because everyone's using AI, everyone's kind of just producing stuff, right? So you can knock out five landing pages a week and 20 ads and you can create emails and you can do all this stuff and people are just pushing more and more stuff out there because you can build it. But one of the results of that is that everyone at least on websites and landing pages from on our end, we're seeing everyone looks and sounds exactly the same. So if you kind of go to if you're a B2B or if like let's go into plumbing, we have a huge plumbing client. If you look at all the different landing pages, they're all saying the exact same. 

Or one thing that we noticed for example in the moving industry is everyone's talking about pricing. Everyone's talking about the same stuff like “Get a Quote Now, Get a Quote Now. We're The Cheapest,” etc.. And then it's very, very hard for people, for prospects to know the difference between you and your competitor. And one thing I like to talk about a lot is if I took your logo or your competitors and I switched them, would anyone know? 

And I wonder if you're seeing similar stuff in Google Ads because again, it's kind of like we have AI-mode, we have Google, we have Google Ads. There's so many things going on. So are you seeing similar things where your clients or other brands all kind of look the same?

Jyll: Absolutely. There's an absolute sea of sameness. And so again, while Google Ads includes image and video, let's keep it simple with just the text ad, if you want to stand out, what I always say is you need to “Tik Tockify” your headlines. Like just saying, "We're the cheapest. We're the fastest. We're the smartest. We're the best." Like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. So is everyone else. What's the hook? Why should someone come to click on your ad over everyone else's? 

And that's different for every business. But what it sometimes reveals is that the business itself doesn't have any differentiation. And that's a problem that ads can't solve. And so I try to help my clients figure that out. If my client is the business owner, we can have that conversation. But if my client is an agency and their client is a plumber who literally has no advantage over any other plumber, ads can't do much in that scenario, unfortunately. 

On the flip side, sometimes I'll get a client, I have one now, who invented a product in the pet space and it's just a better product than everything that exists. And he thinks I'm brilliant because he's getting amazing results from Google Ads. But every call I tell him, "No, you're the brilliant one. You invented a product that people want. I'm just helping you show it to people and they’re doing the rest.”

And unfortunately for most people that is rare, but he's one of the easiest clients to have because it's just people who want this thing. It's genuinely differentiated. It's genuinely better. 

And so if your product or service is not differentiated or not better, then you've got some business things to figure out before ads. Because I always say ads are like fuel on a fire. If all you have is a pile of wood and you pour fuel on top, you have stinky wood. You need to have a fire going first and then ads can help accelerate that and that's becoming more stark today. Absolutely.

Talia: Yeah, I love your analogies. I think obviously that's where emotional targeting comes in. So that's what we do, right? Like hey, you look and sound exactly like everyone else because you're focused on your product and your features, but ultimately you're all selling the same stuff, so how do you differentiate yourself? I think yeah, that matters. And I guess yeah, I think what we're seeing on landing pages and websites, we're also seeing in ads, we're also seeing on YouTube. 

Do you think that right now AI-mode and Chat GPT and basically AI people using LLM is also changing how people click on ads or use ads or the relevancy of them? Are you seeing a connection? 

Jyll: Yes and no. It's too early to be able to say with data what is actually happening. 

So perhaps I'll share what we do know is that right now if you are a Google Ads advertiser who's leveraging AI-powered campaigns I'll leave it at there for the simplicity of audience understanding then you can show ads in AI Overviews you can show ads in AI Mode. However it's very limited to only available certain places and there's no reporting on it. So if your ads are serving in AI Mode and you're getting clicks converted you don't know it yet the reporting just isn't there. When I was at Google a couple of months ago at Google Marketing Live I was one of a small group who got to meet with the product leads at Google developing these products right now. And although I can't share specifics of that conversation, I can share that like they're figuring this out. We're figuring this out. 

We don't really know what those ad experiences are going to look like. And so I would not bank your future right now on oh we're just going to have ads in AI Mode and that'll solve it. No. What I'm actually observing is because people are using AI for so much more of their decision-making process, organic AI results as well as maybe ads you need to go beyond just Search ads if you want to influence people. It's really taking performance marketers on that journey to like you know of understanding that there's value to branding and people having heard of your name before and people having some kind of emotional connection or even just barebones recognition because then when chat GPT or AI Mode spits out three potential potential plumbers they can call. If the user's heard of one before, even if it's the second or third on the list, it's like, "Oh, yeah, that one." Versus not at all. And so, tactically, rather than focusing on how do I get my ads into AI Mode? Like, we'll get there. We'll get there. But tactically, a lot of clients, even my small business owner clients, I'm recommending to set aside $5 to $10 a day for Image or Video-based advertising just to start making people aware that you exist and what's unique about you. So that when they encounter you, whether through Search, AI-mode, Reddit or whatever it might be, there's that like, “Oh yeah, I've heard of that before.”

Talia: Yeah, I love that because what we're seeing right now is that more and more buying decisions are happening off of the website. So people are going to Reddit, they're going to Facebook, they're going to LinkedIn, they're having conversations where they believe authentic conversations are happening. 

So if you're choosing a plumber, because that's I guess the example we're choosing today. If you're looking for a plumber or an HVAC specialist, then you're going on to Reddit and you're having these conversations and you're trying to figure out who you should actually call and all of that trust is happening off of your website. And I totally agree because then when someone actually comes back and they search for you or they search for something else and you come up, that's when you're going to be like, I actually heard about that brand on Reddit or on LinkedIn or I don't even remember when someone told me something about it and I think I should click on that. So, that makes complete sense. 

I love this. By the way, I don't know if you can tell, I know nothing about Google Ads, so I get super excited.I'm like I'm literally just asking questions like, "Okay, what else could I learn?" 

Jyll: I love this. This is great. 

Talia: What is one belief about Google Ads that almost everyone believes in or accepts or just takes at face value that you're like, "No, this is incorrect."

Jyll: There are so many. So, let me pick one of my most controversial. This belief that Google just wants to get your money and so everything in Google Ads is just about trying to extract as much money as possible from advertisers no matter the outcome. 

Talia: Wait, you don't believe that?

Jyll: No.

Talia: Okay, I'm listening. Please explain.

Jyll: And I say that Google wants to make money? Yes, they're one of the most, you know, profitable, highest revenue biggest companies in the world. But Google is playing the long game. They've been around for more than two decades. They know that if you spend money today and it doesn't work well for you, you're not going to spend more in the future. And so, while it can seem like, oh, Google's just doing this to make more money, they don't care about advertisers at all. It's like, both can be true at once. 

The beauty of Google's business model is that you only pay Google when you get a click to your website, right? Like, that's what made it the money-making machine it is today. And so, yes, of course, Google wants to make more money, but it's not a zero- sum game. You can also win. And I think that's something people don't think about enough. 

So, whenever I see a new announcement from Google, and believe me, every week there are new announcements from Google, it can be tricky to keep up with it all. I always think, you know, how can this benefit my clients and how does this benefit Google? And when thinking about how this benefits Google, how does this make Google more money? How does this make Google billions? Because Google's not going to bother making a product change unless there's a ‘B’ in front of the impact. And then how do I make that work for me? 

And I think too often, because it gets a lot of attention online, people go, “Grrr…so evil. No, no, no. You're stealing.” It's like, okay, yeah, Google's going to make money. Deal with it. But  you can make money, too. And Google wants you to make money, too, so that you'll grow so that you'll spend more money and become their future big spenders. 

I by no means am a Google apologist. I'm not drunk on Kool-Aid anymore the way I used to be when I worked at Google. But I believe I have a much more fair and balanced approach to understanding Google's product changes and announcements and where things are going. And I think more people should try to tone down the anger and tone up the, you know, if I was approaching this as like a how can this make me more money too, what could that mean? And you'll get better results when you adjust your mindset that way. 

Talia: Love that. I mean I think we should apply that to other aspects of life. 

Jyll: Yes. Yes. I borrowed that from I always say assume best intent until proven otherwise. 

Talia: All things can be true. All things can be true. I love that. Okay. So then I guess I love the concept that you mentioned before, “Tik Tokifying your ads.” So what are ways that you can do that? Like I, my assumption is that if someone goes into Google right now and tags for anything, they're going to get AI overviews, ads, and organic stuff. It all kind of in the end blends. Most people I've seen don't know that they're even in AI-mode.

So, what are ways that you can stand out and get more clicks and more conversions with your Google Ads? 

Jyll: It all starts with customer understanding and market research, which is the part that PPCers have been able to skip for the last two decades and they can't skip anymore.  And I'll give you some concrete examples. 

One brand who at least used to do this very well is a clothing brand called Reformation. It's an American brand. Not sure if you're familiar, and I love looking them up in the Google Ads Transparency Center because they'll have ads that stand out by being very human and also really speaking to their target audience. 

One example I saw was a Search ad headline that said, you know, “A Top for Every Bottom.” Grabs attention, right? It stands out.

They had another one that was about, “From Sexy Date Night to Brunch with the Parents.” So, they're just, you know, there's a way you can say sexy going out tops or you can say great brunch outfits or you can make it more human and more interesting and more exciting. And not enough brands do that so that when a brand does it really stands out. That's from a text perspective. 

Image and video, you know, is a whole other can of worms I don't know if we want to touch right now. But I would just really think, you know, with a Tik Tok video, and I started my business on Tik Tok. Actually, I'm not there anymore. But that's how I initially grew my audience and got my first clients. And the first two seconds is the only part that matters in a Tik Tok video is that first impression, the first two seconds, and are they going to scroll or not? 

So, when they're on screen, that's usually a tiny mobile screen where they have, you know, the AI overview and go to AI Mode and maps and like there's no way Organic is showing without scrolling down, right? So, it's like how do you stand out there by speaking directly to what the searcher was looking for? And sometimes that's literally including the keyword in your headlines. If they search for “Emergency Plumber,” you should have a headline that says Emergency Plumber. But then you have some other headline options. And how can you make it stand out over every single other emergency plumber? What do they truly care about? 

And sometimes what they truly care about isn't what you as a business owner care about. So, I have this client who sells museum quality furniture covers. So like the highest quality cotton, the same, you know, process they use at the Met. And this is always how she advertised, museum quality archival fabric. And with everything going on in the US, I suggested we add a headline that was all about made in the USA. And what do you know? Made in the USA overperformed versus everything she'd been talking about before. It wasn't something that she had always emphasized, but it's something that her audience really cared about. 

And because her product is priced 10 times more than you know your Amazon or Temu furniture cover, she always felt the need to justify that by mentioning quality, museum, archival, and heirloom. And while of course some people care about that, for a lot of people that wasn't the most important thing to them. And so that was a good insight there. And Google Ads lets you do that. You have a bunch of different headlines. The system, the AI, tests them all out and figures out which ones perform best for which audience segments.

Talia: I really like that. And I can actually give you an example from our client from the moving company. So this is one of the biggest moving companies in the US. And as I mentioned in the past I would say in 12 months what we've seen is most of the industry has moved aggressively into cheapest, most affordable, get a coupon. And I get that and it actually makes a lot of sense because money is tight. Moving is scary. It's a lot of money. Most of these when you're moving from state to state, it can cost $50,000. Like it is a big thing. 

And yes, money matters obviously, but when we did our research, we combed through thousands of conversations on Reddit, we actually found that yes, money matters, but that's actually secondary. The first thing that people really care about is can they trust you to move their whole lively possessions and know that it will arrive safely on the other side? 

And we're talking about people like talking about, you know, their classic, you know, they've been saving this thing from their grandmother or the ring or the urn or all sorts of stuff that people really, really care about. And we started talking about premium moving services. And that actually when you think about it goes against the whole idea of cheap because you're saying premium which sounds expensive but it's white glove premium services. You can count on the people here. Our movers have x amount of years, we're rated this way. So, when we started talking about that and of course included information about upfront prices, no hidden costs, you're not going to have any surprises on moving days, I mean, that got us so many more conversions. And we saw this on, you know, in their Google Ads, but also on their landing pages. So, I couldn't agree more. 

And I think what I'm interested in, I guess, as a follow-up to that is when you're talking about getting to know your customers. What are some ways that you do that with your clients or that you recommend your clients if you don't do it yourself? 

Jyll: So, first things first is looking at any communication they've had with customers. Sometimes customers reach out and tell them. The next piece is for a lot of lead gen clients, they will use lead tracking software like WhatConverts or CallRail. And nowadays, that software has call transcripts. So that's also a really helpful place to see what customers are saying, what's going on. Google Business reviews can be another really good source of information. Seeing what people are saying in the positive and the negative. Looking at your competitor Google Business reviews and especially their negative reviews and then Reddit as well can absolutely be a gold mine as you know.

Talia: I love that. Yeah. I mean I think that's one of the most important things and the followup to that is what do you think the future of Google Ads looks like? 

Not a prediction because I'm not huge on predictions but I'm thinking about like when you think about the next three years of standing out, creating ads that convert. It's getting harder and harder to actually stand out in a crowded market and you know as I said like everyone's producing stuff all the time. What do you think are the core things people should focus on beyond I've got my conversion tracking done. I've got the foundation of stuff set up. How do I make sure that I continue to grow and I don't stagnate?

Jyll: Most of that work happens outside of Google Ads. And I think that's the number one reason there are quite a few agencies that are struggling right now. Not because they're not amazing at what they do, but because most of whether Google Ads works or not has very little to do with what happens in Google Ads. You could reach the perfect kind of customer with the perfect message and if they get to your landing page and it loads in 5 seconds instead of two or the price is just not what they're looking for or you get all these leads you're sending through but no one picks up the phone or they don't respond to those forms until 24 hours later. All of these things completely kill Google Ads results. And there's nothing the Google Ads practitioner whether in-house or an agency can do about that. 

And you know what Google tried to get us to do and in my opinion has failed is around 2021 2022 they came out with this campaign type called Performance Max, which had been in development for years, and the idea is give us your conversion tracking and your budget and let us figure out the rest. And it didn't work. Advertisers hated it. And since, you know, Performance Max has evolved, now Performance Max is no longer a black box. You can basically control it. They gave up on that vision. They didn't stand up there on stage and say, "We admit defeat, but like they admit defeat." You know, it did not work as promised. And so that's not really the marquee campaign type anymore. 

I still do believe that's Google's vision. Like, give us your conversion tracking, give us your budget, let us figure it out. Maybe give us your business goals. Number three, let us figure it out. And there are some clients I work with who are there. They have their conversion tracking perfectly set up. They know exactly what CPA they need and their budgets are open and they drive amazing results from Google Ads. It's possible but it's only possible at a certain scale and again if you're selling something that people really want right so the ads are just the fuel on that fire.

So to directly answer your question is what folks should be focusing on to really succeed with Google Ads over the next few years. I think that if whether you are an in-house marketer running Google Ads you're reporting up to marketing or you're an agency or freelancer you need to be very tightly integrated with the sales team, with the finance team, with the business owner, but just really understanding that ads are an extension of the business strategy. 

And so if the business does not have a clear strategy with clear customer understanding and good sales processes to convert leads, you know what I mean? Then nothing Google Ads does is going to matter. 

And again, that's not a new message. We've been saying that for years, but like more so than ever, as the ad part becomes more automated, you know, you can't automate a pig into becoming not a pig. So, like you have to have something really great and then you automate it and then you can scale it. 

Talia: Yeah. I think this works perfectly with the idea that what we're seeing over the past few years is that CO, CRO, PPC, they're all kind of converging. Like I think in the past you could say okay SEO is in a silo and PPC is a silo and you'd see this in companies like they don't actually speak to each other and this person blames that person and and it's kind of like well organic's doing well or paid is doing well or like CRO is like oh but this landing page increased conversions but everything else is like failing and I think now because there's so many touch points for a customer. I think the average right now is 11 touch points before someone converts. So they might see an ad from you, might watch a video, a Whatsapp message, they get to you, they've already seen so many different things. You can't actually treat it as a silo anymore. Attribution gets really hard. So sometimes paid will get the attribution, which is rightfully so because obviously someone clicked on it, but the job was done, the selling was done beforehand or the selling gets done after. So, what I'm seeing right now is that we no longer have the justification to say, "Oh, that's SEO, that's PPC, or that's CRO." Like, it's all growth. It's all marketing.

Jyll: That was my own business as well. You know, I don't run ads for myself as a Google Ads coachor for my Google Ads courses, but anytime I have a call, I always say, “How'd you hear about me?” You know, if they didn't tell me initially. 

And what I've noticed over the last year, especially, is they always mention multiple things. You know, when I started my business in 2020: "How did you hear about me?" "TikTok." Great. Booked the call. And then it sort of went to this phase around 2024, after I'd launched my podcast and YouTube, where most people would say, like, "Oh, YouTube, or the podcast, or something like that."

And now it's: "Well, you know, I first saw you on LinkedIn, and then I subscribed to your newsletter, and then I checked out your podcast, and then booked the call," or, "I found you on YouTube, and I watched all of your videos, and then I read your book, and then..." And that's really new. So, I've just observed that in my own client base—which, I get, it's an investment to invest in Google Ads coaching—that there are all these touch points working together. And so it's like, does the first get credit? Does the last get credit? I don't care. You know, I'm not advertising; I don't have to allocate dollars. But the point is, I know I need to keep doing it all. It's not like one thing that's fundamentally changing my business; they're all working together.

Talia: So, do you think that if someone's up and coming, new coming into the industry and they want to be a Google Ads person or they want to do PPC, do you think the skills have changed, the requirements have changed, what are things that that you think like if you're going into PPC ads like now at Google Ads, you need to know this stuff like what are the things you think they should focus on?

Jyll: I think it has changed. I think they're at an advantage and disadvantage because they get to skip the whole control era. You know, we're all having to change the way we do things. If you come in today, it's just automation. Great. But the downside to that when I meet with newer practitioners, especially the ones who have like started agencies in the last year or two, is I find this gap in their knowledge where they're able to embrace automation, use these tools, but then when something goes wrong, they don't really know why or how to fix it because they missed the foundation. 

As much as Google Ads has changed, the heart of Google Ads in the beginning and now is the concept of ad rank. And all ad rank is looking at the quality of your ads and the amount you're willing to pay. 

And so if I can back up a step because I think this is really important to understand, you know, where it's going moving forwards. Google Ads is an auction. So you're competing against all the other advertisers who are bidding to show ads to those users on those keywords. And with most auctions, whoever is willing to pay the most wins. But what Google did that was phenomenally innovative at the time, it sounds so basic now, they said the amount you're willing to pay matters, but so does the quality and relevance of your ads to the user. And so the higher the relevance of your ads, the less you have to pay per click. That concept is ad rank. And that's what all of Google Ads is built upon. And I find that like at least 50% of Google Ads troubleshooting today trying to fix it comes back down to this core concept that so many folks are missing who are just jumping into the field today. 

So I say all that to say if you're just picking up Google Ads today, yes, I still do think it's a great time to be a paid ads practitioner. There's absolutely a great future for paid ads practitioners. I recently did a podcast episode all about that topic. But you can't just skip over the fundamentals and say, "I'm going to launch AI Max and Performance Max and boom, do amazing things." You need to understand the foundations of how Google Ads works. And whether that's through joining one of my courses or free training or whatever, I would not recommend just like jumping into LinkedIn discourse and watching YouTube videos and going right at like understand the foundations of how Google ads works that have not changed and then move on to okay, what are the tactics that folks are using today based on that. 

And the last piece I'll say is, you know, I mentioned earlier that I personally am not an expert in the implementation of conversion tracking. I understand all the concepts. I can advise on all the strategies, but literally, as I'm sure you can probably relate, setting up GA4 with custom events and Google Tag Manager and parameters, I don't know that. And if you're starting today, you should know that. Do as I say, not as I do, okay? Because that is like the most foundational important part. And so many people are like me and don't touch that.

I even think if you are an implementation specialist alone there is so much opportunity for you. So having those technical conversion tracking implementation skills I would say is important going forward. Understanding the foundational concepts of Google ads before getting into all the new and sexy is something that not a lot of us classic PPCers have. Like who is your target audience? What is your offer? Why should they care? These few basic questions that because we work in ads, we just hopscotched over that. You can't hopscotch over that anymore. So, if you want to start getting into Google Ads today, I think you might be better served by starting with a marketing 101 training than diving straight into "Here's how to launch your first Search campaign.”

Talia: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I would say that most of the people that take Emotion Sells, which is my course, are PPC managers, and we do a survey before and after. And when someone enrolls, I'm always like, "Hey, so why, what are you trying to achieve?" And almost every PPC manager will say something of the sort like, "I do the tactical stuff. I know how to run ads, but I don't have the marketing know-how. I don't understand the customer. I don't know the emotions. I need more strategy." And I think that makes a lot of sense because in the past, a long time ago, it really was just about tactics. Like, how are you bidding and how are you doing very tactical stuff, and you can't get away with that anymore. 

So, I love seeing more and more people focus on that. And I think that's the one thing that I've always loved about CRO but also kind of hated because conversion optimization, the hardest part about it is that it's not a tactic. You have to know psychology and copy and design and PPC and SEO, and you have to know everything in order to really have an impact. And I think I see that in all stuff now, like in SEO and in PPC and in everything. So I'm excited to hear you say that because I think more and more people need to be focused on the marketing side of stuff. Otherwise, you're just tactical and you're missing the whole point.

Jyll: Yes. And when you're focused on that, you can then come up with your own tactics. Like, the tactics that I share on LinkedIn are ones that work for me, but like there's always exceptions; there's not a one-size-fits-all to everyone. And so, while I love it when someone says, "You know, oh, I saw your LinkedIn post about this and so here's the test I ran. Here's what I found," like, that's great. And also, when you understand the marketing fundamentals, you can come up with your own tactics, which some may be similar to what I do. Some may be completely different. There's no one right way to get good results in Google Ads, just as there's no one right way to do a landing page, right? 

Like, there's so many different things that can work and once you have the foundational understanding, you can develop your own expertise and tactics rather than always looking to someone—tell me what to do, tell me what to do. And those clients I actually dislike the most when it's someone who says, "Just tell me what to do. Just tell me what to do." And I'm like, "Well then, why are you going out and getting clients for your agency when you don't know what to do?" Versus I have other clients who may want me to tell them what to do, but then we debate it and they want me to explain why and what about this scenario and then let's have a conversation about it. 

My favourite clients are the ones that challenge me and disagree. I'm like, "Great, let's both learn from this." But I do sometimes get clients who are like, "What do I do next? What do I do next?" Literally know nothing about Google Ads and have no interest in learning for themselves, you know?

Talia: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. We're seeing this like seeing this all over the industry, I think. Thank you so much for coming on the show. It has been an absolute pleasure. 

Jyll: Thank you so much for having me. It was great to catch up with you again.

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Thanks for tuning in to this special episode, my interview from the Heart Before Cart podcast. You can follow along with that podcast wherever you are watching or listening to this one. 

I'm Jyll Saskin Gales and I'll see you next time inside Google Ads.