Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 53 - One Year Anniversary
Just how much Google Ads expertise can we squeeze into one podcast episode?
I'm thrilled to share that this is now the one year anniversary of the Inside Google Ads podcast. Typically, in each episode, I answer three of your burning questions, and one of them makes it to the title of the episode. So today, we're going to take the title of each episode. I'm going to answer it for you in 30 seconds or less. No, “it depends” here. Just straight up, boom, boom, boom.
Here's what you need to know to run Google Ads successfully in 2025 and beyond.
Plus, I've got a lot of giveaways lined up for you, so whether you are listening, watching, or reading, you're gonna find a lot of free stuff throughout the episode.
Let's get started. 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 53: One Year Anniversary.
Episode 1 was about everyone's favorite topic, bidding. In fact, over the last year, we've had six or seven different episodes completely dedicated to bidding because that's what you love to ask me about.
Episode 1, February 1st, 2024. Which bid strategy should you choose in Google Ads?
Maximize Conversions.
I told you I was going to get straight to the chase. Maximize Conversions is the best choice in most scenarios. At a minimum, you want to be using a Smart Bidding strategy because otherwise you're just going to end up advertising on a lot of cheap garbage that nobody else wants and you don't want. Stick to Smart Bidding.
Episode 2, February 8th, 2024. Can you get super specific with your Google Ads targeting?
Yes, you can, although not as much as you used to be able to.
Your tools for getting super specific are really Custom Segments and Combined Segments. We'll be talking about more of those throughout the episode. Combined segments, though, are now only compatible with Display and Search campaigns. If you want to do your audience stacking, layering, et cetera, you're going to be using a Combined Segment in a Display campaign. Or if you want to use a Custom Segment, the best place to use that is in a Demand Gen or Video campaign.
Episode 3, February 15th, 2024. Why are your Google ads showing outside your target location?
This is likely because you accidentally chose the wrong location, like the country of Georgia instead of the state of Georgia. Ask me how I know.
Or because your location settings are set to presence or interest rather than just presence.
Or your Google Ads are only showing in your target location, but people from outside your target location are finding you organically through your Google Business profile or other means.
Those are the most common culprits.
Objectively, Tag Manager is better. It's more accurate, it's going to be better for remarketing as well, lots of reasons.
However, if your choices are Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or nothing, do Google Analytics 4. It's the easiest to set up. And in this day and age, you should not be running ads without conversion tracking. So GTM is better than GA4, but GA4 is 100 times better than nothing.
Episode 5, February 29th, 2024. Should you run Performance Max campaigns?
Yes, if you're spending at least $50 a day in that campaign, you have proper conversion tracking, either because you're an ecommerce business or you have Offline Conversion Tracking for lead gen, you have really excellent creative - text, image, and video assets - and you're prepared to keep iterating on those. And, you can only use Smart Bidding with Performance Max, so that's a given.
If you do not have those things in place, then you probably should not run Performance Max campaigns yet. Though I will say, Performance Max is end game. There's gonna be a time where that's pretty much our only option to use the features of Google Ads that we need. So try to get those things in place so that you can start testing PMax now and get it working for your business.
Episode 6, March 7th, 2024. How can you stop getting spam leads from Google Ads?
Don't advertise on Display if you're lead gen. A lot of garbage comes from there.
And make sure you use Offline Conversion Tracking so that if you do get spam leads, you can send the feedback to Google Ads that those shouldn't count as conversions. And then your Smart Bidding can optimize and figure that out going forward.
Episode 7, March 14th, 2024. What should you do if your campaign is limited by budget?
Either increase the budget or… lots of other choices. You need to decrease the targeting so that your budget matches the opportunity.
That means targeting fewer locations or a smaller location, targeting fewer ad groups or fewer keywords, using a more restrictive match type like Exact instead of Broad, adding audiences on targeting to lower your reach or excluding certain audiences. And then last but not least, adjusting your bidding target. So if you're using Target CPA or Target ROAS, by increasing your ROAS target or decreasing your CPA target, that will also lessen your reach and help your budget match the opportunity.
Episode 8, March 21st, 2024. What is your CPC going to be?
We answer that using Keyword Planner.
And while you need to set up a Google Ads account to use Keyword Planner, you do not need to spend any money to use Keyword Planner. It is a free tool. In Keyword Planner, for the keywords you enter, it'll show you a top of page CPC range. So I like to take the average of that to get an idea of what my CPC is going to be.
Episode 9, March 28th, 2024. How do you use Custom Segments in Google Ads?
There are so many ways to use them, but my favorite way is to build a Custom Segment based on search terms.
The default when you create one is based on interests or purchase intentions. So if you want to, change that to search terms, and enter your search terms there. Then only use this in Demand Gen with Partners turned off, or in a Video campaign that only runs on YouTube with Video Partners turned off. That way it will work as intended on Google-owned properties.
So many other ways to use Custom Segments, but that's my favourite way. Note that in a YouTube campaign now, instead of a Custom Segment, it will be called a Custom Search Term, but it's the same thing.
Episode 10, April 4th, 2024. Can you make my Google Ads perform better?
Yes.
In this 10th episode, I talked about a lot of different troubleshooting tactics and of course shared that one of the ways I can help your Google Ads perform better is by auditing your Google Ads account.
So that brings us to our first giveaway of this special anniversary episode. You can enter to win a free Google Ads account audit from me, where I will go into your account, audit it, give you a scorecard and specific recommendations and things you can test to improve performance. To enter to win a Google Ads audit or anything else I'm sharing in this episode, go to jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53. That's the page for Episode 53.
That's jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53. And that link will also be in the episode description. When you're there, you fill out your name, email address and tick the box next to the stuff you want to win. So if you want a free Google ads account audit, be sure to tick that box.
Episode 11, April 11th, 2024. Will better Ad Strength get me better results?
No, Ad Strength is not a cause or even correlated with better performance.
However, some of the things you do to get better Ad Strength could help you get better results. For example, including your keywords in your headlines and descriptions, and providing a variety of unique headlines and descriptions. So, Ad Strength is a helpful tool to get some best practices in place, but no, a better Ad Strength does not mean better results.
There was a lot of fun, snarky information in that one. But for our purposes today, we'll skip on along.
Episode 13, April 25th, 2024. How do I get a job after the Google Ads certifications?
Taking the free certifications is not sufficient to get a job in Google Ads. You're gonna have to get some experience.
So I shared a bunch of tips in this episode, but it pretty much comes down to going to your network, maybe finding a nonprofit, a friend with a business, and trying to get some hands-on-keyboard experience in Google Ads. It's really the only way you're going to learn.
Episode 14, May 2nd, 2024. Which keyword match type is best in Google Ads?
For small businesses, Exact match. For large businesses, Broad Match.
In between, you're gonna have to test. I usually prefer to start with Exact Match and expand from there. And I rarely use Phrase Match anymore. It's sort of like the “good for nothing” in between, just go to one extreme or the other. But that could always change.
Episode 15, May 9th, 2024. Should you use Maximize Conversions bidding?
Yes. And if you need more convincing, you can go back and listen to that episode.
Episode 16, May 16th, 2024. Why are my Google Ads spending more than my budget?
In most campaign types, when you set a budget in Google Ads, you are setting an average daily budget. What Google then does is multiply that by 30.4 and that becomes your monthly spending limit.
So you will not spend more than your monthly spending limit, but on any given day, your campaign could spend up to two times your daily budget. If it spends more than that, or if it goes over your monthly spending limit, you will not be billed. So you will not have to pay for more than your budget.
Episode 18, May 30th, 2024. What is a good ROAS in Google Ads?
It is 3x to 4x, 300 to 400%.
Again, I'm going to say that it really depends on your business, but because we are staying away from “it depends” answers in this episode, 3x to 4x as a general guideline, good ROAS goal.
Remember, higher ROAS doesn't always mean better because the more profitable your ads are, the lower your reach is, so intentionally accepting a lower ROAS that's still profitable for you could be the unlock to help your business scale.
Episode 19, June 6, 2024. Do I need to run a brand campaign in Google Ads?
You don't need to, but for most businesses, it's probably a good idea.
Because of how crazy the SERPs are now with the AI Overviews and knowledge panels and all these kinds of things, a brand search campaign is really the only way you can absolutely control what that result looks like.
Also, it's a way to keep your competitors off of your brand, because the fact of you being there in the auction makes their CPCs really expensive, perhaps prohibitively so. And your CPCs will be so cheap on your brand that… why not? So for the most part, you don't need to, but I do recommend it for most businesses.
Episode 20, June 13, 2024. Does Impression Share matter in Google Ads?
Yes, Impression Share itself is not a metric to optimize for, but Impression Share is probably my favorite underrated metric because it really helps you figure out where to problem solve in your campaign.
If you're losing a lot of Search Impression Share due to budget, obviously you can increase your budget. If you're losing a lot of Impression Share due to rank, then you know you need to look at your bidding and quality score. That'll lead you down a path of finding ways to increase your impressions, get more clicks without having to increase your costs.
So I do think Impression Share matters. I don't like it when my Search Impression Share is less than 10% at the campaign level. It just means you're trying to do too much with too little. If your Impression Share also gets too high, it could explain why your CPCs might be getting really high. It’s a really helpful diagnostic tool.
Episode 21, June 20th, 2024. How often should you update your Google Ads?
For Search ads, I recommend doing a full audit of all your live ads once every three months or so, just to see if anything needs to be updated.
With more visual ads - Display, Demand Gen, YouTube - I recommend reviewing them every two to four weeks, depending on your budget and things like that. The larger your budget, the more frequently you should be reviewing them. And if your frequency gets too high for those kinds of ad formats, you'll probably want to update your creative unless, of course, it's still performing well. Performance should ultimately be your guide as to whether your creative needs to be updated.
Episode 22, June 27th, 2024. How do I get started in Google Ads?
This episode covered some very basic questions like, do you need a website to run Google Ads? I mean, technically no, but you should definitely have one.
If you're a beginner and you're looking for help getting started in Google Ads, it is time for giveaway number two. I'm giving away access to my Google Ads for Beginners course. This is the ultimate beginner guide. It's about four hours in total, and it'll teach you all the core concepts in Google Ads and culminate with walking you step by step on how to create a Google Ads account, pick your keywords, write your ads, set an appropriate budget, set up your campaign in the Google Ads interface, as it looks right now, and how to set that campaign up for success with things like conversion tracking and audiences.
So if you want to get started with Google Ads this year, you can enter to win my course, Google Ads for Beginners. Go to jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53.
That's J-Y-L-L dot C-A or follow the link in the episode description, put in your name, your email address in the form, and tick the box next to Google Ads for Beginners.
Episode 23, July 4th, 2024. How to run Google Ads with a low budget.
This is a special episode of a presentation I gave at the Paid Search Association. So long story short, I have more than 15 tips in this episode, but if you're running Google Ads with a low budget, you need conversion tracking in place. You should probably just have one Search campaign with three to five Exact Match keywords, one Responsive Search Ad in one ad group with six or seven headlines and two to three descriptions, use all assets available to you, Maximize Conversions bidding, and make sure you have a really well-optimized website, because that's the thing that's going to impact your success so much more than the Google Ads themselves.
Episode 24, July 11th, 2024. Can you layer audiences in Google Ads?
Yes, you can through a Combined Segment or through a Custom Combination Segment if you're only looking to layer remarketing lists.
But remember, Combined Segments only work now in Display campaigns and layered into Search campaigns on inclusion only. So it's a little trickier to do this now than it was a few years ago, but yes, you can.
Episode 25, July 18th, 2024. What settings should you use for your Google Ads campaigns?
Start your campaign “without guidance.” Don't use auto applied recommendations, and Data Driven Attribution is the way to go.
Those were the three answers from that episode.
Episode 26, July 25th, 2024. Is manual CPC bidding in Google Ads a mistake?
Yeah, it usually is.
If you're using manual CPC because you don't have conversion tracking, why are you advertising without conversion tracking? Even if our goal is brand awareness, our goal is reach? No, it's not, okay? You want people to buy from you.
Otherwise, why is manual CPC bidding a mistake? Because when you're trying to optimize for the cost of a click, you are not optimizing for an actual business result. Yeah, you'll get cheaper clicks. They're cheaper for a reason. It's an auction. If something is really cheap, it's because no one else wants it. So stick to Smart Bidding, my friends, with very few exceptions.
In August 2024, I did five guest episodes with five experts about Google Ad Grants, Amazon Ads, Facebook Ads, Local Ads, and conversion tracking tools. So feel free to go check out Episodes 27 to 31 to go deeper on those topics. But since that was guest expertise and not my expertise, we'll move right on along now.
Episode 32, September 5th, 2024. What is Demand Gen in Google Ads?
Demand Gen is the newest campaign type, a really, really helpful campaign type that everyone should test if you can afford to.
It is image- and video-based ads, click or conversion focused, audience targeting only, and it runs on Google-owned properties, which means Discover, YouTube, and Gmail. It's like Display, has a bit less capabilities, but the traffic quality tends to be much, much, much higher. And Demand Gen is the only place you can use Lookalike Segments in Google Ads so definitely check out that episode for more on Demand Gen.
Episode 33, September 12th, 2024. Do single keyword ad groups (SKAGs) still work in Google Ads?
My answer here is, maybe they might still be working for you, but they are not the way to succeed with Google Ads in 2025 and beyond. You want to work with the automation, not against the automation, to drive sustainable results.
Episode 34, September 19th, 2024. When should I change my bid strategy in Google Ads?
I recommend changing from Maximize Conversions to Target CPA when you're getting at least 30 conversions in 30 days and your CPA has stabilized, because then switching will help you scale.
The same if you're on Maximize Conversion Value, there you're going to want about 30 to 50 conversions in 30 days to be able to switch to Target ROAS bidding.
If you're nowhere near getting that number of conversions, then micro-conversions, which we'll get to in a few episodes, could be helpful to you.
Lastly, if you're on Maximize Conversions and your campaign is just not serving and you can't figure out why, switch to Max Clicks, force some traffic through there, and that might help you diagnose the problem.
Episode 35, September 26, 2024. Are Display ads worth it in Google Ads?
No. Unless you need to use Combined Segments or run dynamic remarketing on its own, I hate Display and don't like using it. Demand Gen is just always better.
Episode 36, October 3rd, 2024. How should I set up my Google Ads campaign?
I'll admit this episode was a little bit of a hodgepodge. So we'll use this opportunity for our third giveaway of the episode, which is a free one hour coaching call with me.
Yes, I'm a Google Ads coach. Google Ads coaching is my core business. The core way that I help business owners, marketers, agencies, freelancers, everything in between. And I'm giving away a free one hour Google Ads coaching call with me, whether you want to set up your Google Ads together, optimize your Google Ads, dive into the latest strategies, whatever you want to do.
So if you want to win a free one hour call with me, go to jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53 for episode 53. That's jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53 or follow the link in the episode description. You'll see a form there. You can fill out your name, email, and make sure you tick the box next to a free one hour call.
Episode 37, October 10th, 2024. Does Performance Max work for lead gen?
Simple answer, no.
Nuanced answer, it usually doesn't work because you don't have Offline Conversion Tracking. So if you have proper Offline Conversion Tracking in place, which means you are collecting data and then sending it back to Google over which leads are actually valuable and which are not, then yes, Performance Max can absolutely work for lead gen. But without that, and so many businesses don't have that - large, small, everything in between - no, Performance Max is unlikely to work for you.
Episode 38, October 17th, 2024. When is a high click-through rate a bad thing in Google Ads?
This came out of some things I was seeing in audits. And if your click-through rate is too high, it's a red flag.
For example, in a non-brand search campaign, generally I see CTR is around 5%, maybe as high as like 8% -10% if it's really strong. So if it's a non-brand search campaign that has a 25% click-through rate then a brand is sneaking in, or there's something else weird going on, like weird search partners traffic. Your click-through rate is just not that good.
There are certain situations like that. That's not the only one, but if you have a Display campaign that has a 5% CTR, that’s spam. I have never seen in the more than 10,000 Google Ads accounts I've seen over my career, a Display campaign that has that high a CTR and is actually driving good business results
So of course there are certain metrics like CPC, CTR, ROAS, conversion, we're always trying to improve. But if a metric looks too good to be true, don't just pat yourself on the back and be done. Question it. Question it. I don't want to be pessimistic, I just like to be realistic.
Episode 39, October 24th, 2024. Should you use micro conversions in Google Ads?
Yes, if your campaign is not getting at least 30 conversions in 30 days, and especially if you're not even getting 15 conversions in 30 days, because without those in place, it's going to be hard to use Smart Bidding. And without using Smart Bidding, it's going to be very difficult to drive consistent scalable Google Ads results.
This is an excellent time to bring up our next giveaway of the episode. If you want to learn with me how to optimize a Shopping campaign, a Search campaign, a Performance Max campaign, Display campaign, Demand Gen, Video, any kind of campaign in Google Ads, that is one of the more than a hundred tutorials you'll find in my Inside Google Ads course.
Yes, it shares the same name as this podcast. So for our next giveaway, I am giving away one year of access to my Inside Google Ads course. This is especially nice timing for this giveaway because on March 1st, 2025, the price of Inside Google Ads will be increasing. I'm not going to say the current price or the new price here because I know that these podcast episodes live on for years and years, but I just want to say all of these giveaways are open to enter for the entire month of February 2025.
As of March 1st, Inside Google Ads will be going up in price, so you can absolutely enter to win an annual membership to Inside Google Ads at jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53.
But if you were thinking of joining and don't want to take your chance on the giveaway, now would be an excellent time to join to lock in today's monthly or annual rate forever because existing members get to keep their pricing as long as your membership stays active. As of March 1st, 2025, all new members will be paying new pricing.
When you go to jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53, you'll find a form there to enter your name, email. And if you want to win one year's membership to Inside Google Ads, be sure to check that box.
Episode 41, November 7th, 2024. Should you run Search and Performance Max together?
Should you? Such strange wording. I'm going to say no to the “should you,” but can you? Yes, absolutely.
What I recommend you look into to understand how Search and Performance Max interact is something called Keyword Prioritization. There's a Google Ads Help Center article about this. I talk about it in the episode. I also wrote an article you can find on the WordStream blog all about it. It is really important to understand the Keyword Prioritization concept so you can understand how your Search and Performance Max campaigns interact with each other.
Episode 42, November 14th, 2024. Will Maximize Conversions bidding inflate my CPCs?
Possibly. But if so, that's the point.
I beat this drum a few times in this episode, but higher CPCs are not a bad thing. Maximize Conversions will consistently outperform manual bidding. Are there exceptions? Of course. Are you going to find someone who has that story of, Maximize Conversions was terrible and I went back to manual CPC? Sure, okay.
But for the most part, for most people, Maximize Conversions will deliver more consistent, better results, even if it means higher CPCs. Because that likely means higher quality, higher converting traffic.
Episode 43, November 21st, 2024. Should you manage your own Google Ads or hire an agency?
This is a tricky one. So I'll say if you're going to manage your Google Ads in-house, you will save money by not hiring an agency. You will have more control and transparency into what's going on. But Google Ads are complicated. So you're going to need to invest in ensuring that you or someone on your team knows what they're doing, is trained up and keeping up to date with the latest practices and updates and things like that. So if that is not something you want to take on, more power to you.
You can hire an agency. You can hire a freelancer. Or you can hire an employee, maybe part-time or full-time, who's going to manage that for you.
Ultimately, that is a personal decision and either way is fine. I work with clients who manage it themselves. I work with agencies to help them with their clients. I work with freelancers. So, you know, I see good in all of these options. I see horror stories in all of these options.
That one, I'm sorry, it depends. That's my first one I'm landing on “it depends” throughout this whole episode.
Episode 44, November 28th, 2024. How to launch a new product with Google Ads.
It was a sneak peek of my, The Insider newsletter. So you can sign up for my newsletter. It's always free at free.jyll.ca, that's free.jyll.ca, and I send out a new issue every Tuesday with a real life Google Ads case study.
Episode 45, December 5th, 2024. How many keywords should I put in an ad group in Google Ads?
5 to 15.
3 isn't bad, 16 isn't bad, but general rule of thumb, 5 to 15 keywords in an ad group, only one match type. Don't duplicate the same keyword into multiple match types.
Episode 46, December 12th, 2024. Can you run Google Ads with a small budget?
Yes, but it's like running Google Ads on hard mode. So you can, but you need to be very careful with that budget.
And of course, this episode has a lot of tips for how to do that, as well as Episode 23 from July 4th, 2024.
Episode 47, December 19th, 2024. Should you use manual or automated bidding with Shopping campaigns?
When I first launch a Shopping campaign, I usually choose Max Clicks.
You can use manual CPC, because after that, your only option is Target ROAS. It's like beginner… advanced. There's no in between. You can't do Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value.
Maximize Clicks is not a Smart Bidding strategy. It is an automated bidding strategy. I will usually start there and try to get onto Target ROAS as quickly as possible, using micro-conversions if we need to.
Great episode, lots of nuggets there. The answer is they can be, but remember that their job is a salesperson, not a support person. So act accordingly with that sales-driven advice.
Episode 49, January 2nd, 2025. What is the future of Google Ads with AI?
Four things I called out that you should be thinking about this year with Google Ads and AI.
First is the coalescence of SEO and PPC. Second is the move from targeting to signals. Third is the move from intent to audience. And fourth, creative is more important than ever.
Of course, for more nuance and details about all of those things, be sure to check out Episode 49 from January 2nd, 2025.
Episode 50, January 9th, 2025. Do I need to set a target CPA or target ROAS and Google Ads?
No, you absolutely do not need to.
It's a good idea to set them if you want to try to control costs. That's going to be a way to do that. If you want to really try to scale up the budget and you're worried about the impact that'll have on performance, but you don't need to. You can run a successful campaign just on Max Conversions or Max Conversion Value.
Episode 51. January 16th, 2025. Should you use Customer Match in Google Ads?
Yes. And as I shared in this episode, even if you don't meet the minimum requirements to use it for targeting, you should still upload that customer list into Google Ads because the data on there is going to inform things like your bidding algorithms.
Customer Match is one of many audience targeting topics that I just absolutely love, so much so that I've written a book called Inside Google Ads: Everything You Need to Know About Audience Targeting.
My book will be coming out either March or April 2025. And so that brings us to our final giveaway of the episode. I am giving away one hard copy of my book and one Kindle ebook copy of my book. So if you would like to enter to win a free copy of my book, you can do so along with everything else I've shared in this episode at jyll.ca/insidegoogleads/53. That's J-Y-L-L dot C-A. You'll also find the link in the episode description.
When you get to that page, you'll see a form, enter your name, email address, and then tick the box next to the things you would like to win. Don't tick the box next to things you don't want to win.
If you are listening to this episode at some point in February 2025, this will be open to enter.
If you're listening after that, I'm sorry, the form won't be there anymore. Instead, you'll find links to be able to purchase all of these things, but you can enter to win:
free Google Ads account audit
free one hour call with me
free access to my Google Ads for Beginners course
free one-year membership to my Inside Google Ads course
free copy paperback of my book Inside Google Ads: Everything You Need to Know About Audience Targeting, and
free Kindle ebook of the same book
Woohoo, I'm excited! But don't go anywhere yet. We've still got one more.
Episode 52, last week's episode, January 23, 2025. Which is better, phrase or exact match keywords?
Exact Match is better.
Because of the way close variants work now, Phrase is just…I find it to be pretty useless. Either go Exact or go Broad. Pick a side and go there.
However, in the negative, I still do like negative Phrase Match keywords.
Thank you so much for listening to this special edition one year anniversary episode of the Inside Google Ads podcast, along with everyone who has listened over the last year. We've had about 20,000 downloads of this podcast, thousands of listeners across Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and plenty more places I can't even track.
So whether you are listening to this, watching this, reading this, thank you so much for being here and for trusting me to play a role in your Google Ads education.
We will be back with a regular episode next week, including a new Insider Challenge for you to solve.
I'm Jyll Saskin Gales and I'll see you next time Inside Google Ads.