Ads Archives - Dubado Solutions

Posts

Google to require separate product IDs for multi-channel items

January 6, 2026/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

Starting in March 2026, Google Merchant Center will enforce a new system for multi-channel products — items sold both online and in physical stores — requiring advertisers to use separate product IDs when those products differ by channel.

What’s changing. Under the new approach, online product attributes will become the default. If a product’s in-store details differ, advertisers will need to create a second version with a distinct product ID and manage it independently in their feeds.

What advertisers should do. Google has started emailing affected accounts, flagging products that need updates ahead of the March deadline. Retailers should review their product data feeds now to ensure online and in-store items are properly segmented — especially if they rely on Local Inventory Ads or sell across multiple Google surfaces.

Why we care. Many retailers currently manage online and in-store versions of the same product under a single ID. Google’s update changes that assumption, pushing advertisers to explicitly separate products when attributes like price, availability, or condition aren’t identical.

The big picture. This update gives Google cleaner, more consistent product data across channels, but shifts more feed management responsibility onto advertisers — particularly large retailers with complex inventories.

First seen. The update and news of Google’s comms was first mentioned by PPC News Feed founder Hana Kobzová.

Bottom line. If your online and in-store products aren’t truly identical, Google will soon require you to treat them as separate items, or risk issues with visibility and eligibility.

Dig Deeper. Update of multi-channel product system from Google.

Read more at Read More

Google to allow Prediction Markets ads under strict rules

January 6, 2026/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

Why phrase match is losing ground to broad match in Google Ads

Google is updating its advertising policies to allow ads for Prediction Markets in the U.S. starting January 21st — but only for federally regulated entities.

Who qualifies. Eligibility is limited to entities authorized by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as Designated Contract Markets (DCMs) whose primary business is listing exchange-listed event contracts, or brokerages registered with the National Futures Association (NFA) that offer access to products listed by qualifying DCMs. Advertisers must also apply for Google certification to run ads in the U.S.

Why we care. Prediction markets have long been restricted on Google Ads. This change opens a new advertising channel while keeping tight controls around compliance and regulation. The narrow eligibility and certification requirements mean only compliant, federally regulated players can participate, potentially reducing competition. For qualifying advertisers, this offers earlier access to a high-intent audience within a tightly controlled ad environment.

The fine print. All ads, products, and landing pages must comply with applicable local laws, financial regulations, industry standards, and Google Ads policies. The new policy will appear in the Advertising Policies Help Center, with references in the Financial Services and Gambling and Games sections, and is available now for preview.

The big picture. Google is cautiously expanding access for prediction markets by recognizing them as regulated financial products — while continuing to block unregulated platforms.

Bottom line. Prediction market ads are coming to Google, but only for advertisers that meet strict federal and platform-level requirements.

Read more at Read More

A 5-step framework for year-end PPC reports that resonate with leadership

January 6, 2026/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

The new year is here, which means it’s time to deliver your end-of-year (EOY) PPC report.

But an EOY report isn’t just a longer version of your monthly performance check-in.

It’s typically read by a different audience – often leadership teams who don’t see your regular reporting – and it needs to tell a different story.

Done well, your year-end report sets the tone for 2026, earns buy-in for your strategy, and positions you as a strategic partner rather than just a campaign manager.

Done poorly, it creates confusion and undermines confidence in your work.

Here’s how to build an EOY PPC report that speaks to leadership and sets your work up for success in the year ahead.

1. Identify your audience and their priorities

You wouldn’t launch a new campaign without clearly defined goals and audiences.

Don’t do it with your EOY report, either. Different stakeholders evaluate performance through very different lenses.

For example, among the clients I’m preparing reports for this year are:

A leadership team I’ve never met (despite working with this client for eight years) that wants a maximum five-page report at a very high level.
A data-driven CEO who wants a clear narrative connecting PPC spend, decisions, and outcomes.
A new director who wants context on the competitive landscape, performance, and specific opportunities for next year.

If I were to use a carbon-copy EOY report template for all of them, I’d have at best one happy leadership team and two confused or frustrated teams.

I don’t care for those odds. Instead, I’m customizing each report to match the readers and their specific needs.

If you don’t know the recipients (and if you’re at an agency, there’s a good chance you don’t), ask your primary contact questions like:

Who will be receiving the report?
What do they care about most?
What’s top of mind for them heading into next year?
What decisions will they be making based on this report?

The answers should directly inform the report’s structure, depth, metrics, and length.

When your audience is clearly defined upfront, the final report is far more likely to drive clarity, alignment, and confidence.

2. Create an easy-to-read executive summary

Your executive summary has one job – help leadership quickly understand how PPC performed across key metrics.

Think of it as the “at a glance” page that sets the context for everything that follows.

If you studied communications formally, you probably learned to write executive summaries last, even though they appear first.

Since you’re pulling data rather than crafting prose, flip that approach.

Build this section first to guide the flow of what comes next.

Lead with the KPIs that matter most

Start with the metrics your audience actually cares about – the ones that were established as priorities at the beginning of the engagement or year.

This will usually include revenue, leads, and conversions, but your mileage may vary.

If your leadership team obsesses over market share or engagement, lead with those instead.

Include meaningful benchmarks

Unless your leadership team is dialed into PPC goals and performance, you need to give them benchmarks so they have a comparison tool.

Use at least one of these three key benchmarks:

Year-over-year performance: How did this year stack up against last year?
Performance against target: Did we hit the goals we set out to achieve?
Industry benchmarks: How do we compare to competitors or industry averages?

In the example below, I’m showing revenue, ROAS, and cost for the year, with both percentage changes and raw numbers from the previous year.

2025 paid search performance - executive summary

This format does the heavy lifting for busy executives.

At a quick glance, they know what happened and whether it’s good news.

More importantly, it sets the stage for invisible CTAs and the deeper analysis that follows.

3. Break down performance details

In the following section, you’ll move from “what happened” to “why it happened and what we learned.”

The executive summary told your reader whether the year was successful. Now you need to show them the engine under the hood.

The level of detail will depend on the format. A five-page executive report may only have room for a few pivotal moments, while a more comprehensive report can get into the weeds.

In either case, selectivity is critical. You can’t — and shouldn’t — document every metric, test, or optimization from the year.

Instead, focus on insights that either explain the results in your executive summary or point directly to opportunities for the year ahead.

Here are some categories to get you started.

What performed best

Show them the winners: your best-converting creative, highest-revenue products, or most efficient channels.

Leadership loves to see what’s working, and it can point to where to double down.

How resources were allocated

Break down spend distribution across campaign types, the split between brand and non-brand, or platform-specific investments like Google versus Bing.

Leadership wants to know if you’re putting money where it matters most, and this section answers that question.

What you tested and learned

Highlight new initiatives, strategic experiments, or incrementality tests.

Did you test a new platform? Try a different targeting approach?

These insights show you aren’t just managing campaigns, you’re advancing the strategy.

Trends that shaped the year

Include year-over-year comparisons, seasonal patterns, and performance trends over time.

If Q3 saw unusual momentum or holiday performance differed from previous years, explain why.

Performance through the funnel

Show how users moved through your conversion funnel and where the biggest opportunities or bottlenecks exist.

Tracking and conversion changes

Changing what is counted as a conversion will affect just about everything else.

If you made tracking or conversion definition changes during the year, call them out here.

Leadership needs to understand if a metric shift reflects actual performance or a measurement change.

Keep this section platform-specific and substantive. Each insight should clearly tie back to the executive summary.

Use visuals (charts, trend lines, and comparison tables) to make complex data easier to interpret. And resist the temptation to include everything you track.

If a metric doesn’t explain results, answer a question from leadership, or inform future strategy, leave it out.

Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

4. Evaluate external factors

You’ve already explained what happened in the account and why performance moved the way it did.

Now you need to zoom out and show leadership what else was happening. What external forces shaped your results, for better or worse?

This is where you separate execution from environment.

Without this context, strong strategic work can look mediocre in a difficult year, or weak decisions can hide behind tailwinds.

Leadership needs to understand what you controlled versus what you were responding to.

Think of it this way: performance details add context to your KPIs. External factors add context to your performance.

Digital marketing factors

What influenced performance that was external to paid search execution, but internal to the broader marketing ecosystem?

Non-PPC marketing initiatives: Product launches, pricing changes, promotions, website redesigns, or messaging shifts can all impact conversion rates and search behavior – positively or negatively.
Non-PPC channel performance: Performance in organic search, email, social, affiliates, or offline channels can meaningfully influence paid search results. It also provides a clearer picture of market factors beyond paid channels.

Platform and policy changes: Google Ads feature rollouts, automation shifts, policy enforcement, or reporting changes often affect performance in ways that aren’t immediately visible in metrics alone.
Competitive dynamics: New entrants, aggressive bidding, creative shifts, or changes in competitor behavior can alter auction pressure and efficiency over time.

Macro-economic factors

What forces outside the marketing organization shaped demand, behavior, and constraints?

A useful way to structure this analysis is with a lightweight PESTEL lens, adapted for a marketing context.

Political: Gov actions and policy shifts (e.g., tariffs, shutdowns).
Economic: Market conditions (e.g., inflation, spending slowdowns).
Social: Behavior and lifestyle trends (e.g., travel, demographics).
Technological: Platform/tech changes (e.g., AI, privacy updates).
Environmental: Weather and seasonality (e.g., storms, climate shifts).
Legal: Regulations and compliance (e.g., privacy laws, labor rules).

You don’t need to address every category. The goal is to highlight the factors that materially influenced performance and decisions during the year.

In a volatile year like this one, it can even make sense to highlight big events that didn’t have an impact on performance, just to assuage any worries.

Doing this helps stakeholders understand what factors contributed to performance.

And just as important, it positions you as someone who sees beyond the interface to meaningful business implications.

5. Answer the ‘what’s next?’ question

Leadership wants to know what to expect for next year.

They’re not necessarily expecting a crystal ball, but they do want confidence that there’s a plan, even if the path changes.

The reality is that most paid search strategy isn’t mapped a year in advance.

Platforms change, competitors react, budgets shift, and new constraints appear with little warning.

What matters isn’t having every answer upfront, it’s having a clear way to decide what to do next when conditions change.

This section of your EOY report is your opportunity to show that decision-making framework, and get your audience excited to work with you on what’s to come.

Next steps and recommendations

These are the initiatives you’re committed to pursuing; the strategic moves grounded in last year’s data:

Applied learnings: How insights from the past year are shaping priorities, structure, and decision-making going forward.
Identified opportunities: Areas where data consistently pointed to upside: channels, audiences, products, or tactics that warrant attention.
Known risks: Challenges leadership should expect, along with how you’re monitoring or mitigating them.
Resource clarity: What additional budget, tools, or support would enable — and what remains constrained without them. Be concrete: “With X additional budget, we can test Y based on Z insight from last year.”

These recommendations should feel inevitable; the logical next steps given what happened last year.

Testing pipeline

Then there’s the other category: things you’re watching, interested in, or ready to jump on if circumstances align.

These scratch leadership’s itch for innovation and cutting-edge solutions without overcommitting:

New platform features you’ll test when they’re released.
Emerging platforms or initiatives worth monitoring.
Competitive tactics you’ve identified but need more validation.
Opportunistic tests if budget or priorities shift.

Frame these as “if/then” scenarios or “things we’re monitoring” rather than firm commitments.

Leadership gets to feel like you’re on top of industry trends without expecting guarantees.

A final pass through a leadership lens

You’ve covered a lot of ground.

This final pass is about tightening credibility and making sure this work pays dividends in the coming years, not just this one.

Give your report a final pass

Before sending, review the report the way leadership will:

Source your data clearly: Label where each chart’s data came from and when it was pulled. This prevents follow-up questions and builds trust.
Address negatives head-on: Leadership expects challenges. What erodes confidence isn’t bad news, it’s unexplained bad news. Show what didn’t work, why, and what you did about it.
Pressure-test against the brief: Review your stakeholders’ original requests. Did you actually answer their questions? Ask a colleague (or AI) for a second set of eyes.

Make next year easier

Now that you’ve done the heavy lifting, leverage this work going forward:

Turn your EOY report into a client-specific template: A single format won’t work across all clients, but once you find a structure that resonates with a given audience, reuse it year over year. Incorporate feedback and refresh the data, but keep the core framework consistent.
Track big issues as they happen: Document key events as you progress through the year. Keep a running list, outside of emails and reports. Even the biggest issues today will be hard to accurately remember in 12 months without this.

Year-end reports take real effort. Make sure yours actually resonates.

Follow these steps to strengthen stakeholder relationships and position yourself as a strategic partner for 2026 and beyond.

Read more at Read More

How to use LinkedIn targeting in Microsoft Advertising

January 6, 2026/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

LinkedIn targeting in Microsoft Advertising exists to help brands message-map their best creative with the ideal audience.

When approached thoughtfully, it allows you to apply professional understanding to intent‑driven inventory without breaking the bank.

The key is knowing how the targeting methods work together across the various campaign types.

What follows is a practical guide to using LinkedIn data inside Microsoft Advertising, including:

LinkedIn in Search campaigns (includes Multimedia ads).
Using LinkedIn insights to inform broader audience strategy.
Performance Max targeting signals.
Directional insights into audience reach and composition through Audience Planner.

Disclosure: I am a Microsoft employee. I attempted to keep this article as objective as possible, focusing on how LinkedIn targeting works as well as action items for targeting, reporting, and creative message mapping.

LinkedIn profile targeting in search

LinkedIn profile targeting is fully available in Microsoft Advertising search campaigns and lets you layer professional attributes on top of keyword targeting.

The supported attributes are:

Company.
Industry.
Job function.

These audiences apply across Microsoft‑owned environments such as Bing Search, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Start, and other eligible search surfaces, as long as users are signed in.

In search, LinkedIn targeting works best as a contextual guide, not a standalone target.

The keywords still do the heavy lifting. LinkedIn data helps you respond differently when professional relevance is present.

How to approach it

Start with keywords that already convert: LinkedIn targeting can help amplify existing intent on proven keywords. Apply bid adjustments to campaigns/ad groups where search terms already demonstrate business value. This might mean a 10%-15% increase if you’re bidding aggressively, or a more aggressive bid adjustment if your impression share lost to rank is high.
Choose one professional dimension first: Begin with either company, industry, or job function – not all three. If you’re targeting someone who works for a company in an industry you’re also targeting, it’s very easy to bid on them twice.
Use bid‑only mode to establish a baseline: Observation gives you performance clarity before you make delivery decisions. Treat this as audience research on who is engaging with you in a profitable way.

Dig deeper: LinkedIn Ads retargeting: How to reach prospects at every funnel stage

LinkedIn Professional Demographics in Audience ads

Audience ads support LinkedIn Professional Demographics as both a targeting and observation layer – bringing professional context into native, display, and video formats designed for scalable reach.

While Audience ads are not driven by keyword intent, Professional Demographics provide a way to anchor delivery and insights in a real‑world business context, bridging the gap between broad reach and professional relevance.

Audience ads allow you to apply company, industry, and job function as professional audience layers.

These can be used either to observe performance trends or to influence delivery, depending on campaign objectives.

LinkedIn Professional Demographics in Audience Ads

Unlike search, where intent is explicit, Audience ads rely more heavily on audience signals and creative relevance.

LinkedIn Professional Demographics help ensure that reach is oriented toward users who are more likely to be operating in a business mindset, even when browsing content.

How to approach it

Start in observation to understand natural performance: Use Professional Demographics in observation mode to learn which industries, job functions, or company types naturally engage with your Audience ads before applying delivery constraints.
Let LinkedIn data inform creative, not just delivery: Because Audience ads appear in feed‑based and content‑rich environments, creative matters more than targeting alone. Use insights from high‑performing professional segments to inform tone, examples, and value framing in messaging.
Align format choice with professional mindset: Different formats serve different roles:
- Native and display perform well for awareness and education within professional segments
- Video supports storytelling and category framing, particularly when aligned with industry‑specific narratives
- Professional Demographic insights help guide which formats are most appropriate for different business audiences.

LinkedIn data in Performance Max: Guiding automation with purpose

LinkedIn profile targeting is available inside Performance Max campaigns, where it functions as an audience signal.

Within Performance Max, these signals help the system understand which professional profiles have a high probability for profit to your business and help influence how budget is allocated across inventory.

Professional signals are most effective in Performance Max when they are representative and directional, not exhaustive.

They work best when they give the system a strong starting point rather than a narrow definition of success.

LinkedIn data in Performance Max: Guiding automation with purpose

How to approach it

Select signals that reflect your best customers, not every customer: Use LinkedIn attributes that describe your most valuable segments, not the full universe of potential buyers. This is especially important if the different personas represent different ROAS/CPA goals, as all asset groups in a PMax campaign will share the same ROAS/CPA bidding.
Pair LinkedIn signals with strong conversion definitions: Automation performs better when professional context is reinforced by clear success metrics. It’s critical to ensure there are at least 30 conversions in a 30-day period for any autobidding.
Allow time for learning: Audience signals need sufficient volume to influence delivery. Avoid frequent changes in the first learning period (two weeks). Once you clear this, budget changes of up to 15% can be made without triggering learning period fluctuation.

Dig deeper: Google and Microsoft: How their Performance Max approaches align and diverge

Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.

See terms.

Reporting: Turning audience data into decisions

Aggregated reporting for LinkedIn audiences is broken down by company, industry, and job function, allowing you to see how different professional segments contribute to performance across campaigns.

LinkedIn reporting can be found in Reporting > Professional demographics, and includes any LinkedIn targeting or audiences applied through predictive targeting.

LinkedIn reporting - professional demographics

How to approach it

Look for consistency across time, not single spikes: Patterns that repeat across weeks or months are more actionable than short‑term anomalies. Give “observation” audiences the time to prove themselves out. If you don’t have time for that, lean on Audience Planner to help you make informed decisions at scale.
Use reporting to inform creative and bids together: When a professional segment outperforms, examine both messaging and bidding before making changes. It’s possible that the audience really resonated with the creative, but you also want to confirm you didn’t overbid on a particular group.
Avoid over‑segmentation early: Too many audience cuts can dilute signal strength (especially if you’re running up against conversion scarcity).

Bidding with LinkedIn audiences

In Microsoft Advertising, you can use bid adjustments alongside automated bidding strategies, giving flexibility in how LinkedIn audiences influence auctions.

Because users can belong to multiple professional dimensions, bid adjustments may compound when audiences overlap within auctions, making overlap awareness an important part of bid strategy.

Bidding adjustments are most effective when they are incremental and reversible. The goal is calibration, not acceleration.

How to approach it

Keep initial bid adjustments small: Single‑digit percentage changes preserve learning while still allowing differentiation.
Audit audience overlap before increasing bids: Review how company, industry, and job function audiences intersect within campaigns.
Apply bid changes gradually and sequentially: Adjust one audience dimension at a time to understand its individual impact.
Reassess after enough volume accumulates: Make decisions only after performance reaches statistical relevance.

Dig deeper: The future of remarketing? Microsoft bets on impressions, not clicks

Creative strategy: Professional relevance without narrow assumptions

LinkedIn targeting shapes who is more likely to see your ads. Creative determines whether those impressions turn into engagement.

Professional cohorts include a wide range of experiences, identities, and perspectives. Effective creative respects that diversity while remaining relevant to the shared context.

Creative works best when it reflects professional empathy – acknowledging challenges, goals, and constraints without relying on shortcuts or stereotypes.

How to approach it

Anchor creative in shared problems, not titles: Focus on challenges that span roles and seniority levels within a LinkedIn targeting segment.
Keep language inclusive and adaptable: Avoid assumptions about background, experience, or decision‑making authority.
Use AI tools to localize, not homogenize: Adapt tone or examples by region or industry while preserving message intent.
Test creative alongside audience layers: Evaluate messaging performance within LinkedIn segments to refine both together.

Extending LinkedIn insights across B2B campaigns

LinkedIn targeting in Microsoft Advertising presents an opportunity to combine professional expertise with intent-driven media in a way that is scalable, privacy-conscious, and economically sustainable.

For teams already running LinkedIn Ads, it also provides a practical way to extend learnings into additional inventory through automation, supporting reach and efficiency beyond search.

The value doesn’t come from complexity. It comes from alignment – between data, mechanics, and human behavior.

Key takeaways:

LinkedIn profile targeting is fully available across Search and Performance Max on Microsoft‑owned surfaces.
Professional attributes function as targeting layers in search and as optimization signals in Performance Max.
Observation‑first approaches build understanding before commitment.
Aggregated reporting supports informed optimization without exposing individual data.
Small, intentional bid adjustments preserve performance stability.
Creative grounded in empathy strengthens professional relevance.

When LinkedIn data is used with curiosity and care, it becomes a way to see audiences more clearly rather than control them more tightly.

For B2B advertisers navigating complex buying journeys, that clarity is often the most valuable optimization of all.

Dig deeper: 5 LinkedIn Ads mistakes that could be hurting your campaigns

Read more at Read More

Google Ads upgrades Creator Partnerships with search and management tools

January 5, 2026/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

Google introduced Creator Search, which allows advertisers to discover YouTube creators using keywords or channel handles, then narrow results by subscriber count, average views, location, and contact availability. The update significantly reduces the manual work involved in creator research and outreach.

Alongside search, Google added a new Management section that centralizes creator communications. Advertisers can now see creator names, inquiry status, subjects, latest updates, and respond-by dates in one place, with direct email access built in.

Why we care. As creator-led campaigns become more central to media strategies, advertisers need better tools to find the right creators and keep partnerships organized. Google Ads’ latest update to Creator Partnerships (beta) aims to solve both problems.

First seen. This update was first spotted by Google Ads Specialist Thomas Eccel when he shared it on Linkedin.

The big picture. These changes move Creator Partnerships closer to a full-fledged workflow tool, helping teams manage creator collaborations with the same structure and accountability as other paid media efforts.

Bottom line. By improving both discovery and organization, Google Ads is making it easier for advertisers to run creator partnerships at scale.

Read more at Read More

December 2025 Digital Marketing Roundup: What Changed and What You Should Do About It

January 5, 2026/0 Comments/in Web Design/by

December made one thing clear: AI is no longer a feature layered on top of marketing. It is the system deciding what gets seen, what gets skipped, and what earns trust.

Search pushed deeper into zero-click behavior. Paid ads lost prime real estate. Influencer content matured into a full‑funnel channel. Platforms added tools while quietly tightening control. At the same time, security and data ownership became real business risks, not abstract concerns.

This roundup breaks down what actually mattered in December and how to adjust before these shifts harden in 2026.

Key Takeaways

Google accelerated AI-first search with Gemini 3, AI Mode, and AI-powered Search Console reporting.
AI Overviews and AI Mode are pushing both organic and paid clicks down, reshaping SERP strategy.
Influencer marketing expanded beyond Gen Z, pulling older, high-value audiences into creator ecosystems.
LinkedIn doubled down on video and events, reinforcing its position as the B2B growth platform.
Security threats like Google Ads MCC hijacks escalated, making account governance a priority.

Search & AI

AI is now deciding what gets seen before a click ever happens. December’s updates show Google tightening its grip on discovery while pushing brands to earn visibility inside AI systems.

Search Console Gets AI-Driven Reporting

Google rolled out AI-powered configuration in Search Console, allowing users to request custom reports using natural language. Instead of manually stitching filters together, teams can now ask questions the way they think about performance.

Google Search Console's AI-powered search configuration.

Our POV: This changes who gets access to insight. Reporting no longer bottlenecks around technical SEO or analytics specialists. Strategy conversations can happen faster, and closer to the business question that triggered them.

What this unlocks: Faster pattern recognition across large sites, quicker validation of hypotheses, and fewer reporting cycles spent just getting the data into shape.

What to do next: Standardize a small set of executive-level prompts tied to growth questions (discovery, decline, opportunity). Use this to shorten the distance between signal and decision.

Gemini 3 Lands Directly in Google Search

Google deployed Gemini 3 straight into Search across 120 countries, delivering richer answers, visuals, and interactive elements without requiring users to leave the results page.

Our POV: This is Google asserting itself as the destination, not the doorway. Content that once earned traffic by being explanatory or comparative now competes with Google’s own synthesized answers.

Strategic impact: Informational content becomes less about volume and more about authority. If your content is interchangeable, it becomes invisible.

What to do next: Identify where your content overlaps with Gemini-style answers. Invest more heavily in insight, proprietary data, and perspective that AI cannot compress without losing value.

Google Embeds AI Mode Into the Search Flow

When users tap “show more” under an AI Overview, Google now routes them into a full AI chat experience rather than expanding citations.

Our POV: This confirms that Google is intentionally reducing outbound traffic in favor of guided, AI-mediated discovery.

Strategic impact: Attribution gets murkier. Influence matters more than visits. Brands that only measure success by clicks will underinvest in visibility where decisions actually form.

What to do next: Start treating AI inclusion as a visibility channel. Track brand mentions, citations, and presence inside AI responses alongside traditional KPIs.

AI Overviews Push Ads Below the Fold

Research shows that roughly a quarter of search results now place paid ads beneath AI Overviews, with mobile SERPs most affected.

AI overview stats being pushed above the fold.

Our POV: Paid search is losing guaranteed prominence. Bidding harder no longer guarantees being seen.

Strategic impact: Paid media performance becomes dependent on how well it aligns with AI-generated context, not just auction dynamics.

What to do next: Re-evaluate high-value keywords where ads routinely fall below AI content. Coordinate paid and organic teams so messaging reinforces what users see first.

Branded Query Filtering and Chart Notes Arrive in GSC

Search Console now separates branded and non‑branded queries automatically and allows chart-level annotations.

Branded and non-branded queries being seperated in GSC.

Our POV: This finally closes long-standing reporting gaps that distorted SEO performance narratives.

What to do next: Capture a baseline brand vs non‑brand split now. Add annotations for launches, migrations, PR wins, and algorithm shifts to preserve institutional knowledge.

Paid Media & Risk

Automation keeps increasing, but so does exposure. December highlighted how fragile performance can be without strong governance and clear safeguards.

OpenAI Pauses ChatGPT Ads

OpenAI halted its early test of native ads inside ChatGPT after users struggled to distinguish sponsored content from AI-generated answers.

Our POV: This pause is less about ads failing and more about timing. Conversational interfaces collapse the distance between advice and influence, which raises the bar for trust.

Strategic impact: Future AI advertising will not behave like traditional display or search ads. Brands will compete on usefulness, credibility, and contextual fit rather than interruption.

What to do next: Start pressure-testing what value-driven, answer-oriented advertising could look like for your category. Focus on scenarios where a brand genuinely helps a user decide, not just where it can appear.

Google Ads MCC Hijacks Surge

Phishing attacks targeting Google Ads manager accounts increased sharply, allowing attackers to drain budgets and lock out advertisers within hours.

Our POV: This is no longer an edge case. As accounts scale, risk compounds.

Strategic impact: Performance gains mean little if governance fails. Security lapses can erase months of optimization and undermine executive confidence in paid media.

What to do next: Treat access control as part of your growth strategy. Limit permissions aggressively, audit users regularly, and align security reviews with budget planning.

Product, Design & UX

Product and design updates are quietly shaping how fast teams can ship, test, and iterate. December brought one change that materially reduces friction between design and development.

Figma Introduces CSS Grid-Like Layout Controls

Figma rolled out a new grid system that more closely mirrors how CSS Grid and Flexbox behave in production. Designers can now edit rows and columns directly, reposition elements with keyboard controls, and build layouts that respond more like real front-end frameworks.

Our POV: This narrows the long-standing gap between design intent and shipped experience. Fewer handoff mismatches mean faster iteration and fewer compromises downstream.

Strategic impact: Design systems become more scalable when layouts behave predictably across breakpoints. Teams that rely on rapid experimentation benefit most.

What to do next: Revisit your design system and layout standards. Align designers and developers on grid conventions so prototypes map cleanly to production.

Social & Creator Economy

Creator content is no longer niche or youth-driven. Platforms are shaping social into a full-funnel, multi-generational influence engine.

LinkedIn Sees Another Video Surge

LinkedIn reported continued double-digit growth in video uploads and watch time, with short-form content driving disproportionate reach.

Our POV: LinkedIn has quietly become a daily content destination, not just a professional directory.

Strategic impact: B2B visibility increasingly depends on consistent, human-led storytelling. Brands that delay video adoption will find it harder to build authority as the feed fills up.

What to do next: Commit to a repeatable LinkedIn video cadence. Prioritize clarity and expertise over production polish, and measure engagement trends over time.

LinkedIn Upgrades Event Ads

New integrations with ON24 and Cvent allow LinkedIn Event Ads to capture and route leads directly into CRMs.

Our POV: Events are moving out of the brand bucket and into the revenue conversation.

Strategic impact: This blurs the line between awareness and pipeline, making events accountable in ways they historically avoided.

What to do next: Reframe events as performance channels. Align messaging, registration, and follow-up under a single measurement framework.

Influencer Content Expands Beyond Gen Z

New data shows that more than half of adults aged fifty-five to sixty-four now watch influencer content weekly, often via connected televisions.

Our POV: Influencer marketing has crossed into mainstream media behavior. This is no longer a youth or trend-driven channel.

Strategic impact: Influencers are shaping consideration and trust for higher-value purchases, not just discovery for impulse buys.

What to do next: Test creator partnerships that emphasize expertise and credibility. Treat influencer content as a mid-funnel and upper-funnel asset, not just awareness.

Meta Enhances the Creator Marketplace

Instagram expanded its Creator Marketplace with better discovery, AI recommendations, and stronger paid amplification tools.

Our POV: Meta is positioning creators as a scalable performance input, not just an organic reach lever.

Strategic impact: The line between influencer marketing and paid social continues to erode. Creative quality and creator trust now directly affect efficiency.

What to do next: Identify creators whose content already performs organically. Use paid support to scale what works instead of forcing performance from scratch.

PR, Media, and Trust

As AI pulls from third-party sources, brand credibility is being shaped outside your owned channels. Relationships and presence matter more than volume.

Journalists Push Back on AI Pitches

Surveys show most journalists still prefer human-led outreach, citing AI-written pitches as generic and misaligned with their coverage needs.

Our POV: Efficiency without judgment damages relationships.

Strategic impact: As AI-generated noise increases, thoughtful and relevant outreach becomes a stronger differentiator.

What to do next: Use AI for research and preparation, not substitution. Preserve human insight where trust and creativity matter most.

Discord Emerges as a Media Hub

PR teams are increasingly using Discord servers as live, on-demand press rooms.

Our POV: This flips traditional outreach from push to pull.

Strategic impact: Brands that make themselves accessible become resources journalists return to, not just sources they react to.

What to do next: Pilot a controlled Discord environment for media. Offer clear channels, real access, and timely updates without overwhelming participants.

Platform Playbooks

Smaller platform updates often hide the most practical gains. December delivered clear lessons on how context and native execution drive results.

Reddit Releases Dynamic Product Ad Guidance

Reddit published best practices showing that focused optimizations can lift Dynamic Product Ad performance meaningfully.

Our POV: Reddit rewards relevance over polish.

Strategic impact: Brands that adapt creative to platform norms outperform those that recycle ads from other networks.

What to do next: Speak directly to subreddit context, keep messaging tight, and test incrementally to isolate what actually moves performance.

Conclusion

December reinforced a hard truth: visibility is no longer owned. It is earned repeatedly across AI systems, platforms, and communities.

The brands that win in 2026 will build authority machines, not traffic hacks. They will secure their data, design for AI interpretation, and show up consistently wherever decisions are shaped.

If you want help translating these shifts into a durable growth strategy, the NP Digital team is already doing this work every day.

Read more at Read More

2026 PPC trends to get ahead of now

January 5, 2026/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

The PPC landscape in 2025 shifted faster than ever, with updates arriving at a pace unmatched in the industry’s 20-year history. At SMX Next, a panel of industry experts broke down what’s working, what’s failing, and what advertisers should prepare for in 2026 and beyond.

The state of PPC

The panelists agreed that 2025 marked a major shift, especially in how quickly Google responded to advertiser feedback.

Ameet Khabra, founder of Hop Skip Media, called the year “interesting” and said he was genuinely surprised by Google’s willingness to listen to advertisers, especially on channel reporting for Performance Max.

“It was really cool to see the people who were in that room sit there and be like, this is exactly what we asked for,” she noted, referring to discussions at Google Marketing Live.

Chris Ridley, head of paid media at Evoluted, said 2025 wasn’t just about Google listening — it was the year AI and AI search truly took off.

“Everyone is now talking about the different platforms available, like Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and they just seem to be dominating. AI Overviews have kind of taken over as well.”

Reva Minkoff, founder and president of Digital4Startups, called 2025 “the year of the max,” pointing to Performance Max, AI Max, and the growing list of “max” campaign types. She said more features launched this year than at any other time in her 20-year search career.

“It’s just every day there’s a new thing, which is really exciting. But there’s definitely a lot happening now.”

What’s working in PPC

Back to basics: Structure and signals

All panelists stressed that success in 2025 came from returning to the fundamentals.

Minkoff stressed the importance of proper campaign structure and quality signals:

“It’s still important to have a good search campaign with keywords that you control and ads you create that goes to an audience that you think it should be going to.”
Minkoff noted that Performance Max is working well, but only when the signals are right — “if you’re not putting good stuff in, you won’t get good stuff out.”

She also pointed to strong results from Demand Gen (formerly Video Action campaigns), user-generated content, and influencer marketing:

“I think people want to hear from real people.”

Khabra stressed the importance of using scripts and automation oversight to catch issues before they turn into problems.

“We’ll have scripts in place that are like anomaly detectors, just so we know that tracking is off. The broken URL script is a lifesaver, honestly — how many times have we had a developer push a change and we didn’t even know it happened?”

The human touch in creative

Ridley underscored the need for authentic creative in an AI-driven landscape:

“Going back with our authentic user-generated content is getting really good results compared to this slick, polished stuff, especially with AI coming out now and people questioning whether it’s real or not. Having that human touch is really working for us.”

Client communication

Beyond tactics, Ridley emphasized better client communication:

“Making sure that we understand what their business objectives are rather than just their ROAS and CPAs” has been essential for success.

What not working in PPC

Automatically created assets (ACAs)

The panel unanimously agreed that Automatically Created Assets are problematic, primarily from a brand safety perspective.

Khabra was particularly critical:

“We can’t put in guidelines. We’re not allowed to approve things beforehand. So we really have to sit there and kind of just figure out what the system has created for us.”

She referenced a quote from Amy Hebdon:

“AI is a pattern matcher, not a creator. It’s going to generate the most probable thing, not something that’s actually new or exciting, or even correct.”

Minkoff echoed these concerns:

“A lot of clients need to be able to control their brand story and what they’re talking about, and the words that they use. I just don’t trust the automatically generated anything to reflect those guidelines.”

Minkoff noted that automatically generated content often misses business nuances, such as which products deserve budget and which items shouldn’t be advertised at all.

User interface and UX issues

Ridley voiced frustration with ongoing platform user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) changes.

“Having to click campaign, campaign, campaign makes no sense. I’m finding everything a lot easier to do in Editor now or using tools like Optmyzr where it kind of skips that UI.”
He apologized to Google representatives on other panels but maintained that UI changes are “counterproductive in terms of making it quicker, easier, more natural for people to find what they need.”

The problem is compounded by gaps between the UI and Editor, forcing advertisers to jump back and forth between the two.

Learning periods and flexibility

Minkoff pointed to extended learning periods as a major challenge, especially for smaller campaigns or time-sensitive moments like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“How do you navigate a learning period on these platforms that feel no longer designed to let you do those pushes for one day that are honestly a real part of the business calendar?”

Measurement challenges

Khabra flagged measurement as a major pain point, especially for small business owners with limited budgets and data.

“Trying to figure out how to make that work with automation that needs a lot of it has been really, really interesting.”

Khabra warned that Google’s modeled conversions reflect a “best possible outcome” scenario that business owners may mistakenly treat as reality.

Biggest surprises of 2025

Google Marketing Live announcements

Ridley said Google Marketing Live was his biggest surprise, noting that Google “announced loads of new things for small and medium businesses, but also big things we’ve been asking for.” Key announcements included:

A/B testing on product feeds in Merchant Center
Reducing customer list size requirements for search from 1,000 to just 100 approved users

He called the changes “game-changing” for small businesses.

Performance Max channel reporting

Minkoff was caught off guard by channel reporting for Performance Max:

“I did not see that coming. I think it’s very exciting, although the next step is going to be being able to do something about it, which is kind of what I’m hoping for come soon.”

Waze pins in Performance Max

Khabra’s biggest surprise was the most recent: Waze pins as a placement in Performance Max.

“That was definitely not on my bingo card. I would’ve never, ever in a million years thought the Waze pins would be a placement in PMax.”

The speed of AI/LLM rollout

Minkoff was struck by how quickly AI Overviews and LLMs became ubiquitous.

“It felt like overnight in a way. It was kind of coming out and then it was out and it’s there a good chunk of the time. The cat is out of the bag and it is very out of the bag and not coming back.”

The channel reporting debate

The Performance Max channel reporting discussion exposed tension between what advertisers want and what the platform was built to do.

The problem

Minkoff explained that many campaigns now see 95% or more of their budget flowing into a single placement, usually display:

“I just don’t think that was the point of PMax. The thing that I’ve always liked about PMax is that it can fill the whole funnel, that it can fill these different placements, that it wasn’t gonna be completely overrun by one.”

The fence-sitting position

Khabra acknowledged sitting on the fence:

“It was meant to be a black box this entire time. Although I’m really happy about the channel reporting, there was a little piece of you that was like, were we supposed to — should this have actually happened?”

She worried that everyone is now trying to manipulate the system in ways that defeat its purpose:

“We’re supposed to put in clean data, we’re supposed to put in good signals, and it’s supposed to do its job.”

Potential solutions

Ridley raised an intriguing idea: What if Google offered media mix controls that let advertisers suggest percentage splits — like 20% search and 30% display — as guidance rather than hard limits?

Minkoff suggested bid adjustments as a middle ground:

“Bid up, bid down. I want more of this, I want less of this. I’m not even necessarily asking for me to figure it out because if I was right, I would just run them in the other campaign. But more a matter of like, do a little more of this, do a little less of this.”

The consensus was clear: until better controls exist, advertisers should focus on sending the right signals so Google can make smarter decisions on the backend.

Biggest struggles right now

Controlling automated AI features

Ridley called the automatic rollout of AI recommendations and features the biggest challenge:

“Even sometimes after you turn it off and you go through the whole review, the campaign setup, you see it turned back on.”

He pointed to Matt Beswick’s recent experience, where forgetting to disable search partners led to most of the budget being spent on wasted traffic.

The challenge goes further with hidden toggles and hard-to-find settings, creating constant stress for advertisers trying to stay in control.

Finding hidden settings

Minkoff echoed this concern:

“A lot of the boxes are hidden, so it’s hard to even find where it was turned on or turned off, or the option that you can adjust it.”

Measurement for small businesses

Khabra’s biggest concern remains measurement challenges, especially with privacy concerns making tracking increasingly difficult:

“I think that’s just gonna continually become more of an issue.”

What we’ll be talking about in 2026

The unknown unknown

Minkoff offered a fascinating perspective: “My favorite thing about this question is that I honestly don’t know. And I feel like this is the first time I can say that—the first time where I felt like things were changing that quickly.”

She emphasized that the biggest thing we’ll discuss in a year probably hasn’t even been released yet:

“We have to make sure that we have budget, we have flexibility to factor that into our planning. I really think it’ll be something completely new, which is super exciting, but also kind of crazy.”

The antitrust trial

Khabra is watching the Google antitrust trial closely:

“They lost the first part of it. They’re appealing it. I’m really curious just to see what happens on that front and what the implications are.”

Ads within AI platforms

Ridley expects AI to remain the focus a year from now, but with ads running inside AI platforms.

“Ads within each of the AI platforms as well, and probably Google and other platforms integrating them as network partners as well.”

The only certainty in PPC is uncertainty

PPC changed at an unprecedented pace in 2025. Google finally listened to advertisers while pushing deeper into AI-driven automation. The advertisers who performed best embraced automation without giving up strategic control, prioritized quality signals over volume, and stayed agile enough to adapt to changes that seemed to come weekly, rather than quarterly.

As 2026 approaches, platforms are evolving faster than ever, and the biggest changes likely haven’t even been announced yet. Advertisers who build flexibility into their strategies, stick to strong fundamentals, and feed high-quality signals into automated systems will be best positioned to succeed — whatever 2026 brings.

Watch: 2026 PPC trends to get ahead of now + Live Q&A

Here is the full panel discussion from SMX Next 2025:

Read more at Read More

Google Ads adds shortcut button to Change history

January 5, 2026/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

Google Local Services Ads vs. Search Ads- Which drives better local leads?

Tired of wasting time digging through Google Ads change history, jumping between reports, campaigns, and ad groups? A new “Go to…” button removes those extra clicks. It’s a small user interface change that saves time during audits and troubleshooting.

What’s new. Google added a “Go to…” dropdown in the Change history report. You can jump straight from a logged change to the relevant campaign or ad group. This is especially helpful when reviewing bulk edits, script-driven changes, or updates made in Google Ads Editor.

How it works:

Select one or more changes in the Change history report.
Use the “Go to…” dropdown to navigate straight to the affected entity.
No more manual searching through account structure to find what changed.

What they’re saying. The update was first flagged by PPC Specialist Arpan Banerjee on LinkedIn.

Hana Kobzová, founder of on PPC News Feed, said the feature “eliminates extra steps in troubleshooting and speeds up navigation, especially when reviewing bulk edits or changes made through scripts or the Google Ads Editor.”

Why we care. This update removes friction from one of the most time-consuming parts of account management: figuring out what changed and where. The new “Go to…” button lets you jump straight from the change log to the affected campaign or ad group. That saves time during audits, troubleshooting, and bulk-edit reviews. For teams managing large accounts or relying on scripts and Google Ads Editor, those saved clicks add up fast.

Bottom line. It’s not flashy, but for advertisers who live in Change history, this shortcut can save you real time.

Read more at Read More

Top 10 PPC expert columns of 2025 on Search Engine Land

December 30, 2025/0 Comments/in Search Engine Land, Web Design News/by

Top 10 Search Engine Land PPC columns of 2025

PPC didn’t stand still in 2025. It adjusted. These articles resonated because they answered the real questions advertisers are asking: how to stay competitive, cut wasted spend, work with automation instead of against it, and prepare for what’s next.

Below are links to the 10 most-read Search Engine Land PPC columns of 2025, written by our exceptional subject matter experts.

10. Can small businesses compete on Google Ads anymore?

With the right strategy, even the smallest business can stand out, win customers, and make a lasting impact. Here’s how. (By Sophie Logan. Published Sept. 16.)

9. Google Ads optimization: What to stop, start, and continue in 2025

Shift your optimization mindset in 2025 with fresh strategies for keywords, Performance Max, and audience targeting. (By Pauline Jakober. Published Feb. 6.)

8. CPC inflation: How fast are Google Ads costs rising?

CPCs are rising – but how fast? Compare ad cost inflation to consumer price index and see what it means for your ad strategy. (By Mark Meyerson. Published April 16.)

7. The end of SEO-PPC silos: Building a unified search strategy for the AI era

AI-driven search is blurring the line between organic and paid. Learn how uniting SEO and PPC boosts visibility, intent, and brand authority. (By Jen Cornwell. Published Oct. 6.)

6. How to vibe code for PPC: Building a seasonality analysis tool

PPC scripts hit limits. Vibe coding removes the roadblocks. Turn complex seasonal patterns into simple, data-driven planning tools. (By Frederick Vallaeys. Published Aug. 21.)

5. How to write high-performing Google Ads copy with generative AI

Speed up your ad creation process without losing your message. Use generative AI to craft relevant, personalized copy that connects. (By Jason Tabeling. Published Aug. 1.)

4. 7 Google Ads search term filters to cut wasted spend

These filtering tactics help refine your targeting, reduce spend on low-quality clicks, and uncover new keyword opportunities. (By Menachem Ani. Published July 22.)

3. Google Ads scripts: Everything you need to know

Streamline campaign management with Google Ads scripts. Get insights, use cases, and practical tips for using automation to boost performance. (By Frederick Vallaeys. Published Jan. 9.)

2. PPC in the age of zero-click search: How to stay profitable

Fewer clicks mean higher stakes. Win visibility with precise targeting, value-based bidding, and authority across paid and organic search. (By Sarah Stemen. Published Oct. 7.)

1. 5 Google Ads tactics to drop in 2026

Some PPC practices no longer fit today’s automated Google Ads environment. Here’s what to phase out – and what to prioritize next year. (By Sarah Vlietstra. Published Nov. 4.)

Read more at Read More

10. Google changed how Tag Manager works with Google Ads

March 10 – Google updated Google Tag Manager (GTM) to ensure the Google tag loaded before events fired, improving tracking accuracy and data collection, starting April 10.

For containers with Google Ads and Floodlight tags, GTM now loads the Google tag automatically. Advertisers got easier access to Enhanced Conversions, cross-domain tracking, and auto events directly within tag settings.

The update further simplified data collection and compliance by automatically enabling user-provided data when Customer Data Terms were accepted.

9. Google Performance Max campaign API placement exclusions

Jan. 28 – Google clarified that you can control Performance Max campaigns using API-based placement exclusions, reversing months of documentation and support guidance that said this wasn’t possible.

Research from ad tech firm Optmyzr confirmed that API exclusions fully blocked spend on excluded placements and worked faster than manual UI controls.

The change gave advertisers stronger programmatic control over PMax campaigns and addresses a long-standing frustration with the AI-driven format.

8. Search Terms visibility in Google Performance Max campaigns

March 21 – Google updated Performance Max campaigns to show which search terms trigger ads and to let advertisers add negative keywords directly from the Search Terms report.

The rollout improved transparency and control, addressing long-standing criticism that Performance Max lacked query-level insight.

By tying into recent negative keyword features, the update gave advertisers visibility closer to standard Search campaigns while retaining AI-driven optimization.

7. Google Ads AI Max for Search campaigns beta

May 6 – Google announced AI Max, a new one-click enhancement for Search campaigns using advanced AI to expand reach, generate ads dynamically, and adapt creative in real time.

AI Max combined broad match, keywordless technology, automated text customization, and final URL expansion to help advertisers capture untapped high-intent queries while tailoring headlines, descriptions, and landing pages as user intent emerges.

6. Google AI Overviews ads

May 22 – Google began showing ads directly within AI Overviews on desktop search in May, marking a major shift in how it monetizes its generative search experience.

Confirmed at Google Marketing Live 2025, the rollout placed Search and Shopping ads within or alongside AI-generated summaries at the top of results.

5. Google Ads allowed multiple ads for the same business on one results page

March 31 – Google Ads updated its Unfair Advantage Policy to allow advertisers to show multiple ads for the same business on a single results page, as long as the ads appeared in different locations.

By treating each ad location as a separate auction, Google formalized earlier experiments that expand advertiser presence across the SERP. The change created new opportunities for larger brands to dominate visibility and potentially drive more clicks and conversions.

4. Google launched automatic marketing content extraction

April 3 – Google launched a feature that automatically pulled merchants’ existing marketing content (e.g., promotions, product details, social links, brand assets) to boost visibility across Search, Shopping, and Maps.

All merchants were auto-enrolled. Google sources the content through marketing emails or direct submissions to a dedicated Google address, though businesses could opt out at any time in Merchant Center.

3. Temu pulled its U.S. Google Shopping ads

April 14 – Temu abruptly shut off its U.S. Google Shopping ads, exposing how heavily its growth relied on paid acquisition. Within days, its App Store ranking fell from the top four to 58 as its impression share collapsed and vanished from auction data.

The pullback aligned with higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports and stricter enforcement of import loopholes, both of which directly weakened Temu’s subsidized, direct-from-manufacturer model.

2. Amazon pulled out of Google Shopping ads

July 25 – Amazon abruptly halted its Google Shopping ads, a move experts called unprecedented and “colossal” given Amazon’s long-standing role in fueling auction competition and Google ad revenue.

The shutdown marked a clear inflection point after a year of gradual cooling. It spanned roughly 20 international markets and removed a dominant bidder that routinely drove up CPCs and captured outsized impression share.

One month later, Amazon resumed Shopping ads globally but remained absent from the U.S.

1. Google Ads simplified conversion tracking with new tag manager feature

Feb. 5 – Google Ads introduced a new form tracking feature in Google Tag Manager to let you create conversion events for lead form submissions without manual coding.

The wizard-style setup supports codeless event detection, flexible form submission tracking, and multiple URL matching options, making conversion tracking far easier to implement.

That’s a wrap

PPC in 2025 was dominated by major talking points that, unsurprisingly, largely centered on Google.

Looking ahead, 2026 is likely to bring even deeper AI integration, with real differentiation coming from experts who can apply AI strategically rather than simply market its use.

Read more at Read More