Google has been pushing smart bidding for a long time now, using everything from prompts in the ads manager interface, to employing call centers that contact advertisers and strongly advise them to adopt it wherever possible. They always sound confident in this being the right move, warning that you could be missing out on better performance from your campaigns. As if we didn’t have enough FOMO in our lives… It’s worth clarifying the difference between “automated” and “smar

We all know what a click is, and anyone who has talked about marketing for more than five minutes understands customer acquisition cost. Within the interface of any digital advertising platform, however, there are literally dozens of metrics available to sift through; some seemingly redundant and some hyper-specific. Depending on a given person’s comfort level, they may stick to the default metrics and never venture beyond them for fear of overcomplicating reports and confus

“If you ain’t first, you’re last!” Some of you may know this quote from Talladega Nights , others may have heard it from a boss/client insisting that appearing at the very top of search results is the paramount goal of their online advertising. While no one would object to placing first in any sort of competition, whether sports or marketing, it’s quite the generalization to say that’s the only result of value. Is that idea based on real business outcomes , or is it more a ma

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and they sat you at a table you didn't like? Maybe it was wobbly, next to a busy doorway, with the AC...

Updated December 2025 "Should I bother bidding on my own business name in search, or should I simply rely on the organic listing?" This is a classic question that anyone who runs search ads, such as on Google or Microsoft (Bing), encounters at some point. Arguments Against Running Branded Search Ads There are many opinions on this topic in the PPC world, some going so far as to say that bidding on branded keywords (which is targeting searches where the potential customer use