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These are excellent tips. I have been managing Google Ads full time for about 12 years and I run a small agency. I can confirm he is right about all of this.

These are excellent tips. I have been managing Google Ads full time for about 12 years and I run a small agency. I can confirm he is right about all of this. The challenging thing about this advice is that for most people it feels unnatural to do the opposite of what Google recommends. Usually people need to get ripped off a few times before they accept that fact that Google is no longer a good actor.

propogandist 4y ago
Google's reps routinely "take care" of big agency staff and show them a good time while feeding them the same "spend optimization" suggestions. The agency staff can then claim the campaigns were optimized based on Google's suggestions, which is the perfect smokescreen. Most big brands that outsource media buying don't have SMEs to audit the media buying they've outsourced, so the result is Google makes a ton of money via their preferred middleman, advertising agencies.
- justinbaker84 4y ago
  You are absolutely right. I worked at a big agency where I managed a team that ran the search ads for a fortune 500 tech company. That was usually how it worked. I tried to communicate up the chain that the dinners and outings on Google's dime are a clear conflict of interest, but nobody wanted to hear it. By far the most dissapointing thing was that the client often just wanted to go with Google's recomendations or they had even worse ideas. Even when we really tried to look out for the best interests of the client it was like fighting an uphill battle both ways. Another problem is that anything that isn't direct response is hard to measure so it's tough to make a clear and compelling case. Anybody can chalk up any hare brained idea to brand value and it is tough to push back on that when the client doesn't really care.
- disgruntledphd2 4y ago
  Like, everyone in the industry shows agency reps a good time. Back a decade ago, FB reps used to get the clients drunk the night before they'd see Google on the principle that they'd remember less. However it's worth pointing out that Google as an org have absolutely hated ad agencies for many years, in fact being nice to the agencies was a strategy used by FB when I was there. I'm not disputing your point about optimisations, but the notion that Google like ad agencies is just ludicrous.
  - bzmrgonz 4y ago
    I think the problem may be in the "performance compensation" built into their "experts" portfolio.
Melatonic 4y ago
Google wants to make more money - of course they may not be giving you the best advice for your company :-) What I have found works best is to always start playing around with the most restricted type of ads. So restrict by location, test, restrict to the most exact keyword or semi exact (instead of general), do not use common words as much as possible (or quote phrases instead of single words), etc etc.

propogandist 4y ago

Google's reps routinely "take care" of big agency staff and show them a good time while feeding them the same "spend optimization" suggestions. The agency staff can then claim the campaigns were optimized based on Google's suggestions, which is the perfect smokescreen. Most big brands that outsource media buying don't have SMEs to audit the media buying they've outsourced, so the result is Google makes a ton of money via their preferred middleman, advertising agencies.

justinbaker84 4y ago
You are absolutely right. I worked at a big agency where I managed a team that ran the search ads for a fortune 500 tech company. That was usually how it worked. I tried to communicate up the chain that the dinners and outings on Google's dime are a clear conflict of interest, but nobody wanted to hear it. By far the most dissapointing thing was that the client often just wanted to go with Google's recomendations or they had even worse ideas. Even when we really tried to look out for the best interests of the client it was like fighting an uphill battle both ways. Another problem is that anything that isn't direct response is hard to measure so it's tough to make a clear and compelling case. Anybody can chalk up any hare brained idea to brand value and it is tough to push back on that when the client doesn't really care.
disgruntledphd2 4y ago
Like, everyone in the industry shows agency reps a good time. Back a decade ago, FB reps used to get the clients drunk the night before they'd see Google on the principle that they'd remember less. However it's worth pointing out that Google as an org have absolutely hated ad agencies for many years, in fact being nice to the agencies was a strategy used by FB when I was there. I'm not disputing your point about optimisations, but the notion that Google like ad agencies is just ludicrous.
- bzmrgonz 4y ago
  I think the problem may be in the "performance compensation" built into their "experts" portfolio.

Melatonic 4y ago

Google wants to make more money - of course they may not be giving you the best advice for your company :-) What I have found works best is to always start playing around with the most restricted type of ads. So restrict by location, test, restrict to the most exact keyword or semi exact (instead of general), do not use common words as much as possible (or quote phrases instead of single words), etc etc.