Field notes from the
marketing stack.
Practical takes on PPC, call tracking, AI agents, and first-party data.
Auto-Apply Deleted the Keywords That Told Google What You Wanted
A keyword that rarely serves is not a keyword doing nothing. Exact and phrase keywords tell broad match what you mean, and they win the identical search at a lower price. Auto-apply calls them redundant and deletes them. It is wrong.
73 posts in All. Page 1 of 9.
Do Not Count a Page View as a Conversion
Smart Bidding buys whatever you mark as Primary. Mark a homepage view and it will buy homepage views, report them as conversions, and cut your cost per lead in half on paper. Nothing changed in the real world except the report.
Your Ad Report and Your Bank Account Are Telling Two Different Stories
Your ad platform knows what you spent. Your phone system knows who called. Your invoicing knows what got paid. Three systems, three reports, and not one of them can tell you what a lead is worth. The fix is a join, not another chart.
ChatGPT Ads Just Started Rewriting Your Ads Unless You Said No
OpenAI flipped creative enhancements on for every self-serve ChatGPT ad campaign this week. The AI can rewrite your headlines and change your landing page, and the reports will not tell you which version ran. Turn it off, then test it on purpose.
Google Has Been Writing Promotions Into Your Ads Since October 12
Since October 12, Google Ads has been pulling discounts off advertiser websites and attaching them to ads without approval. The first time you can see what it pulled is after your customers have. Here is what to check this week.
Your Rankings Didn't Crash. The Thermometer Broke.
Google has been fighting the scrapers that collect its search results by feeding them wrong data on purpose, and rank tracking tools got caught in the crossfire. If your SEO report showed a one-day crater that healed itself, the thermometer broke, not your rankings.
You Cannot Optimize for E-E-A-T, and the People Selling It Know That
There is no E-E-A-T number inside Google's ranking systems and no meter that goes up when you add a longer author bio. The framework describes what wins. It is not the vehicle. Here is what is, and what experience looks like when you are the one in the crawl space.
The Phone Number Your Customers Saved Might Not Be Yours Anymore
Google's forwarding numbers are a rental with a 60-day meter running per caller. The customer who saved your number in October and calls it in February reaches whoever holds it now, and you will never see it happen.
Why One Company Should Handle Your Marketing End to End
Nobody chose the five-vendor marketing setup. It accumulated. And every seam between those vendors, from the website nobody will touch to the phone number that stops being yours, is a place where your money leaks.
Starting October 1, Google Will Charge You for LSA Calls You Never Answered
A missed Local Services Ads call during business hours becomes a paid lead on October 1 if the caller stays on the line 20 seconds. About five rings. Every unanswered ring now costs you twice, and the fix is not in your budget settings.