Épisodes

  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 16 - Targeting Google Ads Keywords

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 16 - Targeting Google Ads Keywords
    Apr 21 2026

    *My Google Ads Course is Updated and $34.99/Year: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-course
    **Join Surfside PPC Premium For $5/Month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw/join
    ***Get 2 Free Google Ads Training Videos: https://surfsideppc.com/pages/training
    ****Hire Me For Consulting: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-consulting

    Access premium content on:
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/surfsideinbound
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Surfsideppc
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    Join the Surfside PPC Community: Get your specific questions answered
    Professional Help: Ready to stop the guesswork? Visit surfsideppc.com for a professional account audit or full management.

    ---

    Navigating Google Ads Keyword Targeting for Maximum ROI

    Success in the modern Google Ads auction is no longer about matching characters; it is about architecting intent signals that feed the machine-learning engine. Wasted ad spend is the tax you pay for refusing to adapt to the "rules of engagement" where manual control is a relic of the past and data density is the new currency. This guide dissects the strategic pivot from rigid keyword syntax to fluid search themes and data-driven automation, showing you how to leverage high-budget broad match as a competitive moat to out-scale and out-data your rivals.

    The transition from manual precision to data-driven automation necessitates a fundamental mindset shift: you are no longer just picking words; you are training Google’s AI to identify your highest-value customers. This evolution requires a sophisticated balance of "Search Themes" and "Custom Segments" to ensure your ad spend functions as a high-performance growth engine rather than a cost center.

    Key Takeaways: The "Why" Behind the Strategy

    * Architecting Intent over Syntax: Capture motivated buyers by distinguishing between "research intent" and "buying intent." For example, ignoring the nuance between "pet food" and "pet food packaging" leads to B2B budget leakage in B2C auctions.
    * The Broad Match "Out-Data" Moat: Leverage high budgets to feed the Smart Bidding engine. By casting a wider net once conversion data is robust, you gain a competitive advantage by "out-dating" smaller, risk-averse competitors who are trapped in restrictive match types.
    * The Exact Match 2.0 Reality: Acknowledge that "Exact Match" now targets intent and synonyms rather than literal characters. This shift requires structuring ad groups around specific service silos—like "termite inspection Nashville"—to maintain landing page relevance and Quality Score.
    * Strategic Expansion through Conversion Signals: Use phrase and exact match syntax as the foundation for niche services, only pivoting to broad match when the account has sufficient conversion signals to "train" the algorithm effectively.

    Timestamps:

    * 00:00 — The Visual Pivot: Visualizing campaign blueprints clarifies complex structural overlaps that audio alone cannot convey.
    * 01:10 — The AI Survival Kit: Building a moat with 20+ annual AI modules ensures you stay ahead of the curve before human management is fully displaced by automation.
    * 02:30 — The Death of Manual Control: Legacy "set it and forget it" strategies are now budget-leaking liabilities in an AI-first ecosystem.
    * 04:15 — The Intent Minefield: High-volume terms like "pet food" are dangerous traps; you must filter for specific buyer journeys like logistics or packaging to survive.
    * 07:00 — Local Dominance via Ad Group Silos: Sending "termite" traffic to a generic "pest control" homepage is a budget killer; hyper-specificity is the only path to elite conversion rates.
    * 11:00 — From Brackets to Broad: Exact match has expanded to include "same meaning," making rigid character-counting obsolete compared to intent-based targeting.
    * 15:00 — Scaling to Market Dominance: The "Wide Net" Power Play: High budget + Broad Match + Robust Conversion Data = An unassailable market lead that allows you to dominate local auctions.

    Thanks to our monthly supporters
    • Dominic Law
    • Alamgir
    • Scott
    • Kaio Rafael
    • Jürgen
    • Morgan Wells
    • skyefoot
    • Olga Fischer
    • Jesse Kassebaum
    • Gia Admin
    • Cindy
    • Lisa
    • Syed Ali
    • Domenico Mastroianni
    • Jeff Barnhart
    • AJ Burzuk
    • Jeff Abramovitz
    • Clay Cunningham
    • Gania
    • Ciprian Tepes
    • Fredrik Norlund
    • Ryan Meghdies
    • Stephen Revere
    • Mark Power
    • Maja Jurkovic
    • retlaw7
    • Desiree Horsey
    • Santi
    • Deividas Paulauskas
    • Vivek Nayak
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    18 min
  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 15 - How To Bid Optimally in Google Ads

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 15 - How To Bid Optimally in Google Ads
    Apr 14 2026
    *My Google Ads Course is Updated and $34.99/Year: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-course**Join Surfside PPC Premium For $5/Month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw/join***Get 2 Free Google Ads Training Videos: https://surfsideppc.com/pages/training****Hire Me For Consulting: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-consultingAccess premium content on:Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/surfsideinboundYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SurfsideppcSKOOL: https://www.skool.com/surfsideppcJoin the Surfside PPC Community: Get your specific questions answered Professional Help: Ready to stop the guesswork? Visit surfsideppc.com for a professional account audit or full management.---Mastering Google Ads Bidding for Maximum ROIDigital advertisers currently operate in a high-stakes environment where the friction between granular manual control and Google’s "black box" automation determines the winner of every auction. Overpaying for junk traffic is the inevitable result of a stagnant strategy, while scaling conversions requires a calculated surrender to machine learning. Success in today’s search environment isn't just about bidding the most; it’s about bidding with enough precision to buy the data that eventually fuels your account’s "moat." This guide outlines the precise lifecycle of an optimized bidding strategy—moving from a controlled manual launch to high-volume automated scaling—to ensure your account remains competitive. Understanding these phase-shifts is the essential prerequisite for moving beyond mere visibility into the high-impact benefits of data-driven growth.Strategic Shift: The "Why" Behind Modern BiddingTo survive in the modern search landscape, advertisers must pivot from a "cost-per-click" mindset to a "conversion intelligence" framework. Established competitors use historical data as a defensive moat; to breach it, you must treat your initial budget as an investment in algorithmic trust rather than a search for immediate profit. By moving from "spending money" to "buying data," you provide the machine learning engine with the signals it needs to identify your highest-value customers.* How to deploy Manual CPC with Exact Match initially so that you can filter out irrelevant queries and maintain strict budget integrity during the launch phase.* How to hit the 15-conversion monthly threshold so that you can unlock the full power of Smart Bidding for specialized or niche services.* How to transition from Exact Match to Broad Match via Target CPA so that you can scale lead volume once the algorithm understands your target audience.* How to manage the 30-60 day "Learning Period" so that you can move past high initial costs and achieve a stabilized, profitable ROI.These high-level benefits are realized through the specific tactical phases covered in the following strategic breakdown of the campaign lifecycle.Episode Chapters: Strategic Deep DiveSuccess in Google Ads requires following a campaign's natural lifecycle—moving from a restrictive manual launch to an automated, broad-match state. Applying the wrong bidding strategy at the wrong phase is the most common reason for campaign failure.* 00:00 - Opening and the AI Marketing Course* The Impression Share Trap: Why Target Impression Share often leads to "inventory overpayment" and why it is avoided even for branded or highly competitive campaigns.* The Control Phase: Utilizing Manual CPC and Maximize Clicks with Exact Match to ensure you aren't overpaying for low-intent searches during the discovery phase.* The Niche Roadblock: Navigating the "Conversion Threshold" challenge for service providers—such as grandfather clock restoration—where low search volume makes reaching 15 leads per month a significant hurdle.* Performance Max as a Catalyst: How to leverage PMax campaigns to rapidly gather initial conversion signals or re-engage prospects who have already interacted with your brand.* The Data Investment: Why the 30-60 day "Learning Period" is a necessary financial commitment and how to manage the stress of high initial costs.* Scaling the Funnel: The technical transition from Exact Match to Broad Match once the account has acquired the conversion intelligence required for Smart Bidding.* The ROI Blueprint: Analyzing the math of a 300/day budget (9,000/month) to secure 60 leads at a $150 CPA, and understanding the customer journey beyond the initial click. Thanks to our monthly supporters Dominic LawAlamgirScottKaio RafaelJürgenMorgan WellsskyefootOlga FischerJesse KassebaumGia AdminCindyLisaSyed AliDomenico MastroianniJeff BarnhartAJ BurzukJeff AbramovitzClay CunninghamGaniaCiprian TepesFredrik NorlundRyan MeghdiesStephen RevereMark PowerMaja Jurkovicretlaw7Desiree HorseySantiDeividas PaulauskasVivek Nayak
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    15 min
  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 14 - Advertising Competitive Analysis

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 14 - Advertising Competitive Analysis
    Apr 7 2026

    *My Google Ads Course is Updated and $34.99/Year: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-course
    **Join Surfside PPC Premium For $5/Month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw/join
    ***Get 2 Free Google Ads Training Videos: https://surfsideppc.com/pages/training
    ****Hire Me For Consulting: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-consulting

    Access premium content on:
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/surfsideinbound
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Surfsideppc
    SKOOL: https://www.skool.com/surfsideppc

    Join the Surfside PPC Community: Get your specific questions answered
    Professional Help: Ready to stop the guesswork? Visit surfsideppc.com for a professional account audit or full management.

    ---

    Fast-Track Your Google Ads Competitive Intelligence

    Stop flying blind and start dismantling your competitors’ PPC playbooks in real-time. This episode reveals the exact methods for reverse-engineering competitor budgets and creative strategies using the Google Ads Transparency Center and SpyFu, moving your strategy from guesswork to data-backed precision. We map the strategic journey from a specific search term directly to optimized landing pages, identifying exactly where industry leaders are aggressively investing their capital.

    Why Competitive Monitoring is a Strategic Necessity

    In an era where organic real estate is shrinking—with specific high-intent terms like "blog websites" seeing 31.9% of searches diverted into paid ads—competitive monitoring is no longer optional; it is a survival requirement. Understanding competitor PPC movements allows you to defend your market share and capture high-intent traffic before it hits their "demo and free trial" funnel.

    * Leverage the Google Ads Transparency Center to dismantle competitor creative and landing page hierarchies for free, identifying their messaging priorities and verified identities.
    * Analyze SpyFu budget data (via the Professional version) to benchmark your spend against rivals—such as Jasper.ai’s $42k/month or Claude.ai’s $284k/month—using verified historical data.
    * Execute Broad Match Auditing so that you can filter through inflated competitor keyword lists (like Jasper's 7,300+ terms) to identify the high-intent gems hidden in their likely broad-match strategy.
    * Scale AEO, GEO, and SEO Visibility so that your content is optimized for the "New Frontier" of Answer Engine and Generative Engine Optimization alongside traditional search.

    These insights bridge the gap between high-level market visibility and the tactical execution required to dominate the SERPs.

    Curiosity-Gap Chapter Breakdown

    Mastering competitive analysis requires a structured workflow that transitions from broad platform discovery to granular keyword mapping and conversion flow auditing.

    * 00:00 The "Hidden" Transparency Hack: How to use active search results to trigger the Google Ads Transparency Center for any verified advertiser.
    * 01:15 Decoding the $42k/Month Playbook: Validating Jasper.ai’s spend and why paid click percentages (up to 31.9%) dictate your budget necessity.
    * 02:45 The AEO & GEO Pivot: Defining the strategic shift toward Answer Engine Optimization and how market leaders target "AI search visibility."
    * 03:30 The Overlap Advantage: Using SpyFu to compare keyword commonalities and identify where you are being outspent by players like Semrush.
    * 04:50 From Landing Page to Conversion: Reverse-engineering the "demo and free trial" flow to identify conversion friction in your own funnel.

    Thanks to our monthly supporters
    • Dominic Law
    • Alamgir
    • Scott
    • Kaio Rafael
    • Jürgen
    • Morgan Wells
    • skyefoot
    • Olga Fischer
    • Jesse Kassebaum
    • Gia Admin
    • Cindy
    • Lisa
    • Syed Ali
    • Domenico Mastroianni
    • Jeff Barnhart
    • AJ Burzuk
    • Jeff Abramovitz
    • Clay Cunningham
    • Gania
    • Ciprian Tepes
    • Fredrik Norlund
    • Ryan Meghdies
    • Stephen Revere
    • Mark Power
    • Maja Jurkovic
    • retlaw7
    • Desiree Horsey
    • Santi
    • Deividas Paulauskas
    • Vivek Nayak
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    12 min
  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 13 - How To Market A Medical Practice

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 13 - How To Market A Medical Practice
    Mar 31 2026

    *My Google Ads Course is Updated and $34.99/Year: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-course
    **Join Surfside PPC Premium For $5/Month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw/join
    ***Get 2 Free Google Ads Training Videos: https://surfsideppc.com/pages/training
    ****Hire Me For Consulting: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-consulting

    Access premium content on:
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/surfsideinbound
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Surfsideppc
    SKOOL: https://www.skool.com/surfsideppc

    Join the Surfside PPC Community: Get your specific questions answered
    Professional Help: Ready to stop the guesswork? Visit surfsideppc.com for a professional account audit or full management.

    ---

    Mastering Medical Practice Marketing

    In today’s healthcare landscape, clinical excellence is only half of the equation; digital authority is what ensures your waiting room remains full. While many practitioners rely on fading word-of-mouth networks, market leaders are capturing high-intent patients through sophisticated local search and trust-building systems.

    Stop letting your practice settle for inconsistent phone lines and start treating your digital presence as your most productive employee. This episode provides the tactical roadmap for transitioning from a quiet, single-doctor office to a market-dominant medical center. We analyze how top-tier practices—like the multi-location orthopedic groups in Myrtle Beach—leverage hyper-local SEO and diagnostic-specific content to own their drive market.

    Medical marketing requires a fundamentally different psychological approach than standard retail; because you are dealing with patient health, the primary currency is trust, not price. Every digital touchpoint must provide professional reassurance while maintaining strict HIPAA compliance for data security and patient intake.

    * Optimize your website with detailed provider bios and accepted insurances so that you can establish immediate clinical authority and convert hesitant visitors into scheduled patients.
    * Prioritize review velocity over total review count so that you can signal active, high-quality care to Google’s ranking algorithms and outshine stagnant local competitors.
    * Build dedicated pages for high-intent diagnostics like bone density scans or specific pain treatments so that you can dominate niche search results and capture patients looking for specialized care.
    * Integrate a human-centric intake system or local call center so that you can maintain a high-touch patient experience even as your practice scales to multiple locations.

    Implementing these strategies ensures your practice remains the first choice in an increasingly crowded digital marketplace.

    These insights provide the framework for sustainable medical practice growth.

    Thanks to our monthly supporters
    • Dominic Law
    • Alamgir
    • Scott
    • Kaio Rafael
    • Jürgen
    • Morgan Wells
    • skyefoot
    • Olga Fischer
    • Jesse Kassebaum
    • Gia Admin
    • Cindy
    • Lisa
    • Syed Ali
    • Domenico Mastroianni
    • Jeff Barnhart
    • AJ Burzuk
    • Jeff Abramovitz
    • Clay Cunningham
    • Gania
    • Ciprian Tepes
    • Fredrik Norlund
    • Ryan Meghdies
    • Stephen Revere
    • Mark Power
    • Maja Jurkovic
    • retlaw7
    • Desiree Horsey
    • Santi
    • Deividas Paulauskas
    • Vivek Nayak
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    14 min
  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 12 - Google Ads With $20 Per Day

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 12 - Google Ads With $20 Per Day
    Mar 24 2026

    *My Google Ads Course is Updated and $34.99/Year: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-course
    **Join Surfside PPC Premium For $5/Month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw/join
    ***Get 2 Free Google Ads Training Videos: https://surfsideppc.com/pages/training
    ****Hire Me For Consulting: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-consulting

    Access premium content on:
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/surfsideinbound
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Surfsideppc
    SKOOL: https://www.skool.com/surfsideppc

    Join the Surfside PPC Community: Get your specific questions answered
    Professional Help: Ready to stop the guesswork? Visit surfsideppc.com for a professional account audit or full management.

    ---

    Mastering Google Ads on a $20 Daily Budget

    Stop believing you need a Fortune 500 war chest to compete on Google Ads. If you are in high-competition industries like HVAC, Roofing, Law, or Insurance, a $20 budget is often a death trap—but for almost everyone else, it is the ultimate laboratory to engineer a winning formula without the risk of a massive budget bleed. This episode breaks down how to pivot from "impossible" to "profitable" by starting small, identifying high-intent keywords, and proving your ROI before you ever hit the scale button.

    Key Takeaways: The Strategy for Lean Growth

    * Deploy Exact Match keywords so you can eliminate wasted spend on irrelevant searches.
    - In high-competition niches, this protects your $20 from "window shoppers" and ensures every cent targets buyers ready to convert.
    * Execute the "Consulting Workaround" so you can land high-ticket clients with a 500–750 total monthly investment.
    - By proving your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) early, you can confirm if landing just one or two clients pays for the entire campaign, turning a small budget into a self-funding growth machine.
    * Master Manual CPC bidding initially so you can maintain absolute control over your daily spend and data.
    - Unlike Smart Bidding, Manual CPC lets you gather baseline data on a shoestring budget without letting Google’s algorithm experiment with your limited capital.
    * Optimize Performance Max (PMax) for "Begin Checkouts" alongside purchases so you can feed the algorithm more data.
    - If your purchase volume is low, tracking micro-conversions gives the AI enough signals to find your next customer faster, even on a limited budget.
    * Build an email funnel via Kit (formerly ConvertKit) so you can capture leads with a long sales cycle, such as Dental Implants.
    - A single $15 click is an investment; a follow-up sequence allows you to nurture that lead into a sale weeks later without paying for a second click.

    Thanks to our monthly supporters
    • Dominic Law
    • Alamgir
    • Scott
    • Kaio Rafael
    • Jürgen
    • Morgan Wells
    • skyefoot
    • Olga Fischer
    • Jesse Kassebaum
    • Gia Admin
    • Cindy
    • Lisa
    • Syed Ali
    • Domenico Mastroianni
    • Jeff Barnhart
    • AJ Burzuk
    • Jeff Abramovitz
    • Clay Cunningham
    • Gania
    • Ciprian Tepes
    • Fredrik Norlund
    • Ryan Meghdies
    • Stephen Revere
    • Mark Power
    • Maja Jurkovic
    • retlaw7
    • Desiree Horsey
    • Santi
    • Deividas Paulauskas
    • Vivek Nayak
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    15 min
  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 11 - What Are The Best Keyword Research Tools in 2026

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 11 - What Are The Best Keyword Research Tools in 2026
    Mar 17 2026

    *My Google Ads Course is Updated and $34.99/Year: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-course
    **Join Surfside PPC Premium For $5/Month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw/join
    ***Get 2 Free Google Ads Training Videos: https://surfsideppc.com/pages/training
    ****Hire Me For Consulting: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-consulting

    Access premium content on:
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/surfsideinbound
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Surfsideppc
    SKOOL: https://www.skool.com/surfsideppc

    Join the Surfside PPC Community: Get your specific questions answered
    Professional Help: Ready to stop the guesswork? Visit surfsideppc.com for a professional account audit or full management.

    --

    Episode 11: Stop Overpaying for Keyword Tools (The 2026 Strategy)

    Are you tired of spending $100+ every month on massive marketing software you barely use? In 2026, bigger isn't better—**smarter is better.** In this episode, we’re showing you how to ditch the "bloated" expensive suites and build a lean, high-powered keyword research stack for about **$30 a month.** You’ll learn how to stop guessing what people are searching for and start using "ground-truth" data to drive actual revenue.

    What’s Inside This Episode:

    * The Ultimate $30 Budget Stack: Why we’re moving away from the "Big Three" (Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz) and how to use specialized tools like SpyFu, Ubersuggest, and the Google Keyword Planner to get better results for a fraction of the cost.
    * The "One-Seed" Ninja Trick: A simple filter setting in Google Keyword Planner that forces the tool to show you every profitable "long-tail" phrase your competitors are missing.
    * Steal Your Competitors’ Best Moves: How to use the URL Discovery method to see exactly which pages are making your competitors money, so you can build something better.
    * Local Dominance: Why you need more than just a homepage. We break down the "Turf Installation" case study to show you how to dominate local searches and build massive authority through video.
    * The Truth About AI Search: Why we don’t trust "AI traffic" numbers from most tools yet, and where to find the *real* data in your GA4 dashboard.

    Key Takeaways for Your Business

    Bottom Line: Success in 2026 is about Intent over Volume. We’ll teach you how to find the specific questions your customers are asking so you can be the one to answer them.

    Thanks to our monthly supporters
    • Dominic Law
    • Alamgir
    • Scott
    • Kaio Rafael
    • Jürgen
    • Morgan Wells
    • skyefoot
    • Olga Fischer
    • Jesse Kassebaum
    • Gia Admin
    • Cindy
    • Lisa
    • Syed Ali
    • Domenico Mastroianni
    • Jeff Barnhart
    • AJ Burzuk
    • Jeff Abramovitz
    • Clay Cunningham
    • Gania
    • Ciprian Tepes
    • Fredrik Norlund
    • Ryan Meghdies
    • Stephen Revere
    • Mark Power
    • Maja Jurkovic
    • retlaw7
    • Desiree Horsey
    • Santi
    • Deividas Paulauskas
    • Vivek Nayak
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    16 min
  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 10 - Google Ads Strategy For Ecommerce

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 10 - Google Ads Strategy For Ecommerce
    Mar 10 2026

    *My Google Ads Course is Updated and $34.99/Year: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-course
    **Join Surfside PPC Premium For $5/Month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEzSSbs3Wfe5p4dBzzjrjvw/join
    ***Get 2 Free Google Ads Training Videos: https://surfsideppc.com/pages/training
    ****Hire Me For Consulting: https://surfsideppc.com/products/google-ads-consulting

    Access premium content on:
    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/surfsideinbound
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Surfsideppc
    SKOOL: https://www.skool.com/surfsideppc

    Join the Surfside PPC Community: Get your specific questions answered
    Professional Help: Ready to stop the guesswork? Visit surfsideppc.com for a professional account audit or full management.

    ---

    Master Google Ads for E-commerce: The Ultimate Scaling Blueprint

    Is your Google Ads account feeling "stuck"? Maybe you’re seeing sales, but you aren’t sure which campaigns are actually driving NEW growth versus just taking credit for people who already know your brand.

    In this episode, we strip away the jargon and show you exactly how to transform your Google Ads into a high-velocity growth engine. We’re moving beyond lead gen and diving into a closed-loop e-commerce strategy focused on one thing: scalable profit.

    What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

    * The PMax "Secret Sauce": Why you MUST split Performance Max into Brand vs. Non-Brand to stop "vanity metrics" from hiding poor performance.
    * The Full-Funnel Roadmap: Using Demand Gen to find new users and Search/Shopping to close the deal.
    * Fixing Your "Data Diet": Simple tweaks to your product feed and conversion tracking that give the algorithm the "fuel" it needs.
    * The Rising Tide Philosophy: How to use Google Ads to lift your SEO, Direct, and Social traffic simultaneously.
    * The Diminishing Returns Check: How to spot the exact moment when spending more money stops making more profit.

    Thanks to our monthly supporters
    • Dominic Law
    • Alamgir
    • Scott
    • Kaio Rafael
    • Jürgen
    • Morgan Wells
    • skyefoot
    • Olga Fischer
    • Jesse Kassebaum
    • Gia Admin
    • Cindy
    • Lisa
    • Syed Ali
    • Domenico Mastroianni
    • Jeff Barnhart
    • AJ Burzuk
    • Jeff Abramovitz
    • Clay Cunningham
    • Gania
    • Ciprian Tepes
    • Fredrik Norlund
    • Ryan Meghdies
    • Stephen Revere
    • Mark Power
    • Maja Jurkovic
    • retlaw7
    • Desiree Horsey
    • Santi
    • Deividas Paulauskas
    • Vivek Nayak
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    18 min
  • Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 9 - How Do I Lower My Initial CPC?

    Surfside PPC Podcast Episode 9 - How Do I Lower My Initial CPC?
    Mar 3 2026

    Stop me if this sounds familiar: You launch a brand-new Google Ads campaign, set a healthy budget, and then watch in horror as Google spends $400 on... two clicks.

    In this episode of the Surfside PPC podcast, we’re tackling the "Cold Start" crisis. It’s that painful phase where your campaign is brand new, Google has zero data, and the algorithm starts gambling with your money. If you don't take the wheel, you're not just losing cash—you're losing the chance to ever make the account profitable.

    What We’re Covering Today:

    The "Maximize Conversions" Trap:
    Why letting the AI handle your bidding on day one is a recipe for a budget blowout.

    The Manual Pivot:
    How to use Manual CPC to tell Google exactly what you’re willing to pay, so a single click doesn't eat your whole day's budget.

    The Power of "Exact Match":
    Why you should ditch broad keywords early on to make sure every dollar goes toward someone actually looking for your service.

    The Stabilization Secret:
    Our step-by-step framework for getting your first 15 high-quality clicks without breaking the bank.

    Quality Over Everything:
    How to align your ads and landing pages to lower your costs and beat out competitors who are outspending you.

    Google's automation is powerful, but it's not a mind reader. If you give it a $1,000 budget and no data, it assumes you’re happy to pay a premium for *any* auction. We’re showing you how to reclaim control, stabilize your spend, and build the data foundation your campaign needs to actually scale.

    --
    If you’re tired of the "trial and error" phase and want to start seeing real ROI, check out our 2026 resources:

    The 2026 Google Ads Course is Here!

    • Price: Just $34.99/year.
    • What you get: The Full Roadmap to success. Get the first nine modules for just $34.99/year.
    • If you are a former student, you are grandfathered in for life!

    Community:

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