On episode 326 of PPC Live The Podcast I sat down down with Aashna Makin, a senior paid ads specialist with more than eight years of experience, who has managed campaigns worth over $2 million a month across a wide range of industries. She takes us through the story of how a best practice she […]

Microsoft Advertising is shutting down its Ads for Social Impact grant program, which provided free ad credits to nonprofits. Final grants will be issued November 30, 2025, with a 45-day window to spend them. Why we care. The decision ends a program that helped nonprofits amplify their missions through free advertising dollars. Starting in 2026, […]

Google is officially retiring Call-Only Ads, with creation ending in February 2026 and full sunset by February 2027. Advertisers relying on phone leads will need to transition to Responsive Search Ads with Call Assets. How to prepare: Switch campaigns to Responsive Search Ads with Call Assets. Enable call reporting and set call conversions as a […]

Google Analytics is making it easier for businesses to compare themselves against industry peers by expanding its Benchmarking feature to include 20 new unnormalized metrics, such as New Users and Total Revenue. How it works. Google Analytics estimates benchmark ranges for absolute numbers by multiplying a peer group’s normalized metric by your property’s active user […]

Google has been layering AI into Search campaigns for years through features like Smart Bidding, Responsive Search Ads, and Performance Max.  In May 2025, it announced the next step: AI Max.  The feature is now rolling out globally in beta and appearing in many advertiser accounts. (If you don’t see it yet, expect it soon.)  […]

Creating effective ad copy has always been a critical skill for PPC marketers, especially in Google Ads.  In the past, it meant hours of brainstorming, drafting, and A/B testing.  Today, LLMs like Google’s Gemini can produce high-quality ad copy in minutes.  But the results don’t come from the tool alone – they depend on the […]

Brand performance in generative search relies on measurable reputation and entity signals. But those signals are only as good as the infrastructure machines can fetch, parse, and trust.  Treat the website, feeds, and APIs as brand training data. Pair technical governance with brand strategy to stop narrative drift and preserve brand equity.  Search and brand […]

Meta unveiled new AI products – including a “Business AI” concierge, generative video, and creative tools – designed to help advertisers scale faster and more efficiently. Driving the news. The centerpiece is Business AI, an always-on sales agent that guides customers from discovery to purchase across Meta ads, messaging apps, and websites. It learns from posts […]

Spotify is expanding access to its ad inventory through new partnerships with Amazon DSP and Yahoo DSP, marking a major step in broadening brands’ programmatic buying options. The big picture. Amazon DSP users can now buy Spotify’s ad inventory across nine markets: the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. Also: Yahoo […]

Meta will soon begin factoring in how people interact with its generative AI tools to personalize the content and ads they see across Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms. More than 1 billion people use Meta AI monthly, according to their internal data. By turning AI chats and prompts into signals, Meta is making its recommendation […]