Paid Search & PPC

Expert Tips, Insights, and Analysis

PPC experts Anna Borchert, Emily Martin and Steve Kroll at conference

Welcome to your hub for Paid Search & PPC know-how. Uncover actionable tips and strategic insights, all scrutinized by industry experts. Navigate the intricacies of cost-per-click, ad auctions, and keyword targeting. Our goal is to turn the complex PPC landscape into a stroll through a well-lit park.

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Competitor Brand Terms

The Temptation of Bidding on Another Company’s Brand Terms in Google Is it wise to bid on a competitor’s brand keywords in Google Ads? For anyone with experience utilizing strategy, it can feel a bit like taking a blow torch to your money when done poorly. But it’s hard to blame anyone for coming to[…]

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The 5 Most Overlooked Google Ads Metrics

Google provides you with dozens of metrics you can use to determine your Google Ads campaign performance. We all know some of the most important ones like conversions, cost-per-conversion, and conversion value. Those are final performance metrics that are not telling the full story. While it’s exciting to celebrate your arrival to a final destination,[…]

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Navigating Crucial Requirements in Google Grant Accounts

Google Ad Grants provide eligible non-profits the opportunity to receive up to $10,000 per month in ad spend on Google search. Yes, that’s up to $120,000 a year in free ad spend! Granular has helped non-profits secure and spend over $1,000,000 of free ad spend in Google. To help make sure you’re getting the most[…]

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The Importance of First-Party Data

First-party data is crucial for marketers everywhere. With privacy updates changing frequently, marketers are slowly losing access to the wild west of data we analyze to make informed marketing decisions. So, what is first-party data? First-party data is information you collect directly from your customers’ consent on your own channels. It can stem from customer purchases, support[…]

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Revisiting GA4 – Answering Ten of the Most Common Questions

In the fast-paced realm of digital analytics, staying abreast of the latest updates is pivotal for making informed, data-driven decisions for your business. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has introduced significant changes, and in this follow-up to our GA4 Webinar: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly , we’ll delve into key features, addressing common questions[…]

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Enhancing Performance with Advanced Audience Targeting in Programmatic Advertising

One aspect of programmatic advertising that excites us here at Granular is the advanced audience targeting it offers. Publishers from every nook and cranny create audience segments, down to super niche personas that can be overlaid onto the different channels. Through a demand-side platform (DSP), you can access audience segments by searching for a word[…]

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Find Your Break-even Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) For Lead-To-Sale Journeys

Are you confident that your lead-gen advertising campaigns are profitable? If you’re not 100% sure, there’s no need to worry, we’ve got you covered!  You need to learn about your break-even customer acquisition costs, and the key is to identify the threshold between unprofitable and profitable advertising. I’m going to use a fake catering business[…]

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Three Quick Tips For Advertisers Who Are Not Graphic Designers

It’s a weekday afternoon at 4:45 p.m. You get assigned a last-minute campaign. You upload the provided creative and get an error message about the image size being too big or the wrong shape for the ad. Your client isn’t responding with new creative and it’s down to the wire, your ad needs to go[…]

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How Will The iOS 17 Update Impact Your Marketing?

If you feel like you’re being bombarded with iOS 17 update information, you’re not alone. The recent Apple iOS update was announced back in June, and since then it has everyone talking, specifically marketers.  So, what’s going to change? Let’s take a look at the new features and how some of these changes are going[…]

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GA4 Tagging Changes in GTM You Will Love

Those who use Google Tag Manager often may have noticed that Google’s default “GA4 Configuration” tag has disappeared from the list of tag types. Google has decided to roll this into what they call their “Google tag” which is a standardized place to manage your GA4 configuration tagging. Google plans to roll this Google tag[…]

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Winning on Amazon: Overcome Fees and Boost Profits

If you are selling products on Amazon, be prepared for fees: selling plans, referral, and fulfillment fees. Plus, if you choose to run Amazon Ads, that’s an extra cost too! To stay profitable, it’s essential to factor all of these in this additional spend. 4 Amazon Fees To Know Before you start selling product and[…]

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Advertising When Your Website Sucks

Table of contents Jump to Part I: My Website Sucks. Should I run digital ads? Jump to Part II: My Website Still Sucks. Can I run digital conversion ads? 8/2/2023 Part I: My Website Sucks. Should I run digital ads? Have you ever used the wayback machine? It’s a tool that shows you what different[…]

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How To Use The Most Important Features In Google Ads Editor

Google Ads Editor is a free, downloadable application that allows you to conveniently update your Google campaigns in bulk. What could take five hours in the Google ads interface takes mere minutes in Editor.  When I was first introduced to Editor it seemed overwhelming, but with time, it became the only tool I ever needed[…]

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Beyond Assumptions: Using Demographic Data to Find Your Audience

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, staying ahead of the game means understanding which platforms your target audience uses most. With emerging platforms constantly vying for attention, it’s easy to fall prey to misconceptions about social platforms: Is TikTok exclusively for Gen Z? Do Millennials still use Facebook? Is Instagram reserved solely for young[…]

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Battling Banner Blindness

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, advertisers are continually seeking new ways to capture the attention and engage with their target audience. However, one persistent challenge that marketers face is the phenomenon known as “banner blindness.” This term refers to the tendency of internet users to subconsciously ignore or overlook banner advertisements on websites.[…]

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Ad Campaign vs. Post Boosting

Most of us have seen the Facebook pop-up “This post is doing better than 95% of recent posts. Promote it to reach a wider audience.” While social media platforms offer businesses a range of advertising options to reach their target audience, one question I hear from clients often is, “Should we also be boosting posts[…]

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Add Competitor Brands to Your Negative Keywords

How it can Improve ROAS & Lower CPCs To ensure effective ad spend when managing PPC campaigns, it’s important to exclude certain audiences and keywords that are not likely to engage with your ad or lead to a conversion — this is where negative keywords come in.  Negative keywords are search terms (and phrases) you[…]

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How to Lose an Account in 10 Days

As a millennial, I have a love for romantic comedies from the early 2000s. One of my favorites is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I’ve owned the movie on VHS, DVD and now Digital, and have probably watched it over a hundred times. A few of the Granular folks were recently talking[…]

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LinkedIn Business Manager

In recent months, LinkedIn has rolled out its own version of Business Manager similar to Meta. This is designed for a more streamlined approach to managing and sharing all of your LinkedIn assets (page, ad account, etc.) both internally with your team and externally with agency partners. Setting up your company in Business Manager as[…]

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Jumpstart your Ad Copy Right Now

For more than a decade, I’ve been crafting ad copy for Facebook, Instagram and Google Ads, and I often struggle to find a solid starting point. Tired of constantly starting from square one, I came up with an easy-to-follow list of idea generators that would spark good ad creative ideas and eliminate those moments of[…]

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Competitor Brand Terms

The Temptation of Bidding on Another Company’s Brand Terms in Google Is it wise to bid on a competitor’s brand keywords in Google Ads? For anyone with experience utilizing strategy, it can feel a bit like taking a blow torch to your money when done poorly. But it’s hard to blame anyone for coming to[…]

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5 Ways to Optimize Landing Pages for PPC

A landing page is a crucial component of a successful PPC campaign. A well-optimized page can improve your page engagement and conversion rate, bringing more leads to the website and more sales for your business. Today we’re going to walk through the top 5 ways you can optimize your landing pages for your pay-per-click campaigns.[…]

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Six Conversation Starters Better Than The Weather

As an extrovert, I never found it challenging to make small talk before meetings. In fact, I actually enjoyed it and found it very valuable in making connections with others. That however all changed when the majority of my meetings shifted online, and I found myself starting almost every meeting with the same exact conversation:[…]

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The Social Situation with Sarah

I’ve been obsessed with social media since I coded my first layout on MySpace around 2003. I’ve dabbled in them all, from Xanga and AIM to Vine and Tumblr. I met my best friend on Instagram six years ago and even created a Facebook group that now has almost 30k members. It only makes sense[…]

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Getting Global: MacKenzie’s Slovenian Sabbatical

As an avid travel enthusiast, one of the benefits I was most excited about when I started at Granular was the 1 month-paid sabbatical earned after 3 years with the company. I was so excited to finally earn my sabbatical in early 2020, so you can imagine my disappointment when traveling had almost completely stopped.[…]

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four easy steps for communication between agency and client

Four Easy Steps for Successful Communication Between an Agency & Client

Successful communication is a skill that can be hard to learn and harder to teach but is extremely valuable. Good communication between two parties can help make tough situations easier and good situations great. This is especially important when communicating between an agency, like Granular, and a client. Both parties have different backgrounds and different levels of knowledge of digital advertising and the client’s business.

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