PPCChat | PPC Summer Vibes 2026 | 9th June 2026

Posted June 10th, 2026 by Amita & filed under PPCChat.

Here’s a screencap from this week’s PPCChat session, where PPC professionals shared the strategies they’re focusing on this summer and discussed the behind-the-scenes account work they’re tackling. The conversation was hosted by Julie F. Bacchini.

Q1: How are you feeling about PPC in general as we head into the summer?

My workload is intentionally low for the next couple of months, so I’m feeling like I will be catching up on things as I feel up to it! @NeptuneMoon

Feeling like I’m at a train station. I have my ticket but the train is pulling away and I have to run and jump to make the trip. @JeffreyHain

But I am also just tired of all the AI. I have to catch up on what Apple said yesterday on that front too…@NeptuneMoon

I’m just tired. Either me and my expertise is being replaced, or I need to do everything manually in excel. Also, I’m an oracle somehow? anyway @JuliaVyse

I let things go quiet in past years and it ended up too quiet – so now I am grinding all summer.
I am moving my office in a few weeks, for the first time in 7 years, so juggling that @Chriskostecki

I also have lessened my workload on purpose and kind of enjoying it to be honest. Also, repeat the dislike for the pushing of AI so hard when it does not feel ready yet. I know they have to for investors, but it is still too early. @Ichasse

I am growing more anti AI over time, not less @Chriskostecki

Lighter workloads are quite nice if you can swing it @NeptuneMoon

Busy workload and keeping up with all the changes (and new platforms like ChatGPT Ads) feels like drinking from a firehose. @robert_brady

Yeah, a few new Reddit campaigns and testing ChatGPT is fun and new @Chriskostecki

Lots happening but the nice weather and busier calendar makes it harder to focus. @revaminkoff

Q2: Is there anything cool you’re planning on doing or testing in your accounts this summer?

All my clients want AI. Can we do more AI? sigh. @JuliaVyse

Yeah, not handing down my account to AI. SEEN LOT OF PEOPLE DOING IT – I want to refrain from this trend @anandsoni

My whole new website I launched this spring is “human powered PPC” @NeptuneMoon

Because I am lessening my workload, I am getting rid of some of the tools I have used in the past to help me manage my heavy workloads. The costs of tools keeps going up and the improvements they make just don’t seem to be for me, so going to save some money. Clients keep asking about AI which is always a fun conversation. @Ichasse

I also find the AI conversations exhausting. I am positioning myself for the burst bubble when people wake up and think – hmmmm…. maybe Claude/Gemini/ChatGPT/CoPilot wasn’t right in what it said to do with my account @NeptuneMoon

I’m really interested if folks will begin doing SEO/PPC convergence work over the summer @navahhopkins

I’m excited to play with all the test ideas I have from SMX, in particular on the creative side, using the predictive audiences, and seeing if broad match really is outperforming phrase on search like some people were saying. @revaminkoff

@NeptuneMoon I am going with “artisanal digital marketing” appreciating the craft of manual targeting, and controlling the message, valuing your audience more than a prompt. @Chriskostecki

We’re trying to find a good platform to help with AEO, and that’s been fun to play with too. @revaminkoff

@NeptuneMoon do you have specific insights on where Copilot was wrong – would love to take that back to the team. Copilot is meant to work in partnership with humanity – not replace @navahhopkins

@revaminkoff is there any? @anandsoni

I am dealing with local AI slingers that are selling one-size-fits-all prompts to local businesses. I don’t want to compete with them per se, but I want to offer an alternative @Chriskostecki

@anandsoni any which? @revaminkoff

Platform for AEO @anandsoni

@Ichasse, which tools have you cancelled? @robert_brady

@anandsoni So many! lol @revaminkoff

I’ve got a couple places where I’m going to be working on getting AI Max in place before the DSA deprecation @robert_brady

I am really interested in hearing about how any of the AI Max experiments or other things from SMX go. If you are interested in writing anything up on that front this summer, please DM me! Would love to have some guest posts like that on the PPC Chat site.@NeptuneMoon

I have rolled back some AI Max expansions due to too much irrelevant traffic – for certain clients the scale did not make sense, for larger clients, the lift still seems worth it @Chriskostecki

If Google is factoring in search history, it’s going to be a lot harder to see what’s relevant just from the last AI Max search query… (that was one of the big takeaways for me from the conference too) @revaminkoff

Q3: Are you working on any “behind the scenes” PPC stuff this summer?

I will be writing content for my blog and for PPC Chat. Catching up on some spotlight profiles I got way behind on. Trying to pre plan some topics for July and August too. @NeptuneMoon

Last summer I wrote a book. This summer I need to learn how to make videos. @Pete_Bowen

Moving to a larger office with many more windows and looking to hire an admin. @Chriskostecki

I am pretty burnt out at this point. not looking for more to do. planning some relaxation this weekend, some days off for art galleries and friend events rather than even more laptop activities. @Chriskostecki congrats @JuliaVyse

@JuliaVyse thank you. terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. art galleries are always a nice respite! @Chriskostecki

Building a better reporting tool to make our lives easier and make our decision-making more informed (without AI). Excited to share it with the ppc fam, nearly ready for open beta @williamhboggs

I’m going to give my first PPC talk at Hero Conf, so I’ll be doing a good amount of prep for that throughout the Summer. Equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking, haha @AnthonyMcDaniel

Q4: Have you started planning or working on any fall or holiday PPC strategies yet? Is it any different this year from last year, and if so how?

Holiday is going to look very different this year imo. AI-gen assets vs bespoke. We’ll have to push hard to be seen, and I think a big focus on CTV will come through. @JuliaVyse

I have a really bad feeling about this fall into holiday season this year…I don’t do ecomm PPC, this is just my general gut feeling about the economy @NeptuneMoon

I don’t have any really seasonal clients because I don’t do e-commerce, but I am worried about some of them whose businesses naturally slow down over the winter. They’re already seeing pressure from high fuel prices and consumer confidence/inflation. @Pete_Bowen

We have a few clients who want to come back and ramp for Q4, but I worry tracking and attribution won’t be where they need to be given the cookie-less world/data permissions etc. @revaminkoff

@revaminkoff The data loss is real @NeptuneMoon

Q5: Anything else on your mind as we head into the summer?

I keep hoping I will wake up to see that the AI bubble has finally burst…@NeptuneMoon

Gratitude for all of you wonderful humans and appreciation for how much grace we all give each other @navahhopkins

have started to seriously consider building an outdoor pizza oven, which rolls into an outdoor kitchen, and I know nothing about masonry @Chriskostecki

@Chriskostecki That’s what YouTube’s for, right? Aside from PPC, a lot of my mind this summer is on agency growth for the small agency I joined late last year. We’re working on prospecting/audit/sales workflow which is an interesting area for me that I’ve only been involved in tangentially at previous roles. @AnthonyMcDaniel

PPCChat Participants