In this week’s PPCChat discussion, host Julia Vyse invited experts to share the features they’d add or the problems they’d solve on ad platforms if they had the chance.
Q1: If you had one wish from Google Ads, what would it be?
Fix the YouTube algo. @navahhopkins
This is petty, but here goes: I don’t want to click campaigns, and then campaigns, to open 1 campaign. make it make sense! @JuliaVyse
I’m at my wits end and have considered dropping it for Substack and Nebula. @navahhopkins
Stop with the rep emails to us, clients, etc. Give an opt out and do not reach out to accounts if connected with a partner MCC. @alimehdimukadam
@navahhopkins what specifically would you fix in the algo? make it more personal? more responsive to searches? @alimehdimukadam that is GOLD! @JuliaVyse
Go back to Agency level reps for Google support and also improve the help desk – feel like you used to be able to call and get someone in the US and now it’s mostly outsourced. @revaminkoff
I love that @revaminkoff Hire local! @JuliaVyse
@navahhopkins I like YouTube’s algo! It’s my favorite out of all. @alimehdimukadam
@JuliaVyse It’s also super frustrating and challenging when all the support call options are very early in the morning or really late at night due to time differences. We tried to do a call with Europe and the US and having to add in India made scheduling extra challenging. @revaminkoff
Current: Make it possible to change the distribution for an experiment after it goes live. Generally: STAAAAAHP it with all the AI nonsense. @BorisBeceric
Allow portfolio-based bidding across all different campaign types. You can only use it on some now. @revaminkoff
Oh @BorisBeceric that feels like gold as well! like take a winning experiment and hit publish now? or run a second one on a different campaign for regional validation? @JuliaVyse
I wish you could do the experiments without cluttering your account with temporary experiment campaigns that then don’t go away. @revaminkoff
What campaign types would you like to use portfolio bidding on? @JuliaVyse
@JuliaVyse I mean it’s just so stupid! Really. You watch 2 videos about one topic, then it’ll think that’s your new thing now. I’ve gotten into “funny” situations when showing clients something and my YT was all about divorce. @BorisBeceric
@BorisBeceric I feel you! My tiktok is way more attuned to my taste than my yt. @JuliaVyse
@JuliaVyse no, say I have one running with 50/50 but want to expedite data collection for the test arm. I can’t currently change the distribution to 70/30 or something. @BorisBeceric
As a consumer of YouTube – I find they send me repeat videos, ignore ad feedback (I’ve been served ads from advertisers I’ve blocked and reported multiple times), and the experience of watching content is annoying because the ads interrupt critical points. @navahhopkins
If I paid for a click – I want to know which search term that click originated from. Has there been any lawsuit about this yet? Curious. @alimehdimukadam
unhide the search terms now! @JuliaVyse
@navahhopkins The one subscription I’ll pay for life – YouTube Premium @alimehdimukadam
“unhide search tersm” could be a paid addon LOL @BorisBeceric
@JuliaVyse All of them – So I could run all of the display campaigns with one portfolio budget, all of the demand gen campaigns with another portfolio budget, etc. @revaminkoff
I’m sorry to admit this, but I’d pay to unhide terms toDAY if they offered @JuliaVyse
If everyone is paying for YouTube premium – who will watch the video ads @navahhopkins
@JuliaVyse I think most of us are in that boat tbh. @revaminkoff
Trick question – Microsoft Premium Streaming will happily help ^_^ @navahhopkins
@BorisBeceric Don’t give such ideas . They may end up doing this – bundle their ‘account specialist’ teams with such add ons and start charging a monthly fee over and above. @alimehdimukadam
Gotta show quarterly growth somehow. but then it would be a race to please the holdcos. @JuliaVyse
Generally, I want Google to view advertisers as a stakeholder in their decision making. It seems like profitability and revenue growth to appease shareholders is all they focus on. If they cared about the advertisers more, they would have more transparency (search terms, reporting) and allow advertisers more control. If the AI solutions are truly that much better, why does it feel like they force you into them and won’t let you see how they work? @robert_brady
@robert_brady Well put! @JuliaVyse
Honestly, I agree with at @revaminkoff really miss agency level help. (They weren’t always helpful) but at least there was someone, I’ve been trying get an offline conversion source upload going for almost 4 weeks now and someone at Google needs to make it make sense. It looks like as of this week they are making additional updates to offline uploads as well. @jord_stark
I almost forgot my other big wish: being able to give AI brand guidelines / style guides or any other form of guardrails on what they’re creating (i.e. never show people wearing socks, do not create dynamic extensions for y product) @revaminkoff
@revaminkoff this is a GREAT wish! every product manager on pmax should hear this. @JuliaVyse
Would you be willing to give that info in a conversational way (i.e. “please make sure my ads never have ____ and always use abc language”? @navahhopkins
@navahhopkins 100% .As long as I could also say “Please do not use the words “free” or “cheap,” “Do not advertise x product,” etc. (i.e. things not to do in addition to things to do) @revaminkoff
Q2: If you had one wish from Meta, what would it be?
Find ethics. @navahhopkins
More reliability/consistent performance. Man those campaigns are all over the place… @revaminkoff
Just be better in general? as usual I want an offline editor. stop with the browser based video ad building. it’s. a. mess.! @JuliaVyse
1. Zuck needs to stop being such a cuck for strong men 2.make the ad platform less buggy 3.ethics you f..cks! @BorisBeceric
Don’t shake the cushions & fix spam – Business Manager takeovers etc. @alimehdimukadam
And on a personal note: make my gov certifications meaningful! stop disapproving my ads for topics I’m certified for! that applies to all platforms reall. @JuliaVyse
Creating ads has become such an arduous, time-consuming task with multiple AI options getting auto-selected (even when “duplicating” and ad without those options selected) that it feels like they’re are actively trying to make my life as a campaign manager harder. @robert_brady
Oh yeah, being opted into options you’ve previously opted out off when duplicating ads etc. that needs to stop as well. @BorisBeceric
@BorisBeceric what’s really interesting is how hard AI is a goal for Meta but people trust it less than X. Also I’d like for Meta to not gatekeep their tutorials behind signing into a Facebook account. some of us no longer want to log into any Meta app. @navahhopkins
Trust is a major issue in the AI sphere. It’s a deep wish for investors and leaders, and deeply suspect in the public @JuliaVyse
@navahhopkins I mean Zuck was all in on Metaverse so I have zero doubt they’ll botch this one as well @BorisBeceric
More transparency on attribution. @revaminkoff
True. ‘Personal Super Intelligence’ – Personal Data Harvester. @alimehdimukadam
I wish it were easier for our company to manage clients without everyone needing individual accesses that require me to be friends with everyone etc. We are using a shared account but even that is a challenge. @revaminkoff
Oh god the access is a MESS! @JuliaVyse
Offer actual support to accounts. @JulianPhillip
Stock reached all time high today and climbing – 793 now @alimehdimukadam
Worse support than Google and that’s saying something. The access to every little individual thing drives me insane. Last week I created a pixel and immediately somehow didn’t have access…. how is that possible? I am the only one who COULD have access. @jord_stark
Meta is a strange and inconsistent beast. @JuliaVyse
Q3: If you had one wish from Microsoft, what would it be?
Budgets in the keyword planner, please and thank you @JuliaVyse
Take more market share PWETTY PWEASE @BorisBeceric
Being able to exclude the partner network without needing to go ask a rep to do it. And in general, being able to make more changes without asking a rep, whom you might not even have…@revaminkoff
Make Google Dance. @alimehdimukadam
On the partner network, are you talking about search expansion, display expansion, or Microsoft’s placements @revaminkoff. @JuliaVyse interesting point! Are you happy with the treatment in Audience planner (so a similar one would work for you)? @navahhopkins
I’d like the import button to be a bit clearer. The only way to import just certain campaigns is about 3 clicks in. Easy risk of user error when the default is importing the whole account. @JuliaVyse
@navahhopkins The audience network. @revaminkoff
Audience network doesn’t exist. @navahhopkins
@navahhopkins Did it exist a year ago? That’s the exact quote from the email. @revaminkoff
Create something like Bing Trends or Copilot Trends – similar to Google Trends? @alimehdimukadam
@navahhopkins the audience network view is fine, as is the Google keyword planner, or SEMRush. just something where I can look at keyword volumes and then get a budget rather than mathing out an avg cpc as a guess. @JuliaVyse
There’s display spots (called Multichannel Management), search spot (syndication partners), and Microsoft’s placements on MSN, Outlook, etc @navahhopkins
@alimehdimukadam I really like the idea of Copilot trends! @JuliaVyse
I often wish I had a Bing Trends report / more ways to explore what Bing searchers were doing @revaminkoff
Yes @revaminkoff – I found out the Audience Network got rebranded (badly) when I became Liaison. @navahhopkins
@revaminkoff Audience Ads? @JuliaVyse
Allowing search campaigns to opt out of MSAN @robert_brady
@navahhopkins, maybe wish for better naming conventions! ALL the platforms need this @JuliaVyse
Audience ads are actually a whole other set of inventory with different bidding mechanics @navahhopkins
@navahhopkins & @JuliaVyse I’m going to here, but not at you guys – just on how complicated and intricate this whole thing /all the naming conventions/placements etc. are. @revaminkoff
That’s the wish! simplify and make it make sense, Microsoft! @JuliaVyse
And more LinkedIn targeting availability. @robert_brady
The reason I have been talking about them nonstop about Audience ads is they tend to get lumped in with Multichannel management – very fair feedback that Microsoft can and should name things better. @robert_brady what is missing for you on the LinkedIn front? @navahhopkins
Would be cool to manage LinkedIn and Bing Ads in the same platform. @revaminkoff
I’ll say reach on the linkedin front. I often need to report on how many people I’m going to reach with various ads and there’s no real audience penetration view for Microsoft or LinkedIn. It’s rep-pulls only. @JuliaVyse
Also access is a challenge for LinkedIn too – anything where it’s supposed to be tied to an indiviudal user at the business level is a little messy. @revaminkoff
And by integrating LinkedIn Ads in one platform – People might start spending more on other MSFT channels. @alimehdimukadam
I get these platforms (LinkedIn + Meta, etc.) are social networking platforms and tied to individual user accounts, but most companies are and need to be more than one person. @revaminkoff
It’s a wish but I think the way LinkedIn is structured – they may want to keep it separate for corp. & accounting issues. Highly unlikely but you never know, @navahhopkins could make it happen 😉 @alimehdimukadam
For what it’s worth everyone at Micrsoft wants it to happen. @navahhopkins
Well and bigger, more distributed teams. Like my holdco is global, so if I and the client agree that someone in another country can have access, let me!!! @JuliaVyse
LinkedIn placements are possible through Audience ads and LinkedIn targeting is possible through PMax and there’s also targeting in search. @navahhopkins
@navahhopkins If my memory is correct, the only LinkedIn targeting available is Company, Industry and Job Function.
The biggest ask from clients is job titles, which I know limits the audience sizes a lot. But why not make the full targeting available? Like Skills, Groups, Education, Years of Experience, etc. @robert_brady
Audience size is possible in Audience planner. However if it’s not giving you the insights in the way you want them, that’s helpful to know! @navahhopkins
Industry vertical is what I often need from LinkedIn in Microsoft. @navahhopkins basically I need a budgeting tool for keyword searches. Audience addition is not the focus, it’s a secondary item. So if I can’t budget with a tool, remenant spend is allocated. Whatever is left from the things I actually can plan. @JuliaVyse
Q4: If you had one wish from another ppc platform, what would it be?
I’d make the TikTok backend a bit more detailed. It’s very easy to spend on pangle or other nonsense if you don’t have specific checkboxes checked. And of course, offline editor! @JuliaVyse
Remove the minimum daily budget from TikTok @revaminkoff
I’d like Amazon Ads to have more robust & sophisticated management capabilities – it feels a bit more “self service” to me than other ad platforms. @BorisBeceric
For all other platforms – Be more like Amazon Ads – suggest to reduce bids as well. And for Amazon – go wide and open self serve – GDN might breakup from search post antitrust – that spot could be up for grabs. @alimehdimukadam
I second @BorisBeceric on the Amazon Ads request. @robert_brady
Amazon is downright clunky in some respects, which is very strange compared with Amazon Prime and Twitch. Why are these so easy and premium but basic ads so hard? oh wait… @JuliaVyse
I’m super surprised at the lack of Reddit here. it must be perfect @navahhopkins
My Reddit is fully rep supported, so for me it is perfect! @JuliaVyse
Amazon has integrated a dual model carefully – the sophistication opens up only if the ticket size is above $X and is for a select few. @alimehdimukadam
White glove service because they’re growing. @JuliaVyse
@navahhopkins I use reddit ads to drive traffic to an affiliate product that makes me good commission – it’s surprisingly powerful at that @BorisBeceric
@BorisBeceric – the OG of media buying – ads to affiliate arbitrage, few. @alimehdimukadam
Q5: If you had one wish about analytics or measurement platforms, what would it be?
Looker Studio needs to be a supported product. And GA360 needs to just make sense in general! @JuliaVyse
CLEAR ATTRIBUTION!! @revaminkoff
I wish UETs were easier for folks to work with. @navahhopkins
I wish there was a solve for light pixel orgs. Not everyone can load up their site or app with a pile of pixels for every walled garden that exists. And when it comes to app measurement, I feel like there are very few options @JuliaVyse
Either eat the cookies or don’t – find a solution. @alimehdimukadam
So sick of the cookie convo @JuliaVyse
Q6: If you had one ppc-wish of any kind, what would it be?
We’ve got so many good ones today! I’d say blue sky wish – make my life easier. Make my client’s life easier. And be more transparent on cost. @JuliaVyse
More available education that’s at a level business owners and stakeholders can understand – ideally not just from the platforms themselves. @revaminkoff
Oh and as a Canadian, shut up and let me advertise cannabis. It’s legal and sold via the government. Your California laws have NOTHING to do with me. @JuliaVyse
Brands sharing conversion values so bidding can be useful. @navahhopkins
If more people could stop chasing shiny objects and turn on their logical thinking again, that’d be great.
And that goes for almost everything, but specifically marketing with the recent AI craze, gurus selling courses and businesses expecting miracles. It’s a circus out there. @BorisBeceric
Stop looking at PPC in a silo. Start looking at it as a cog in a wheel. @alimehdimukadam
Since you put it that way @alimehdimukadam do we have a wish from our clients? What do we wish our clients would understand or do? @JuliaVyse
Stick to basics. PPC is not marketing. PPC is a subset of marketing. Marketing has a lot of P’s apart from PPC. @alimehdimukadam
Media isn’t just ppc. Marketing is a much bigger activity than just paid media, and that includes your billboards and tv. You need to build a relationship with your audience, which means meeting them where they are. @JuliaVyse
There is no one size fits all when it comes to PPC. Stay humble & nimble. Be ready to change & adapt. Always be experimenting. And it’s okay to share your feedback with clients and push back to have a conversation if you know for sure it’s a wrong approach, etc. @alimehdimukadam
Try and get basic knowledge and understanding from companies. Google/LinkedIn isn’t a quick in. Marathon and not a sprint. @JoeWilliams
PPCChat Participants
- Navah Hopkins @navahhopkins
- Julia Vyse @JuliaVyse
- Ali Mehdi Mukadam @alimehdimukadam
- Reva Minkoff @revaminkoff
- Boris Beceric @BorisBeceric
- Robert Brady @robert_brady
- Jordan Strak @jord_stark
- Julian Phillip @JulianPhillip
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