{"id":27639,"date":"2026-04-23T01:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=27639"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:53:03","slug":"ppcchat-old-school-vs-new-school-ppc-21st-april-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/ppcchat-old-school-vs-new-school-ppc-21st-april-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"PPCChat | Old School vs. New School PPC | 21st April 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week’s PPCChat discussion was a lively one. Host Julie F. Bacchini<\/a> sought PPCers’ views on an old-school PPC practice and strategy, what a new-school PPC practice or strategy marketers swear by and what experts’ hottest \u201cold school\u201d vs. \u201cnew school\u201d PPC take?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Q1: Do you consider yourself old school, new school or some combination of both when it comes to PPC and why? And how long have you been working in PPC?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I am probably more old school than new school, as I have been working in PPC since it literally began (and in marketing since before the internet!) That being said though, I am not stuck in my ways and do dig into all the new things and new thinking about PPC and evaluate and test new things all the time. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably old school, but always learning, always trying something new. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pretty New School, I would say. I started 4 years ago, but have seen a lot of change in a short amount of time! @grantdouglas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old school. Been working in PPC since Overture was around. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I find myself saying ‘back in the old interface’ a LOT @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@JeffreyHain<\/a> let\u2019s not forget Looksmart! @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mix of both here, although I suppose it depends on how we are defining these.  18+ years in PPC for me. @KurtHenninger<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

8yrs now, so mostly new, but still old enough to call it AdWords every now and then just for fun. @Ryansappington<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should do a PPC nostalgia chat one of these weeks too\u2026 @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

15+ years\u2026 Im Old School! @Liorkrolewicz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got my start in the old school (2002), but I do test things all the time. I would say “cautiously adapting.” Much of my reluctance comes from the fact that Google and Bing are not designed for B2B more so than “this is new so it automatically sucks” @beyondthepaid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love having so many 10+ years people here! @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve been in the game for 10 years, so I guess old school by default. That said, it’s a game of adapt or die, so we all have to adapt new school ways\u2026eventually. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can’t we be both? @navahhopkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes some old school pushback is good though. Without it, PMax would still be a very black box! @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@navahhopkins<\/a> Yes you can absolutely be both! @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes @navahhopkins<\/a> ! old school = fundamentals. @Liorkrolewicz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@navahhopkins<\/a> that’s what I was trying to say in my answer haha @beyondthepaid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

14 years old school when it comes to basics\/fundamentals – what is marketing type questions. New in terms of tools, tactics, testing @alimehdimukadam<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am with @NeptuneMoon<\/a> on this. I have been using Google Ads\/Adwords since 2002. So long that I can pretty much say to the tech support people from Google, “I have been using Google Ads longer than you’ve been alive” LOL. I am solidly mostly old school, but willing and trying to learn new things. @EronCohen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a hybrid of both. Can’t be completely old school due to playing the Google Ads testing game. As much as I don’t want to give Google more control, testing is still good. Plus a lot of old practices are obsolete now. @AmberDeedler<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s been 19 years, so I suppose that makes me old school. But I’m still doing new school stuff too. A lot of the old school things continue to work and make more sense. @revaminkoff<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@NeptuneMoon<\/a> … and what about Ask Jeeves!!! @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@JeffreyHain<\/a> A shame and missed opportunity for Anthropic not naming Claude, Jeeves @Ryansappington<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got started 11 years ago & I still consider myself \u201cnew school\u201d @DiiPooler<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q2: What is an \u201cold school\u201d PPC practice, strategy or tactic that you still swear by?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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I still think landing pages really matter for that through line from idea to query to click to landing page. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aggressively and actively control search terms management. @Liorkrolewicz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use of negative search terms. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

was just going to say aggressive SQR review and adding negatives. @beyondthepaid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keywords still matter. They may not function on the front end the same way the ever have, but negative KWs are powerful when you take cues from the SQR. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we don’t use a lot of Pmax or AI Max. still pretty much standard search campaigns. @beyondthepaid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also think ad copy matters and that humans can be better at putting the pieces together than a machine. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’d still use ETAs if I could. @beyondthepaid<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ad copy and message testing. I will die on this hill, probably because I came to search from a writing background. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Search Terms\u2026..and more general direct marketing practices like personas, pain points mapping, USPs, etc. Also..never ever run Display in the same campaign as Search Campaigns\u2026I will die on that hill. @KurtHenninger<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, audience data for sure! know who is asking the question you’re answering. @JuliaVyse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another one is to fully build out ads. You have X headlines, X long headlines, X descriptions, X videos, whatever – use them all. It drives me crazy when I see Ads\/Asset Groups with < half of assets utilized. I know this “impedes” copy testing, but Google does that anyway. You may forfeit A\/B message testing, but you also produce weaker ads with less standing in a given auction. @teabeeshell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have solid foundations – stick to the basics, have some sort of naming structure for what you are doing. @alimehdimukadam<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bid to budget ratios (clicks shouldn’t cost more than 10% of daily budget because that’s asking for a better than 10% conversion rate) @navahhopkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@alimehdimukadam<\/a> Naming conventions – you are speaking my language. @NeptuneMoon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@teabeeshell<\/a> I attended Brad Geddes & Jyll Saskin Gales training last week\u2026 was interesting to hear their take a bit against that\u2026 though I always do\/did?!? @Liorkrolewicz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agree with @alimehdimukadam<\/a> .. a universal campaign naming structure is key to analyzing and optimizing \u2026 finding what’s not working and fixing it. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negative search terms, Campaign Group budgets with bid modifiers. Unfortunately, this can’t be done with Pmax campaigns. @AmberDeedler<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@alimehdimukadam<\/a> yes, account structure is for HUMANS to manage. It also helps when you are adding search terms, you can quickly know where to put the kw in exact. Should be intuitive. @Liorkrolewicz<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a good account structure helps you better place negative KWs. @JeffreyHain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

@Liorkrolewicz<\/a> – I think there are certainly cases to be made for (plus some rebuttals):<\/p>\n\n\n\n