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Search marketing notes
Paid search, SEO and AI answers, written for the person paying the invoice, not for other agencies.
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Paid search
Google Ads for a local business: Local Services Ads or Search?
Check whether your trade is on Google's list first. Then run both, compare leads, cost per lead and what each customer costs, and fix the settings that waste a local budget.
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Paid search
What is Performance Max, and is it worth it?
Leave it off until your core campaigns work, then test it properly. And a quick check for whether it's living off your own brand name.
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AI search
How to get your business mentioned in ChatGPT's answers
The ad slot is for sale; the answer isn't. The search crawlers to let in, why blocking the training ones is a separate call, and how to tell if it's working.
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Paid search
How long does Google Ads take to work?
Traffic in hours, data in weeks, judgement at 60–90 days. What to look at during each stage, and how to tell "still learning" from an excuse.
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Paid search
What you need before you start Google Ads
Google lets you build your first campaign the same day you sign up. Wait a day: four preconditions that decide the outcome before the first pound, and the list of things you don't need.
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Paid search
Is Google Ads worth it for small businesses?
The sellers say yes, the burned say scam: both are autobiographies. The pre-spend arithmetic, the three honest no-cases, and what "I lost money" usually means.
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Paid search
Google Ads, Microsoft Ads or ChatGPT Ads: where should a UK business start?
An order, not a choice. I run all three under one fee and earn the same whichever you pick. Plus the two mistakes that beat any platform's flaws.
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Paid search
Should you take ChatGPT's £500 ad credit?
OpenAI's spend-match offer, a screenshot of the unfinished campaign it drafts for you, and a UK account accepting postcode targeting six days before OpenAI documented it.
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Paid search
Should you run Google Ads yourself?
Yes, you can: Google built it that way. What it takes per week, the defaults that punish beginners, and the pay-for-the-build middle route nobody advertises.
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Paid search
Is Microsoft Advertising worth it for UK businesses?
Clicks a third cheaper, a tenth the reach, and the desktop split that decides most cases. Who it suits, who should skip it, and the import trap.
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Tracking & data
Consent Mode v2 for UK advertisers: what actually changed in 2026
UK cookie law relaxed in February. Google's requirements tightened in June. Two obligations, opposite directions, and most advertisers have noticed neither.
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Tracking & data
The conversion tracking setup most Google Ads accounts get wrong
Numbers that look great and don't match the bank. Four faults behind it: soft conversions, double counting, the count setting, consent gaps. Plus how to check each.
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Paid search
PPC consultant vs agency: which should you hire?
Who actually does the work, what each model costs, where each one breaks, and my declaration of interest, since I sell one side of the argument.
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Paid search
How to tell if your PPC agency is any good
Five checks that take twenty minutes: change history, search terms, conversion settings, brand split, the invoice. Plus what isn't their fault.
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Paid search
ChatGPT Ads in the UK: worth testing yet?
Live since June, hyped since day one. Who should actually test now, who should wait, and the country-only targeting gap that rules out most local businesses.
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Paid search
How much does Google Ads cost in the UK?
Clicks and management are two separate bills. CPC ranges by sector, fee models compared, and the four-step arithmetic, then run it again at double the estimate.
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Paid search
Where Google Ads budgets actually leak: a UK advertiser's checklist
Seven specific places money disappears in a typical Google Ads account, how to find each one in the interface, and roughly what recovering it is worth.
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