Who run the world? Broad Match ??

Welcome to The Gist with Jyll, your monthly dose of Google Ads expertise. I'll be sharing my top posts with you from LinkedIn and other platforms, with added perspective and reflection to help YOU get better results with 谷歌 Ads.

This LinkedIn exclusive newsletter will interest you if:

• you work with Google Ads for a living, and prefer to receive your news with analysis and insights
• you're a current or aspiring content creator, and want a "peek under the hood" at how that works

Your favourite Google Ads LinkedIn post this month was...

How the Broad Match setting is now the default in new Search campaigns using Smart Bidding.

Plain English: the Broad Match setting is one of many options in your Search campaign settings. When turned on, it will:

1. Change the match types of all current keywords to Broad Match
2. Change the match types of any future keywords you add to Broad Match
3. Change the priority of your keywords to Priority 1 (equivalent to Exact Match)

What this Google Ads change means for you!

?? When you're setting up a new Search campaign, pay attention to those settings you normally skim over. Turn this setting OFF if you don't want to use it.

?? If you're auditing a Search campaign or taking over an account from someone else, add this to the list of things you check, along with Search Partners, Display network, etc.

Why did this post get so much attention?

Even though I've been a content creator for more than 3 years, I'm still often surprised by what takes off and what tanks.

With hindsight, this post about a very niche part of Google Ads hit 5-figure impressions immediately due to three factors:

1. The hook. I know, I know, you're sick of hearing about hooks, but when they're good, they WORK. The hook for this piece - the part that a user would see in their feed before choosing to "See more" - is Welp, Google just made a change that's going to send me a bunch more clients ??♀? and tbh I'm still proud of that one. Going negative on Google will always get you attention. It's a sword I don't like to yield, for various reasons. Framing the post this way allowed me to critique Google, while keeping the tone positive and productive - "here's why this is good for me" and "here's what you should do" rather than just "omg I can't believe Google did this"
2. The star power. I didn't tag anyone in the post originally, but once it started taking off, Google Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin commented on the post to clarify that this will only happen if you select a Smart Bidding strategy. When someone notable comments on your post, it immediately increases your visibility. I added Ginny's clarification to the post, even though it doesn't change my feelings about the Broad Match setting, because now I knew that a lot more people would see the post. I wanted to ensure that all these new viewers would get the complete facts, so they could draw their own conclusions about this change.
3. The newsiness. There's a reason there are so many "news" creators on LinkedIn. News gets attention! My posts usually feature more commentary, analysis and case studies rather than news since I find the news cycle exhausting to keep up with - there's just too much! But with this post, I was sharing something new, and something that I hadn't seem reported elsewhere - that the Broad Match setting was now on by default in new campaigns, whereas previously, you had to explicitly turn it on.

This month, you also cared about...

Firing a client: A personal story about how I had to fire a client last week because their business simply was not ready to support ads profitably. The comment section was way more engaged - and positive! - than I'd expected, so thank you for that.

Making fun of the Google Ads interface: A humorous post about how redundant the new Google Ads interface can be. This post was so good that someone copied it the next day and tried to pass it off as their own ?? but seriously, I wrote this one on a whim and it was fun to see it resonate with so many of you.

Google Ads Recommendations: On Instagram, a Reel about Google Ads Recommendations, which I created using my AI Avatar, was my most-viewed post. Can you tell that it's me, but not me, but kinda me? For the record, I always write the scripts for these videos 100% from my human intelligence, then use HeyGen to turn that script into a video.

AI-written blog posts: Marketers went gaga on Threads when I shared that I created 90 new blog posts from my Inside Google Ads podcast transcripts using Gemini. I got a LOT of questions! I'm not gate-keeping, I just want to make sure this works well before I start giving advice about something I'm new at. Give me a month or two, and I promise I will share every. single. detail.

The return of PPC Zone! Our July 2024 event featured Thuha Wright , Chris Ridley and Meriem Nacer , and y'all came OUT on LinkedIn and YouTube to learn & ask questions. You can find all the videos, details and summaries of each presentation on the PPC Zone website - I hope to see you at our next event on August 13th featuring Santosh K. , Nissha Goenka and Sophie Fell !

Before I let you go...

This was fun! I hope you enjoyed it as well.

If you'd like more Google Ads in your life, you can:

• sign up for my free monthly Google Ads newsletter, The Insider. It has completely different content than this one, I'm sure you'll love it, too.
• follow my podcast, Inside Google Ads, or sign up to get the transcripts in your inbox each week
• join my membership program, Inside Google Ads, and learn everything you need to know to become a Google Ads Expert

That's a wrap on my first issue of The Gist with Jyll. Drop a comment to let me know what you think, ask questions, give feedback - I'd love to hear from you ??