Stop blaming yourself for a "Black Box" you didn’t build.

Everyone in marketing wants your money.

The platform profits when you waste money. The agency profits when you spend it. You are the only one incentivized to save it.

I wrote this blog to expose the "Black Box" and show you how to protect your business. I don't sell management. I sell the solution you need to stop losing money on ads.

Book a Clarity Call → $350
Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen

The Attribution Illusion: Why Chasing a Single Marketing Metric Is Costing Your Business Leads and Sales

Most businesses think they have a marketing problem when what they really have is an attribution problem. Last‑Click makes your “best” campaigns look like heroes while quietly starving the early‑stage touchpoints that actually create demand. This illusion doesn’t just distort your reporting — it inflates your CAC, misallocates your budget, and blinds your bidding engine to the signals that drive profitable growth. In this guide, I break down how attribution really works in 2026, why your numbers look wrong, and how to rebuild a measurement system that protects your revenue instead of sabotaging it.

Read More
Google Ads Clarity & Protection Sarah Stemen Google Ads Clarity & Protection Sarah Stemen

How the 2026 PPC Landscape Has Changed: Introducing Protective PPC™

Navigating paid ads has become a high-stakes game for businesses in 2026. With platforms pushing 'black-box' automation and rising costs, the old ways of managing spend are no longer enough. I am introducing Protective PPC™ a framework built to give business owners the guardrails and transparency they need to stop wasting budget and start driving revenue.

Read More

How Much Should You Actually Spend on Google Ads?

If you’ve ever wondered how much you should actually spend on Google Ads, you’re not alone. In this guide, we walk through the real math behind minimum viable budgets — so you can stop guessing, understand your breakeven CPA, and set a spend level that actually gives Google enough data to perform.

Read More

Google Maps Joins Demand Gen: Why This Update Changes Local Advertising in 2026

Google quietly made a structural change that matters far more than the industry is treating it: Google Maps is now a selectable placement inside Demand Gen. This post breaks down what actually changed, why it matters for local businesses and therapists, and how this shift affects proximity, visibility, and strategy in 2026.

Read More
Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen

Google Ads Signals & Value Hub

The Google Ads Signals & Value Hub is a clear, diagnostic map that explains how Google interprets behavior, how signals influence learning, and how value‑based bidding actually works. This hub organizes the core concepts practitioners must understand to protect their budget, diagnose performance, and make smarter decisions in a signal‑driven ecosystem.

Read More
Google Ads For Therapists Sarah Stemen Google Ads For Therapists Sarah Stemen

Google Ads for Therapists Hub

This Google Ads for Therapists Hub gives you a clear, diagnostic map of why paid therapy ads fail and how to fix them. Instead of hype or generic marketing advice, you’ll find therapist‑specific guidance on targeting, keywords, ad copy, landing pages, insurance clarity, availability, and offer alignment — all organized into one protective, easy‑to‑navigate resource.

Read More
Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen

🛑 The $50,000 Budget Leak: How to Stop an Underperforming Agency from Crushing Your P&L

Tired of Google Ads reports that show plenty of "activity" but no profit? Many agencies substitute genuine, analytical strategy for superficial account management, turning your ad budget into a silent P&L risk. Learn the three strategic alternatives a paid search expert uses to isolate profitable keywords, run high-impact tests, and stop budget leaks for good.

Read More
Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen Google Ads Strategy Sarah Stemen

How Long Does It Take for Google Ads to Start Working?

Google Ads campaigns start delivering clicks within 24–48 hours, but for a campaign to truly work, meaning it generates consistent, profitable leads or sales, you must commit to an 8–12 week optimization cycle. The first month is the crucial Activation & Learning Phase where performance will be wildly inconsistent. This instability, often characterized by high cost and few conversions, is the necessary price of buying data that feeds the algorithm. Resist the urge to panic or make major daily changes during this period, as you will reset the learning clock.

Stay focused on ensuring tracking is perfect and aggressively cleaning up irrelevant searches with negative keywords. Consistent, profitable results will emerge in the subsequent weeks, validating the patience required during the initial phase.

Read More