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

You aren’t crazy.

Your Google Ads are probably are losing money.

Most business owners feel a low-level anxiety when they look at their Google Ads account.

That’s not a lack of expertise on your part—it’s a survival instinct.

This blog is where I expose the industry myths that keep you in the dark. I break down real search queries and technical errors so you can diagnose your own account with confidence.

You don't always need a new agency. You need an honest engine check.

Get a Second Opinion → $750

You are too close to your own business

That question that keeps coming up? It’s usually an 18% waste of budget.

One hour, 1-on-1. We open your account together. I show you exactly what’s happening, answer your hardest questions, and tell you what to fix next.

Book a Clarity Call → $350

Verify your gut feeling.

If you feel like you’re overpaying for under-performance, you’re usually right. Let’s look at the data together.

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.

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Audience Signals in Performance Max: How They Actually Work (Not the Google Help Version)

Audience signals in Performance Max don’t work the way Google Help describes them. They’re not targeting—they’re trajectory. Signals shape the first 10–30 days of learning, determine your early data quality, and decide whether PMax aligns with your economics or drifts into cheap, unprofitable traffic.

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The Small Business Guide to Value‑Based Bidding: Moving Beyond the Lead

Google Ads shouldn’t feel like a gamble for small business owners. Yet too often, campaigns chase the cheapest clicks and flood your pipeline with low‑quality leads that never close. That’s wasted budget — and it’s exactly why Value‑Based Bidding (VBB) matters.

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Is Your Google Ads Account Underperforming? Here’s When a PPC Coach Becomes a Smart Investment

If your Google Ads campaigns feel unpredictable, expensive, or confusing, you’re not alone. After 17 years auditing PPC accounts, I see the same issues over and over: wasted spend, bad tracking, and the wrong bidding strategy. Here’s how a PPC coach helps you fix what’s broken and finally get consistent, high‑quality leads.

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Google Ads Budget Pacing: The Definitive Small Business Guide

Google Ads budgets aren’t daily caps…they’re averages. Google can spend up to 2× your daily budget, recalculate pacing mid‑month, and shift spend based on signals, constraints, and inventory. All of this causes anxiety.

This guide breaks down how budgets actually work, why pacing goes off the rails, and how to protect your money with better structure, better data, and smarter oversight.

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How to Calculate Your Google Ads Daily Budget: The "Reverse-Budget" Formula

Picking a budget isn't a guessing game; it's a math problem. Most small businesses fail not because their ads are bad, but because they are "Deficit Budgeting." In this technical guide, I break down the exact formula I use to audit enterprise accounts. Find out if your current budget is mathematically impossible before you spend another dime.

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Google Ads Clarity & Protection Sarah Stemen Google Ads Clarity & Protection Sarah Stemen

Is $20 a Day Enough for Google Ads? The Truth About Small Budgets

Is your $20/day Google Ads budget working? If not, the problem isn't the size of your budget—it's the massive, invisible waste in your setup.

The reality is this: Most small accounts lose $100–$300 a month to 'Hidden Costs' like terrible Quality Scores, irrelevant clicks, and lazy negative keywords. That wasted $1,800 a year is guaranteed to continue.

My $750 Hidden Cost Protection Plan stops that waste immediately. This isn't an expense; it's a one-time investment that pays for itself in just a few months by simply recapturing the money you were already spending inefficiently. Stop paying the Google 'inefficiency tax,' and start building a profitable foundation today."

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The Myth of 'Perfect' AI Ad Copy in Google Ads: Polished vs. Powerful

AI can write polished Google Ads in seconds, but polished doesn’t always mean profitable. In this article, I break down why “perfect” AI ad copy is a myth, how machine‑generated RSAs often miss strategy and persuasion, and the simple 4‑step system I use to guide AI so it produces ads that actually convert. If you’re relying on prompts and getting pretty but underperforming ads, this will show you how to turn polished into powerful.

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