Notes on making paid growth actually profitable.

Platform news · 5 min read

Performance Max image extraction turns on by default on December 4. Check your account first.

Google turns on Performance Max image extraction for new campaigns from December 4, even if your account setting is off. What to check.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Google Ads Display Expansion changes in February 2027. Set your channel priority before then.

Google Ads Display Expansion on Search campaigns moves to channel prioritization in February 2027. The settings to check now.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Meta's new terms put the risk of its AI ad edits on you from October 30. Check your settings now.

Meta AI ad features: from October 30, Meta's terms reportedly make advertisers responsible for AI changes to their ads. What to check in your account first.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Meta turns on product browsing in your existing ads on October 28. Here is what to do first.

Meta will switch on product browsing for existing ads on October 28, 2026. What to do in your account first.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Merchant Center may now disapprove products that reprice more than once a day. What to check.

Google's help page now says automatic item updates can disapprove a product instead of updating it when it detects a mismatch. What to check in your feed and Shopping campaigns this week.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

WhatsApp Business API pricing changes October 1, 2026. What your ad account needs to do.

From October 1, service replies and in-window utility messages on the WhatsApp Business API become paid. Click-to-WhatsApp ads keep their 72-hour free window. What it does to your cost per lead and what to check this week.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Google Ads Customer Match now takes IP addresses. What your account needs to do.

Customer Match uploads now accept IP addresses and interaction timestamps, sent unhashed. Bigger lists are possible, but the privacy questions are real and the docs contradict themselves. How to test it properly.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Google AI Mode checkout is now on for Shopify stores. What your account needs to do.

Google turned on native checkout in AI Mode and Gemini for eligible Shopify stores without asking. GA4 and browser pixels do not fire there. What to check, what to decide, and how to keep your ROAS honest.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

The GA4 hostname filter now works as an allowlist. What your account needs to do.

GA4 can now drop data from any domain not on your approved list. A real fix for spam, and a permanent way to lose conversions that feed Google Ads if the list is incomplete. How to test it before you trust it.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Google Ads Product Value Optimization is in beta. What your account needs to do.

Google is testing value adjustments that let Smart Bidding chase margin instead of revenue, without restructuring campaigns. What is confirmed, what is still unknown, and the margin table to build before you get access.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Google Ads automated promotions are live. What your account needs to do.

Google is now reading offers off your landing pages and attaching them to Search and Performance Max ads as promotion assets. No announcement, no email. Who is eligible, what a stale sale banner costs you, and where the off switch is buried.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Google Ads is removing language targeting from Search campaigns. What your account needs to do.

Starting this month, the campaign-level language setting disappears from Search and the Search portion of Performance Max. Google says no action is required. Here is the part of that claim worth checking before you believe it.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Google Merchant Center image size requirements are changing to 500x500. What your account needs to do.

Enforcement is January 2027, so most people will file it under later. Two parts are already live, including images Google has started upscaling for you in the one format where the picture is the entire ad. What to pull from your feed this week.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Google Ads turned on conversion-based customer lists. What your account needs to do.

Data processing started August 18, 2026 and the opt-out window has closed. Google is now building audiences from your enhanced conversions data, and its own docs confirm those lists feed Smart Bidding automatically. Four things to check this week.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Meta is removing placement controls from ad sets. What your account needs to do.

Exclusions by placement, platform, device and operating system are going away at the ad set level, with no date announced. What actually changes, the two levers you keep, and the 5% setting quietly spending on placements you thought you had switched off.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Local Services Ads are moving into Google Ads as Performance Max. What your account needs to do.

US first from August 2026, LSAs become a Performance Max pay-per-lead campaign. Your reporting history does not migrate, manual bidding goes away, and budgets change shape. What changes and what to do before your account moves.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Google Ads is auto-upgrading campaigns to AI Max in September. What your account needs to do.

Not the campaigns most coverage says. The September upgrade hits campaign-level broad match and automatically created assets. DSA moved to February 2027. What actually changes and four things to do now.

Read → Platform news · 6 min read

Google Ads is changing Target CPA and Target ROAS bidding on August 17. What your account needs to do.

Budget-limited campaigns that have been quietly beating their targets will start delivering closer to the number you actually set. What changes, why Google made the call, and four things to check before the date.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Google Ads now requires a passkey for sensitive actions. What your account needs to do.

From July 15, 2026, you need a passkey to change billing, add users or link accounts. What the requirement means for agencies and shared logins, the setup delay that can lock you out, and four things to do this week.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Google Ads put a 6-month limit on appeals. What your account needs to do.

From July 21, 2026, with no notice, you can no longer appeal a policy decision older than six months from inside your account. What changed, why it bites inherited accounts hardest, and four things to do this week.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Google Ads AI content labels are rolling out. What your account needs to do.

Through July 2026, Google is switching on AI content labels. If you use any AI tool outside Google for creative, the disclosure is now your job. What changes, where the label shows, and four things to do this week.

Read → Platform news · 5 min read

Meta is removing the off-platform opt-out. Your retargeting is about to change.

From July 2026, previously invisible visitors become matchable again. What actually changes in your account, the measurement trap inside the good news, and four things to do this week.

Read → Hiring · 7 min read

In-house vs agency for paid media

An honest look at cost, speed, expertise, control and risk, when each option actually wins, and why the best answer is often neither one on its own.

Read → Hiring · 7 min read

What does a performance marketing agency cost in 2026?

The honest ranges, the three ways agencies charge, what should be included, and why the fee is almost never the number that matters.

Read → Hiring · 8 min read

How to choose a performance marketing agency

Ten questions that separate real operators from account babysitters, the red flags worth walking away from, and the green flags worth paying for.

Read → Measurement · 6 min read

Your ROAS looks fine. So why isn't the business making money?

Platform ROAS is the most quoted and least honest metric in performance marketing. Here are the three numbers that actually tell you if your ad spend is profitable.

Read → Measurement · 5 min read

Your Meta pixel is lying to you. Here's what server-side tracking fixes.

iOS, ad blockers and cookie limits quietly eat 20 to 40% of your conversion signal. Here is what server-side tracking and the Conversions API actually fix, without the jargon.

Read → Creative · 5 min read

You don't have a targeting problem. You have a creative problem.

Advantage+ and broad targeting do the audience work now. What starves an account is fresh creative. Here is a simple system for how much you need and how to test it.

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