The paid media lab

"AI will take our marketing jobs". How many times have you heard that in recent years? Miles McNair (Founder of The PPC Hub & Co-Founder of PPC Mastery) joined us for the finale of Season 3 to explain why the future of marketing doesn't belong to AI - but marketers who can adapt and expand their skillset to offer more value than AI ever could. Miles spoke about his framework - be...

Google has dominated the digital advertising landscape for a long time now, and despite increasing legal scrutiny, it remains the ad platform of choice amongst marketers, with studies showing that advertisers spend more on Google Ads than both Meta and Amazon Ads combined. ...But do they still deserve the majority of your ad spend in 2026 and beyond? To find out, we spoke to Matt Shenton (Biddable...

Sales and marketing alignment is essential for slick lead generation at B2B and SaaS businesses. According to Hubspot’s 2025 State of Sales report, 41% of salespeople say sales and marketing alignment improves lead quality, while 29% say it can increase revenue and improve customer experience. To help leaders and teams bridge the gap between marketing and sales, we spoke to B2B marketer, speaker,...

TikTok is currently the fifth largest social platform in the world, and certainly one of the fastest growing - especially amongst younger audiences.  With TikTok’s exponential growth comes massive advertising opportunities. Statistics show that TikTok has more than 3.5 times the ad reach of X, with potential ad reach of almost 2 million users every month.  To help marketers capitalize on this, we...

AI hype is everywhere. But what does an AI future look like for marketers? Is AI genuinely the future, or just an over-hyped bubble that'll eventually burst, causing chaos in the process? In this episode of The Paid Media Lab, Rand Fishkin (Co-Founder/CEO of SparkToro and many, many other companies) joins us to cut through the noise. Rand shares fresh data on how people really use AI tools lik...

Most marketers worship their brand guidelines. Lewis Kemp thinks you should burn them. In the first episode of Season 3 of the Paid Media Lab, Lewis Kemp (founder of Lightbulb Media and The University of Creative Idiots) joins us to explain why strict brand rules kill creativity, and reveals how to rebuild a system that drives actual, meaningful results. We cover: • Why almost every small business...

Get Ed's forecasting spreadsheet here: https://edleake.com/google-ads-forecasting-tool/And watch his video going into the spreadsheet in more detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta5fIi0qbHw In the final episode of Season 2 of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we speak to Ed Leake - founder of God Tier Ads, seasoned agency owner, and PPC expert with over half a billion in managed ad spend - to un...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we speak to Sofia Akritidou - founder of ThinkWise Digital and seasoned B2B PPC strategist - to explore what’s really broken in B2B lead generation and how to fix it using smarter paid media strategies. With over seven years of hands-on experience across Google Ads, LinkedIn, and paid social, Sofia shares actionable insights on improving lead quality,...

Performance Max campaigns are everywhere - but most advertisers are still flying blind when it comes to controlling spend and cutting waste. To help marketers take back control, we spoke to Guillaume Devinat, CEO of PPC optimization platform Optmyzr, and uncovered the ultimate PMax negative keyword strategy. In the session, Guillaume reveals the findings of a huge study into how advertisers use (o...

AI Max is here - but getting the right information about it, and what it means for your campaigns, can be hard to find.  To help marketers get a clear view on how to prepare for AI Max, we spoke to Google Ads Expert Jyll Saskin Gales.  Jyll is a former Google employee, top PPC consultant, and author of Inside Google Ads - a fitting book title, given that very few people know what goes on inside Go...

Download Aaron Young's Google Ads Optimization Checklist (for free) here: https://www.definedigitalacademy.com/optimise Looking for a repeatable, structured way to optimize your Google Ads campaigns without burning out or flying blind? In this episode of the Paid Media Lab, we’re joined by PPC expert Aaron Young - founder of Define Digital Academy, and one of the most trusted and popular voices on...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we’re joined by Inny Vaiciute to break down how to outsmart rising CPCs with smarter PPC account structure - covering strategy, segmentation, and common mistakes that drain budget. As Senior PPC Manager at Circus PPC, Inny manages high-performing campaigns across ecommerce and lead gen - blending creative problem-solving with data-driven decision maki...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we’re speaking to Teodor Yordanov about how to master local campaigns in Google Ads - covering best practices, real-world strategies, and the common pitfalls to avoid. Very few marketers understand how to bridge the gap between digital campaigns and physical store visits like Teodor Yordanov, Senior Paid Media Director at Book Up Media and Marketize M...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab, we’re joined by Kirk Williams - founder of ZATO Marketing, TEDx speaker, and 2025’s 3rd most influential PPC expert - to break down exactly how to optimise PMax for eCommerce success. Whether you’re managing a single-product Shopify store or a large multi-brand catalogue, Kirk’s advice will help you turn underperforming PMax campaigns into high-performing ROI...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we're speaking to Amy Hebdon about the potential of Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) - covering best practices, key strategies, and the all-too-common RSA mistakes to avoid. Very few marketers know the ins-and-outs of RSAs as well as Amy Hebdon, founder of Paid Search Magic and creator of the famed ‘Magnetic RSAs’ course, where she breaks down every a...

The Paid Media Lab is back for Season 2 - and we're kicking things off by speaking to none other than Frederick Vallaeys about his methods for streamlining PPC management with ChatGPT and other LLMs.  Recently voted the #1 most influential PPC expert of 2025, Fred brings a wealth of knowledge from decades in the industry - previously as a Product Specialist & Ads Evangelist at Google, or c...

Season 2 of the Paid Media Lab podcast kicks off on the 21st May! Join us as we sit down with the best in the PPC business - including top performance marketers, media buyers, and growth strategists - to uncover what’s actually working in paid media right now.  No fluff - just real insights, proven tactics, and unfiltered conversations in a digestible format to improve your PPC game (and potential...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we're speaking to Tomasz Abbott-Wieczorek about the often under-appreciated topic of ad copy localization for international PPC campaigns.  You likely already know Tomasz as the founder of the PPC Profit Club, a sizable community of marketers sharing tips, strategies, and best practices for PPC success.  Individually, Tomasz has audited over $1 bi...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we sat down with PPC expert Lucy Smith to discuss demand-led bidding, and how it can help marketers make the most of their ad budgets. With over eight years of experience managing campaigns across paid search, paid social, and programmatic channels, Lucy has worked with clients across various industries to refine bidding strategies that adapt to real-...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we sat down with PPC expert Chris Nightingale to discuss all things landing pages in 2025 and beyond.  Chris is the owner of Can-Do Marketing, having previously worked as the Marketing Lead at AO and the Head of Digital Marketing at Alleyoop to name but a few.  With over 10 years experience in both the B2B and B2C marketing spaces, Chris has an extens...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, we're speaking to Navah Hopkins about the potential of Dynamic Search Ads, and uncovering their secret power--competitor research. Navah is a titan of the PPC industry. You've likely already heard her speaking at key industry events, seen her valuable and insightful takes on LinkedIn, or read her in-depth PPC articles on Search Engine Land.  N...

In this episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast, PPC expert Scott Carruthers about value-based bidding and the key optimization points for PPC campaigns. Scott is a widely respected voice in the paid media industry, sharing valuable tips, scripts, and insights for his thousands of LinkedIn followers. Scott is also Head of PPC at Journey Further, spending well over a decade crafting and executing awa...

This episode of the Paid Media Lab podcast featured PPC Expert Nick Handley discussing product feed optimization at scale, how to accurately measure the impact of marketing, and much more. Nick is the head of Paid Media Performance at performance marketing agency Impression, and has years of experience under his belt working alongside leading brands. We spoke to Nick about the importance of produc...

On the Paid Media Lab podcast this week, PPC Consultant Selina Patel gave her expertise on the (surprising) announcement from Google that Performance Max (PMax) campaigns are no longer prioritized over Standard Shopping campaigns. Selina is the founder of Exposure Media, a PPC consultancy based in Manchester. Selina has worked for international brands with multi-million dollar budgets, small local...

In this episode of The Paid Media Lab podcast, we're speaking to PPC expert Adriaan Dekker about whether it's worth shifting to POAS instead of ROAS. Adriaan is a highly respected voice within the PPC community, known for documenting every minor and major update to the Google Ads platform since launching his Google Ads newsletter in November 2022. With a substantial 100k+ following on LinkedIn, Ad...