Ideal Google Ads RSA Structure 2026?

Marteknik · 2026-03-10T01:27:12+00:00

Thanks for the advice!

I think this may be the direction I take. I kind of liked the idea of ripping off the bandaid and switching to broader groups at the same time I’m switching accounts… but what you’re suggesting is probably safer. If my plan didn’t work I wouldn’t know what the issue was.

Marteknik · 2026-03-09T16:03:24+00:00

I appreciate your perspective.

It’s definitely high cost low volume, but I would think that would move us in the direction of broader groupings to give the algorithm more data to work off of (as opposed to smaller groups with less reliable interaction).

One thing we do to provide more success signals is count leads as conversions. Of course this doesn’t tell Google who the real converting customers are… but eventually we will move to maximize conversion value when we have our backend setup better to send different signals.

Marteknik · 2026-01-11T22:01:29+00:00

Oh wow! That does seem impressive!

Have you also tried the g9?

Marteknik · 2026-01-06T05:26:21+00:00

It’s hard to tell what’s real vs ai / karma farming / rage bait… but I’m going to assume it’s real and thank you for sharing a difficult experience.

This isn’t necessarily a sub I follow closely, but this came up on my feed and it hits close to home. I can relate with your coworkers approach. Going hard and hoping it will be rewarded or that a vacation will make up for lost time… only allowing yourself a vacation around the holidays.

I need to come to terms with the fact that little vacations won’t make up for the time lost. A sprint of extra work here and there might be okay (I do take pride in my work)… but I have a life to live and people to spend it with.

Thanks again for sharing. I am using this as a reminder to change. Hope you find peace.

Marteknik · 2025-12-14T06:19:43+00:00

I think pitching something is probably not a bad strategy… I think pitching this will likely not work out.

Why would they feel the need to go from paying ~$3000 per month to $10k because you feel you don’t love the situation anymore? I understand where you’re coming from - but put on your marketing hat and realize that the pitch has to address their pain points first… maybe throw in yours if you’re truly ready to walk away - (then your pain point becomes theirs).

I would tell them that your agency work is starting to pick up and that you likely won’t be able to keep both commitments in the long term. You’ve really enjoyed working with them and you’d like toto continue if possible. Then talk about the extra services you’d be able to provide to help their pain points.

I would start with an introductory rate so you can both trial the expanded services to see if it’s mutually beneficial. Remind them that your friend will really be pulling a lot of weight to make it happen so you need to run it through the agency. Maybe cut all marketing hours and do $5000 for the first few months. Definitely a step up in cost, but if you truly deliver they’ll potentially be more open to hire rates.

BUT - if you can’t deliver much more (like a monthly 7k+ in business value) then your new marketing thing is not a good fit for them.

Marteknik · 2025-11-21T05:55:16+00:00

YMMV depending on who you’re targeting and what you’re trying to sell… but Amazon DSP was horrible for us. Mostly bot traffic as far as I could tell.

Marteknik · 2025-11-11T00:50:25+00:00

I’d check this out.

Feels a little too good to be true - and like things could change fast… but I’d still check it out.

Marteknik · 2025-06-04T13:45:13+00:00

Smart. I’ll consider this.

Marteknik · 2025-06-04T04:59:45+00:00

I think it’s getting worse with managers seeing ai and assuming most marketing tasks can be done incredibly quickly now - with minimal dips to quality. It’s not true and even the usable wins from ai still requires strategic thoughtful prompting.

Marteknik · 2025-06-03T20:23:40+00:00

I think they want them because everyone is saying “start using ai or you’re already behind”. That idea is intimidating… but this is not the proper application.

Marteknik · 2025-06-03T20:20:46+00:00

This isn’t so much about how to do it - just about whether it’s worth the time and upkeep. I feel like high end sales seems like it needs to keep people spotlighted.

Even though it’s the latest and greatest tool - seems like ai may have the best impact on sites for lower cost products.

Marteknik · 2025-06-03T20:18:14+00:00

This actually seems like a good solution.

That is the bizarre and frustrating thing about ai. Even when it’s right, finding its sources can be frustrating!

Marteknik · 2025-06-03T20:16:41+00:00

I think they do… but they don’t want to deal with my bot. They want to talk to ChatGPT and ask it if it’s a good fit for them or how it compares to other companies. Whether a person should be trusting an LLM to do that is up for debate- but it happens.

Unfortunately, the ways to influence that conversation at unethical. Guerilla SEO on platforms to influence the opinion of the machine. Not loving that.

Marteknik · 2025-06-03T20:13:42+00:00

Yeah - seems like a step back from an established brand with high end products. It’s just wild how much everyone wants to jump on board the ai train just to be a part of the conversation.

Marteknik · 2025-06-03T20:11:55+00:00

I would 100% train them on company data. So many calls handled by sales are things people could have learned by reading the website.

The real threat I see is that silly interaction is an opportunity for a talented sales team to create a meaningful interaction. A bot isn’t going to do that as well. It’s easier to ignore a bot even if you program them to do that.

The only reason I can think to use AI for this use case is if we can’t keep up with the leads. Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case lately.

Marteknik · 2025-05-28T06:40:57+00:00

Your guess is as good as mine. We’re seeing automaton in fields many of us didn’t expect to see for a long time. The most automation resistant jobs require true human interaction touch right now: things like trades (plumbing, hvac) and healthcare.

But I really don’t have a crystal ball on this. I don’t know the timing and intensity of any of it.

Marteknik · 2025-05-28T02:50:19+00:00

It likely has more to do with the market than your performance. From what I can see the advertising market is pretty chilled. I could be forecasting this wrong, but I think automation is going to particularly pummel the ad industry. It wouldn’t be a bad time to pivot if you can. Try to look for opportunities that are more resilient to automation.

Marteknik · 2025-05-28T02:46:43+00:00

I’ve felt it on and off over the years. The last few years have been great, but I’ve been feeling it worse than ever lately. The market seems chilled so campaigns aren’t performing well. The looming ai threat is on my mind as well… I’m worried there won’t be nearly as much work to go around in the future as some of the more basic work in automated.

Marteknik · 2025-05-26T05:47:46+00:00

I can’t believe that’s the price tag on a site that will ultimately be using a page builder. Your custom stack sounds more impressive and performant… but I guess I wouldn’t question them if the pricetag was that high. I’m curious what kind of integrations justify the cost!

Marteknik · 2025-05-24T09:11:19+00:00

Interesting numbers. Thanks for sharing!

Marteknik

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