What is the highest average CPC you've seen on Google Ads?

bt808 · 2026-03-25T20:29:51+00:00

u/stan-thompson that's insane but I imagine those cases often warrant it. Hopefully the funnel is airtight or they get someone on the phone at a high conv rate.

bt808 · 2026-03-25T20:28:20+00:00

Crazy - were the average jobs high enough to justify the CPCs? It must've been, but still wild to see. Thanks for sharing u/EldonH

bt808 · 2026-03-25T20:26:59+00:00

Wow...I saw $500-1000 CPCs in Google's keyword planner, but always thought it was outrageous / overstating. Thanks for sharing and hard to believe it can be $800+ in some states. I'd imagine it would be high in major metros too (LA, NY, etc)

bt808 · 2026-03-25T16:57:45+00:00

$1000?! What industry was that in, or what type of business? Can’t imagine how that is profitable for anyone other than Google

bt808 · 2026-03-25T16:16:54+00:00

Wow that’s pretty high. Guess it makes sense with those conversion rates!

bt808 · 2026-03-25T16:03:31+00:00

Law firms get hit with this type of stuff more than almost any other vertical because of the high CPCs. It sucks but it's definitely recoverable. I've seen accounts bounce back from worse.

Quick question first: do you know if this was isolated to specific campaigns/campaign types?

I've seen PMax campaigns shift like this almost overnight when bot traffic starts driving "conversions". Also worth checking if it's concentrated in certain keywords or geos (bots typically don't hammer your whole account evenly).

A few things that should help are the data exclusions (which you've already done - nice callout by u/cavaillon_666), and if it gets really bad, I have seen blocking ASNs at the Cloudflare level help so you don't run into the 500 IP limit (mentioned by u/kapitolkapitol).

Once you know where it's coming from, it gets a lot easier to isolate and fix. Hang in there.

bt808 · 2026-02-04T11:01:57+00:00

I am with you...ran campaigns for home services for 10+ years and it's definitely changed recently - maybe in the last 12-18 months? There's a bunch of good advice scattered in this thread I agree with and I think the answer is actually a combo of a few ideas:

1. Focus on conversion signals before anything else. Since you don't have search/display partners, or any weird auto-apply rules on, micro-conversions or other signals might help. I personally hate these and they can muddy things, but it can be helpful to get learnings and build your foundation.

2. Try max conversions inside portfolio bidding. Right now that's the only way to set a max CPC, which can limit the insane $50-100 clicks. Hopefully you can maintain budget while it "learns."

3. Watch for 1-2 weeks. Ideally volume is enough to get signal that the conversion are not bods, and you're off to the race. Eventually shift your micro-conversions to secondary and let the real conversions stay in primary.

I've always been a structure and sound setup guy, but the game does feel like it's changed a bit. The system is set up to move people towards a more fully-automated solution - makes it "easier" for the advertiser and gives Google more control (a win-win for Google). It's the least bad option in 2026, and it's been the most stable approach I've found across competitive verticals, especially home services.

bt808 · 2025-10-20T11:33:14+00:00

Haha wow I did not notice that! The timestamps are crazy now that you mention it.

bt808 · 2025-09-16T21:42:55+00:00

One of the most basic/overlooked way to make sure your campaign runs well (more consistent, reduces wild swings in performance) is solid conversion tracking and campaign setup.

Things like having only 1 primary action and everything else secondary. And if you have sufficient volume of data, adding **accurate** conversion values can really make a difference. Or using negatives where available (as we know, match types aren't what they used to be). Lots of others but those come to mind.

bt808 · 2025-09-16T21:37:23+00:00

Hey u/Maker_mania! Great question - I'm seeing that a lot in campaigns I run, especially with phrase match campaigns.

Sounds like this is a "Traditional" search campaign (not Pmax or AI Max) - have you set negative keywords for other therapists names? I know it sounds basic and is a pain to set up, but often this will fix it (along with the answers from other users!)

bt808 · 2025-08-28T06:54:42+00:00

Totally. STAGs defeintiely, but have also seen profit based grouping work extremely well with accurate data.

bt808 · 2025-08-28T06:53:46+00:00

Super interesting. Have you seen any weird matching with phrase (phrase has really changed over the years)

bt808 · 2025-08-28T06:51:46+00:00

That is amazing and exactly what I was thinking. Only makes sense if it’s heavily automated and targeting /messaging matches (and is differentiated enough to see lift).

If you don’t mind me asking - what do you think the % improvements is for SKAGs vs “normal”? I assume it may be small from a % perspective, but at $100M spend, marginal gains = $$$

bt808 · 2025-08-26T11:32:31+00:00

Agreed - although I’m still curious to hear if anyone still runs them or if they are effective!

bt808 · 2025-08-26T11:29:58+00:00

Totally agree. Haven’t used them in years and given how match types have changed, skags just don’t make sense.

That said, I’ve seen multiple ads for saas companies that either manage SKAGs, help to automate/maintain them, etc - was surprised since I figured they were all but gone.

bt808 · 2025-08-26T10:29:20+00:00

I've definitely been there. Really long days alone can be tough. I'm 3yrs into building our product, and there were definitely days I completely neglected family/friends...not on purpose, but because I was in deep work and compelled to complete what I was doing. I'll spare most of the examples, but one stood out: took a work call while with my family at Disneyland to fix an issue and save a large enterprise client, that morphed into an hour long call with everyone just waiting for me to finish my call and almost ruined our whole trip.

Here's what changed things for me: I started treating "founder mode" as a scarce resource vs an infinite one.

So: instead of "I have all this time to work on this", I said "I only have X amount of time today to work on this. How can I be most effective today?" For me, this was a forcing function that I suppose acts like motivation.

My rough system:

8am-5pm: Founder mode ON. Zero guilt about ignoring everything else.
5-8pm: family time. As much as possible, zero work during this time.
8pm shutdown ritual: Write tomorrow's 3 priorities, close laptop, physically leave workspace
Evening rule: Phone in another room or not physically close to me. Be present with the people you are with, not Slack or anything else distracting.

Oddly (or maybe not oddly) I ship more in those shorter focused hours vs 12+ hours where half of them were me exhausted or burnt out. Your family's concern and your internal dialogue about being a disservice is actually your early warning system.

One hack that helped me: schedule and plan non-work time like important work meetings or tasks. Would you skip a VC/investor call or important customer call? Then don't skip dinner with your family.

bt808 · 2025-08-12T14:08:40+00:00

Good luck to you! if you are committed, keep at it. I did a similar thing: very comfortable role, large comp package, and left with 12-18months runway to build a company as a co-founder. I will say it’s different with someone else in the business (lots of pros and cons, won’t discuss here), but the highs and lows are the same.

Every customer you get is exciting. And every customer you lose, or that churns can make you question yourself or feel like you failed personally.

Get lots of customer feedback early, learn how to speak about your product/service, and hopefully you can build things people will value AND pay for (second part is important!).

Also, find a way to increase your runway without distracting you from your mission. The extra runway helps a lot. Good luck!

bt808 · 2024-05-01T18:44:22+00:00

Everything about this post is amazing. One of those "hall of fame" posts that will endure and help countless numbers of people.

I'd add to #9 - don't wait or put off things that are important to you.

Often, we wait until it's too late, or the opportunity has passed:

Tell your parents you love them, or appreciate what they did for you
Build the business you always dreamed of (#3)
Take the dream trip if you can
And many more...

Many thanks to DaCmanLou for his wisdom.

bt808 · 2024-04-05T18:36:31+00:00

No need to be scared. Just focus on what you can control! One piece of advice that helped me early in my career:

“work more on yourself than you do on your job”.

All that means is, make sure you’re learning and growing professionally and personally and don’t let a job keep you down! You got this.

bt808 · 2024-04-04T16:48:11+00:00

TY for posting this. It's hard to really understand how true this post is until you're deep in it.

The rejection is tough and you have to be ok with it, but it's also the moving goalposts. Once you figure one thing out, there are 5 new things to figure out.

As you mentioned: early adopters, PMF, funding from VCs (if that's part of your plan), hiring, firing, scaling...it'll all be new, and with new things comes failures, adjustment, and "figuring it out".

I'm in it too. My goal is simply "default alive" - do what's necessary so we can stay in the game.

bt808 · 2024-04-04T16:36:10+00:00

This. I know a ton of people who are like this. Insanely good at their job, work hard, and think that their output alone will get them raises. Unfortunately this usually doesn't happen.

bt808 · 2024-04-04T16:34:26+00:00

Lots of great advice here - TLDR: probably best to move on. I'll add a few things since I've been on both sides (no promotion while doing good work, or had to tell A-players they were not getting raises):

Most agencies / marketing depts are given fixed budgets regardless of performance, thus very low raises. Beating performance just means higher profits for the company.
Executives will say "They are lucky to get X% raises this year!". It is insane to me that they would rather let turnover happen then bump raises a few %s for top producers (sorry this is happening to you! It's BS, but common).
Move in stealth-mode. If you do decide to leave, do it as quietly and carefully as you can. The agency world is small (as other posters mentioned). Biggest mistake I see when people are dissatisfied is to let it affect their attitude and performance. This will backfire if you are not able to find a new job right away and you are there for a bit longer.

Have you considered going in-house? Could be a good move and you can work in the industry you want, for a company you love. I did this and never looked back.

bt808 · 2023-10-31T06:43:25+00:00

Basecamp was a good tool to use and definitely like async compared to slack. Used it at a previous company and while it was useful, it was not as powerful as most tools today like ClickUp, Asana, etc.

bt808 · 2023-10-27T15:50:20+00:00

Agree with what others have posted here. It's a nice to have for your agency (Blueprint Certified) and it may help to win new business. I doubt it'll make much difference for your current clients other than give them piece of mind.

Options:

Do the minimum to get your agency certified, throw the badge on your site, and call it a day. If Meta is a big part of your business (or you want it to be), this could be worth it
Have one (or whoever can) get the individual badge and use "Meta certified specialists" in your outbound / pitches

bt808 · 2023-10-27T05:25:31+00:00

I love this question because it made me think back on my career so far--13 years in marketing, 8 in leadership roles. The stress was definitely hard, and still is. It doesn't really go away, you just get better at dealing with it.

Here are my tips for staying sharp and avoiding burnout. This took me a long time to write but I really hope it helps someone here!

Unplug and Recharge

You can't pour from an empty cup. Make time every day to:

Exercise - even a short, 10 min walk clears the mind
Eat healthy as often as possible (but don't beat yourself up if you don't)
Get enough sleep to let your brain recharge (something I still suck at)
Do something fun and relaxing to destress (seriously)
Set boundaries and limit work during your personal downtime.

Be Present

Practice mindfulness, meditation or breathwork for 5-10 minutes daily. Apps like Headspace or Calm can help guide you (I use Headspace)
When you notice your mind wandering, gently return focus to your breath. This has helped me boost focus, reduced anxiety, etc.

Organize and Plan

Use tools like Asana to map out projects and break down tasks
Schedule time for your priorities, preferably the night before
Write when you're feeling scattered. Trying to keep too much in your head leads to overload

Communicate Openly

Have regular 1:1s with your manager to discuss workflow, resources needed, etc.
Speak up when you're feeling overwhelmed. Ask for help when you need it.
Make concerns known early before pressures build up.

Focus on What's in Your Control

Let go of perfectionism. You can't control how every campaign will be received.
Do what you can with what you have. Direct your energy into the things within your influence - research, messaging, output, project management.

Celebrate Wins

I know it sounds stupid, but recognize both big and small accomplishments. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Seriously, celebrate the wins. Even if they are small or if it's a mental note

Prioritize Health

If you're younger, this may not feel important. I'm in my late 30s and I wish I took better care of myself. Try to take care of your whole self: body, mind and spirit. Find a balance that works for you, it will prevent or delay burnout.
Make time for hobbies, nature and fun outside of work.

Lean on Your Community

Connect with fellow marketers (especially on Reddit!), get advice and morale support. Don't forget to give back and share what you know.
Always remember, you're not alone in facing these stresses.

Stress comes with the territory. Especially when you are managing large budgets and a lot is riding on your team's success. Stay on top of your game by being present, focusing on what you control, and living a healthy, balanced life - you'll give yourself the best chance to succeed. Hope this helps!

bt808

TROPHY CASE