Spending on Google search ads rose 13% year over year in Q4 2025, up from 10% in Q3, based on Tinuiti’s latest benchmark report. Click growth for advertisers hit its strongest rate since early 2021, while average CPCs declined slightly for the second consecutive quarter. AI-driven results continue to expand overall query volume, including commercial […]
Just today, OpenAI confirmed it will begin testing advertising in the United States for ChatGPT Free and ChatGPT Go users in the coming weeks, marking the first time ads will appear inside the ChatGPT experience. The test coincides with the U.S. launch of ChatGPT Go, a low-cost subscription tier priced at $8 per month that […]
OpenAI will start testing ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. in the coming weeks. The ads will appear at the bottom of responses, be clearly labeled, and only show when a sponsored product or service is relevant to the conversation. Who will see ads: Logged-in adult users on the free tier and users on ChatGPT […]
Google Ads is running a limited test that allows some advertisers to A/B test different product titles and images within Shopping Ads. The feature appears as “product data experiments” and promises results within three to four weeks. Who gets it. The test is currently live for a small number of merchants, according to Google Ads […]
Google Ads simplified access to Manual CPC during campaign setup. Instead of navigating through the “Select a bid strategy directly (not recommended)” option, advertisers now see “Manually set bids” directly under the Conversions goal. The change: Manual CPC is surfaced within Google’s primary bidding flow. Advertisers no longer need to bypass Google’s recommended strategies to […]
Over the last 12-18 months, the rhetoric across Search Engine Land has shifted. There’s now broad agreement that people don’t just “Google” to discover brands anymore. Audiences are finding brands on TikTok, researching on Reddit, watching YouTube, and increasingly asking AI to summarize everything for them – determining whether a brand is found or ignored. […]
Welcome to this week’s PPC Pulse. This week’s news centers around quite a few Google updates. Google rolled out campaign total budgets in open beta, introduced a new Direct Offers pilot inside AI Mode, and confirmed several Shopping promotion policy updates taking effect in early 2026. The updates affect how advertisers manage fixed promotional spend, […]
Welcome to this week’s Pulse. Google is laying more groundwork for agent-led shopping, Google Trends is getting a Gemini helper inside Explore, and Google appears to have responded to a report we covered last week on AI Overviews health queries. Here’s what matters for you and your work. Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) Brings Agent Checkout […]
In 2026, AI is no longer something marketers are debating. It’s actively shaping nearly every part of digital advertising and creative. Because the human brain processes visuals far faster than text, video ads are becoming more important and more effective, especially as creative costs continue to fall. The question is no longer whether PPC teams […]
Remarketing lists continue to be one of the more dependable tools inside PPC accounts, especially for search campaigns. They give advertisers clearer control over who sees ads, how bids are adjusted, and how messaging aligns with prior brand interaction. As tracking becomes more constrained and audience signals less granular, first-party data carries more weight in […]