Speaking at and sponsoring the brightonSEO conference series has enabled us to be close to an ever developing event that strives to meet the changing needs of its participants. With that in mind, the team launched several new spin-off events this year that will take place on 12 September. Our third speaker spotlight focuses on Nils Rooijmans of Water Cooler Topics, who’ll be presenting at the new Search Advertising Show.
Update: Here’s the link to Nils’s presentation at the Search Advertising Show.
Your presentation topic – Keeping An Eye On Google’s AI Using Scripts – touches on a key challenge PPC marketers face in terms of control over campaign results. What can participants expect to learn in your session?
PROBLEM:
Google is pushing its AI, reducing the amount of control for PPC experts. Examples include Enhanced CPC, automatically generated ads, Close Variant matching of exact match keywords, DSA campaigns, budget over deliveries.
Some of these applications of Google’s AI increase the quality and performance of our account. Many of them don’t.
Simply letting Google decide when and how to apply these algorithms will tank results and raises unnecessary questions from clients.
SOLUTION:
I have developed a methodology and a set of scripts to monitor and analyse the impact of Google’s AIs and mitigate some of the risks.
The results of the analysis on multiple client accounts are sometimes scary, sometimes very promising, and almost always very interesting.
In my talk I will briefly go through some of Google’s latest AI pushes and predict some of the things I see coming at us in the near future.
I’ll describe my methodology for monitoring and analysing the impact as well as methods to reduce any negative impact.
I will share some of the scripts I use to facilitate the process.
CONCLUSION/AUDIENCE TAKEAWAY:
At the end of my talk the attendees will have a ready to use step-by-step approach to analyse the impact of some of Google Ads latest AI algorithms, as well as a way to regain some control using scripts.
The Search Advertising Show is new, but have you participated in a brightonSEO event before?
No I haven’t. I love sharing in depth PPC knowledge with experienced peers. brightonSEO has a great reputation in terms of content and speakers, I’ve heard amazing stories from peers I highly respect. I see the same kind of attention in the preparation for the Search Advertising Show, and am excited to be part of it.
What tips do you have for attendees to maximize their time on-site at Search Advertising and brightonSEO?
In my experience, most of the value comes from networking with your peers. In order to do so, here are my tips:
- For every offline event, prepare at least one anecdote reflecting your own most interesting learning from the year you can share
- Come up with 3 questions for your peers, for example ask about topics they always have a debate about, ask their opinion about a particular industry trend or development,, etc .
This way you will get the most out of the event in addition to learning from the speakers presentations.
Other than your own session, what presentations are you most interested in attending and why?
If I had to choose one, I would go for Louise Childs “Supercharging PPC Performance With GA”, because there is so much data in Analytics that we do not use and we can benefit from in our accounts.
What do you think is the most interesting trend in search advertising now?
The growing importance of accurate conversion tracking and models to estimate lifetime value. Advertisers who get this right will have a huge competitive edge in an AI driven bidding world. The reason is: an AI optimizes towards the goals you provide based on the input you provide. The better you tell it what type of traffic you are looking for (that has the highest conversion value) the better it will be able to learn and target.
What are the top 5 tools or apps you use almost every day?
Scripts, scripts, Google Ads Editor, Excel, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager.
Oh, did I mention scripts? Here’s why:
- You can automate the tedious monotonous PPC tasks that just take hours to finish.
- Automatically increase your account performance.
- Make fewer mistakes.
- Make adjustments while you sleep.
- Spend less time on reporting and analyzing, more on strategyHelp and impress your colleagues and the Boss.
- Improve your career opportunities.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
I don’t know. I’m a lucky guy and loved all my jobs so far. I did have a bad experience though, running my last company (SEO SaaS). Our business was heavily dependent on Google and after some unexpected behavior from Big G our business was gone. Learning of the day: never become dependent on a single business partner/provider.
What people have influenced your thinking (and why) and might be of interest to others?
Amsterdam based DJ Dimitri. One of the best house music DJs before house music was called house. He taught me to “not be a prisoner of my own style”. Translate this advice to any skills you develop and you can reap all the fresh fruits.
What is your favorite quote?
“This world’s wild at heart and weird on top” from David Lynch’s movie Wild at Heart. It pictures the world the way I see it quite often. It’s absurd. Best enjoy our stay in it.
What advice would you give yourself when you first got started in search advertising?
Stay curious.
In fact, I’ve lived by this motto almost all my life and it has done great things for me in both my professional as well as private life.
Our world is changing at an ever increasing pace. The only way to keep up with this change is by making sure you know what’s going on.
Stay curious, learn something new every day and you’ll stay on top of the game.
Nils Rooijmans, veteran in Search Marketing, AI alumni and Search Specialist by trade. With over +20 years experience in the field (PPC, SEO) he has helped over hundreds of companies increase their revenue and profits, mostly through automations.Currently he combines his technical, business and entrepreneurial experience running a remote search agency and is sharing his knowledge on Google Ads Scripts via nilsrooijmans.com