<div><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin.jpeg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin.jpeg 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin-1200x675.jpeg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></div>A simple technical failure cost an agency months of leads, revealing why communication and QA matter as much as PPC performance.

<div><img width="1280" height="720" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin.jpeg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin.jpeg 1280w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/PLTP-Danny-Gavin-1200x675.jpeg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></div>
<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<p><a href="https://player.vimeo.com/video/1204937718?dnt=1&#038;app_id=122963" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch this video on Vimeo</a>
</div></figure>







<p>Every PPC professional has a story they wish they could erase. For Danny Gavin, founder of Optidge, it wasn&#8217;t a failed bidding strategy or a campaign that overspent. It was something far simpler—and arguably much more painful.</p>



<p>Danny joined me on PPC Live The Podcast, to talk about the technical issue that meant leads generated through a landing page never reached the client. For one to two months, the campaigns continued delivering qualified prospects while the client believed nothing was working.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-mistake-that-no-one-spotted">The mistake that no one spotted</h2>



<p>At the time, Danny&#8217;s agency was still small, with just a handful of people managing client accounts. One client, an autism therapy provider, was seeing healthy campaign performance inside Google Ads.</p>



<p>Clicks were increasing. Cost per lead looked strong. Everything inside the platform suggested success.</p>



<p>Yet the client was becoming increasingly frustrated because no enquiries were arriving.</p>



<p>The problem wasn&#8217;t Google Ads.</p>



<p>It wasn&#8217;t the landing page.</p>



<p>It was the email notification system.</p>



<p>Every lead submitted through the form was successfully stored in the database, but a technical failure meant the notification emails stopped reaching the client. Since neither side realised the emails had failed, the issue continued unnoticed for weeks.</p>



<p>By the time the problem was discovered, dozens of leads had gone cold.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-the-emotional-impact-was-worse-than-the-technical-problem">Why the emotional impact was worse than the technical problem</h2>



<p>For Danny, the financial loss wasn&#8217;t the hardest part. The hardest part was feeling that his agency had let the client down. Because the client was someone he knew personally, the mistake felt deeply personal.</p>



<p>His team had spent weeks proudly reporting positive campaign performance while the client saw no return from their investment.That disconnect created feelings of guilt, regret and helplessness.</p>



<p>As Danny explained, it felt as though they had taken the client&#8217;s money without delivering value—even though the campaigns themselves had actually worked.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-honesty-became-the-first-step">Honesty became the first step</h2>



<p>When the problem became clear, there was no attempt to hide it. Danny believes honesty is the only viable response when mistakes happen.</p>



<p>Rather than making excuses, the agency investigated immediately, exported every lead stored in the database and supplied the client with everything they had recovered. While many of those opportunities had already gone cold, at least the client had access to the data that still existed.</p>



<p>From there, the focus shifted from blame to prevention.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-building-systems-that-stop-the-same-mistake-happening-twice">Building systems that stop the same mistake happening twice</h2>



<p>The experience fundamentally changed the agency&#8217;s processes.</p>



<p>Instead of relying on a single notification email, they introduced multiple safeguards, including:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>CC&#8217;ing the agency into every lead notification.</li>



<li>Automatically logging every lead into a shared Google Sheet.</li>



<li>Regularly testing forms to confirm both submissions and notifications work correctly.</li>



<li>Routinely checking with clients that leads are actually being received.</li>
</ul>



<p>These checks are now part of the agency&#8217;s standard operating procedures rather than assumptions that technology is working correctly.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-communication-matters-as-much-as-optimisation">Why communication matters as much as optimisation</h2>



<p>Looking back, Danny believes the technical issue wasn&#8217;t the only problem. Communication also failed, no one had asked the simple question: &#8220;Are you actually receiving the leads?&#8221;</p>



<p>Today, communication is one of Optidge&#8217;s core values.</p>



<p>Rather than expecting PPC specialists to handle constant client communication alongside campaign management, the agency introduced dedicated account managers whose primary responsibility is keeping clients informed.</p>



<p>The lesson is simple &#8211; campaign metrics alone don&#8217;t define success.</p>



<p>Success only happens when the client experiences the results you&#8217;re reporting.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sometimes-clients-remember-how-you-responded">Sometimes clients remember how you responded</h2>



<p>Initially, the relationship with the client ended. Danny assumed the mistake had permanently damaged any trust they had built.</p>



<p>Years later, however, the same client reached out again about potentially working together. In her email, she described Optidge as the most professional agency she had worked with. It reminded Danny that while clients don&#8217;t forget mistakes, they often remember how agencies respond to them.</p>



<p>Transparency, professionalism and genuine effort to improve can leave a stronger impression than perfection.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-common-ppc-mistakes-danny-still-sees-today">Common PPC mistakes Danny still sees today</h2>



<p>Although the incident happened years ago, Danny believes many agencies continue making similar mistakes.</p>



<p>One of the biggest is focusing purely on traffic rather than business outcomes. Sending visitors is no longer enough.</p>



<p>Successful lead generation requires understanding what happens after someone clicks.</p>



<p>He regularly audits accounts where agencies fail to:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Feed qualified lead data back into advertising platforms.</li>



<li>Review search terms thoroughly and maintain negative keywords.</li>



<li>Build landing pages tailored to campaign intent.</li>



<li>Measure lead quality rather than simply counting conversions.</li>
</ul>



<p>Without these fundamentals, campaign optimisation is based on incomplete information.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-where-ai-is-genuinely-helping-lead-generation">Where AI is genuinely helping lead generation</h2>



<p>Danny believes AI has significant potential for lead generation—but not in the way many marketers expect.</p>



<p>One of the biggest opportunities is analysing phone calls.</p>



<p>Instead of manually listening to every conversation, AI can now:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Generate call transcripts.</li>



<li>Categorise calls by quality.</li>



<li>Identify whether a call became a genuine sales opportunity.</li>



<li>Help agencies feed qualified conversion data back into Google Ads.</li>
</ul>



<p>This allows optimisation based on real business outcomes instead of surface-level metrics.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-ai-still-needs-human-oversight">Why AI still needs human oversight</h2>



<p>Despite embracing AI, Danny warns against treating it as an infallible system.</p>



<p>Like automation inside advertising platforms, AI can make mistakes, misunderstand context and confidently produce incorrect conclusions.</p>



<p>For industries with strict privacy requirements, such as healthcare, AI may not even be suitable for handling sensitive customer information.</p>



<p>His advice is to trust AI enough to improve efficiency—but always verify its work.</p>



<p>Human expertise remains essential.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-biggest-lesson">The biggest lesson</h2>



<p>Every PPC professional will make mistakes.</p>



<p>What defines a successful agency isn&#8217;t avoiding them completely.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s being honest when they happen, fixing the immediate problem, putting safeguards in place and ensuring the same issue never happens again.</p>



<p>As Danny puts it, a mistake only becomes valuable when you&#8217;ve genuinely learned from it.</p>


Watch this video on Vimeo








Every PPC professional has a story they wish they could erase. For Danny Gavin, founder of Optidge, it wasn’t a failed bidding strategy or a campaign that overspent. It was something far simpler—and arguably much more painful.
Danny joined me on PPC Live The Podcast, to talk about the technical issue that meant leads generated through a landing page never reached the client. For one to two months, the campaigns continued delivering qualified prospects while the client believed nothing was working.
The mistake that no one spotted
At the time, Danny’s agency was still small, with just a handful of people managing client accounts. One client, an autism therapy provider, was seeing healthy campaign performance inside Google Ads.
Clicks were increasing. Cost per lead looked strong. Everything inside the platform suggested success.
Yet the client was becoming increasingly frustrated because no enquiries were arriving.
The problem wasn’t Google Ads.
It wasn’t the landing page.
It was the email notification system.
Every lead submitted through the form was successfully stored in the database, but a technical failure meant the notification emails stopped reaching the client. Since neither side realised the emails had failed, the issue continued unnoticed for weeks.
By the time the problem was discovered, dozens of leads had gone cold.
Why the emotional impact was worse than the technical problem
For Danny, the financial loss wasn’t the hardest part. The hardest part was feeling that his agency had let the client down. Because the client was someone he knew personally, the mistake felt deeply personal.
His team had spent weeks proudly reporting positive campaign performance while the client saw no return from their investment.That disconnect created feelings of guilt, regret and helplessness.
As Danny explained, it felt as though they had taken the client’s money without delivering value—even though the campaigns themselves had actually worked.
Honesty became the first step
When the problem became clear, there was no attempt to hide it. Danny believes honesty is the only viable response when mistakes happen.
Rather than making excuses, the agency investigated immediately, exported every lead stored in the database and supplied the client with everything they had recovered. While many of those opportunities had already gone cold, at least the client had access to the data that still existed.
From there, the focus shifted from blame to prevention.
Building systems that stop the same mistake happening twice
The experience fundamentally changed the agency’s processes.
Instead of relying on a single notification email, they introduced multiple safeguards, including:
CC’ing the agency into every lead notification.
Automatically logging every lead into a shared Google Sheet.
Regularly testing forms to confirm both submissions and notifications work correctly.
Routinely checking with clients that leads are actually being received.
These checks are now part of the agency’s standard operating procedures rather than assumptions that technology is working correctly.
Why communication matters as much as optimisation
Looking back, Danny believes the technical issue wasn’t the only problem. Communication also failed, no one had asked the simple question: “Are you actually receiving the leads?”
Today, communication is one of Optidge’s core values.
Rather than expecting PPC specialists to handle constant client communication alongside campaign management, the agency introduced dedicated account managers whose primary responsibility is keeping clients informed.
The lesson is simple – campaign metrics alone don’t define success.
Success only happens when the client experiences the results you’re reporting.
Sometimes clients remember how you responded
Initially, the relationship with the client ended. Danny assumed the mistake had permanently damaged any trust they had built.
Years later, however, the same client reached out again about potentially working together. In her email, she described Optidge as the most professional agency she had worked with. It reminded Danny that while clients don’t forget mistakes, they often remember how agencies respond to them.
Transparency, professionalism and genuine effort to improve can leave a stronger impression than perfection.
Common PPC mistakes Danny still sees today
Although the incident happened years ago, Danny believes many agencies continue making similar mistakes.
One of the biggest is focusing purely on traffic rather than business outcomes. Sending visitors is no longer enough.
Successful lead generation requires understanding what happens after someone clicks.
He regularly audits accounts where agencies fail to:
Feed qualified lead data back into advertising platforms.
Review search terms thoroughly and maintain negative keywords.
Build landing pages tailored to campaign intent.
Measure lead quality rather than simply counting conversions.
Without these fundamentals, campaign optimisation is based on incomplete information.
Where AI is genuinely helping lead generation
Danny believes AI has significant potential for lead generation—but not in the way many marketers expect.
One of the biggest opportunities is analysing phone calls.
Instead of manually listening to every conversation, AI can now:
Generate call transcripts.
Categorise calls by quality.
Identify whether a call became a genuine sales opportunity.
Help agencies feed qualified conversion data back into Google Ads.
This allows optimisation based on real business outcomes instead of surface-level metrics.
Why AI still needs human oversight
Despite embracing AI, Danny warns against treating it as an infallible system.
Like automation inside advertising platforms, AI can make mistakes, misunderstand context and confidently produce incorrect conclusions.
For industries with strict privacy requirements, such as healthcare, AI may not even be suitable for handling sensitive customer information.
His advice is to trust AI enough to improve efficiency—but always verify its work.
Human expertise remains essential.
The biggest lesson
Every PPC professional will make mistakes.
What defines a successful agency isn’t avoiding them completely.
It’s being honest when they happen, fixing the immediate problem, putting safeguards in place and ensuring the same issue never happens again.
As Danny puts it, a mistake only becomes valuable when you’ve genuinely learned from it.

A simple technical failure cost an agency months of leads, revealing why communication and QA matter as much as PPC performance.

How one broken form cost an agency months of leads ft. Danny Gavin

<div><img width="1920" height="1235" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920-768x494.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920-1536x988.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>No one has supported the search industry, for as long, and with so much of his resources, like Bruce Clay.

<div><img width="1920" height="1235" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920-768x494.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/bruce-clay-1920-1536x988.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Bruce Clay, known as the Father of SEO, sadly passed away in late May.  Bruce Clay was one of, if not the, founding father of the SEO industry, starting a real professional SEO agency back in 1996. He was the first sponsor of the first SEO conference, ever and he has given more of his time, resources and money to the creation of the SEO space than almost anyone else.</p>



<p><strong>Tribute video. </strong>The Bruce Clay, Inc. team has prepared a tribute video for Bruce, which describes how he was a pioneer in the SEO industry and devoted much of his life to helping it grow. It says that in the three decades he served as CEO of Bruce Clay Inc., Bruce wrote 3 books, built tools, spoke at conferences, hosted training events, and helped the company expand internationally. The are hundreds of employees across the world that have contributed to SEO because of his founding principles, and thousands of students who have benefited from his expertise.</p>



<p>Here is that video:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NyAbJC8QmeE?feature=oembed" rel="noopener noreferrer">Watch this video on YouTube</a>
</div></figure>



<p>The Bruce Clay team told me, &#8220;We are absolutely heartbroken, but we find strength in the vibrant community and lasting values that Bruce built. Our teams in the U.S. and&nbsp; around the world remain dedicated to carrying forward the mission Bruce loved so dearly.&#8221;</p>



<p>Kyle Pouliot &#8211; Sr. Video Production Manager at Third Door Media told me:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>&#8220;I’ve gotten to know Bruce on a more personal level over these past few years and interacted with him frequently for our online conferences. What I’ve learned about Bruce in that time is that he was genuinely thoughtful and caring about the search community. Never short of an honest opinion, Bruce shared some really practical ideas for Search Engine Land and SMX. He loved sharing his deep experienced knowledge to everyone, it didn’t matter if you were a beginner or 20+ year industry veteran, he treated everyone the same. We talked about the hundreds of golf balls that would find their way into his property every day, food, raising kids and how incredible the weather was in Simi Valley. He will be greatly missed.&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>



<p>On a personal note, I&#8217;ve known Bruce Clay since I started in the SEO industry well over 20 years ago.  He has been a role model to me, often a mentor and someone who has always been very approachable, professional and likely the most caring person in the room.  I loved his SEO talks, I loved meeting up with him at industry events and I loved getting personal email messages from Bruce about shaping the future of our industry.</p>



<p>You will be deeply missed Bruce. </p>


Bruce Clay, known as the Father of SEO, sadly passed away in late May.  Bruce Clay was one of, if not the, founding father of the SEO industry, starting a real professional SEO agency back in 1996. He was the first sponsor of the first SEO conference, ever and he has given more of his time, resources and money to the creation of the SEO space than almost anyone else.
Tribute video. The Bruce Clay, Inc. team has prepared a tribute video for Bruce, which describes how he was a pioneer in the SEO industry and devoted much of his life to helping it grow. It says that in the three decades he served as CEO of Bruce Clay Inc., Bruce wrote 3 books, built tools, spoke at conferences, hosted training events, and helped the company expand internationally. The are hundreds of employees across the world that have contributed to SEO because of his founding principles, and thousands of students who have benefited from his expertise.
Here is that video:

Watch this video on YouTube




The Bruce Clay team told me, “We are absolutely heartbroken, but we find strength in the vibrant community and lasting values that Bruce built. Our teams in the U.S. and  around the world remain dedicated to carrying forward the mission Bruce loved so dearly.”
Kyle Pouliot – Sr. Video Production Manager at Third Door Media told me:
“I’ve gotten to know Bruce on a more personal level over these past few years and interacted with him frequently for our online conferences. What I’ve learned about Bruce in that time is that he was genuinely thoughtful and caring about the search community. Never short of an honest opinion, Bruce shared some really practical ideas for Search Engine Land and SMX. He loved sharing his deep experienced knowledge to everyone, it didn’t matter if you were a beginner or 20+ year industry veteran, he treated everyone the same. We talked about the hundreds of golf balls that would find their way into his property every day, food, raising kids and how incredible the weather was in Simi Valley. He will be greatly missed.”
On a personal note, I’ve known Bruce Clay since I started in the SEO industry well over 20 years ago.  He has been a role model to me, often a mentor and someone who has always been very approachable, professional and likely the most caring person in the room.  I loved his SEO talks, I loved meeting up with him at industry events and I loved getting personal email messages from Bruce about shaping the future of our industry.
You will be deeply missed Bruce.

No one has supported the search industry, for as long, and with so much of his resources, like Bruce Clay.

Bruce Clay, the Father of SEO, has passed away

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>This spam update took two full days to roll out.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/02/google-algo-discover-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google has confirmed the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-june-2026-spam-update-481002">June 2026 spam update</a>, which was released on Wednesday, June 24th at around noon ET, is now done rolling out. The update finished rolling out on June 26 at 2pm ET.</p>



<p>Here is what Google <a href="https://status.search.google.com/incidents/YUX1peHev5a4fkxLDiUQ">posted</a>:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;The rollout was complete as of June 26, 2026&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p><strong>Why we care.&nbsp;</strong>This is the second Google spam update announced in 2026 and this update felt a bit bigger than the <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-releases-march-2026-spam-update-472411">March 2026 spam update</a> but like for most updates, if your site was not impacted, then you are good to go &#8211; at least for now.</p>



<p>There will always be cases of sites not spamming Google that get hit by a spam update but hopefully that won&#8217;t be one of your sites.</p>



<p><strong>Type of spam update. </strong>Google originally said:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>&#8220;This is a normal spam update, and it will roll out for all languages and locations. The rollout may take a few days to complete.&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>You can learn more about Google spam updates in <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/spam-updates">this Google help document</a>.</p>


Google has confirmed the June 2026 spam update, which was released on Wednesday, June 24th at around noon ET, is now done rolling out. The update finished rolling out on June 26 at 2pm ET.
Here is what Google posted:
“The rollout was complete as of June 26, 2026”
Why we care. This is the second Google spam update announced in 2026 and this update felt a bit bigger than the March 2026 spam update but like for most updates, if your site was not impacted, then you are good to go – at least for now.
There will always be cases of sites not spamming Google that get hit by a spam update but hopefully that won’t be one of your sites.
Type of spam update. Google originally said:
“This is a normal spam update, and it will roll out for all languages and locations. The rollout may take a few days to complete.”
You can learn more about Google spam updates in this Google help document.

This spam update took two full days to roll out.

Google June 2026 spam update done rolling out

<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-800x450.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Search marketing jobs" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-800x450.jpg 800w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-600x338.jpg 600w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-200x113.jpg 200w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-768x432.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-150x84.jpg 150w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing-550x310.jpg 550w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2021/10/hiring-in-search-marketing.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></div>Land your next job in SEO or PPC. These brands and agencies are hiring to fill open search marketing positions right now.

Looking to take the next step in your search marketing career? 
Below, you will find the latest SEO, PPC, and digital marketing jobs at brands and agencies. We also include positions from previous weeks that are still open.
Newest SEO Jobs 
(Provided to Search Engine Land by SEOjobs.com) 



Local SEO Lead
June 26, 2026 
About Wonderly Wonderly is building the first end-to-end AI business platform for service businesses. The roofers, contractors, med spas, and law firms that make up the majority of the economy are excellent at their craft and poor at running a business — and most of them should be generating 2–5x more revenue than they currently […]

SEO Specialist
June 24, 2026 
Do you love nerding out on SEO and working with clients? If your friends & family are sick of hearing about your latest search rankings, then we’re your kind of people and you will love this job. $80k in year 1 + potential bonuses You will get an absolute masterclass on SEO and working with […]

Director of Growth (SEO & Web)
June 24, 2026 
Muck Rack is the leading SaaS platform for public relations and communications professionals. Our mission is to enable organizations to build trust, tell their stories, and demonstrate the unique value of earned media. Muck Rack’s AI-powered, comprehensive, and integrated platform streamlines the PR workflow to help businesses generate positive media coverage, monitor mentions to manage […]

Head of SEO
June 23, 2026 
About North Star Network North Star Network (NSN) is a global sports and betting media group that builds and operates leading digital brands connecting sports fans and bettors across 30+ countries. Our mission is to turn passion for sports and gaming into trusted information, data-driven insights, and responsible entertainment. We’re a multicultural and fully remote […]

SEO Specialist
June 19, 2026 
About The Role Hi, I’m Jason Eliason and I lead the Jane Marketing Services team. I’ve been at Jane for two years, and what we’re building here is genuinely unusual – a team embedded inside a healthcare SaaS product, delivering SEO, Google Ads, Social, and Website services exclusively to the clinics that run their practices […]

Senior SEO Growth Manager
June 16, 2026 
What You’ll Own Own SEO strategy across StealthGPT product pages, blog, free tools, comparison pages, and programmatic landing pages. Build keyword maps around high-intent AI writing, AI humanizer, AI detector, SEO writer, and competitor-alternative searches. Create and manage content briefs for landing pages, articles, free tools, refreshes, and comparison pages. Improve page copy, titles, metadata, […]

SEO Success Manager
June 16, 2026 
Botify’s leading agentic AI search technology and seasoned experts ensure every brand has the power to be found, both in traditional and AI search. With one powerful platform, brands achieve visibility, relevance, and greater control across Google, Bing, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and more. Botify’s technology powers agentic workflows, AI-driven recommendations, and automated cross-platform indexation and deployment. […]

Growth Marketer
June 15, 2026 
ABOUT THE ROLE We’re looking for a Growth Marketer to own the entire lead gen cycle. You’ll be the one turning heads and converting them into qualified leads (MQLs), pipeline opportunities (SQLs), and new revenue. This role is focused on building and scaling non-traditional lead gen paths that reach customers where they actually hang out. […]

VP / Head of Search & AI Visibility
June 15, 2026 
VP / Head of Search & AI Visibility Location: United States (Remote / Hybrid Preferred) Reports To – President/Founder Company: Milestone Inc. (direct hire) Term: Full-time About Milestone Milestone Inc. is a leading Digital Experience Software and Services company dedicated to providing comprehensive solutions across all touch points that enhance customer engagement and drive business growth. […]

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Clarity is the Global Growth Consultancy for B2B technology brands. As a senior-led consultancy, we align leadership, markets, and execution to turn complex growth ambitions into commercial momentum. Operating from hubs in London, New York, Amsterdam, and Sydney, our 100+ global team helps leaders navigate high-stakes growth tensions across Enterprise Tech, FinTech, Cybersecurity, and HealthTech. […]

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Growth Marketing Manager — Paid Social & ROI
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Harry's is seeking a talented Growth Marketing Manager to lead the paid social efforts for both Harry’s and Flamingo brands. This role requires a data-driven individual who will develop and optimize digital marketing campaigns across platforms such as Meta, Tik Tok, and Reddit. You will be responsible for defining strategies and tracking performance to achieve […]

Paid Media Campaign Manager
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Managing performance-oriented media programs, the full-time remote Paid Media & ABX Campaign Manager will oversee day-to-day operations, optimize campaigns, and analyze performance data to drive engagement and pipeline for AI solutions across North America. Key responsibilities Lead paid media and ABX program operations and reporting for North America, focusing on AI solutions Collaborate with media […]

Growth Marketing Leader: AI-Driven Search & Demand
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Stack AI, Inc. is seeking a Digital Marketing Manager to strategize and scale its growth engine. This role integrates search, content, and AI-driven discovery to drive enterprise demand. Candidates should have over 5 years of experience in digital marketing, particularly in B2B SaaS environments, focusing on SEO strategies and demand generation programs. The position is […]

Amazon PPC Manager (Freelance, Part-Time)
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We're looking for an experienced Amazon PPC manager to set up, monitor, and optimize campaigns for our portfolio of Amazon brands in food supplements and electronic accessories across Pan‑EU marketplaces (DE, IT, FR, ES, NL, IE, UK). Long‑term part‑time engagement to start, with potential to grow into full‑time within 6–12 months for the right candidate. […]

Growth Marketing Lead, Paid Digital
June 26, 2026 
New York, New York, United States $130k – $180k Posted 5 weeks ago Role Overview Orchard Mental Health Group is hiring a Growth Marketing Lead, Paid Digital. This is a full‑time role in New York, New York. Part of Orchard Mental Health Group's Performance Marketing hiring. Salary Context This role offers $130k-$180k. The median for […]

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<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to write high-performing Google Ads copy with generative AI" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI-1536x864.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Standard Shopping campaigns can now use Maximize Conversion Value bidding without a Target ROAS, giving advertisers flexibility.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="How to write high-performing Google Ads copy with generative AI" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2025/07/How-to-write-high-performing-Google-Ads-copy-with-generative-AI-1536x864.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google is giving Standard Shopping advertisers access to a bidding strategy that was previously tied to a Target ROAS goal, potentially reducing the need to use Performance Max solely for value-based bidding.</p>



<p><strong>What&#8217;s happening</strong>. Google is rolling out Maximize Conversion Value bidding for Standard Shopping campaigns without requiring advertisers to set a Target ROAS.</p>



<p>Previously, advertisers looking to optimize for conversion value had to use a Target ROAS bidding strategy. The new option allows campaigns to maximize conversion value while giving Google&#8217;s bidding system more flexibility.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care. </strong>Advertisers can now use Google&#8217;s value-based bidding without being constrained by a Target ROAS goal. This gives Standard Shopping campaigns more flexibility while preserving the control and transparency many advertisers prefer, potentially removing the need to run feed-only Performance Max campaigns just to access Maximize Conversion Value bidding.</p>



<p><strong>Between the lines</strong>. Many advertisers have continued to favour Standard Shopping because it offers greater control and transparency than Performance Max. However, those wanting Google&#8217;s value-based bidding often created feed-only Performance Max campaigns simply to access Maximize Conversion Value bidding without a ROAS constraint.</p>



<p>With this update, that workaround may no longer be necessary.</p>



<p><strong>Why advertisers should care</strong>. Advertisers can now combine the control of Standard Shopping with a more flexible value-based bidding strategy. For some accounts, it could simplify campaign structures and reduce reliance on feed-only Performance Max campaigns.</p>



<p><strong>The bottom line</strong>. Google is narrowing one of the biggest feature gaps between Standard Shopping and Performance Max, giving advertisers another reason to stick with Standard Shopping while still benefiting from automated value-based bidding.</p>



<p><strong>First spotted. </strong>This update was spotted by performance marketer Yash Mandlesha, who shared spotting the option on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yash-mandlesha_googleads-ppc-share-7475815510882824193-ZH2S/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_ios&amp;rcm=ACoAAAAOXwgBGvKJ5PG5kuwaTmFUJWimyBar5pw">LinkedIn</a>. </p>






Google is giving Standard Shopping advertisers access to a bidding strategy that was previously tied to a Target ROAS goal, potentially reducing the need to use Performance Max solely for value-based bidding.
What’s happening. Google is rolling out Maximize Conversion Value bidding for Standard Shopping campaigns without requiring advertisers to set a Target ROAS.
Previously, advertisers looking to optimize for conversion value had to use a Target ROAS bidding strategy. The new option allows campaigns to maximize conversion value while giving Google’s bidding system more flexibility.
Why we care. Advertisers can now use Google’s value-based bidding without being constrained by a Target ROAS goal. This gives Standard Shopping campaigns more flexibility while preserving the control and transparency many advertisers prefer, potentially removing the need to run feed-only Performance Max campaigns just to access Maximize Conversion Value bidding.
Between the lines. Many advertisers have continued to favour Standard Shopping because it offers greater control and transparency than Performance Max. However, those wanting Google’s value-based bidding often created feed-only Performance Max campaigns simply to access Maximize Conversion Value bidding without a ROAS constraint.
With this update, that workaround may no longer be necessary.
Why advertisers should care. Advertisers can now combine the control of Standard Shopping with a more flexible value-based bidding strategy. For some accounts, it could simplify campaign structures and reduce reliance on feed-only Performance Max campaigns.
The bottom line. Google is narrowing one of the biggest feature gaps between Standard Shopping and Performance Max, giving advertisers another reason to stick with Standard Shopping while still benefiting from automated value-based bidding.
First spotted. This update was spotted by performance marketer Yash Mandlesha, who shared spotting the option on LinkedIn.

Standard Shopping campaigns can now use Maximize Conversion Value bidding without a Target ROAS, giving advertisers flexibility.

Google brings Maximize Conversion Value bidding to Standard Shopping

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>The report has not been updated for two weeks now but this is not all that uncommon.

<div><img width="1920" height="1097" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920.jpg 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920-768x439.jpg 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-pages-destroy-1920-1536x878.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Google Search Console&#8217;s page indexing report is currently <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-search-console-page-indexing-report-delayed-41571.html">delayed</a> by over two weeks, with a last updated time stamp of June 11, 2026.  That means you won&#8217;t be able to see a recent look at the page indexing data for the pages on your website.</p>



<p><strong>The delay. </strong>If you check your <a href="https://searchengineland.com/library/platforms/google/google-search-console">Google Search Console</a> page indexing report, you will likely see this date:</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1404" height="276" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-page-indexing-june11-u1oaVv40.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481213" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-page-indexing-june11-u1oaVv40.png 1404w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/google-search-console-page-indexing-june11-u1oaVv40-768x151.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1404px) 100vw, 1404px" /></figure>



<p><strong>Page indexing report. </strong>This report shows you which pages Google can find and index on your site. It can also teach you about any indexing problems Google has encountered while crawling your website.</p>



<p>You can access the report in Search Console <a href="https://search.google.com/search-console/not-verified?original_url=/search-console/index?utm_medium%3Dreferral%26utm_campaign%3D7440203&amp;original_resource_id">over here</a> or by going to the Indexing section and then Pages.</p>



<p>The report shows a chart of indexed pages in green and not indexed pages in gray, you can even overlay impressions over the chart. It then lists out the reasons why pages on website are not being indexed, below that chart.</p>



<p>For more information on the page indexing report, see <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203?hl=en">this help document</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Why we care.</strong> If you are trying to debug why Google has not been indexing specific pages on your website over the past couple of weeks, well, you are out of luck. Google will hopefully fix the report soon, but until then, you need to rely on your own SEO theories or try the URL inspection tool to debug your indexing issues on a page-by-page basis.</p>


Google Search Console’s page indexing report is currently delayed by over two weeks, with a last updated time stamp of June 11, 2026.  That means you won’t be able to see a recent look at the page indexing data for the pages on your website.
The delay. If you check your Google Search Console page indexing report, you will likely see this date:




Page indexing report. This report shows you which pages Google can find and index on your site. It can also teach you about any indexing problems Google has encountered while crawling your website.
You can access the report in Search Console over here or by going to the Indexing section and then Pages.
The report shows a chart of indexed pages in green and not indexed pages in gray, you can even overlay impressions over the chart. It then lists out the reasons why pages on website are not being indexed, below that chart.
For more information on the page indexing report, see this help document.
Why we care. If you are trying to debug why Google has not been indexing specific pages on your website over the past couple of weeks, well, you are out of luck. Google will hopefully fix the report soon, but until then, you need to rely on your own SEO theories or try the URL inspection tool to debug your indexing issues on a page-by-page basis.

The report has not been updated for two weeks now but this is not all that uncommon.

Page indexing report in Google Search Console delayed

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI jet engine" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Your conversion data doesn't just power reporting. It shapes who Google targets, how much it bids, and where your budget goes.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="AI jet engine" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/ai-jet-engine-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>We’ve all seen dashboards that don’t make sense when you look into the numbers, but now that same data could be training your campaigns to spend your budget chasing the wrong people.</p>



<p>As automation takes over more of the ad-buying process, from creative generation to bidding, data has become one of the last inputs advertisers can control, and perhaps the most important. That&#8217;s because automation can only optimize for the signals you give it.</p>



<p>Think about it: Which is worse, a brilliant ad shown to the wrong audience or an average ad shown to the right one? The first spends your budget reaching people you don&#8217;t want. The second might get ignored, but if someone does engage, at least they&#8217;re the right person.</p>



<p>But can you honestly say the last time you set up a campaign, you spent more time verifying the data than thinking about the ad copy?</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-cost-of-bad-data-has-changed">The cost of bad data has changed</h2>



<p>Several years ago, bad tracking was a reporting problem. </p>



<p>If a tag fired twice, a conversion was mishandled, a value came through incorrectly, or your offline conversions stopped working for a few weeks, the result was a dashboard that didn&#8217;t add up. It was annoying, but had little impact. Eventually, someone would question the numbers during a monthly review, you&#8217;d trace the issue, fix it, and the data would be good for the next review.</p>



<p>However, that same data now feeds the algorithm buying your paid media. Smart Bidding doesn&#8217;t wait for you to interpret a report or reach your monthly review – it reads your conversion data and acts on it before you&#8217;ve even noticed an issue.</p>



<p>The same number, now wrong, has a different outcome. A bad number in a report requires an explanation in a meeting. </p>



<p>A bad number in a conversion used for bidding costs you because the algorithm doesn&#8217;t know it&#8217;s wrong. It optimizes toward that signal the moment it sees it, and it does so efficiently.</p>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-google-doesn-t-understand-your-funnel-or-your-business">Google doesn&#8217;t understand your funnel or your business</h2>



<p>While conversion actions are labeled in Google&#8217;s interface as &#8220;lead,&#8221; &#8220;opportunity,&#8221; and so on, those labels are just for organization. The platform doesn&#8217;t actually understand where the conversion event sits in your funnel.</p>



<p>All it sees is a conversion event with a numeric value attached to it (usually representing a currency value), so it has no idea that a newsletter sign-up is worth $2 in eventual value, a lead is worth $60, and an opportunity is worth $400. Google sees three conversions. It has no idea one is worth 200x another.</p>



<p>The algorithm isn&#8217;t optimizing for your business outcome. It&#8217;s optimizing for the data you&#8217;ve given it. If the data is wrong, the optimization will be, too.</p>



<p>For example, if every form submission fires the same conversion with the same default value, there&#8217;s no clean way to distinguish tire kickers from high-value inquiries, so the algorithm treats them identically. And because tire kickers are usually cheaper to acquire, it floods you with them.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The cost per lead drops from $40 to $25, and the dashboard makes your cost per lead look more than 35% lower, but the pipeline quickly dries up as genuinely qualified inquiries quietly halve in number.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/paid-search-performance-better-signals-472224">Why better signals drive paid search performance</a></em></strong>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-ways-bad-data-quietly-wrecks-delivery">3 ways bad data quietly wrecks delivery</h2>



<p>Bad data can take different forms, but these are the three issues most likely to derail campaign delivery.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-wrong-event">1. Wrong event</h3>



<p>Optimizing for a top-of-funnel action like a page view, when the real conversion events occur further down the funnel, causes the algorithm to buy more and more of those cheap events without the lower-funnel activity actually following through.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-wrong-value">2. Wrong value</h3>



<p>Counting all conversions equally (or assigning them a flat placeholder value) when their actual value varies by 10x. The algorithm chases volume of the lower-value conversions because they&#8217;re easier to acquire.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-no-data">3. No data</h3>



<p>This one isn&#8217;t discussed enough. Nothing kills a campaign faster than a complete break in the data. </p>



<p>On Day 1, the algorithm wonders where the conversions are. By Day 2, it starts to assume they aren&#8217;t coming. By Day 3, it&#8217;s making serious bidding changes. Within a week, most campaigns will have throttled themselves to almost nothing.</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-pick-the-right-signal-for-google">How to pick the right signal for Google</h2>



<p>So how do you fix it? </p>



<p>Take a typical lead generation business as an example. Some leads will never convert, while others are worth 10x as much as the rest. </p>



<p>If your form asks the right qualifying questions, you already know which is which. But if you&#8217;re optimizing for every lead submitted using a target CPA, you&#8217;re telling Google they&#8217;re all equally valuable.</p>



<p>Imagine an account spending $20,000 a month at a $40 target CPA and generating around 500 leads. Only 150 qualify, and maybe just 50 are genuinely high-value. A lead&#8217;s expected worth is $60, a qualified lead is $200, and a high-value lead is $600. That&#8217;s a 10x spread in value.</p>



<p>You have several ways to improve the optimization signal:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Optimize for a qualified lead:</strong> Create a new conversion action, such as “qualified lead,” and fire it only for leads with value. You can then move your target CPA to this conversion action, knowing it&#8217;ll ignore leads with no value. The advantage is that you&#8217;re training the campaign on a more meaningful signal. The downside is that every lead with value is still treated equally.</li>



<li><strong>Assign conversion values and use </strong>the target ROAS:&nbsp;Add a currency value to the qualified lead based on the potential revenue it could generate if it converts to a sale. You can then switch the campaign to target ROAS, allowing Google to optimize for return instead of simply counting leads with no value. However, it may still buy larger numbers of lower-value leads if it can acquire them at the right price, rather than prioritizing higher-value ones.</li>



<li><strong>Optimize for a high value lead:</strong> Create a “high value lead” conversion event that fires only for your top-tier leads, with or without a conversion value. You can then optimize with either target CPA or target ROAS, depending on whether you want to focus on acquisition cost or return. The advantage is higher-quality leads. The downside is that, depending on your spend, the data may be too limited to support this approach until you scale.</li>
</ul>



<p>These are just a few possible optimization signals without even going deeper into the funnel. You can apply the same approach to lower-funnel events as well by creating separate conversion actions for milestones such as contacted lead, qualified contact, or high-value contact.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: </em></strong>


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      <span id="semrush-one-cta">See who’s stealing your traffic</span>
    </div>
    </div>
    </a>




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-targeting-and-measurement-can-be-different">Targeting and measurement can be different</h2>



<p>It sounds simple, but the conversion event you optimize for and the one you report on aren&#8217;t, and arguably shouldn&#8217;t be, the same. One trains the algorithm. The other tells you how that training is performing.</p>



<p>In our previous example, a client or internal stakeholder might want to see cost per lead, which is a perfectly valid metric. Meanwhile, the campaign is optimizing for the Qualified Lead conversion, not the original lead.</p>



<p>You keep the original lead conversion running purely as a reporting metric, so stakeholders still get their cost per lead while the campaign bids on the qualified lead signal that actually drives business value. Same campaign, two conversions, two very different jobs.</p>



<p>Which brings us back to where we started: Did you spend more time verifying the data than writing the ad? In an automated account, data is now your strategy.</p>

We’ve all seen dashboards that don’t make sense when you look into the numbers, but now that same data could be training your campaigns to spend your budget chasing the wrong people.
As automation takes over more of the ad-buying process, from creative generation to bidding, data has become one of the last inputs advertisers can control, and perhaps the most important. That’s because automation can only optimize for the signals you give it.
Think about it: Which is worse, a brilliant ad shown to the wrong audience or an average ad shown to the right one? The first spends your budget reaching people you don’t want. The second might get ignored, but if someone does engage, at least they’re the right person.
But can you honestly say the last time you set up a campaign, you spent more time verifying the data than thinking about the ad copy?
The cost of bad data has changed
Several years ago, bad tracking was a reporting problem. 
If a tag fired twice, a conversion was mishandled, a value came through incorrectly, or your offline conversions stopped working for a few weeks, the result was a dashboard that didn’t add up. It was annoying, but had little impact. Eventually, someone would question the numbers during a monthly review, you’d trace the issue, fix it, and the data would be good for the next review.
However, that same data now feeds the algorithm buying your paid media. Smart Bidding doesn’t wait for you to interpret a report or reach your monthly review – it reads your conversion data and acts on it before you’ve even noticed an issue.
The same number, now wrong, has a different outcome. A bad number in a report requires an explanation in a meeting. 
A bad number in a conversion used for bidding costs you because the algorithm doesn’t know it’s wrong. It optimizes toward that signal the moment it sees it, and it does so efficiently.
your competitors win.
      
Analyze your competitors
    
Google doesn’t understand your funnel or your business
While conversion actions are labeled in Google’s interface as “lead,” “opportunity,” and so on, those labels are just for organization. The platform doesn’t actually understand where the conversion event sits in your funnel.
All it sees is a conversion event with a numeric value attached to it (usually representing a currency value), so it has no idea that a newsletter sign-up is worth $2 in eventual value, a lead is worth $60, and an opportunity is worth $400. Google sees three conversions. It has no idea one is worth 200x another.
The algorithm isn’t optimizing for your business outcome. It’s optimizing for the data you’ve given it. If the data is wrong, the optimization will be, too.
For example, if every form submission fires the same conversion with the same default value, there’s no clean way to distinguish tire kickers from high-value inquiries, so the algorithm treats them identically. And because tire kickers are usually cheaper to acquire, it floods you with them. 
The cost per lead drops from $40 to $25, and the dashboard makes your cost per lead look more than 35% lower, but the pipeline quickly dries up as genuinely qualified inquiries quietly halve in number.
Dig deeper: Why better signals drive paid search performance



3 ways bad data quietly wrecks delivery
Bad data can take different forms, but these are the three issues most likely to derail campaign delivery.
1. Wrong event
Optimizing for a top-of-funnel action like a page view, when the real conversion events occur further down the funnel, causes the algorithm to buy more and more of those cheap events without the lower-funnel activity actually following through.
2. Wrong value
Counting all conversions equally (or assigning them a flat placeholder value) when their actual value varies by 10x. The algorithm chases volume of the lower-value conversions because they’re easier to acquire.
3. No data
This one isn’t discussed enough. Nothing kills a campaign faster than a complete break in the data. 
On Day 1, the algorithm wonders where the conversions are. By Day 2, it starts to assume they aren’t coming. By Day 3, it’s making serious bidding changes. Within a week, most campaigns will have throttled themselves to almost nothing.
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How to pick the right signal for Google
So how do you fix it? 
Take a typical lead generation business as an example. Some leads will never convert, while others are worth 10x as much as the rest. 
If your form asks the right qualifying questions, you already know which is which. But if you’re optimizing for every lead submitted using a target CPA, you’re telling Google they’re all equally valuable.
Imagine an account spending $20,000 a month at a $40 target CPA and generating around 500 leads. Only 150 qualify, and maybe just 50 are genuinely high-value. A lead’s expected worth is $60, a qualified lead is $200, and a high-value lead is $600. That’s a 10x spread in value.
You have several ways to improve the optimization signal:
Optimize for a qualified lead: Create a new conversion action, such as “qualified lead,” and fire it only for leads with value. You can then move your target CPA to this conversion action, knowing it’ll ignore leads with no value. The advantage is that you’re training the campaign on a more meaningful signal. The downside is that every lead with value is still treated equally.
Assign conversion values and use the target ROAS: Add a currency value to the qualified lead based on the potential revenue it could generate if it converts to a sale. You can then switch the campaign to target ROAS, allowing Google to optimize for return instead of simply counting leads with no value. However, it may still buy larger numbers of lower-value leads if it can acquire them at the right price, rather than prioritizing higher-value ones.
Optimize for a high value lead: Create a “high value lead” conversion event that fires only for your top-tier leads, with or without a conversion value. You can then optimize with either target CPA or target ROAS, depending on whether you want to focus on acquisition cost or return. The advantage is higher-quality leads. The downside is that, depending on your spend, the data may be too limited to support this approach until you scale.
These are just a few possible optimization signals without even going deeper into the funnel. You can apply the same approach to lower-funnel events as well by creating separate conversion actions for milestones such as contacted lead, qualified contact, or high-value contact.
Dig deeper: 



  
a customer you lose.
      
See who’s stealing your traffic
    
Targeting and measurement can be different
It sounds simple, but the conversion event you optimize for and the one you report on aren’t, and arguably shouldn’t be, the same. One trains the algorithm. The other tells you how that training is performing.
In our previous example, a client or internal stakeholder might want to see cost per lead, which is a perfectly valid metric. Meanwhile, the campaign is optimizing for the Qualified Lead conversion, not the original lead.
You keep the original lead conversion running purely as a reporting metric, so stakeholders still get their cost per lead while the campaign bids on the qualified lead signal that actually drives business value. Same campaign, two conversions, two very different jobs.
Which brings us back to where we started: Did you spend more time verifying the data than writing the ad? In an automated account, data is now your strategy.

Your conversion data doesn't just power reporting. It shapes who Google targets, how much it bids, and where your budget goes.

Bad data used to mean bad reports, now it means poor ad delivery

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Claude content audit" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Turn one-off prompts into reusable skills that uncover topical gaps, outdated content, AI visibility issues, and brand voice inconsistencies.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Claude content audit" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/claude-content-audit-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>Your existing content can be a goldmine if you know how to improve it. Finding the time is a challenge in itself. I&#8217;ve found that using Claude makes what can be an outsized task much more manageable.</p>



<p>If it feels daunting, you don&#8217;t have to build a massive content audit workflow from the start. With Claude, you can start by auditing a single article, iterate on it, and create <a href="https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12512176-what-are-skills">skills</a> you can reuse and refine over time. I&#8217;ve gone from one-off audits to a full library of skills that I refine every time I use them.</p>



<p>Claude can help you uncover topical gaps, flag outdated information, audit brand voice, and more. You just need to invest the time to iterate so the value of your Claude skills compounds.</p>



<p>Here are six types of content audits you can run with Claude. The first four work at the article level, so you can start with a single piece today.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-page-level-audits">Page-level audits</h2>



<p>If you&#8217;re uncomfortable creating skills or workflows, page-level audits are a great starting point. These four audits work on a single article, with no content inventory, no data exports, and little setup required. At the end of each session, ask Claude to create a skill you can reuse for future page-level audits.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-1-brand-voice-consistency">1. Brand voice consistency</h3>



<p>Content libraries drift over time because of changes in brand voice, staffing, products, and services. A brand voice consistency audit can help you identify what needs to be updated so a piece better aligns with your brand guidelines.</p>



<p>Unless you have detailed brand guidelines with plenty of examples, let Claude extract your voice guide from high-quality content. This helps remove subjective language common in many brand guides, such as &#8220;conversational but authoritative&#8221; or &#8220;educational, not too formal.&#8221;</p>



<p>Pick three to five articles as your standard bearers. Download them as markdown files if you can, then send them to Claude with a prompt asking it to describe:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>How the articles typically open (for example, do they open with a direct claim, a counterintuitive statement, or a concrete scenario?)</li>



<li>Sentence and paragraph construction: average length, range, when sentences get longer or shorter, how paragraphs tend to close, and so on.</li>



<li>Personality dimensions: three to five &#8220;We say X, but not Y&#8221; pairings, each with a do and don&#8217;t example.</li>



<li>Vocabulary: words and phrases to use, and words and phrases to avoid.</li>



<li>What this brand never does: specific constructions, phrases, and conventions absent from every piece.</li>
</ul>



<p>Instead of &#8220;conversational but authoritative,&#8221; you should get:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Observations such as &#8220;Your articles open with a direct claim rather than a scene-setting paragraph, sentences average 15 to 20 words and rarely exceed 30, transitions are functional (i.e., ‘here&#8217;s why that matters’) rather than formulaic (‘furthermore’).”&nbsp;</li>



<li>Example pairs such as &#8220;We&#8217;d say &#8216;the data shows three things,&#8217; not &#8216;there are multiple factors to consider.'&#8221;</li>
</ul>



<p>The goal isn&#8217;t to produce a voice guide your writers can use. It&#8217;s to create one an LLM can understand and apply.</p>



<p>Once you&#8217;re happy with the output, have Claude save it as a skill and evaluate an article with it. If it calls out things you don&#8217;t agree with, have Claude update the skill until you&#8217;re satisfied with the output. </p>



<p>You can use it to find brand inconsistencies in older content, check new content for alignment, and even start generating on-brand content, though you&#8217;ll still want to edit it.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: </em></strong><a href="https://searchengineland.com/train-claude-sound-like-your-brand-479023"><strong><em>How to train Claude to sound like your brand</em></strong></a>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/ai-seo/overview?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0101ai&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>
    
    <div>
      
      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Be the brand <span>AI recommends</span>.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        See where your brand appears in AI search, where competitors are winning, and what it takes to become the answer AI recommends.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">See your AI visibility</span>
    </div>
    </div>
    </a>




<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-2-coverage-comparison">2. Coverage comparison</h3>



<p>If you need to improve content performance, a coverage comparison can help you identify topical gaps in your articles.</p>



<p>Use the <a href="https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/claude/fcoeoabgfenejglbffodgkkbkcdhcgfn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claude in Chrome extension</a> to have Claude scrape content from the top three to five ranking pages for your target keyword. Ask Claude to analyze your content against the scraped content and highlight any gaps. You want to know:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>What your competitors are doing well.</li>



<li>What you&#8217;re doing well.</li>



<li>Where you can improve your piece.</li>
</ul>



<p>If you prefer this information in a table, tell Claude to output it that way. Or, if you&#8217;d rather have a downloadable DOCX, ask for that.</p>



<p>If Claude recommends things you&#8217;ll never add to your content, make note of them when packaging the prompt into a skill.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-3-freshness-audit">3. Freshness audit</h3>



<p>Old content adds up, and it&#8217;s hard to focus on refreshing it when you&#8217;re also creating new content. Creating a skill that identifies what needs to be updated so you don&#8217;t have to read every old article can save you a lot of time.</p>



<p>Feed Claude an older article and ask it to flag everything that&#8217;s time-sensitive: statistics with years attached, named tools or platforms, references to &#8220;current&#8221; or &#8220;recent&#8221; trends, and any claims that depend on a specific market or regulatory context that may have shifted. You&#8217;re not asking it to rewrite anything. You&#8217;re asking for a list of issues so you can update them.</p>



<p>If you have new products that may not have been mentioned in older articles, products you no longer carry, or similar changes, include that context in the input so Claude can flag content to remove or add.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/claude-code-seo-work-470668">How to turn Claude Code into your SEO command center</a></em></strong>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-4-aeo-and-ai-retrievability">4. AEO and AI retrievability</h3>



<p>Answer engine optimization (AEO) focuses on making content visible in AI-generated responses. AI tools, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, tend to surface content that answers questions directly. If your article buries the answer under three paragraphs of preamble, or structures key information in a way that&#8217;s hard to extract, it&#8217;s less likely to appear in those responses.</p>



<p>Give Claude an article alongside the target query and ask it to evaluate:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Whether the piece answers the question directly and early. LLMs scan from the top down and weigh the opening heavily.</li>



<li>Whether key statements are specific enough to quote directly. An LLM is less likely to extract or cite vague language because it&#8217;s harder to confirm.</li>



<li>Where an FAQ-style section would help.</li>



<li>Whether the page has clear authority signals, such as outbound links to primary research, first-person experience, or specific examples.</li>
</ul>



<p>Save this as a skill, and it becomes an extra editor to help improve AI visibility.</p>



<div class="nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2">
	
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			<p class="inline-form-text text-center mb-0">Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.</p>
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			<p class="text-center mb-0"><a class="nl-terms" href="https://searchengineland.com/termsofuse" target="_blank" aria-label="opens in a new tab">See terms.</a>
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<hr class="wp-block-separator has-text-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color has-css-opacity has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-background"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-library-level-audits">Library-level audits</h2>



<p>These audits require access to your performance data or content inventory, either through a connector or a manual export.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-5-performance-triage">5. Performance triage</h3>



<p>When people think of a content audit, they tend to think of analyzing a content library to uncover performance issues. Performance triage is exactly that kind of audit.</p>



<p>Before you start, make sure you have access to your data via a connector such as BigQuery or the Semrush API. If not, export the data you normally use for large-scale content audits (traffic, clicks, engagement metrics, conversions, rankings, and so on) as input.</p>



<p>Ask Claude to prioritize: pages that have suffered meaningful performance drops in the past six to 12 months, pages with high impressions but consistently low click-through rates, and pages that have been live long enough to rank but never have.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Be clear about what constitutes a performance drop for your website, since traffic varies across sites and industries. Ask Claude to output a prioritized list of what&#8217;s worth investigating and why. From there, the page-level audits above provide the diagnostic framework.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;ve run this analysis before, give Claude the previous output so it better understands what you&#8217;re looking for.</p>



<p><strong><em>Dig deeper: <a href="https://searchengineland.com/claude-code-powered-second-brain-agency-work-479879">How to build a Claude Code-powered second brain for agency work</a></em></strong>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-6-topical-gap-analysis">6. Topical gap analysis</h3>



<p>Entities are a major part of AEO and semantic search. A topical gap analysis can help uncover whether you have enough content to build authority around the entities related to your brand.</p>



<p>The basic question is: What isn&#8217;t your content library covering that it should?</p>



<p>To get started, you&#8217;ll want a list of those entities as one of your inputs. For example, at my agency, we want to be known for SEO and AEO. If you have a clear list of services or products, you can use that instead of a list of entities.</p>



<p>Using Cowork or Code, have Claude analyze your sitemap and compare it to your target entities. Alternatively, if you have a Screaming Frog export with URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions, use that as an input for a more accurate analysis.</p>



<p>Ask Claude to identify topic clusters that are underrepresented or absent based on your target entities or products. If you want a prioritized list, you can use the Semrush MCP to have Claude check search volume for potential keywords.</p>



<p>Not every gap is worth filling. Filter the results to match your audience&#8217;s needs, and reiterate any changes you make to Claude to create a skill that matches your desired output. Your final list can then feed directly into your content creation workflows or be handed off to your content team.</p>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/ai-seo/overview?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0102ai&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>
    
    <div>
      
      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        If AI can’t find you, <span>customers won’t either</span>.
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      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
       Track your visibility across AI search, uncover missed opportunities, and grow your presence where customers are asking questions.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">See your AI visibility</span>
    </div>
    </div>
    </a>




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-don-t-try-to-audit-everything-at-once">Don&#8217;t try to audit everything at once</h2>



<p>Content audits stall not because teams lack data, but because the scope feels too large to start. Pick one audit and one article. Run it, save the skill, and use it again on the next piece.</p>



<p>For me, iteration is part of the fun. I enjoy taking a skill and improving it, then chaining it with other skills to uncover even more content opportunities. I hope you&#8217;re able to build one of these this week.</p>

Your existing content can be a goldmine if you know how to improve it. Finding the time is a challenge in itself. I’ve found that using Claude makes what can be an outsized task much more manageable.
If it feels daunting, you don’t have to build a massive content audit workflow from the start. With Claude, you can start by auditing a single article, iterate on it, and create skills you can reuse and refine over time. I’ve gone from one-off audits to a full library of skills that I refine every time I use them.
Claude can help you uncover topical gaps, flag outdated information, audit brand voice, and more. You just need to invest the time to iterate so the value of your Claude skills compounds.
Here are six types of content audits you can run with Claude. The first four work at the article level, so you can start with a single piece today.
Page-level audits
If you’re uncomfortable creating skills or workflows, page-level audits are a great starting point. These four audits work on a single article, with no content inventory, no data exports, and little setup required. At the end of each session, ask Claude to create a skill you can reuse for future page-level audits.
1. Brand voice consistency
Content libraries drift over time because of changes in brand voice, staffing, products, and services. A brand voice consistency audit can help you identify what needs to be updated so a piece better aligns with your brand guidelines.
Unless you have detailed brand guidelines with plenty of examples, let Claude extract your voice guide from high-quality content. This helps remove subjective language common in many brand guides, such as “conversational but authoritative” or “educational, not too formal.”
Pick three to five articles as your standard bearers. Download them as markdown files if you can, then send them to Claude with a prompt asking it to describe:
How the articles typically open (for example, do they open with a direct claim, a counterintuitive statement, or a concrete scenario?)
Sentence and paragraph construction: average length, range, when sentences get longer or shorter, how paragraphs tend to close, and so on.
Personality dimensions: three to five “We say X, but not Y” pairings, each with a do and don’t example.
Vocabulary: words and phrases to use, and words and phrases to avoid.
What this brand never does: specific constructions, phrases, and conventions absent from every piece.
Instead of “conversational but authoritative,” you should get:
Observations such as “Your articles open with a direct claim rather than a scene-setting paragraph, sentences average 15 to 20 words and rarely exceed 30, transitions are functional (i.e., ‘here’s why that matters’) rather than formulaic (‘furthermore’).” 
Example pairs such as “We’d say ‘the data shows three things,’ not ‘there are multiple factors to consider.'”
The goal isn’t to produce a voice guide your writers can use. It’s to create one an LLM can understand and apply.
Once you’re happy with the output, have Claude save it as a skill and evaluate an article with it. If it calls out things you don’t agree with, have Claude update the skill until you’re satisfied with the output. 
You can use it to find brand inconsistencies in older content, check new content for alignment, and even start generating on-brand content, though you’ll still want to edit it. 
Dig deeper: How to train Claude to sound like your brand



  
AI recommends.
      
See your AI visibility
    
2. Coverage comparison
If you need to improve content performance, a coverage comparison can help you identify topical gaps in your articles.
Use the Claude in Chrome extension to have Claude scrape content from the top three to five ranking pages for your target keyword. Ask Claude to analyze your content against the scraped content and highlight any gaps. You want to know:
What your competitors are doing well.
What you’re doing well.
Where you can improve your piece.
If you prefer this information in a table, tell Claude to output it that way. Or, if you’d rather have a downloadable DOCX, ask for that.
If Claude recommends things you’ll never add to your content, make note of them when packaging the prompt into a skill.
3. Freshness audit
Old content adds up, and it’s hard to focus on refreshing it when you’re also creating new content. Creating a skill that identifies what needs to be updated so you don’t have to read every old article can save you a lot of time.
Feed Claude an older article and ask it to flag everything that’s time-sensitive: statistics with years attached, named tools or platforms, references to “current” or “recent” trends, and any claims that depend on a specific market or regulatory context that may have shifted. You’re not asking it to rewrite anything. You’re asking for a list of issues so you can update them.
If you have new products that may not have been mentioned in older articles, products you no longer carry, or similar changes, include that context in the input so Claude can flag content to remove or add.
Dig deeper: How to turn Claude Code into your SEO command center



4. AEO and AI retrievability
Answer engine optimization (AEO) focuses on making content visible in AI-generated responses. AI tools, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, tend to surface content that answers questions directly. If your article buries the answer under three paragraphs of preamble, or structures key information in a way that’s hard to extract, it’s less likely to appear in those responses.
Give Claude an article alongside the target query and ask it to evaluate:
Whether the piece answers the question directly and early. LLMs scan from the top down and weigh the opening heavily.
Whether key statements are specific enough to quote directly. An LLM is less likely to extract or cite vague language because it’s harder to confirm.
Where an FAQ-style section would help.
Whether the page has clear authority signals, such as outbound links to primary research, first-person experience, or specific examples.
Save this as a skill, and it becomes an extra editor to help improve AI visibility.
Get the newsletter search marketers rely on.
 
				
				
			
See terms.
		
Library-level audits
These audits require access to your performance data or content inventory, either through a connector or a manual export.
5. Performance triage
When people think of a content audit, they tend to think of analyzing a content library to uncover performance issues. Performance triage is exactly that kind of audit.
Before you start, make sure you have access to your data via a connector such as BigQuery or the Semrush API. If not, export the data you normally use for large-scale content audits (traffic, clicks, engagement metrics, conversions, rankings, and so on) as input.
Ask Claude to prioritize: pages that have suffered meaningful performance drops in the past six to 12 months, pages with high impressions but consistently low click-through rates, and pages that have been live long enough to rank but never have. 
Be clear about what constitutes a performance drop for your website, since traffic varies across sites and industries. Ask Claude to output a prioritized list of what’s worth investigating and why. From there, the page-level audits above provide the diagnostic framework.
If you’ve run this analysis before, give Claude the previous output so it better understands what you’re looking for.
Dig deeper: How to build a Claude Code-powered second brain for agency work



6. Topical gap analysis
Entities are a major part of AEO and semantic search. A topical gap analysis can help uncover whether you have enough content to build authority around the entities related to your brand.
The basic question is: What isn’t your content library covering that it should?
To get started, you’ll want a list of those entities as one of your inputs. For example, at my agency, we want to be known for SEO and AEO. If you have a clear list of services or products, you can use that instead of a list of entities.
Using Cowork or Code, have Claude analyze your sitemap and compare it to your target entities. Alternatively, if you have a Screaming Frog export with URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions, use that as an input for a more accurate analysis.
Ask Claude to identify topic clusters that are underrepresented or absent based on your target entities or products. If you want a prioritized list, you can use the Semrush MCP to have Claude check search volume for potential keywords.
Not every gap is worth filling. Filter the results to match your audience’s needs, and reiterate any changes you make to Claude to create a skill that matches your desired output. Your final list can then feed directly into your content creation workflows or be handed off to your content team.
customers won’t either.
      
See your AI visibility
    
Don’t try to audit everything at once
Content audits stall not because teams lack data, but because the scope feels too large to start. Pick one audit and one article. Run it, save the skill, and use it again on the next piece.
For me, iteration is part of the fun. I enjoy taking a skill and improving it, then chaining it with other skills to uncover even more content opportunities. I hope you’re able to build one of these this week.

Turn one-off prompts into reusable skills that uncover topical gaps, outdated content, AI visibility issues, and brand voice inconsistencies.

6 content audit workflows to build in Claude

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="GEO brand trap" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>Paid placements and questionable outreach tactics are blurring the line between legitimate GEO and manipulative SEO.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="GEO brand trap" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/geo-brand-trap-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p>As traditional <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-seo">SEO</a> shifts toward <a href="https://searchengineland.com/what-is-generative-engine-optimization-geo-444418">GEO</a>, there&#8217;s a growing narrative that visibility in AI search depends heavily on off-site brand mentions. As a result, marketers are being told to think beyond on-site content and prioritize off-site marketing initiatives to succeed in AI search.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s <a href="https://searchengineland.com/guide/ai-citations-vs-ai-mentions-data">industrywide consensus</a> on the growing importance of off-site signals in AI search. However, this has opened the door for opportunists to repackage shady SEO tactics as legitimate techniques for increasing visibility in AI search.</p>



<p>Unfortunately, much of what&#8217;s being sold under the GEO umbrella is unethical and potentially fraudulent.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-deception-under-the-geo-umbrella">The deception under the GEO umbrella</h2>



<p>I&#8217;ve personally audited the work of top-rated GEO vendors offering brand mention outreach services.</p>



<p>What I&#8217;ve uncovered is that these service providers are charging premium prices for questionable, low-quality work.</p>



<p>Deceptive tactics include:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Leveraging &#8220;research studies&#8221; to advance their sales narrative:</strong> Claims like &#8220;X% of AI visibility is driven by third-party sources&#8221; can be manipulated and taken out of context to convince marketers they need to manufacture an aggressive, high-volume system for generating brand mentions.</li>



<li><strong>Framing the program as &#8220;partnership&#8221; building:</strong> During the sales process, GEO vendors present these programs as opportunities to build partnerships with other brands. In reality, the placement opportunities are often low-quality paid-link inventory schemes.</li>



<li><strong>Selling PBN brand mentions:</strong> Selling brand placements on Private Blog Networks (PBNs) for around 10–15 times the cost of a typical SEO backlink.</li>



<li><strong>Selling topically irrelevant placements:</strong> The domains offering these brand placements are often topically irrelevant. For example, a site may have one page dedicated to LMS software while also publishing listicles about the best crypto wallets.</li>



<li><strong>Reddit astroturfing:</strong> Agencies use aged accounts to mass-post brand mentions across irrelevant subreddits. These &#8220;mentions&#8221; are often removed within 30 days for violating community guidelines.</li>
</ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-paying-for-brand-mentions-is-just-an-evolution-of-black-hat-link-building">Paying for brand mentions is just an evolution of black hat link building</h3>



<p>This is an example of what GEO outreach vendors are pitching. It&#8217;s unethical and amounts to an <a href="https://www.seroundtable.com/google-inauthentic-mentions-ai-41401.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attempt to manipulate AI systems</a>.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1948" height="822" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Placement-opportunity-with-compansation-offered.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481193" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Placement-opportunity-with-compansation-offered.png 1948w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Placement-opportunity-with-compansation-offered-768x324.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Placement-opportunity-with-compansation-offered-1536x648.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1948px) 100vw, 1948px" /></figure>
</div>


<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clients-are-being-asked-to-approve-and-negotiate-payments-for-mentions">Clients are being asked to approve and negotiate payments for mentions</h3>



<p>This is happening in Slack. The agency generates a &#8220;placement opportunity&#8221; for approval, and the internal marketing liaison has to review it.</p>



<p>The internal marketer is often a junior specialist who doesn&#8217;t know how to evaluate the legitimacy of a referring page.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s a prompt topic, domain authority, citation rate, and publisher placement fee.</p>



<p>In this example, the fee is $250 in exchange for adding the brand mention.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1138" height="424" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Placement-opportunity-pitch-on-Slack.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481194" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Placement-opportunity-pitch-on-Slack.png 1138w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Placement-opportunity-pitch-on-Slack-768x286.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1138px) 100vw, 1138px" /></figure>
</div>


<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-clients-have-to-pay-the-publisher-fees-on-top-of-the-geo-agency-retainer">Clients have to pay the publisher fees on top of the GEO agency retainer</h3>



<p>This is the slimy part that doesn&#8217;t get talked about. The GEO vendor pays the publisher fees directly, then sends an invoice to the client to recoup those costs.</p>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/ai-seo/overview?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0101ai&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
  <div>
    
    <div>
      
      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        Be the brand <span>AI recommends</span>.
      </div>
      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        See where your brand appears in AI search, where competitors are winning, and what it takes to become the answer AI recommends.
      </p>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span id="semrush-one-cta">See your AI visibility</span>
    </div>
    </div>
    </a>




<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-geo-vendors-push-for-scale-and-volume-but-dismiss-quality-and-relevance">GEO vendors push for scale and volume, but dismiss quality and relevance</h2>



<p>My argument is that third-party validation is only valuable when it comes from <a href="https://signal.zyppy.com/p/winning-google">credible, topically relevant brands</a>.</p>



<p>GEO vendors argue that AI visibility is a &#8220;volume game,&#8221; claiming that driving a high quantity of mentions will meaningfully increase a brand&#8217;s &#8220;mention rate&#8221; in AI answers.</p>



<p>They&#8217;re treating the problem as a mention-rate, citation-rate, and volume game without factoring quality or relevance into their approach.</p>



<p>In the example below, there are several outgoing commercial anchors to LMS software vendors. That&#8217;s a hallmark signal of paid links.</p>



<p>Considering that GEO is a <a href="https://searchengineland.com/geo-reputation-problem-475342">reputation problem</a>, I don&#8217;t think any brand would want to be mentioned on a page loaded with paid links to its competitors.</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1568" height="1014" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Sample-post-with-paid-links-or-mentions.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481196" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Sample-post-with-paid-links-or-mentions.png 1568w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Sample-post-with-paid-links-or-mentions-768x497.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Sample-post-with-paid-links-or-mentions-1536x993.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px" /></figure>
</div>


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-temporary-window-of-effectiveness-for-inauthentic-brand-mention-spam">Temporary window of effectiveness for inauthentic brand mention spam</h2>



<p>The reason some spammy GEO tactics appear to work right now is that most LLM citation systems are still immature compared to Google&#8217;s advanced spam detection. It&#8217;s possible that LLMs reward mention volume from low-quality sources that Google would typically ignore.</p>



<p>This creates a <a href="https://lilyraynyc.substack.com/p/it-works-until-it-doesnt-ai-content-risks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">temporary window of effectiveness</a>, perhaps one to two years, before AI platform companies refine their authority and spam signals. Marketers who prioritize a high-volume approach over brand safety may risk confusing LLMs about their entity or permanently damaging their reputation.</p>



<p>Here’s what Lily Ray thinks about it:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>“With each new product release, we see more signs that some of the new GEO/AEO companies – the ones selling services to boost visibility in AI search – lack the experience and context to anticipate how their approaches will be treated once Google and the AI platforms build countermeasures to strip spammy signals from their training data, indexes, and results.”</li>



<li>“Our industry has gone through these cycles many times before. Going back to the first Penguin update in 2012, when Google began systematically suppressing inorganic links, paid mentions on low-quality sites have been treated as exactly what they are: another evolution of spammy link building. It&#8217;s naive and irresponsible to assume the search and AI platforms won&#8217;t eventually catch on too.”</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-geo-vendors-are-creating-unnecessary-risk">GEO vendors are creating unnecessary risk</h2>



<p>This type of work can inflict real damage. Glenn Gabe thinks of it as an <a href="https://x.com/glenngabe/status/2059633619044307280" target="_blank" rel="noopener">evolution of paid link schemes</a>. </p>



<p>Marketing leaders aren&#8217;t just wasting time and money. They may be buying tactics that disappear, damage brand reputation, confuse LLMs about their entity, and ultimately waste effort on ineffective marketing initiatives.</p>



<p>It may also be illegal. The FTC <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> paid advertisements must include clear disclosures. Yet after paid or &#8220;negotiated&#8221; brand mentions are added to content pages, many websites don&#8217;t update those pages to disclose that the placements were sponsored.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-to-evaluate-geo-vendor-claims-about-off-site-mentions">How to evaluate GEO vendor claims about off-site mentions</h2>



<p>When evaluating GEO vendors, remember this: Many prioritize mention volume over source quality.</p>



<p>Here are three common claims and why they deserve scrutiny:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Claim: </strong>&#8220;The majority of AI brand discovery comes from third-party sources.&#8221;
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Pushback:</strong> It doesn&#8217;t prove that buying or negotiating low-quality mentions causes a brand to rank better in AI answers.</li>
</ul>
</li>



<li><strong>Claim:</strong> &#8220;Listicles and third-party pages are the lever.&#8221;
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Pushback:</strong> It doesn&#8217;t support the idea that brands should pay to appear on thin, irrelevant, AI-generated listicles.</li>
</ul>
</li>



<li><strong>Claim: </strong>&#8220;AI search is different, so traditional SEO quality judgment does not apply.&#8221;
<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><strong>Pushback:</strong> Google <a href="https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says the opposite</a> for its AI search features. SEO best practices remain relevant. There are no special optimizations required for AI Overviews or AI Mode, and pages must still follow Search policies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>



<p>More broadly, there&#8217;s no substantial evidence that:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Adding a paid mention to a cited page will cause a brand to be mentioned more often.</li>



<li>Low-quality, long-tail publishers are beneficial for AI search visibility.</li>



<li>Citation rate beats source quality.</li>



<li>Traditional SEO and brand safety principles are obsolete in AI search.</li>
</ul>



<p>Paying for &#8220;25 brand placements&#8221; to achieve a &#8220;10-15% mention-rate lift&#8221; isn&#8217;t the right way to think about AI search. Instead, pursue off-site mentions that reflect genuine category validation from trusted businesses, reputable publishers, and real communities.</p>


As traditional SEO shifts toward GEO, there’s a growing narrative that visibility in AI search depends heavily on off-site brand mentions. As a result, marketers are being told to think beyond on-site content and prioritize off-site marketing initiatives to succeed in AI search.
There’s industrywide consensus on the growing importance of off-site signals in AI search. However, this has opened the door for opportunists to repackage shady SEO tactics as legitimate techniques for increasing visibility in AI search.
Unfortunately, much of what’s being sold under the GEO umbrella is unethical and potentially fraudulent.
The deception under the GEO umbrella
I’ve personally audited the work of top-rated GEO vendors offering brand mention outreach services.
What I’ve uncovered is that these service providers are charging premium prices for questionable, low-quality work.
Deceptive tactics include:
Leveraging “research studies” to advance their sales narrative: Claims like “X% of AI visibility is driven by third-party sources” can be manipulated and taken out of context to convince marketers they need to manufacture an aggressive, high-volume system for generating brand mentions.
Framing the program as “partnership” building: During the sales process, GEO vendors present these programs as opportunities to build partnerships with other brands. In reality, the placement opportunities are often low-quality paid-link inventory schemes.
Selling PBN brand mentions: Selling brand placements on Private Blog Networks (PBNs) for around 10–15 times the cost of a typical SEO backlink.
Selling topically irrelevant placements: The domains offering these brand placements are often topically irrelevant. For example, a site may have one page dedicated to LMS software while also publishing listicles about the best crypto wallets.
Reddit astroturfing: Agencies use aged accounts to mass-post brand mentions across irrelevant subreddits. These “mentions” are often removed within 30 days for violating community guidelines.
Paying for brand mentions is just an evolution of black hat link building
This is an example of what GEO outreach vendors are pitching. It’s unethical and amounts to an attempt to manipulate AI systems.




Clients are being asked to approve and negotiate payments for mentions
This is happening in Slack. The agency generates a “placement opportunity” for approval, and the internal marketing liaison has to review it.
The internal marketer is often a junior specialist who doesn’t know how to evaluate the legitimacy of a referring page.
There’s a prompt topic, domain authority, citation rate, and publisher placement fee.
In this example, the fee is $250 in exchange for adding the brand mention.




Clients have to pay the publisher fees on top of the GEO agency retainer
This is the slimy part that doesn’t get talked about. The GEO vendor pays the publisher fees directly, then sends an invoice to the client to recoup those costs.
AI recommends.
      
See your AI visibility
    
GEO vendors push for scale and volume, but dismiss quality and relevance
My argument is that third-party validation is only valuable when it comes from credible, topically relevant brands.
GEO vendors argue that AI visibility is a “volume game,” claiming that driving a high quantity of mentions will meaningfully increase a brand’s “mention rate” in AI answers.
They’re treating the problem as a mention-rate, citation-rate, and volume game without factoring quality or relevance into their approach.
In the example below, there are several outgoing commercial anchors to LMS software vendors. That’s a hallmark signal of paid links.
Considering that GEO is a reputation problem, I don’t think any brand would want to be mentioned on a page loaded with paid links to its competitors.




Temporary window of effectiveness for inauthentic brand mention spam
The reason some spammy GEO tactics appear to work right now is that most LLM citation systems are still immature compared to Google’s advanced spam detection. It’s possible that LLMs reward mention volume from low-quality sources that Google would typically ignore.
This creates a temporary window of effectiveness, perhaps one to two years, before AI platform companies refine their authority and spam signals. Marketers who prioritize a high-volume approach over brand safety may risk confusing LLMs about their entity or permanently damaging their reputation.
Here’s what Lily Ray thinks about it:
“With each new product release, we see more signs that some of the new GEO/AEO companies – the ones selling services to boost visibility in AI search – lack the experience and context to anticipate how their approaches will be treated once Google and the AI platforms build countermeasures to strip spammy signals from their training data, indexes, and results.”
“Our industry has gone through these cycles many times before. Going back to the first Penguin update in 2012, when Google began systematically suppressing inorganic links, paid mentions on low-quality sites have been treated as exactly what they are: another evolution of spammy link building. It’s naive and irresponsible to assume the search and AI platforms won’t eventually catch on too.”
GEO vendors are creating unnecessary risk
This type of work can inflict real damage. Glenn Gabe thinks of it as an evolution of paid link schemes. 
Marketing leaders aren’t just wasting time and money. They may be buying tactics that disappear, damage brand reputation, confuse LLMs about their entity, and ultimately waste effort on ineffective marketing initiatives.
It may also be illegal. The FTC says paid advertisements must include clear disclosures. Yet after paid or “negotiated” brand mentions are added to content pages, many websites don’t update those pages to disclose that the placements were sponsored.
How to evaluate GEO vendor claims about off-site mentions
When evaluating GEO vendors, remember this: Many prioritize mention volume over source quality.
Here are three common claims and why they deserve scrutiny:
Claim: “The majority of AI brand discovery comes from third-party sources.”

Pushback: It doesn’t prove that buying or negotiating low-quality mentions causes a brand to rank better in AI answers.
Claim: “Listicles and third-party pages are the lever.”

Pushback: It doesn’t support the idea that brands should pay to appear on thin, irrelevant, AI-generated listicles.
Claim: “AI search is different, so traditional SEO quality judgment does not apply.”

Pushback: Google says the opposite for its AI search features. SEO best practices remain relevant. There are no special optimizations required for AI Overviews or AI Mode, and pages must still follow Search policies.
More broadly, there’s no substantial evidence that:
Adding a paid mention to a cited page will cause a brand to be mentioned more often.
Low-quality, long-tail publishers are beneficial for AI search visibility.
Citation rate beats source quality.
Traditional SEO and brand safety principles are obsolete in AI search.
Paying for “25 brand placements” to achieve a “10-15% mention-rate lift” isn’t the right way to think about AI search. Instead, pursue off-site mentions that reflect genuine category validation from trusted businesses, reputable publishers, and real communities.

Paid placements and questionable outreach tactics are blurring the line between legitimate GEO and manipulative SEO.

The paid brand mention problem in GEO

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Linkedin Ads vs Google Ads" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>A year of B2B campaign data reveals where LinkedIn commands a premium, where costs align with Google Search, and how to budget accordingly.

<div><img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads.png" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Linkedin Ads vs Google Ads" decoding="async" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads.png 1920w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads-768x432.png 768w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads-1536x864.png 1536w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/linkedin-ads-vs-google-ads-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></div>
<p><a href="https://searchengineland.com/linkedin-ads-on-a-budget-how-one-playbook-drove-sub-10-cpl-472440">LinkedIn Ads</a> has a reputation for being expensive. The data supports that at first glance. </p>



<p>Across the client accounts analyzed for this study, LinkedIn&#8217;s average CPC was $11.12 compared with $5.45 on Google Ads.</p>



<p>However, that comparison doesn&#8217;t tell the whole story.</p>



<p>When we compare the cost of reaching new, high-intent B2B buyers, the gap narrows considerably. Non-branded Google Search campaigns averaged a $12.48 CPC, while comparable LinkedIn prospecting campaigns averaged $13.94.</p>



<p>To see how LinkedIn CPCs compare with Google Ads across campaign types and industries, I analyzed more than $700,000 in LinkedIn ad spend and CPC data from the same accounts on Google Ads.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-s-included-in-this-analysis">What&#8217;s included in this analysis</h2>



<p>I looked specifically at CPC and performance data for clients who had active campaigns on both LinkedIn Ads and Google Ads over the past year.</p>



<p>The questions to answer:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>What are the real CPCs we&#8217;re seeing?</li>



<li>Do CPCs differ by ad set objective and industry?</li>



<li>How do these CPCs compare with those on Google Ads?</li>
</ul>



<p>For LinkedIn Ads, I analyzed more than $700,000 in spend across 63,000+ clicks and 8.1 million impressions.</p>



<p>Clients fell into two main business categories: </p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>B2B SaaS (approximately 97% of spend) </li>



<li>Professional services. </li>
</ul>



<p>I looked at CPCs by ad set objective and by business category.</p>



<p>In Google Ads, I pulled CPC data for the same client accounts across branded search, non-branded search, Demand Gen, and display campaign types.</p>



<p>Client names are withheld. The date range for this analysis was May 2025 through May 2026.</p>


<a href="https://www.semrush.com/analytics/traffic/paid-search?utm_campaign=ic_sel_0101ppc&#038;utm_source=searchengineland.com&#038;utm_medium=overlay&#038;onboarding=off" target="_blank">
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      <div id="semrush-one-headline" class="headline-responsive">
        See exactly how <span>your competitors win</span>.
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      <p id="semrush-one-subhead">
        Uncover the keywords, ads, landing pages, and strategies driving your competitors&#8217; paid search success—and find your next opportunity to outperform them.
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      <span id="semrush-one-cta">Analyze your competitors</span>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-linkedin-is-more-expensive-at-first-glance-but-the-comparison-is-more-nuanced">LinkedIn is more expensive at first glance, but the comparison is more nuanced</h2>



<p>LinkedIn&#8217;s blended average CPC across all objectives was $11.12. Google&#8217;s blended average CPC across all campaign types was $5.45.</p>



<p>On the surface, LinkedIn costs about twice as much per click.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s a big caveat, though. On Google Ads, a large portion of those clicks comes from display ($0.89 average CPC) and branded search ($1.71 average CPC). Both tactics are inherently low-cost because you&#8217;re either fishing in low-intent waters (display) or capturing searches for your own brand name.</p>



<p>However, if we look at the cost of reaching new, high-intent audiences, the CPC gap starts to close.</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The average CPC for Google Ads non-branded search across clients in this study was $12.48.</li>



<li>On LinkedIn Ads, the average CPC for prospecting campaigns (excluding retargeting) with lead generation, website conversion, or website visit objectives was $13.94.</li>
</ul>



<p>I chose these objectives because they most closely represent high-intent direct-response campaigns, putting LinkedIn on more equal footing with non-branded search.</p>



<p>When comparing the cost of reaching a new audience, LinkedIn isn&#8217;t much more expensive. We&#8217;re looking at $12 CPCs on Google and $14 CPCs on LinkedIn. LinkedIn still costs more, but it&#8217;s no longer double the price of Google.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-linkedin-cpcs-vary-widely-by-objective">LinkedIn CPCs vary widely by objective</h3>



<p>One interesting finding in this data set is the range of CPCs across LinkedIn ad objectives:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Website visits: $6.75</li>



<li>Brand awareness: $8.34</li>



<li>Website conversions: $4.84</li>



<li>Engagement: $4.45</li>



<li>Lead generation: $31.29</li>



<li>Video views: $71.43</li>
</ul>



<p>Lead generation campaigns, where LinkedIn&#8217;s lead gen forms capture contact information directly within the platform, cost nearly five times more per click than website visit campaigns.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Given that these campaign types typically have much higher conversion rates than ads that drive traffic to a website or landing page, the higher CPC is easier to justify.</p>



<p>Full breakdown of CPCs by campaign objective:</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1420" height="370" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-Objective-CPCs.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481016" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-Objective-CPCs.png 1420w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-Objective-CPCs-768x200.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1420px) 100vw, 1420px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>One thing that really jumps out in this table is that video views have extraordinarily high CPCs. However, cost per view (CPV) is the more relevant metric for those campaigns, making the CPC somewhat misleading in isolation.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re running LinkedIn and optimizing for click volume or site traffic, budget for CPCs in the $6-8 range. If you&#8217;re running lead gen ads (which, in my experience, tend to have much higher conversion rates and strong lead quality), plan for $30+ CPCs.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-linkedin-cpcs-also-vary-by-industry">LinkedIn CPCs also vary by industry</h3>



<p>The two business categories in the data showed notably different CPC profiles on LinkedIn:</p>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>B2B SaaS: $11.02 average CPC (on $681,000 spend)</li>



<li>Professional services: $15.25 average CPC (on $23,000 spend)</li>
</ul>



<p>One thing to note is the difference in total spend between the two sectors. B2B SaaS had a much wider mix of campaign types, which likely influenced the CPC trend. The professional services campaigns also used very specific targeting that may have contributed to their higher CPCs.</p>



<p>B2B SaaS CPCs by campaign objective:</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1422" height="370" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-B2B-SaaS-CPCs.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481017" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-B2B-SaaS-CPCs.png 1422w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-B2B-SaaS-CPCs-768x200.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1422px) 100vw, 1422px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Professional services CPCs by campaign objective:</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="1422" height="234" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-Pro-Services-CPCs.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481018" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-Pro-Services-CPCs.png 1422w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/LI-Pro-Services-CPCs-768x126.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1422px) 100vw, 1422px" /></figure>
</div>


<p>Interestingly, the CPC for lead gen campaigns in professional services was lower than for website visit campaigns. When comparing industries, lead gen CPCs in professional services were also much lower than lead gen CPCs in B2B SaaS.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re a professional services firm using LinkedIn, factor in $15-$20 CPCs when planning your campaign budget. For B2B SaaS, plan for a much wider range, from roughly $7-$35, depending on the campaign objective.&nbsp;</p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-does-this-compare-with-google-ads">How does this compare with Google Ads?</h2>



<p>The trends are pretty consistent across channels. Professional services still has higher CPCs than B2B SaaS in this data set. If we&#8217;re comparing only non-branded search between the two industries, the CPCs are closer, but professional services still comes out higher.</p>



<p>Breakdown of Google CPCs by campaign type:<strong>&nbsp;</strong>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="984" height="328" src="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Google-Ads-CPCs.png" alt="" class="wp-image-481020" srcset="https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Google-Ads-CPCs.png 984w, https://searchengineland.com/wp-content/seloads/2026/06/Google-Ads-CPCs-768x256.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px" /></figure>
</div>


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-should-your-linkedin-ads-budget-be">What should your LinkedIn Ads budget be?</h2>



<p>Your targeting will have a huge impact on your CPCs and budget requirements, but here&#8217;s a practical framework based on this data:</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-minimum-viable-budget-3-000-5-000-month">Minimum viable budget: $3,000-$5,000/month</h3>



<p>Below this level, you&#8217;re unlikely to generate enough traffic to drive meaningful lead volume or conversions. It will probably be slow going when it comes to identifying meaningful trends, but you&#8217;ll at least be in the game. You&#8217;ll probably only be able to run one or two campaigns.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-testing-and-learning-5-000-10-000-month-nbsp">Testing and learning: $5,000-$10,000/month&nbsp;</h3>



<p>This is likely enough budget to run two or three objectives, launch more campaigns, test creative and audiences, and generate statistically meaningful lead volume.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scaling-10-000-month">Scaling: $10,000+/month</h3>



<p>At this level, you can run always-on brand awareness and thought leadership campaigns alongside lead gen and website visit campaigns, support event registrations and other marketing initiatives, and experiment with more sophisticated list-targeted campaigns and retargeting. You&#8217;ll be able to run direct-response initiatives alongside brand-building efforts.</p>



<p>For B2B SaaS or professional services companies with an ACV above $20,000, I&#8217;d rarely recommend starting LinkedIn with less than $5,000 per month. The economics of a single closed deal worth $30,000-$50,000 in ACV can justify significant investment, even at a $500+ CPL, if the pipeline quality is there.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-the-right-channel-mix-for-b2b">What is the right channel mix for B2B?</h2>



<p>I recommend the following approach to most of our B2B clients:</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-use-google-ads-and-microsoft-ads-for-intent-capture">Use Google Ads and Microsoft Ads for intent capture</h3>



<p>Non-branded search catches buyers who are actively researching. Branded search and remarketing are lower-cost and essential. If someone is searching for your category keywords, you need to be there. </p>



<p>We also leverage Demand Gen and Performance Max where it makes sense to fill gaps and support brand awareness.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-use-linkedin-ads-for-audience-led-demand-generation">Use LinkedIn Ads for audience-led demand generation</h3>



<p>If your ideal customer profile is highly specific — for example, VP-level decision-makers at mid-market SaaS companies — LinkedIn&#8217;s targeting is what you&#8217;re looking for. No other platform lets you reach that type of professional audience at scale.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-run-both-in-parallel">Run both in parallel</h3>



<p>This is the strongest setup. Google captures existing demand. LinkedIn creates new demand and keeps your brand visible to the exact buyers you want in your pipeline.</p>


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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-linkedin-is-worth-the-higher-cpcs">Why LinkedIn is worth the higher CPCs</h2>



<p>LinkedIn is more expensive than Google on a raw CPC basis, but when you compare apples to apples (both platforms reaching cold, qualified B2B buyers), the gap narrows significantly.</p>



<p>While CPCs can be higher, the investment is often worthwhile if you can get in front of your target customers early in the decision-making process. That&#8217;s more effective over the long term than relying solely on high-intent keywords after buyers have already narrowed their list of solutions.</p>



<p>The ideal scenario is for your brand to become an active participant in the decision-making process, shaping the narrative instead of letting competitors do it for you.</p>



<p>My take is to use LinkedIn Ads to build intent and tell your story, and use Google Ads and Microsoft Ads to capture intent. The budget will depend on your targeting, but you should be able to afford at least 100 clicks per month. Otherwise, you&#8217;re spending money on ads without giving the system enough data to work with.</p>

LinkedIn Ads has a reputation for being expensive. The data supports that at first glance. 
Across the client accounts analyzed for this study, LinkedIn’s average CPC was $11.12 compared with $5.45 on Google Ads.
However, that comparison doesn’t tell the whole story.
When we compare the cost of reaching new, high-intent B2B buyers, the gap narrows considerably. Non-branded Google Search campaigns averaged a $12.48 CPC, while comparable LinkedIn prospecting campaigns averaged $13.94.
To see how LinkedIn CPCs compare with Google Ads across campaign types and industries, I analyzed more than $700,000 in LinkedIn ad spend and CPC data from the same accounts on Google Ads.
What’s included in this analysis
I looked specifically at CPC and performance data for clients who had active campaigns on both LinkedIn Ads and Google Ads over the past year.
The questions to answer:
What are the real CPCs we’re seeing?
Do CPCs differ by ad set objective and industry?
How do these CPCs compare with those on Google Ads?
For LinkedIn Ads, I analyzed more than $700,000 in spend across 63,000+ clicks and 8.1 million impressions.
Clients fell into two main business categories: 
B2B SaaS (approximately 97% of spend) 
Professional services. 
I looked at CPCs by ad set objective and by business category.
In Google Ads, I pulled CPC data for the same client accounts across branded search, non-branded search, Demand Gen, and display campaign types.
Client names are withheld. The date range for this analysis was May 2025 through May 2026.
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Analyze your competitors
    
LinkedIn is more expensive at first glance, but the comparison is more nuanced
LinkedIn’s blended average CPC across all objectives was $11.12. Google’s blended average CPC across all campaign types was $5.45.
On the surface, LinkedIn costs about twice as much per click.
There’s a big caveat, though. On Google Ads, a large portion of those clicks comes from display ($0.89 average CPC) and branded search ($1.71 average CPC). Both tactics are inherently low-cost because you’re either fishing in low-intent waters (display) or capturing searches for your own brand name.
However, if we look at the cost of reaching new, high-intent audiences, the CPC gap starts to close.
The average CPC for Google Ads non-branded search across clients in this study was $12.48.
On LinkedIn Ads, the average CPC for prospecting campaigns (excluding retargeting) with lead generation, website conversion, or website visit objectives was $13.94.
I chose these objectives because they most closely represent high-intent direct-response campaigns, putting LinkedIn on more equal footing with non-branded search.
When comparing the cost of reaching a new audience, LinkedIn isn’t much more expensive. We’re looking at $12 CPCs on Google and $14 CPCs on LinkedIn. LinkedIn still costs more, but it’s no longer double the price of Google.
LinkedIn CPCs vary widely by objective
One interesting finding in this data set is the range of CPCs across LinkedIn ad objectives:
Website visits: $6.75
Brand awareness: $8.34
Website conversions: $4.84
Engagement: $4.45
Lead generation: $31.29
Video views: $71.43
Lead generation campaigns, where LinkedIn’s lead gen forms capture contact information directly within the platform, cost nearly five times more per click than website visit campaigns. 
Given that these campaign types typically have much higher conversion rates than ads that drive traffic to a website or landing page, the higher CPC is easier to justify.
Full breakdown of CPCs by campaign objective:




One thing that really jumps out in this table is that video views have extraordinarily high CPCs. However, cost per view (CPV) is the more relevant metric for those campaigns, making the CPC somewhat misleading in isolation.
If you’re running LinkedIn and optimizing for click volume or site traffic, budget for CPCs in the $6-8 range. If you’re running lead gen ads (which, in my experience, tend to have much higher conversion rates and strong lead quality), plan for $30+ CPCs.
LinkedIn CPCs also vary by industry
The two business categories in the data showed notably different CPC profiles on LinkedIn:
B2B SaaS: $11.02 average CPC (on $681,000 spend)
Professional services: $15.25 average CPC (on $23,000 spend)
One thing to note is the difference in total spend between the two sectors. B2B SaaS had a much wider mix of campaign types, which likely influenced the CPC trend. The professional services campaigns also used very specific targeting that may have contributed to their higher CPCs.
B2B SaaS CPCs by campaign objective:




Professional services CPCs by campaign objective:




Interestingly, the CPC for lead gen campaigns in professional services was lower than for website visit campaigns. When comparing industries, lead gen CPCs in professional services were also much lower than lead gen CPCs in B2B SaaS.
If you’re a professional services firm using LinkedIn, factor in $15-$20 CPCs when planning your campaign budget. For B2B SaaS, plan for a much wider range, from roughly $7-$35, depending on the campaign objective. 
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How does this compare with Google Ads?
The trends are pretty consistent across channels. Professional services still has higher CPCs than B2B SaaS in this data set. If we’re comparing only non-branded search between the two industries, the CPCs are closer, but professional services still comes out higher.
Breakdown of Google CPCs by campaign type: 







What should your LinkedIn Ads budget be?
Your targeting will have a huge impact on your CPCs and budget requirements, but here’s a practical framework based on this data:
Minimum viable budget: $3,000-$5,000/month
Below this level, you’re unlikely to generate enough traffic to drive meaningful lead volume or conversions. It will probably be slow going when it comes to identifying meaningful trends, but you’ll at least be in the game. You’ll probably only be able to run one or two campaigns.
Testing and learning: $5,000-$10,000/month 
This is likely enough budget to run two or three objectives, launch more campaigns, test creative and audiences, and generate statistically meaningful lead volume.
Scaling: $10,000+/month
At this level, you can run always-on brand awareness and thought leadership campaigns alongside lead gen and website visit campaigns, support event registrations and other marketing initiatives, and experiment with more sophisticated list-targeted campaigns and retargeting. You’ll be able to run direct-response initiatives alongside brand-building efforts.
For B2B SaaS or professional services companies with an ACV above $20,000, I’d rarely recommend starting LinkedIn with less than $5,000 per month. The economics of a single closed deal worth $30,000-$50,000 in ACV can justify significant investment, even at a $500+ CPL, if the pipeline quality is there.
What is the right channel mix for B2B?
I recommend the following approach to most of our B2B clients:
Use Google Ads and Microsoft Ads for intent capture
Non-branded search catches buyers who are actively researching. Branded search and remarketing are lower-cost and essential. If someone is searching for your category keywords, you need to be there. 
We also leverage Demand Gen and Performance Max where it makes sense to fill gaps and support brand awareness.
Use LinkedIn Ads for audience-led demand generation
If your ideal customer profile is highly specific — for example, VP-level decision-makers at mid-market SaaS companies — LinkedIn’s targeting is what you’re looking for. No other platform lets you reach that type of professional audience at scale.
Run both in parallel
This is the strongest setup. Google captures existing demand. LinkedIn creates new demand and keeps your brand visible to the exact buyers you want in your pipeline.
a customer you lose.
      
See who’s stealing your traffic
    
Why LinkedIn is worth the higher CPCs
LinkedIn is more expensive than Google on a raw CPC basis, but when you compare apples to apples (both platforms reaching cold, qualified B2B buyers), the gap narrows significantly.
While CPCs can be higher, the investment is often worthwhile if you can get in front of your target customers early in the decision-making process. That’s more effective over the long term than relying solely on high-intent keywords after buyers have already narrowed their list of solutions.
The ideal scenario is for your brand to become an active participant in the decision-making process, shaping the narrative instead of letting competitors do it for you.
My take is to use LinkedIn Ads to build intent and tell your story, and use Google Ads and Microsoft Ads to capture intent. The budget will depend on your targeting, but you should be able to afford at least 100 clicks per month. Otherwise, you’re spending money on ads without giving the system enough data to work with.

A year of B2B campaign data reveals where LinkedIn commands a premium, where costs align with Google Search, and how to budget accordingly.

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