The Ebbs & Flows of PPC

When analyzing PPC marketing metrics, we normally understand what happened, but often struggle to understand why it happened. The most highly-skilled marketers are typically able to “tell the story” of what happened AND why. But the goings-on of the world affect what happens in our PPC accounts. I refer to this as the ebbs & flows of PPC.

Once upon a time I began managing some ad accounts, and was asked what was going on with performance, and why it varied so much week to week for the past few quarters.

No problem, I thought to myself. I could easily see what had happened (performance was down in general, but fluctuated week to week), so I went to the change history to try and figure out why these things happened.

But there was nothing to see for the last 14 days. I extended the date range to the last 30 days. Still nothing. I figured there had to be an issue with the Google Ads interface; surely SOMEONE made more than zero changes in the last 30 days? But there was no error. My heart sank as I extended the date range back, further and further, until I finally came across the most recent change: six months ago.

I was aghast. I look at my accounts more often than anyone else I know, and the thought of not making even one single change in half a year was just unthinkable.

It was my first time looking at these accounts, and I had been given very little context or history. If there had been changes, I easily could have cross-referenced those changes and timestamps with changes in performance. But there weren’t. I looked at everything that came to mind, and ultimately admitted that I didn’t know why performance fluctuated week to week so much.

Eventually, I came to see this as a very important lesson: results will vary week to week and month to month even without changes in the ad engine.

Many of my fellow PPC enthusiasts are also control freaks about their accounts. We pride ourselves in being plugged in to our accounts, and don’t like the prospect of not knowing why things happened the way they did. So what can be done?

Become familiar with the ebbs and flows of your PPC accounts. Try to establish a ‘baseline’ of performance fluctuations. You already know what to expect when you make changes, right? Try to know what to expect when you DON’T make any changes.

Of course, a good PPC manager will make changes on an ongoing basis. A great PPC manager will be able to differentiate between baseline ebbs and flows and direct consequences of individual changes.