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)

• Digital Marketing Strategist (SEO, GEO, CRO)
  February 6, 2026
  Job Description Salary: $75,000-$90,000 Hanson is seeking a data-driven strategist to join our team as a Digital Marketing Strategist. This role bridges the gap between marketing strategy, analytics and technology to help ensure our clients websites and digital tools perform at their highest potential. Youll work closely with cross-functional teams to optimize digital experiences, drive […]
• SEO Strategist
  February 6, 2026
  Join Aya Healthcare, winner of multiple Top Workplace awards! We’re seeking a motivated SEO Strategist to join our fast-paced marketing team and help drive organic growth across multiple healthcare brands and websites under the Aya Healthcare umbrella. This role offers an exceptional opportunity to gain comprehensive corporate SEO experience while working alongside industry-leading professionals. Reporting […]
• Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/PPC)
  February 6, 2026
  Who We Are With a legacy spanning four decades, Action Property Management has become the premier choice for homeowner’s association management. Founded in 1984, Action began with a single client and a vision to elevate ethical and professional standards in the HOA industry. Our unwavering commitment to integrity, and professionalism coupled with our core values […]
• Digital Marketing Manager (SEO/PPC)
  February 6, 2026
  Job Description PLUS Incentive & Rich Benefit Plan Position Summary The Digital Marketing Manager is a key role responsible for the strategy, execution, and optimization of Olympic Hot Tub’s digital marketing efforts. You will work closely with the Company President and external partners to develop and manage cohesive digital campaigns that drive qualified traffic, generate […]
• Digital Content Strategist
  February 5, 2026
  Job Description At VAL-CO we work together as a global leader in providing innovative, value-focused products and services to the poultry, livestock and horticultural industries. We believe in all that we do by valuing people, integrity, quality, profitability, and stewardship. VAL-CO recognizes the importance and value of our employees and their families, and our customers […]
• Website Content Manager (Content, SEO, Technical)
  February 5, 2026
  POSITION DESCRIPTION Position: Website Content Manager Department: Office of Communications and Public Relations Reports To: Executive Director of Communications and Public Relations Classification: Exempt General Description The Website Content Manager develops, maintains, and optimizes archdiocesan websites and content to shape our online presence and ensure they align with and support the mission and priorities of […]
• Performance Marketing Specialist (Content, SEO)
  February 4, 2026
  JobType: Full-Time (Exempt) Salary: $62,000 – $67,000 The Performance Marketing Specialist is responsible for optimizing QuaverEd’s website experiences to drive lead generation, trial conversion, and overall marketing performance. This role combines analytical insight, SEO strategy, and conversion rate optimization to improve how users discover, engage with, and move through QuaverEd’s digital funnel. Working closely with […]
• Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Specialist (SEO, PPC, Email)
  February 4, 2026
  Join our Team – Come for a Job Stay for a Career! Wearwell is a global industry leader in the anti-fatigue matting market. Our team members are more than just another number – they are family. As our business grows, so must we. We are seeking a Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Specialist to join our […]
• Senior SEO Specialist
  February 4, 2026
  We are looking for an experienced Senior SEO Specialist to lead advanced SEO strategy development, oversee multiple client projects, and drive measurable results in organic performance. This is a leadership-oriented position for a professional who combines deep technical expertise, strong analytical thinking, and strategic vision. As a Senior SEO Specialist, you’ll take ownership of SEO processes from comprehensive audits to keyword strategy, content architecture, and reporting while mentoring […]
• Content Marketing Manager
  February 3, 2026
  Job Description Hi, we’re TechnologyAdvice. At TechnologyAdvice, we pride ourselves on helping B2B tech buyers manage the complexity and risk of the buying process. We are a trusted source of information for tech buyers, delivering advice and facilitating connections between our buyers and the world’s leading sellers of business technology. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, we […]

Newest PPC and paid media jobs

(Provided to Search Engine Land by PPCjobs.com)

• Paid Media Specialist (Contractor) ~ HomeSource Systems ~ $60,000-$80,000 ~ Hybrid (Marlton, NJ, United States)
  February 6, 2026
  Overview Job Title: Paid Media Specialist – Contract – 1099 Location: Marlton, NJ/Hybrid About HomeSource: Our organization is a fast-growing, data-driven marketing and technology company that partners with clients across multiple industries to accelerate growth through performance marketing, analytics, and automation. We are seeking a highly skilled and analytical Paid Media Specialist (Contract/1099) to join […]
• Sr. Growth Manager – Paid Social ~ Bowery Boost ~ $80,000-$110,000 ~ Hybrid (New York, NY, United States)
  February 6, 2026
  Bowery Boost is a women-founded, NYC-based digital growth and creative agency helping women-founded and mission-driven e-commerce brands scale profitably. We specialize in paid media, performance creative, and analytics for brands across beauty, fashion, wellness, and CPG. We combine creative storytelling with data-driven strategy, using our in-house analytics platform Boostify and creative performance tools like Motionapp […]
• Growth Marketing Manager (Paid Media Lead) ~ NoGood ~ $65,000-$100,000 ~ Remote (USA)
  February 6, 2026
  We are NoGood is an award-winning, tech-enabled growth consultancy that has fueled the success of some of the most iconic brands. We are a team of growth leads, creatives, engineers and data scientists who help unlock rapid measurable growth for some of the world’s category-defining brands. We bring together the art and science of strategy, […]
• Performance Marketing Specialist – Paid Social ~ $80,000-$120,000 ~ Theklicker ~ Hybrid (Palo Alto, CA, United States)
  February 5, 2026
  When customers are searching for a electronics products, we want the obvious choice to be theklicker! By comparing prices from major e-commerce booking sites, we’re making it easy for people to find their electronics gadgets they want at a price they’ll love. In the silicon valley city of Palo Alto, we seize opportunities to learn […]
• Paid Search Media Strategist ~ Defero ~ $60,000-$80,000 ~ In-office (USA) ~ Phoenix, AZ, United States
  February 5, 2026
  Position: Paid Search Media Strategist Location: Phoenix, Arizona (On-site 16th Street & Northern) Status: Exempt Compensation: Competitive salary DOE, Health, Dental Vision, 3 weeks PTO, generous paid holiday schedule, mobile phone allowance and matching 401-K (after 1st year of employment), In office with WFH Fridays, dog friendly and energetic work environment, future upward mobility and […]

Other roles you may be interested in

PPC Specialist, BrixxMedia (Remote)

• Salary: $80,000 – $115,000
• Manage day-to-day PPC execution, including campaign builds, bid strategies, budgets, and creative rotation across platforms
• Develop and refine audience strategies, remarketing programs, and lookalike segments to maximize efficiency and scale

Performance Marketing Manager, Mailgun, Sinch (Remote)

• Salary: $100,000 – $125,000
• Manage and optimize paid campaigns across various channels, including YouTube, Google Ads, Meta, Display, LinkedIn, and Connected TV (CTV).
• Drive scalable growth through continuous testing and optimization while maintaining efficiency targets (CAC, ROAS, LTV)

Paid Search Director, Grey Matter Recruitment (Remote)

• Salary: $130,000 – $150,000
• Own the activation and execution of Paid Search & Shopping activity across the Google Suite
• Support wider eCommerce, Search and Digital team on strategy and plans

SEO and AI Search Optimization Manager, Big Think Capital (New York)

• Salary: $100,000
• Own and execute Big Think Capital’s SEO and AI search (GEO) strategy
• Optimize website architecture, on-page SEO, and technical SEO

Senior Copywriter, Viking (Hybrid, Los Angeles Metropolitan Area)

• Salary: $95,000 – $110,000
• Editorial features and travel articles for onboard magazines
• Seasonal web campaigns and themed microsites

Digital Marketing Manager, DEPLOY (Hybrid, Tuscaloosa, AL)

• Salary: $80,000
• Strong knowledge of digital marketing tools, analytics platforms (e.g., Google Analytics), and content management systems (CMS).
• Experience Managing Google Ads and Meta ad campaigns.

Paid Search Marketing Manager, LawnStarter (Remote)

• Salary: $90,000 – $125,000
• Manage and optimize large-scale, complex SEM campaigns across Google Ads, Bing Ads, Meta Ads and other search platforms
• Activate, optimize and make efficient Local Services Ads (LSA) at scale

Senior Manager, SEO, Turo (Hybrid, San Francisco, CA)

• Salary: $168,000 – $210,000
• Define and execute the SEO strategy across technical SEO, content SEO, on-page optimization, internal linking, and authority building.
• Own business and operations KPIs for organic growth and translate them into clear quarterly plans.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) Manager, Tribute Technology (Remote)

• Salary: $85,000 – $90,000
• PPC Campaign Management: Execute and optimize multiple Google Ad campaigns and accounts simultaneously.
• SEO Strategy Management: Develop and manage on-page SEO strategies for client websites using tools like Ahrefs.

Search Engine Optimization Manager, Robert Half (Hybrid, Boston MA)

• Salary: $150,000 – $160,000
• Strategic Leadership: Define and lead the strategy for SEO, AEO, and LLMs, ensuring alignment with overall business and product goals.
• Roadmap Execution: Develop and implement the SEO/AEO/LLM roadmap, prioritizing performance-based initiatives and driving authoritative content at scale.

Search Engine Op imization Manager, NoGood (Remote)

• Salary: £80,000 – $100,000
• Act as the primary strategic lead for a portfolio of enterprise and scale-up clients.
• Build and execute GEO/AEO strategies that maximize brand visibility across LLMs and AI search surfaces.

Senior Content Manager, TrustedTech (Irvine, CA)

• Salary: $110,000 – $130,000
• Develop and manage a content strategy aligned with business and brand goals across blog, web, email, paid media, and social channels.
• Create and edit compelling copy that supports demand generation and sales enablement programs.

Note: We update this post weekly. So make sure to bookmark this page and check back.

Google is rolling out a beta feature that lets advertisers run structured A/B tests on creative assets within a single Performance Max asset group. Advertisers can split traffic between two asset sets and measure performance in a controlled experiment.

Why we care. Creative testing inside Performance Max has mostly relied on guesswork. Google’s new native A/B asset experiments bring controlled testing directly into PMax — without spinning up separate campaigns.

How it works. Advertisers choose one Performance Max campaign and asset group, then define a control asset set (existing creatives) and a treatment set (new alternatives). Shared assets can run across both versions. After setting a traffic split — such as 50/50 — the experiment runs for several weeks before advertisers apply the winning assets.

Why this helps. Running tests inside the same asset group isolates creative impact and reduces noise from structural campaign changes. The controlled split gives clearer reporting and helps teams make rollout decisions based on performance data rather than assumptions.

Early lessons. Initial testing suggests short experiments — especially under three weeks — often produce unstable results, particularly in lower-volume accounts. Longer runs and avoiding simultaneous campaign changes improve reliability.

Bottom line. Performance Max is becoming more testable. Advertisers can now validate creative decisions with built-in experiments instead of relying on trial and error.

First seen. Google Ads expert spotted the update and shared his view on LinkedIn.

Google Ads rolled out a new data source diagnostics feature in Data Manager that lets advertisers track the health of their data connections. The tool flags problems with offline conversions, CRM imports, and tagging mismatches.

How it works. A centralized dashboard assigns clear connection status labels — Excellent, Good, Needs attention, or Urgent — and surfaces actionable alerts. Advertisers can spot issues like refused credentials, formatting errors, and failed imports, alongside a run history that shows recent sync attempts and error counts.

Why we care. When conversion data breaks, campaign optimization breaks with it. Even small connection failures can quietly skew conversion tracking and weaken automated bidding. This diagnostic tool helps teams catch and fix issues early, protecting performance and reporting accuracy. If you rely on CRM imports or offline conversions, this provides a much-needed safety net.

Who benefits most. The feature is especially useful for advertisers running complex conversion pipelines, including Salesforce integrations and offline attribution setups, where small disruptions can quickly cascade into bidding and reporting issues.

The bigger picture. As automated bidding leans more heavily on accurate first-party data, visibility into data pipelines is becoming just as critical as campaign settings themselves.

Bottom line. Google Ads is giving advertisers an early warning system for data failures, helping teams fix broken connections before performance takes a hit.

First seen. The update was first spotted by digital marketer Georgi Zayakov, who shared the new option on LinkedIn.

Performance Max has come a long way since its rocky launch. Many advertisers once dismissed it as a half-baked product, but Google has spent the past 18 months fixing real issues around transparency and control. If you wrote Performance Max off before, it’s time to take another look.

Mike Ryan, head of ecommerce insights at Smarter Ecommerce, explained why at the latest SMX Next.

Taking a fresh look at Performance Max

Performance Max traces its roots to Smart Shopping campaigns, which Google rolled out with red carpet fanfare at Google Marketing Live in 2019.

Even then, industry experts warned that transparency and control would become serious issues. They were right — and only now has Google begun to address those concerns openly.

Smart Shopping marked the low point of black-box advertising in Google Ads, at least for ecommerce. It stripped away nearly every control advertisers relied on in Standard Shopping:

• Promotional controls.
• Modifiers.
• Negative keywords.
• Search terms reporting.
• Placement reporting.
• Channel visibility.

Over the past 18 months, Performance Max has brought most of that functionality back, either partially or in full.

Understanding Performance Max search terms

Search terms are a core signal for understanding the traffic you’re actually buying. In Performance Max, most spend typically flows to the search network, which makes search term reporting essential for meaningful optimization.

Google even introduced a Performance Max match type — something few of us ever expected to see. That’s a big deal. It delivers properly reportable data that works with the API, should be scriptable, and finally includes cost and time dimensions that were completely missing before.

Search term insights vs. campaign search term view

Google’s first move to crack open the black box was search term insights. These insights group queries into search categories — essentially prebuilt n-grams — that roll up data at a mid-level and automatically account for typos, misspellings, and variants.

The problem? The metrics are thin. There’s no cost data, which means no CPC, no ROAS, and no real way to evaluate performance.

The real breakthrough is the new campaign-level search term view, now available in both the API and the UI.

Historically, search term reporting lived at the ad group level. Since Performance Max doesn’t use ad groups, that data had nowhere to go.

Google fixed this by anchoring search terms at the campaign level instead. The result is access to far more segments and metrics — and, finally, proper reporting we can actually use.

The main limitation: this data is available only at the search network level, without separating search from shopping. That means a single search term may reflect blended performance from both formats, rather than a clean view of how each one performed.

Search theme reporting

Search themes act as a form of positive targeting in Performance Max. You can evaluate how they’re performing through the search term insights report, which includes a Source column showing whether traffic came from your URLs, your assets, or the search themes you provided.

By totaling conversion value and conversions, you can see whether your search themes are actually driving results — or just sitting idle.

There’s more good news ahead. Google appears to be working on bringing Dynamic Search Ads and AI Max reports into Performance Max. That would unlock visibility into headlines, landing pages, and the search terms triggering ads.

Search term controls and optimization

Negative keywords

Negative keywords are now fully supported in Performance Max. At launch, Google capped campaigns at 100 negatives, offered no API access, and blocked negative keyword lists—clearly positioning the feature for brand safety, not performance.

That’s changed. Negative keywords now work with the API, support shared lists, and give advertisers real control over performance.

These negatives apply across the entire search network, including both search and shopping. Brand exclusions are the exception — you can choose to apply those only to search campaigns if needed.

Brand exclusions

Performance Max doesn’t separate brand from generic traffic, and it often favors brand queries because they’re high intent and tend to perform well. Brand exclusions exist, but they can be leaky, with some brand traffic still slipping through. If you need strict control, negative keywords are the more reliable option.

Also, Performance Max — and AI Max — may aggressively bid on competitor terms. That makes brand and competitor exclusions important tools for protecting spend and shaping intent.

Optimization strategy

Here’s a simple heuristic for spotting search terms that need attention:

• Calculate the average number of clicks it takes to generate a conversion.
• Identify search terms with more clicks than that average but zero conversions.

Those terms have had a fair chance to perform and didn’t. They’re strong candidates for negative keywords.

That said, don’t overcorrect.

Long-tail dynamics mean a search term that doesn’t convert this month may matter next month. You’re also working with a finite set of negative keywords, so use them deliberately and prioritize the highest-impact exclusions.

Modern optimization approaches

It’s not 2018 anymore — you shouldn’t spend hours manually reviewing search terms. Automate the work instead.

Use the API for high-volume accounts, scripts for medium volume, and automated reports from the Report Editor for smaller accounts (though it still doesn’t support Performance Max).

Layer in AI for semantic review to flag irrelevant terms based on meaning and intent, then step in only for final approval. Search term reporting can be tedious, but with Google’s prebuilt n-grams and modern AI tools, there’s a smarter way to handle it.

Channels and placements reporting

Channel performance report

The channel performance report — not just for Performance Max — breaks performance out by network, including Discover, Display, Gmail, and more. It’s useful for channel visibility and understanding view-through versus click-through conversions, as well as how feed-based delivery compares to asset-driven performance.

The report includes a Sankey diagram, but it isn’t especially intuitive. The labeling is confusing and takes some decoding:

• Search Network: Feed-based equals Shopping ads; asset-based equals RSAs and DSAs.
• Display Network: Feed-based equals dynamic remarketing; asset-based equals responsive display ads.

Google also announced that Search Partner Network data is coming, which should add another layer of useful performance visibility.

Channel and placement controls

Unlike Demand Gen, where you can choose exactly which channels to run on, Performance Max doesn’t give you that control. You can try to influence the channel mix through your ROAS target and budget, but it’s a blunt instrument — and a slippery one at best.

Placement exclusions

The strongest control you have is excluding specific placements. Placement data is now available through the API — limited to impressions and date segments — and can also be reviewed in the Report Editor. Use this data alongside the content suitability view to spot questionable domains and spammy placements.

For YouTube, pay close attention to political and children’s content. If a placement feels irrelevant or unsafe for your brand, there’s a good chance it isn’t driving meaningful performance either.

Tools for placement review

If you run into YouTube videos in languages you don’t speak, use Google Sheets’ built-in GOOGLETRANSLATE function. It’s faster and more reliable than AI for quick translation.

You can also use AI-powered formulas in Sheets to do semantic triage on placements, not just search terms. These tools are just formulas, which means this kind of analysis is accessible to anyone.

Search Partner Network

Unfortunately, there’s no way to opt out of the Search Partner Network in Performance Max. You can exclude individual search partners, but there are limits.

Prioritize exclusions based on how questionable the placement looks and how much volume it’s receiving. Also note that Google-owned properties like YouTube and Gmail can’t be excluded.

Based on Standard Shopping data, the Search Partner Network consistently performs meaningfully worse than the Google Search Network. Excluding poor performers is recommended.

Device reporting and targeting

Creating a device report is easy — just add device as a segment in the “when and where ads showed” view. The tricky part is making decisions.

Device analysis

For deeper insight, dig into item-level performance in the Report Editor. Add device as a segment alongside item ID and product titles to see how individual products behave across devices. Also, compare competitor performance by device — you may spot meaningful differences that inform your strategy.

For example, you may perform far better on desktop than on mobile compared to competitors like Amazon, signaling either an opportunity or a risk.

Device targeting considerations

Device targeting is available in Performance Max and is easy to use, much like channel targeting in Demand Gen. But when you split campaigns by device, you also split your conversion data and volume—and that can hurt results.

Before you separate campaigns by device, consider:

• How competition differs by device
• Performance at the item and retail category level
• The impact on overall data volume

Performance Max performs best with more data. Campaigns with low monthly conversion volume often miss their targets and rarely stay on pace. As more data flows through a campaign, Performance Max gets better at hitting goals and less likely to fall short.

Any gains from splitting by device can disappear if the algorithm doesn’t have enough data to learn. Only split when both resulting campaigns have enough volume to support effective machine learning.

Conclusion

Performance Max has changed dramatically since launch. With search term reporting, negative keywords, channel visibility, placement controls, and device targeting now available, advertisers have far more transparency and control than ever before.

It’s still not perfect — channel targeting limits and data fragmentation remain — but Performance Max is fundamentally different and far more manageable.

Success comes down to knowing what data you have, how to access it efficiently using modern tools like AI and automation, and when to apply controls based on performance insights and data volume needs.

Watch: PMax reporting for ecommerce: What Google is (and isn’t) showing you

As AI-driven bidding and automation transform paid media, first-party data has become the most powerful lever advertisers control.

In this conversation with Search Engine Land, Julie Warneke, founder and CEO of Found Search Marketing, explained why first-party data now underpins profitable advertising — no matter how Google’s position on third-party cookies evolves.

What first-party data really is — and isn’t

First-party data is customer information that an advertiser owns directly, usually housed in a CRM. It includes:

• Lead details.
• Purchase history.
• Revenue.
• Customer value collected through websites, forms, or physical locations.

It doesn’t include platform-owned or browser-based data that advertisers can’t fully control.

Why first-party data matters more than ever

Digital advertising has moved from paying for impressions, to clicks, to actions — and now to outcomes. The real goal is no longer conversions alone, but profitable conversions, according to Warneke.

As AI systems process far more signals than humans can handle, advertisers who supply high-quality customer data gain a clear advantage.

CPCs may rise — but profitability can too

Rising cost-per-clicks are a fact of paid media. First-party data doesn’t always reduce CPCs, but it improves what matters more: conversion quality, revenue, and return on ad spend.

By optimizing for downstream business outcomes instead of surface-level metrics, advertisers can justify higher costs with stronger results.

How first-party data improves ROAS

When advertisers feed Google data tied to revenue and customer value, AI bidding systems can prioritize users who resemble high-value customers — often using signals far beyond demographics or geography.

The result is traffic that converts better, even if advertisers never see or control the underlying signals.

Performance Max leads the way

Among campaign types, Performance Max (PMax) currently benefits the most from first-party data activation.

PMax performs best when advertisers move away from manual optimizations and instead focus on supplying accurate, consistent data, then let the system learn, Warneke noted.

SMBs aren’t locked out — but they need the right setup

Small and mid-sized businesses aren’t disadvantaged by limited first-party data volume. Warneke shared examples of success with customer lists as small as 100 records.

The real hurdle for SMBs is infrastructure — specifically proper tracking, consent management, and reliable data pipelines.

The biggest mistakes advertisers are making

Two issues stand out:

• Weak data capture: Many brands still depend on browser-side tracking, which increasingly fails — especially on iOS.
• Broken feedback loops: Others upload CRM data sporadically instead of building continuous data flows that let AI systems learn and improve over time.

What marketers should do next

Warneke’s advice: Step back and audit how data is captured, stored, and sent back to platforms, then improve it incrementally.

There’s no need to overhaul everything at once or risk the entire budget. Even testing with 5–7% of spend can create a learning roadmap that delivers long-term gains.

Bottom line

AI optimizes toward the signals it receives — good or bad. Advertisers who own and refine their first-party data can shape outcomes in their favor, while those who don’t risk being optimized into inefficiency.

Google Ads introduced multi-party approval, a security feature that requires a second administrator to approve high-risk account actions. These actions include adding or removing users and changing user roles.

Why we care. As ad accounts grow in size and value, access control becomes a serious risk. One unauthorized, malicious, or accidental change can disrupt campaigns, permissions, or billing in minutes. Multi-party approval reduces that risk by requiring a second admin to approve high-impact actions. It adds strong protection without slowing daily work. For agencies and large teams, it prevents costly mistakes and significantly improves account security.

How it works. When an admin initiates a sensitive change, Google Ads automatically creates an approval request. Other eligible admins receive an in-product notification. One of them must approve or deny the request within 20 days. If no one responds, the request expires, and the change is blocked.

Status tracking. Each request is clearly labeled as Complete, Denied, or Expired. This makes it easy to see what was approved and what didn’t go through.

Where to find it. You can view and manage approval requests from Access and security within the Admin menu.

The bigger picture. The update reflects growing concern around account security, especially for agencies and large advertisers managing multiple users, partners, and permissions. With advertisers recently reporting costly hacks, this is a welcome update.

The Google Ads help doc. About Multi-party approval for Google Ads

Microsoft Advertising today launched the Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM), a system that lets publishers license premium content to AI products and get paid based on how that content is used.

How it works. PCM creates a direct value exchange. Publishers set licensing and usage terms, while AI builders discover and license content for specific grounding scenarios. The marketplace also includes usage-based reporting, giving publishers visibility into how their content performs and where it creates the most value.

Designed to scale. PCM is designed to avoid one-off licensing deals between individual publishers and AI providers. Participation is voluntary, ownership remains with publishers, and editorial independence stays intact. The marketplace supports everyone from global publishers to smaller, specialized outlets.

Why we care. As AI systems shift from answering questions to making decisions, content quality matters more than ever. As agents increasingly guide purchases, finance, and healthcare choices, ads and sponsored messages will sit alongside — or draw from — premium content rather than generic web signals. That raises the bar for credibility and points to a future where brand alignment with trusted publishers and AI ecosystems directly impacts performance.

Early traction. Microsoft Advertising co-designed PCM with major U.S. publishers, including Business Insider, Condé Nast, Hearst, The Associated Press, USA TODAY, and Vox Media. Early pilots grounded Microsoft Copilot responses in licensed content, with Yahoo among the first demand partners now onboarding.

What’s next. Microsoft plans to expand the pilot to more publishers and AI builders that share a core belief: as the AI web evolves, high-quality content should be respected, governed, and paid for.

The big picture. In an agentic web, AI tools increasingly summarize, reason, and recommend through conversation. Whether the topic is medical safety, financial eligibility, or a major purchase, outcomes depend on access to trusted, authoritative sources — many of which sit behind paywalls or in proprietary archives.

The tension. The traditional web bargain was simple: publishers shared content, and platforms sent traffic back. That model breaks down when AI delivers answers directly, cutting clicks while still depending on premium content to perform well.

Bottom line. If AI is going to make better decisions, it needs better inputs — and PCM is Microsoft’s bet that a sustainable content economy can power the next phase of the agentic web.

Microsoft’s announcement. Building Toward a Sustainable Content Economy for the Agentic Web

As part of the v23 Ads API launch, Performance Max campaigns can now be reported by channel, including Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps, and Search Partners. Previously, performance data was largely grouped into a single mixed category.

The change under the hood. Earlier API versions typically returned a MIXED value for the ad_network_type segment in Performance Max campaigns. With v23, those responses now break out into specific channel enums — a meaningful shift for reporting and optimization.

Why we care. Google Ads API v23 doesn’t just add features — it changes how advertisers understand Performance Max. The update introduces channel-level reporting, giving marketers long-requested visibility into where PMax ads actually run.

How advertisers can use it. Channel-level data is available at the campaign, asset group, and asset level, allowing teams to see how individual creatives perform across Google properties. When combined with v22 segments like ad_using_video and ad_using_product_data, advertisers can isolate results such as video performance on YouTube or Shopping ads on Search.

For developers. Upgrading to v23 will surface more detailed reporting than before. Reporting systems that relied on the legacy MIXED value will need to be updated to handle the new channel enums.

What to watch:

• Channel data is only available for dates starting June 1, 2025.
• Asset group–level channel reporting remains API-only and won’t appear in the Google Ads UI.

Bottom line. The latest Google Ads API release quietly delivers one of the biggest Performance Max updates yet — turning a black-box campaign type into something advertisers can finally analyze by channel.

Search marketing is still as powerful as ever. Google recently surpassed $100 billion in ad revenue in a single quarter, with more than half coming from search. But search alone can no longer deliver the same results most businesses expect.

As Google Ads Coach Jyll Saskin Gales showed at SMX Next, real performance now comes from going beyond traditional search and using it to strengthen a broader PPC strategy.

The challenge with traditional Search Marketing

As search marketers, we’re great at reaching people who are actively searching for what we sell. But we often miss people who fit our ideal audience and aren’t searching yet.

The real opportunity sits at the intersection of intent and audience fit.

Take the search [vacation packages]. That query could come from a family with young kids, a honeymooning couple, or a group of retirees. The keyword is the same, but each audience needs a different message and a different offer.

Understanding targeting capabilities in Google Ads

There are two main types of targeting:

• Content targeting shows ads in specific places.
• Audience targeting shows ads to specific types of people.

For example, targeting [flights to Paris] is content targeting. Targeting people who are “in-market for trips to Paris” is audience targeting. Google builds in-market audiences by analyzing behavior across multiple signals, including searches, browsing activity, and location.

The three types of content targeting

• Keyword targeting: Reach people when they search on Google, including through dynamic ad groups and Performance Max.
• Topic targeting: Show ads alongside content related to specific topics in display and video campaigns.
• Placement targeting: Put ads on specific websites, apps, YouTube channels, or videos where your ideal customers already spend time.

The four types of audience targeting

• Google’s data: Prebuilt segments include detailed demographics (such as parents of toddlers vs. teens), affinity segments (interests like vegetarianism), in-market segments (people actively researching purchases), and life events (graduating or retiring). Any advertiser can use these across most campaign types.
• Your data: Target website visitors, app users, people who engaged with your Google content (YouTube viewers or search clickers), and customer lists through Customer Match. Note that remarketing is restricted for sensitive interest categories.
• Custom segments: Turn content targeting into audience targeting by building segments based on what people search for, their interests, and the websites or apps they use. These go by different names depending on campaign type—“custom segments” in most campaigns and “custom search terms” in video campaigns.
• Automated targeting: This includes optimized targeting (finding people similar to your converters), audience expansion in video campaigns, audience signals and search themes in Performance Max, and lookalike segments that model new users from your seed lists.

Building your targeting strategy

To build a modern targeting strategy, you need to answer two questions:

• How can I sell my offer with Google Ads?
• How can I reach a specific kind of person with Google Ads?

For example, to reach Google Ads practitioners for lead gen software, you could build custom segments that target people who use the Google Ads app, visit industry sites like searchengineland.com, or search for Google Ads–specific terms such as “Performance Max” or “Smart Bidding.”

You can also layer in content targeting, like YouTube placements on industry educator channels and topic targeting around search marketing.

Strategies for sensitive interest categories

If you work in a restricted category such as legal or healthcare and can’t use custom segments or remarketing, use non-linear targeting. Ignore the offer and focus on the audience. Choose any Google data audience with potential overlap, even if it’s imperfect, and let your creative do the filtering.

Use industry-specific jargon, abbreviations, and imagery that only your target audience will recognize and value. Everyone else will scroll past.

Remember: High CPCs aren’t the enemy

Low-quality traffic is the real problem. You’re better off paying $10 per click with a 10% conversion rate than $1 per click with a 0.02% conversion rate.

When evaluating targeting strategies, focus on conversion rate and cost per acquisition, not just cost per click.

Search alone can’t deliver the results you’re used to

By expanding beyond traditional search keywords and using content and audience targeting, you can reach the right people and keep driving strong results.

Watch: How to build a modern targeting strategy like a pro + Live Q&A