Rick Hecker - Google Ads Optimization & PPC Strategy Blog

Two small parcels fit beneath an adjustable brass bar, while a larger parcel stands above its height beside it.

Cascader Answers

What can I do about unwanted or expensive clicks in Performance Max?

Separate irrelevant traffic from price objections, see why CPA and ROAS targets cannot cap a click, and configure a narrower Shopping alternative when the limit is firm.

Blue discs follow a wooden track that divides into two ceramic bowls, with a magnifying glass beside the fork.

Cascader Answers

Google Ads conversions have dropped but clicks continue—how do I find out what changed?

Separate real business outcomes, measurement receipts and Google Ads credit, then compare mature traffic to see whether volume, mix or performance within a group changed.

An imagined museum drawer preserves six office relics: an index card, brass plate, sale ticket, warning note, paper stack and blue file tab.

The Museum of Old Campaign Names

Six invented campaign names, preserved with their small embarrassments, departed colleagues and unfinished promises.

A large blue funnel releases teal discs into a smaller glass vessel beside a magnifying glass and sand timer, illustrating a budget transfer that needs measurement and time.

Cascader Answers

Can Google Search deliver medical-opinion leads at Meta’s CPL and the volume I need?

Test a proposed Search budget against affordable clicks, the conversion rate needed to match Meta’s CPL, and mature lead quality—without assuming medical purchase data can be sent back to Google.

Paper models of two cities receive inquiry envelopes from one spending dial; envelopes pile up at one recipient while nearby mail slots remain empty.

Cascader Answers

Can smaller Google Ads budgets keep some leads flowing to nonpremium marketplace users in each city?

Smaller budgets can reduce spending, but city lead totals can conceal users receiving nothing. Learn when separate budgets, shared budgets, pausing or marketplace allocation can serve the intended nonpremium benefit.

Three teal trays hold unequal piles of copper counters above empty calendar squares that end at a dark line.

How to plan the rest of your month's Google Ads budget

Turn money left this month into campaign settings you can explain: worked allocations, mid-month edits, ad schedules, and the controls behind a real ceiling.

A magnifying glass examines a pile of wooden counting blocks beside a smaller orderly row and a blank ledger.

Cascader Answers

What should I check when Google Ads suddenly starts spending twice its daily budget?

Check the charging limits, trace the extra cost to clicks, prices and traffic mix, then judge mature qualified outcomes. Set an affordable intervention even when the cause remains uncertain.

Blue and orange strips of ruled paper stop at different points around a fold, with a small orange fragment on the far side.

Why Google Ads spend and bank charges don't match: a worked reconciliation

Follow $2,400 of ad costs to $1,850 of bank charges, with every credit, carried balance and payment accounted for—then reuse the worksheet.

A dark green sphere sits where green and copper paths diverge. The green path reaches an open doorway; the copper path passes through two separate hoops.

Google Ads

One Google Ads Click, Two URL Journeys

Follow the visitor and the background tracker separately to find a wrong destination, a missing parameter or a broken tracking route.

A paper Tab key leads by a blue thread through three translucent form panels; the middle field has a blue focus outline.

Try your landing-page enquiry without a mouse

Follow one enquiry by keyboard, including the service selector and a deliberate mistake. Leave with a completed journey or a problem your developer can reproduce.

Three overlapping paper frames enclose different groups of blue squares and orange circles scattered across a cream surface.

Auction Insights: four rates, eight searches

Count overlap, position above, top-of-page and absolute top-of-page rates in one eight-search scene.

A small black binder clip strains to hold a vast, curling stack of ruled reporting paper.

Just One More Column

One page. Three metrics. A few perfectly reasonable additions.