TPE #113: How to thrive in PPC in 2025 when others will struggle (part 1/2)

Read time: 4 minutes.

GM, Miles here with The PPC Edge.

Google Ads has changed a lot recently. So I asked my LinkedIn peeps if they think driving results has become easier or harder.

The answer didn’t surprise me: 80% out of nearly 1.000 PPC Experts believe driving results with Google Ads has become harder.

I totally understand: our industry is changing faster than ever which can lead to stress, overwhelm, and frustration.

My fear is that a lot of Google Ads Specialists are going to struggle in 2025.

But I want YOU to succeed and feel confident in your abilities to deliver outstanding results to your clients… I truly do.

So I thought long and hard:

• How can you lay the foundation to make 2025 the best year of your career (so you can thrive when others will struggle)?
• How can you make delivering results easier, not harder?

The solution, IMO, is twofold:

1. Deeply master the fundamentals of Google Ads (preventing overwhelm by using a repeatable process that works).
2. Look beyond Google Ads: become a business partner for your clients (by evolving into a T-Shaped Google Ads Specialist).

I’ll reveal this solution in a 2-part series.

You get part 1 today, and part 2 will be shared in next week’s issue of The PPC Edge.

Let’s dive right in!

How to thrive in 2025 part 1: deeply master the fundamentals of Google Ads (preventing overwhelm by using a repeatable process that works).

Let’s be honest: scaling Google Ads campaigns is hard.

In my opinion, the number 1 reason why Google Ads Specialists struggle and feel overwhelmed, is because they don’t follow a system to drive results.

There’s a lot you CAN do… But how do you prioritize the tasks that have the highest impact on your results?

You see, early on in my career, I was always looking for the next big advanced tactic — hoping that would improve my results.

But as I got more experienced, I realized this was the wrong approach.

Now I know those are just shiny objects.

The key to success is not implementing advanced tactics…

Instead, the key to success is deeply mastering the fundamentals.

Let’s illustrate this with an example:

My father is a professional guitar player and teacher, and a big fan of Jimi Hendrix.

Let’s say I want to learn how to play the guitar like the legend Jimi.

He’d tell me: “Son, the key to being a bad-ass guitar player like Jimi, is mastering the fundamentals”:

• Hold the guitar properly.
• Place your fingers properly.
• Practice basic scales and chords.

I’m sure he’d continue along the lines of: "Mastering the fundamentals is key. And here's the thing — you never outgrow them. Even experienced players like Jimi still practice their scales and basic chords. They’re the foundation for everything else. The stronger your fundamentals, the easier it will become to play like Jimi.”

Driving results with Google Ads is a lot like playing the guitar. Mastering the fundamentals is the key to success because you:

• Create a solid foundation to build upon.
• Focus on what drives results, not what sounds fancy.
• Have a repeatable process.

It simplifies Google Ads because it brings everything back to the core of what truly impacts performance.

And as a result, you don’t feel overwhelmed or stressed because you’re not looking for the next “big shiny advanced tactic”.

And you have a system that can be easily adapted to different clients with different needs.

You might be thinking: “Miles, quit the boring beginner BS, I am an experienced Google Ads Specialist!” 🤡

But let me clarify something, before you try to fight me:

Understand that Fundamentals = Foundational and NOT necessarily Beginner.

Many people associate the word "fundamental" with "beginner".

But the fundamentals are the main things that provide the solid foundations for all the rest (and are independent of beginner / advanced).

You tackle that first — which makes it seem “beginner”.

But it’s not.

You cannot build on a broken foundation, so doing the fundamentals well is essential for success.

(remember how you can't play the guitar like Jimi Hendrix without first mastering basic scales and chords?)

• ❌ Beginners focus on advanced strategies.
• ✅ Experts focus on the fundamentals.

Ok, but what does that mean for Google Ads…?!

A few months ago, I analyzed our own accounts over a long period and realized success comes down to the following 8 pillars (this helps me prevent overcomplication and keeps me focused on the most important things that drive results):

1. Irresistible offer.

2. Clear conversion tracking.

3. Defined goals and KPIs.

4. Effective campaign structure.

5. Precise targeting.

6. Compelling creatives.

7. Proper bid & budget management.

8. High-converting landing pages.

Nail them all, and you'll see success.

Miss one, and you'll fail:

• No irresistible offer = "Useless" (nobody wants your products)
• No clear tracking = "Blind" (no useful data for the machine)
• No goals & KPIs = "Aimless" (no targets to aim for)
• Bad structure = "Fragmented" (can’t let the algo work for you)
• Bad targeting = "Inaccurate" (getting the wrong people)
• Poor creatives = "Unremarkable" (your ads don’t match)
• No bid/budget strategy = "Inefficient" (not properly spending your budget)
• Poor landing page = "Leak" (throwing money down the drain)

Let’s make it even more simple.

When it comes to success with Google Ads, you ultimately just want to know:

• How can we create an irresistible offer?

• What are your goals and KPIs?

• How are you going to set up your tracking so you measure as much as possible?

• Who is your target audience?

• What does your ideal campaign structure look like to reach them?

• How can you target your audience?

• How can you write your ads to generate clicks & conversions?

• How can you persuade users to convert on your landing page?

• How are you going to let the Smart Bidding algorithm work FOR YOU, instead of AGAINST you (what bid strategies do you need to leverage)?

If you have the answers to these fundamental questions, it’s gonna be hard to make your campaigns fail!

Proof that fundamentals are the key to success.

Bob shared a case study on LinkedIn in which he improved his results significantly after nailing the fundamentals:

• +253% conversions.
• -60% CPA.
• +456% conversion rate.

What he did (primarily):

• Account consolidation [campaign structure]
• Set up Offline Conversion Tracking. [conversion tracking, goals & KPIs]
• Test Broad Match + DSA. [targeting]
• Rapid RSA testing. [creatives]
• Improve the landing page. [landing page]

✅ Massive results, and he didn’t do anything fancy (just a solid implementation of the fundamentals).

Same thing for Ramial (member of The PPC Hub), who massively improved his results after nailing his fundamentals:

• +52% conversions.
• +40% ROAS.
• -27% CPA.

What he did:

• Cleaned up his tracking. [conversion tracking]
• Account consolidation. [campaign structure]
• Test Broad Match and DSA. [targeting]
• Optimize product feed. [creatives/targeting]

✅ Again: nothing fancy (just a solid implementation of the fundamentals).

Looking ahead to 2025: When everyone struggles and focuses on shiny objects (aka advanced tactics), you crush it by mastering the fundamentals.

Ultimately, it’s the “boring” fundamentals that drive 80% of your results.

Listen, I love fancy, advanced tactics just as much as you…

But only for accounts with a solid foundation. 99% of the time, you are better off sticking to the fundamentals first before you even think about advanced tactics.

2025 is the year that a lot of Google Ads Specialists will struggle to deliver great results to their clients.

But that’s not you.

You will have a great year — if you deeply master and apply the fundamentals (over and over and over).

And as a result, you will:

• Have a repeatable process to drive results.
• Experience less overwhelm, stress, and frustration.
• Feel confident in your abilities to help clients grow.

But deeply mastering Google Ads is not enough if you want to thrive in 2025 (it’s only the first step).

The second (and crucial) step is to look beyond Google Ads and become a business partner for your clients (by evolving into a T-Shaped Google Ads Specialist).

IMO, it’s the only to future-proof yourself and stay ahead in our fast-changing industry.

I’ll show you how that works in part 2 of this mini-series (landing in your inbox next Monday at 12:15 pm CET).

A final note.

Great news: in January ‘25, we’re launching a new program in The PPC Hub in January called ‘The Google Ads Success Path’.

In this program, we’ll help you:

• Deeply master the fundamentals with Google Ads so you can drive outstanding results over and over.
• Become a business partner for your clients by evolving into a T-Shaped Google Ads Specialist.

That way, we’ll work together to make 2025 the best year of your career.

We haven’t started promoting the new program yet (it’s due to launch in January) — but if that sounds interesting to you, feel free to join The PPC Hub Interest List (we have a very special Black Friday Deal coming up soon).

And that’s all for today.

See you again next week (as we dive into the second and final part of “How to thrive in PPC in 2025 when others will struggle”).

Have a great week!

Cheers,

Miles (& Bob)