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Happy freshers week to all the new students out there! As a student, you tend to have quite a bit of spare time. However, it can be pretty sporadic – you never know which days you’ll have off!
Regular paid work can be tricky to maintain alongside studies. But, if you are still in need of some extra cash, there are plenty of ways you can make the most of your spare time when it comes up!
Take a look at these 7 ways that you can make money in your spare time as a student. And, if you need more ideas, take a look at the A-Z Guide to Making More Money.
As a student, you’re always acquiring specialist skills on subjects others might want to know about.
Earn back a bit of extra cash with tutoring, or offering your skills to teach online for sites like Coursera or Udemy. If devising a whole course sounds like too much, you can always help school students with particular subjects. Maybe you can help with their maths or English homework. Parents are always looking for extra study help for their children, and it’s a flexible job you can start right away.
Test out websites
Whenever you’ve got a spare 20 minutes, sites like What Users Do or UserTesting can earn you great money for just trying out a website and reporting back on the user experience. You’ll need to complete a trial run, have a good microphone, and clearly narrate what you do as you do it.
Once you’re approved, sites contact you to arrange assignments. You can take these assignments when you need some extra cash!
Sell stock photography
If you have a camera that can take decent quality images, capitalise on the chance to keep a little income trickling in. Sites like iStockphoto are always looking for contributions. Every time someone purchases one of your photos, you receive a small royalty fee.
Take clear, quality photos and submit them. The site itself will often let you know what sorts of themes and content they are requiring.
Get crafty!
If you’ve any talent for handicrafts, Etsy was made for the craft enthusiast at home. It’s easy to get started, and once you have some intriguing trinkets, you can advertise them online and start making sales.
Alternatively, you can flip items at home. Gumtree or eBayare perfect for these kinds of sales, and will allow you to make a tidy profit on unneeded goods.
Or, get into ‘flipping’: purchase items at low cost from car boot sales and sell them on for profit. Show off your newfound treasures online and get the best price. Learn how to be “amazing at selling on Ebay” with this article.
Take up odd jobs
Whether you’re handy around the house or a willing babysitter, whatever odd jobs you can help out with are available to view on sites like Fiverr or TaskRabbit.
If you’d rather not do odd jobs around the house, you might consider other kinds of jobs as a freelancer. Sites like Upwork and PeoplePerHour make it easy to list your skills, find jobs that people from across the globe need doing, and get to work! They do charge fees for every successfully completed job, but you can still find yourself taking on work which is interesting, and pays you a little extra.
Use your driving skills
If you have regular access to a vehicle, why not get paid as you travel round town?
Uber takes a little bit of time to become fully registered with, but if you’re a good driver with a full licence and no issues on your record, you can make extra money from just driving people around. This leaves the earning potential up to you, as you can agree to take passengers whenever it suits you.
Sell a book online
Are you passionate about any particular subject? Is there a large audience for it? Do you have a flair for fiction? Put it to use and write a great eBook!
There are lots of great ways you can get your book out there and sell it. Even for a few quid a pop, these things can add up! If your book becomes popular enough you never know what it could lead to.
BECOME A STUDENT NIGHTCLUB PROMOTER
If you love a good party (and as a student, you just might!) then why not make some extra cash from promoting events?
Being sociable and forging strong connections with DJs and nightclubs is crucial to make this work. You will need to convince people that this event is the right one for them, and that starts with your fun personality.
Let’s face it: Turning raw data into actionable insights can be as cryptic as decoding ancient hieroglyphics, especially for the SEO rookies in your crew.
That’s the challenge I addressed in my SMX Advanced 2024 session.
Didn’t catch it? No worries. I’m recapping it all in this article series, one juicy nugget at a time. This is Part 2, so if you missed Part 1, check it out.
Get ready for a quick overview of key technical SEO metrics to track in Google Search Console. Compare your list with mine – you might spot something your SEO team has missed.
Senior SEO managers: This article is for your technical SEO newcomers. It explains how I would introduce Google Search Console metrics to bridge their knowledge gaps quickly.
Top tips for looking at Google Search Console metrics
Don’t limit comparisons to just two data points: Avoid comparing just two points in time (end of last month vs. prior month). It’s like looking at two photos and missing the whole movie – especially the drama in the middle. This is a common mistake I see when upskilling SEOs to become advanced SEOs. You need to look at the ups and downs all month.
Focus on one metric at a time: When looking at the stacked bar charts, look at each metric individually. Google likes to stack data in bar charts, often making fluctuations easier to overlook. This means you’ll turn off metrics to focus on each technical SEO metric one at a time.
Save charts for later: Screenshot the charts and tuck them away for future reference. Google’s data only goes back a few months, but those images may be gold down the line.
Record data regularly: Capture metrics in a spreadsheet that can be calculated in formulas. Choose a point in time, since getting daily data isn’t realistic unless you’re using the API. Consider a date at the end of each month. It’s not ideal, but it’s something that can be used in comparison charts to look for correlations.
Check for more metrics:Many reports show just the top 10 metrics by default. Always check the bottom right of your screen. More insights might be hiding on page two. Don’t miss out.
Investigate changes carefully: Every major shift calls for you to play detective. Pin down what date the metrics changed and determine if it’s something to investigate, correct, overlook or monitor closely. Chances are, you’ll need to loop in product management or the dev team for answers.
Track tickets in each website release: Knowing what went live and when will be extremely helpful for correlating changes to fluctuations in Google Search Console data. Product managers and developers can’t be bothered explaining possible causes of every little blip in the data. Stay plugged into what dev is doing and when it’s going live. This means you should join the dev standups and read the release notes.
Let’s zero in on the essential technical SEO metrics in Google Search Console.
Page indexing
These reports are the bread and butter of every technical SEO. The Page indexing section of Google Search Console tells you if your content is making it to the SERPs.
But don’t just glance at the numbers. Dig deeper than the end of the month numbers. Look for fluctuations over time, not just a snapshot of one day at the end of the month.
Pages indexed
This one seems easy, right? If your indexed pages go down, you have fewer URLs ranking over time. That’s usually a problem.
Too many SEOs miss fluctuations in these Google Search Console charts by looking at the default view.
This causes the combination of non-indexed and indexed pages in the chart muddy the waters, causing you to miss what is happening. Instead, turn off Pages not indexed to look at indexed pages alone.
Pages not indexed
This count reveals how many URLs Google knows about but hasn’t indexed. Remember to toggle off Pages indexed for a clearer view of what actually happened over time.
Here’s where the sleuthing kicks in because you can dive into why pages aren’t indexed. This section allows you to dig deeper and uncover why those pages aren’t getting indexed, along with a list of reasons and example URLs.
The most common culprits include:
404 errors.
5xx errors.
Redirect errors.
Noindex tags.
Duplicate content.
I ignore plenty of the usual suspects – unless that fourth column trend line starts shifting.
For my clients, these metrics rarely budge. So I spend three seconds or less looking at the trend line. If things are trending well and there aren’t any fluctuations, then move on.
The metrics that only get three seconds or less reviewing for major trend line fluctuations:
Crawled – currently not indexed.
Discovered – currently not indexed.
Blocked by robots.txt.
Soft 404.
Blocked due to other 4xx issue.
Note: Your Google Search Console might not show every possible reason for pages not being indexed because only the issues your site actually faces make it to your list of reasons why pages aren’t indexed. That said, most enterprise companies will see all (or nearly all) of the reasons above.
Videos indexed
This is where Google breaks down how many videos are indexed.
In the video mode update on Dec. 4, 2023, many videos were booted from the index for various reasons, which you will find in this section.
Videos indexed: This tally reveals how many of your videos are in the Google index. Remember to isolate this metric in the chart – switch off Pages not indexed.
Videos not indexed: This count shows how many videos didn’t make it into Google’s index. Remember to check this metric solo in the chart – turn off ‘Pages Not Indexed’.
Tip: If video indexing isn’t in your SEO roadmap, you can breeze past these metrics. Unfortunately, many companies’ video SEO efforts have been sidelined by other priorities and if this is you, then you can probably skip this section until you’re ready to take action on video SEO.
XML sitemaps are search engine fuel, packed with crucial signals. For small sites, issues here typically don’t create problems.
Enterprise SEOs, watch these like a hawk – any glitches can prevent new URLs from being crawled, create hreflang tag confusion for search engines and prevent search engines from catching updates and crawling fresh content.
XML sitemaps that index high priority pages, confirm all URLs are indexed.
How to do this:
Go go the XML sitemaps page.
Click on the XML sitemap to examine.
Page refreshes.
Click on the “Page Indexing” or “Video Page Indexing” link.
Page refreshes.
You’ll see the URLs indexed from the XML sitemap you are examining.
Tips:
For enterprise sites with hundreds of XML sitemaps, identify bellwether XML files to monitor – those replicated across countries, languages or divisions. Since they’re templated, you may be able to skip reviewing hundreds every month.
If the number of indexed pages drops significantly, you can use these reports to help figure out which part of the site is not indexed. This becomes particularly useful if XML sitemaps are bokeh into URLs for a particular directory, country, template, category, business line, etc.
Mobile Core Web Vitals
Mobile Core Web Vitals are the most important for SEO and deserve the most attention. Google also has much higher expectations for these URLs, so this is where you’ll focus most of your Core Web Vitals attention.
This is a report I like developers to see regularly, because you can see how URLs are flipping between the metrics and on which date. This can help you troubleshoot by coordinating these dates with changes on the site, CMS, DAM, network, etc.
Metrics to monitor:
Mobile good URLs.
Mobile poor URLs.
Mobile needs improvement URLs.
The historical chart is great for quick trends, but it’s limited to a short window. For the bigger picture, drop the data into a spreadsheet and build your own chart.
You’ll often find that things look fine now, but 5 or 6 months ago, the metrics were far better – don’t let that slip past you.
Tip: This is a good report for development to see on a regular basis. Consider a regular metrics readout cadence with development to discuss what’s going on and compare it with what they know is happening in releases, server maintenance, third-party code and more.
Why mobile URLs don’t have a ‘good’ Core Web Vitals score
This data explains why particular URLs aren’t considered good by Google. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell you how to address the problem (that requires you to do a Core Web Vitals audit).
In these metrics, you’ll get:
The count of URLs scoring low in any of the core web vitals audit.
A handy list of example URLs, thoughtfully grouped by Google based on similar issues. Unfortunately it’s not all URLs with similar issues, bit’s enough to help you spot patterns and identify areas for improvement.
Metrics to monitor in this report:
LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (mobile)
LCP issue: longer than 4s (mobile)
CLS issue: more than 0.1 (mobile)
CLS issue: more than 0.25 (mobile)
INP issue: longer than 200ms (mobile)
INP issue: longer than 500ms (mobile)
Developers usually need more than just metrics. They want the full list of URLs with low scores.
Luckily, Google gives you and your devs sample URLs to evaluate, though it’s not the comprehensive list they crave. To dig deeper for more URL examples, tap into the Google Search Console API for more data.
Tips:
Include these in your regular metrics readout with development.
The historical chart is handy for quick trends, but it’s got a short memory. For the full picture, toss the data into a spreadsheet and chart it yourself. Don’t let those historical highs and lows slip into the shadows. Even better if you grap the chart images because your spreadsheet likely won’t have metrics showing day-to-day fluctuations throughout each month.
Desktop Core Web Vitals metrics
This is exactly the same as mobile. Usually, I give this a quick gander, but most of the time is spent on mobile core web vitals metrics.
What is often interesting in the desktop metrics is correlations between metrics improving in desktop, but getting worse on mobile devices. This is a good place for development to figure out why mobile metrics got worse, but desktop improved.
Frankly, this is not a priority for the sites I work on. Not that I never look at them, but in the grand scheme of things we prioritize fixing mobile issues, anticipating that fixing mobile issues will fix desktop issues.
For a few of my B2B enterprise clients, with a primarily desktop-focused audience, we dial up the attention on these metrics to make sure nothing slips through the cracks:
LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (desktop)
LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (desktop)
CLS issue: more than 0.25 (desktop)
CLS issue: more than 0.1 (desktop)
INP issue: longer than 200ms (desktop)
INP issue: longer than 500ms (desktop)
Rich results from Schema
Adding Schema markup to your site unlocks special features that enhance your organic listings, such as breadcrumb links, product information and more.
In Google Search Console, URLs with code intended to trigger these SERP enhancements are tracked in a section called “Enhancements.”
The list of “Enhancements” listed in Google Search Console will vary based, on your site’s setup. Here are the most common enhancements you’ll likely see:
Breadcrumbs.
FAQ.
Review Snippets.
Videos.
Unparsable Structured Data.
Product Snippets.
Merchant Listings.
And more.
Each of these enhancements have a report indicating the number of URLs that are valid, invalid and issues to address.
What’s next?
Now that you have the key Google Search Console metrics, make sure you track them regularly (monthly works best).
Remember to drop these metrics into a spreadsheet. Google’s limited historical data might leave you hanging when you need those insights down the road.
In the next article of this series, I’ll show you a few metrics tucked away in the “settings” section of Google Search Console that few SEOs talk about, but I like to keep an eye on.
Let’s face it: Turning raw data into actionable insights can be as cryptic as decoding ancient hieroglyphics, especially for the SEO rookies in your crew.
That’s the challenge I addressed in my SMX Advanced 2024 session.
Didn’t catch it? No worries. I’m recapping it all in this article series, one juicy nugget at a time. This is Part 2, so if you missed Part 1, check it out.
Get ready for a quick overview of key technical SEO metrics to track in Google Search Console. Compare your list with mine – you might spot something your SEO team has missed.
Senior SEO managers: This article is for your technical SEO newcomers. It explains how I would introduce Google Search Console metrics to bridge their knowledge gaps quickly.
Top tips for looking at Google Search Console metrics
Don’t limit comparisons to just two data points: Avoid comparing just two points in time (end of last month vs. prior month). It’s like looking at two photos and missing the whole movie – especially the drama in the middle. This is a common mistake I see when upskilling SEOs to become advanced SEOs. You need to look at the ups and downs all month.
Focus on one metric at a time: When looking at the stacked bar charts, look at each metric individually. Google likes to stack data in bar charts, often making fluctuations easier to overlook. This means you’ll turn off metrics to focus on each technical SEO metric one at a time.
Save charts for later: Screenshot the charts and tuck them away for future reference. Google’s data only goes back a few months, but those images may be gold down the line.
Record data regularly: Capture metrics in a spreadsheet that can be calculated in formulas. Choose a point in time, since getting daily data isn’t realistic unless you’re using the API. Consider a date at the end of each month. It’s not ideal, but it’s something that can be used in comparison charts to look for correlations.
Check for more metrics:Many reports show just the top 10 metrics by default. Always check the bottom right of your screen. More insights might be hiding on page two. Don’t miss out.
Investigate changes carefully: Every major shift calls for you to play detective. Pin down what date the metrics changed and determine if it’s something to investigate, correct, overlook or monitor closely. Chances are, you’ll need to loop in product management or the dev team for answers.
Track tickets in each website release: Knowing what went live and when will be extremely helpful for correlating changes to fluctuations in Google Search Console data. Product managers and developers can’t be bothered explaining possible causes of every little blip in the data. Stay plugged into what dev is doing and when it’s going live. This means you should join the dev standups and read the release notes.
Let’s zero in on the essential technical SEO metrics in Google Search Console.
Page indexing
These reports are the bread and butter of every technical SEO. The Page indexing section of Google Search Console tells you if your content is making it to the SERPs.
But don’t just glance at the numbers. Dig deeper than the end of the month numbers. Look for fluctuations over time, not just a snapshot of one day at the end of the month.
Pages indexed
This one seems easy, right? If your indexed pages go down, you have fewer URLs ranking over time. That’s usually a problem.
Too many SEOs miss fluctuations in these Google Search Console charts by looking at the default view.
This causes the combination of non-indexed and indexed pages in the chart muddy the waters, causing you to miss what is happening. Instead, turn off Pages not indexed to look at indexed pages alone.
Pages not indexed
This count reveals how many URLs Google knows about but hasn’t indexed. Remember to toggle off Pages indexed for a clearer view of what actually happened over time.
Here’s where the sleuthing kicks in because you can dive into why pages aren’t indexed. This section allows you to dig deeper and uncover why those pages aren’t getting indexed, along with a list of reasons and example URLs.
The most common culprits include:
404 errors.
5xx errors.
Redirect errors.
Noindex tags.
Duplicate content.
I ignore plenty of the usual suspects – unless that fourth column trend line starts shifting.
For my clients, these metrics rarely budge. So I spend three seconds or less looking at the trend line. If things are trending well and there aren’t any fluctuations, then move on.
The metrics that only get three seconds or less reviewing for major trend line fluctuations:
Crawled – currently not indexed.
Discovered – currently not indexed.
Blocked by robots.txt.
Soft 404.
Blocked due to other 4xx issue.
Note: Your Google Search Console might not show every possible reason for pages not being indexed because only the issues your site actually faces make it to your list of reasons why pages aren’t indexed. That said, most enterprise companies will see all (or nearly all) of the reasons above.
Videos indexed
This is where Google breaks down how many videos are indexed.
In the video mode update on Dec. 4, 2023, many videos were booted from the index for various reasons, which you will find in this section.
Videos indexed: This tally reveals how many of your videos are in the Google index. Remember to isolate this metric in the chart – switch off Pages not indexed.
Videos not indexed: This count shows how many videos didn’t make it into Google’s index. Remember to check this metric solo in the chart – turn off ‘Pages Not Indexed’.
Tip: If video indexing isn’t in your SEO roadmap, you can breeze past these metrics. Unfortunately, many companies’ video SEO efforts have been sidelined by other priorities and if this is you, then you can probably skip this section until you’re ready to take action on video SEO.
XML sitemaps are search engine fuel, packed with crucial signals. For small sites, issues here typically don’t create problems.
Enterprise SEOs, watch these like a hawk – any glitches can prevent new URLs from being crawled, create hreflang tag confusion for search engines and prevent search engines from catching updates and crawling fresh content.
XML sitemaps that index high priority pages, confirm all URLs are indexed.
How to do this:
Go go the XML sitemaps page.
Click on the XML sitemap to examine.
Page refreshes.
Click on the “Page Indexing” or “Video Page Indexing” link.
Page refreshes.
You’ll see the URLs indexed from the XML sitemap you are examining.
Tips:
For enterprise sites with hundreds of XML sitemaps, identify bellwether XML files to monitor – those replicated across countries, languages or divisions. Since they’re templated, you may be able to skip reviewing hundreds every month.
If the number of indexed pages drops significantly, you can use these reports to help figure out which part of the site is not indexed. This becomes particularly useful if XML sitemaps are bokeh into URLs for a particular directory, country, template, category, business line, etc.
Mobile Core Web Vitals
Mobile Core Web Vitals are the most important for SEO and deserve the most attention. Google also has much higher expectations for these URLs, so this is where you’ll focus most of your Core Web Vitals attention.
This is a report I like developers to see regularly, because you can see how URLs are flipping between the metrics and on which date. This can help you troubleshoot by coordinating these dates with changes on the site, CMS, DAM, network, etc.
Metrics to monitor:
Mobile good URLs.
Mobile poor URLs.
Mobile needs improvement URLs.
The historical chart is great for quick trends, but it’s limited to a short window. For the bigger picture, drop the data into a spreadsheet and build your own chart.
You’ll often find that things look fine now, but 5 or 6 months ago, the metrics were far better – don’t let that slip past you.
Tip: This is a good report for development to see on a regular basis. Consider a regular metrics readout cadence with development to discuss what’s going on and compare it with what they know is happening in releases, server maintenance, third-party code and more.
Why mobile URLs don’t have a ‘good’ Core Web Vitals score
This data explains why particular URLs aren’t considered good by Google. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell you how to address the problem (that requires you to do a Core Web Vitals audit).
In these metrics, you’ll get:
The count of URLs scoring low in any of the core web vitals audit.
A handy list of example URLs, thoughtfully grouped by Google based on similar issues. Unfortunately it’s not all URLs with similar issues, bit’s enough to help you spot patterns and identify areas for improvement.
Metrics to monitor in this report:
LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (mobile)
LCP issue: longer than 4s (mobile)
CLS issue: more than 0.1 (mobile)
CLS issue: more than 0.25 (mobile)
INP issue: longer than 200ms (mobile)
INP issue: longer than 500ms (mobile)
Developers usually need more than just metrics. They want the full list of URLs with low scores.
Luckily, Google gives you and your devs sample URLs to evaluate, though it’s not the comprehensive list they crave. To dig deeper for more URL examples, tap into the Google Search Console API for more data.
Tips:
Include these in your regular metrics readout with development.
The historical chart is handy for quick trends, but it’s got a short memory. For the full picture, toss the data into a spreadsheet and chart it yourself. Don’t let those historical highs and lows slip into the shadows. Even better if you grap the chart images because your spreadsheet likely won’t have metrics showing day-to-day fluctuations throughout each month.
Desktop Core Web Vitals metrics
This is exactly the same as mobile. Usually, I give this a quick gander, but most of the time is spent on mobile core web vitals metrics.
What is often interesting in the desktop metrics is correlations between metrics improving in desktop, but getting worse on mobile devices. This is a good place for development to figure out why mobile metrics got worse, but desktop improved.
Frankly, this is not a priority for the sites I work on. Not that I never look at them, but in the grand scheme of things we prioritize fixing mobile issues, anticipating that fixing mobile issues will fix desktop issues.
For a few of my B2B enterprise clients, with a primarily desktop-focused audience, we dial up the attention on these metrics to make sure nothing slips through the cracks:
LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (desktop)
LCP issue: longer than 2.5s (desktop)
CLS issue: more than 0.25 (desktop)
CLS issue: more than 0.1 (desktop)
INP issue: longer than 200ms (desktop)
INP issue: longer than 500ms (desktop)
Rich results from Schema
Adding Schema markup to your site unlocks special features that enhance your organic listings, such as breadcrumb links, product information and more.
In Google Search Console, URLs with code intended to trigger these SERP enhancements are tracked in a section called “Enhancements.”
The list of “Enhancements” listed in Google Search Console will vary based, on your site’s setup. Here are the most common enhancements you’ll likely see:
Breadcrumbs.
FAQ.
Review Snippets.
Videos.
Unparsable Structured Data.
Product Snippets.
Merchant Listings.
And more.
Each of these enhancements have a report indicating the number of URLs that are valid, invalid and issues to address.
What’s next?
Now that you have the key Google Search Console metrics, make sure you track them regularly (monthly works best).
Remember to drop these metrics into a spreadsheet. Google’s limited historical data might leave you hanging when you need those insights down the road.
In the next article of this series, I’ll show you a few metrics tucked away in the “settings” section of Google Search Console that few SEOs talk about, but I like to keep an eye on.
From your account reps to the interface itself, Google gives you plenty of recommendations on managing your ad campaigns. But are all of those good?
Should you ignore these recommendations and “hack” Google’s machine learning – or should you follow Google’s advice?
Two Google Ads experts – Ben Kruger and Anthony Higman – had an interesting debate on this topic at SMX Advanced.
Here are the key points from their discussion.
Performance Max (PMax) for non-ecommerce
Kruger, who was on the side of adopting, clearly took the stance that Performance Max is future and that all Google’s tools centers around it:
“My simple answer is that PMax is clearly the future of Google. It’s where everything is heading as, you know, if you’re talking to your reps, if you’re reading documentation, if you’re watching Gmail, which which happened, recently, everything seems to center around Pmax, and it’s talked about over and over again.”
“If you’re not learning and mastering the newest thing that Google is clearly pushing, then you’re potentially gonna get left behind when inevitably, whatever you’re used to gets sunsetted, deprecated or you’re forced to migrate over to PMax.”
PMax offers growth opportunities through AI-driven insights across various channels, but Kruger advised against relying solely on it, suggesting it should be part of a broader, strategic approach that includes learning from PMax to enhance dedicated campaigns.
Higman, who was on the side of hacking, said non-ecommerce brands, in particular, should avoid PMax. He sees “a lot of problems” with it:
“I do understand that Google is aggressively pushing PMax, But just because Google is pushing something doesn’t mean that everybody should jump on board.
“The more people that adopt PMax because of Google’s push for the new shiny object, the more they make it easier to deprecate certain things.
“My main beef with PMax is, again, the lack of transparency. They clearly wanna push everybody in automation, which I disagree with because not everybody fits into that box.”
Higman emphasized the importance of maintaining control and visibility over ad spend, especially for those with smaller budgets. He also expressed concern that widespread adoption of PMax could lead to the deprecation of more transparent tools.
Best match type
Kruger said there is a place for exact match, but if he had to choose, it would be broad match:
“Queries are getting way more, unique, specific and long tail. People are going to be conversing with Google search, asking it different ways, maybe using voice, maybe searching on Google Maps. Queries are evolving, and you’ll never be able to cover that with exact match.
“Broad match is analyzing past searches that this user has made, their location, thousands of other signals that only Broad Match has.
“With a growth mindset, it’s gonna find you new keywords. So with an exact match, your search terms are all your keywords, and you’re not gonna be able to move to that next frontier of growth to find new queries for you to acquire.”
Broad match is more effective in capturing the increasingly unique, specific and long-tail queries users are making, according to Kruger. It leverages Google’s AI to understand consumer intent and match ads to relevant searches by analyzing various signals, including the user’s past behavior and the content of landing pages.
Higman’s all-time favorite, of the present and past match types, is broad match modifier. But sticking to what is possible, he said he prefers exact match.
“This is another one of those control things. As Google removes control, their revenue goes up. Advertisers kinda get a little bit watered down results.”
“So I am a proponent of exact match, keeping things as tight as possible, and really targeting what you want to target.”
Kruger also noted that while exact match may be more expensive, it offers tighter control and more precise targeting compared to other match types. Despite still using phrase match for specific purposes, exact match is currently his preferred choice for achieving targeted campaign results.
Automation vs. control
When posed the question of automation versus control, Kruger said performance is what matters:
“That’s a trick question. I think the answer is performance, and I don’t care how I get there. That’s that’s all that matters to me, and I’m gonna use the best tools available to get the performance and the growth”
“That’s automation because it allows for performance at scale. I’m constantly finding new opportunities, for performance, and I’m able to find new levers of growth, to move my business along.”
While control is important, particularly for agencies focused on hitting specific targets within platforms like Google Ads, relying solely on controlled methods limits growth potential, Kruger said.
Balance is key, Kruger said, where strategic controls are combined with automation to drive significant business growth. In his experience, automation has consistently delivered the best performance outcomes.
Unsurprisingly, Higman’s stance is “1,000% control”:
“Google is pushing everybody into automation, which, again, it does have its use cases. I’m not saying that it does not, but we need to keep control to keep results.”
“I think that as privacy legislation meets automation, there’s gonna be a lot of problems down the road as there’s less data that can be fed to the the automation because of privacy legislation, things are gonna get wonky.”
“I also think from an agency perspective, control is extremely important. Client’s don’t want these weird things that are gonna happen with automation that bring in different kind of things that they’re really not going after.”
Higman is concerned that automation, with its lack of transparency, could lead to undesirable outcomes and urges others to resist the push toward automated systems that reduce control.
RSA (Responsive Search Ads) strategy
Maximizes all the headlines and descriptions that RSA’s have to offer, Kruger said:
“I completely max them out: 15 headlines, 5 descriptions, 20 images, all extensions, etc.
“I have seen first-hand that creative is targeting. You could have two different ad groups with the same keywords in it and if you change the assets in one of the RSAs to better match that keyword, the search terms that match to that ad group will move to the one that’s more relevant.
“Formats are completely gonna change. And by having a diverse set of assets in an RSA, you can increase your chances of landing different placements that those with an ETA definitely could not get into.”
As search engine results pages (SERPs) evolve, having a diverse set of assets in RSAs increases the chances of securing different placements, something expanded text ads (ETAs) cannot achieve, according to Kruger.
But Higman is not a fan of RSAs. He said:
“I think that the best RSA strategy is not RSAs. We still have accounts that have expanded text ads in them, and they outperform RSAs by miles every time, and they get all of the conversions.
“My RSA strategy is to keep RSAs as close to ETAs as possible.
“So we will only provide the minimum required headlines and descriptions, and we will pin those into place exactly where we want them based on past performance on expanded text ads.”
While Higman acknowledged the potential of RSAs to match headlines and descriptions to searches, that hasn’t been his experience. Overall, he has found that ETAs still significantly outperform RSAs.
Both experts agreed that ad strength scores may not be indicative of performance.
Nuanced perspectives
It should be noted that with each point each expert conceded that their “opponent” made valid points:
Higman conceded that automated solutions could benefit larger advertisers aiming for broad reach.
Kruger suggested that control-focused strategies might be more suitable for businesses with limited capacity to handle high lead volumes
The debate highlighted the ongoing tension in the PPC community between embracing Google’s automation push and maintaining granular control over campaigns.
The key takeaway is that while Google is clearly moving toward more automated solutions, the best approach depends on an advertiser’s specific goals, budget and capacity for growth.
Watch: The great debate: Should you hack or adopt Google Ads features?
You can watch the full session from SMX Advanced here:
From your account reps to the interface itself, Google gives you plenty of recommendations on managing your ad campaigns. But are all of those good?
Should you ignore these recommendations and “hack” Google’s machine learning – or should you follow Google’s advice?
Two Google Ads experts – Ben Kruger and Anthony Higman – had an interesting debate on this topic at SMX Advanced.
Here are the key points from their discussion.
Performance Max (PMax) for non-ecommerce
Kruger, who was on the side of adopting, clearly took the stance that Performance Max is future and that all Google’s tools centers around it:
“My simple answer is that PMax is clearly the future of Google. It’s where everything is heading as, you know, if you’re talking to your reps, if you’re reading documentation, if you’re watching Gmail, which which happened, recently, everything seems to center around Pmax, and it’s talked about over and over again.”
“If you’re not learning and mastering the newest thing that Google is clearly pushing, then you’re potentially gonna get left behind when inevitably, whatever you’re used to gets sunsetted, deprecated or you’re forced to migrate over to PMax.”
PMax offers growth opportunities through AI-driven insights across various channels, but Kruger advised against relying solely on it, suggesting it should be part of a broader, strategic approach that includes learning from PMax to enhance dedicated campaigns.
Higman, who was on the side of hacking, said non-ecommerce brands, in particular, should avoid PMax. He sees “a lot of problems” with it:
“I do understand that Google is aggressively pushing PMax, But just because Google is pushing something doesn’t mean that everybody should jump on board.
“The more people that adopt PMax because of Google’s push for the new shiny object, the more they make it easier to deprecate certain things.
“My main beef with PMax is, again, the lack of transparency. They clearly wanna push everybody in automation, which I disagree with because not everybody fits into that box.”
Higman emphasized the importance of maintaining control and visibility over ad spend, especially for those with smaller budgets. He also expressed concern that widespread adoption of PMax could lead to the deprecation of more transparent tools.
Best match type
Kruger said there is a place for exact match, but if he had to choose, it would be broad match:
“Queries are getting way more, unique, specific and long tail. People are going to be conversing with Google search, asking it different ways, maybe using voice, maybe searching on Google Maps. Queries are evolving, and you’ll never be able to cover that with exact match.
“Broad match is analyzing past searches that this user has made, their location, thousands of other signals that only Broad Match has.
“With a growth mindset, it’s gonna find you new keywords. So with an exact match, your search terms are all your keywords, and you’re not gonna be able to move to that next frontier of growth to find new queries for you to acquire.”
Broad match is more effective in capturing the increasingly unique, specific and long-tail queries users are making, according to Kruger. It leverages Google’s AI to understand consumer intent and match ads to relevant searches by analyzing various signals, including the user’s past behavior and the content of landing pages.
Higman’s all-time favorite, of the present and past match types, is broad match modifier. But sticking to what is possible, he said he prefers exact match.
“This is another one of those control things. As Google removes control, their revenue goes up. Advertisers kinda get a little bit watered down results.”
“So I am a proponent of exact match, keeping things as tight as possible, and really targeting what you want to target.”
Kruger also noted that while exact match may be more expensive, it offers tighter control and more precise targeting compared to other match types. Despite still using phrase match for specific purposes, exact match is currently his preferred choice for achieving targeted campaign results.
Automation vs. control
When posed the question of automation versus control, Kruger said performance is what matters:
“That’s a trick question. I think the answer is performance, and I don’t care how I get there. That’s that’s all that matters to me, and I’m gonna use the best tools available to get the performance and the growth”
“That’s automation because it allows for performance at scale. I’m constantly finding new opportunities, for performance, and I’m able to find new levers of growth, to move my business along.”
While control is important, particularly for agencies focused on hitting specific targets within platforms like Google Ads, relying solely on controlled methods limits growth potential, Kruger said.
Balance is key, Kruger said, where strategic controls are combined with automation to drive significant business growth. In his experience, automation has consistently delivered the best performance outcomes.
Unsurprisingly, Higman’s stance is “1,000% control”:
“Google is pushing everybody into automation, which, again, it does have its use cases. I’m not saying that it does not, but we need to keep control to keep results.”
“I think that as privacy legislation meets automation, there’s gonna be a lot of problems down the road as there’s less data that can be fed to the the automation because of privacy legislation, things are gonna get wonky.”
“I also think from an agency perspective, control is extremely important. Client’s don’t want these weird things that are gonna happen with automation that bring in different kind of things that they’re really not going after.”
Higman is concerned that automation, with its lack of transparency, could lead to undesirable outcomes and urges others to resist the push toward automated systems that reduce control.
RSA (Responsive Search Ads) strategy
Maximizes all the headlines and descriptions that RSA’s have to offer, Kruger said:
“I completely max them out: 15 headlines, 5 descriptions, 20 images, all extensions, etc.
“I have seen first-hand that creative is targeting. You could have two different ad groups with the same keywords in it and if you change the assets in one of the RSAs to better match that keyword, the search terms that match to that ad group will move to the one that’s more relevant.
“Formats are completely gonna change. And by having a diverse set of assets in an RSA, you can increase your chances of landing different placements that those with an ETA definitely could not get into.”
As search engine results pages (SERPs) evolve, having a diverse set of assets in RSAs increases the chances of securing different placements, something expanded text ads (ETAs) cannot achieve, according to Kruger.
But Higman is not a fan of RSAs. He said:
“I think that the best RSA strategy is not RSAs. We still have accounts that have expanded text ads in them, and they outperform RSAs by miles every time, and they get all of the conversions.
“My RSA strategy is to keep RSAs as close to ETAs as possible.
“So we will only provide the minimum required headlines and descriptions, and we will pin those into place exactly where we want them based on past performance on expanded text ads.”
While Higman acknowledged the potential of RSAs to match headlines and descriptions to searches, that hasn’t been his experience. Overall, he has found that ETAs still significantly outperform RSAs.
Both experts agreed that ad strength scores may not be indicative of performance.
Nuanced perspectives
It should be noted that with each point each expert conceded that their “opponent” made valid points:
Higman conceded that automated solutions could benefit larger advertisers aiming for broad reach.
Kruger suggested that control-focused strategies might be more suitable for businesses with limited capacity to handle high lead volumes
The debate highlighted the ongoing tension in the PPC community between embracing Google’s automation push and maintaining granular control over campaigns.
The key takeaway is that while Google is clearly moving toward more automated solutions, the best approach depends on an advertiser’s specific goals, budget and capacity for growth.
Watch: The great debate: Should you hack or adopt Google Ads features?
You can watch the full session from SMX Advanced here:
UAE has become a hub for international businesses due to its strategic location, strong economy, and attractive tax benefits. Entrepreneurs and corporations from around the globe are increasingly looking to set up their companies in the UAE, drawn by its business-friendly environment. However, establishing a company in the UAE involves understanding the legal framework, which governs how businesses operate in the region. Whether you are starting a small enterprise or expanding a multinational corporation, navigating the UAE’s legal landscape is critical to a smooth setup process. Such variant as ready-made firm in UAE gives entrepreneurs possibilities to start their business-activities faster.
This article explores the legal framework of company formation UAE, providing essential insights into business structures, licensing requirements, compliance, tax benefits, and the challenges and opportunities in this dynamic market.
Overview of Legal Framework of Business UAE
The UAE offers a clear and well-defined legal structure that makes it easier for businesses to set up and operate. The primary law governing companies in the UAE is Federal Law No. 2 of 2015 on Commercial Companies (the UAE Companies Law). This law regulates how companies are formed, their operations, and governance requirements. Businesses can operate either on the UAE mainland or in Free Zones, each governed by slightly different regulations.
DED is responsible for overseeing mainland businesses, while free zones have their own authorities regulating companies within their jurisdictions. For companies operating offshore, the UAE also has offshore jurisdictions such as RAK and JAFZA that offer flexible corporate structures.
Key UAE Company Structures
When setting up business UAE, choosing the right business structure is essential as it determines the legal obligations, ownership regulations, and tax benefits. There are several types of business structures available.
LLC: it’s one of the most popular business structures in the UAE, especially for those looking to operate on the mainland. Foreign investors can hold up to 100% ownership, depending on the industry and emirate.
Free Zone Organization: Free zones allow 100% foreign ownership, with the added benefit of zero taxation. These companies can engage in a wide range of business activities, but may be limited to conducting business outside the UAE or within their respective free zones.
Branch of a Foreign Company: Foreign companies can open branches in the UAE, allowing them to conduct the same business as their parent company. Branches do not have a separate legal identity from the parent company but must comply with UAE business regulations.
Sole Establishment: This structure is available to UAE and GCC nationals and allows a single person to own a business. It is ideal for small, local businesses but offers less protection in terms of liability.
Offshore Company: Offshore companies are primarily used for international trade, asset protection, and holding investments. They cannot conduct business within the UAE but offer significant privacy and tax benefits.
UAE Licensing Process Points and Application
One of the most crucial steps in setting up a company in the UAE is obtaining the correct business license. The type of license you need depends on the nature of your business. The UAE offers three primary categories of permits:
commercial: For businesses engaged in trading activities;
professional: For service-based companies, such as consultancies or legal services;
industrial: For companies involved in manufacturing or industrial activities.
The application process for getting a business-license involves several steps.
Choose Business Activity: Clearly define the nature of your business as this will determine the type of license required.
Select the Legal Structure: Decide on the most appropriate business structure (e.g., LLC, free zone company, etc.).
Register Trade Name: Choose and register a unique trade name for your company.
Submit Application and Documentation: Submit the necessary paperwork to the relevant authorities, including copies of passports, proof of residence, and business plans, depending on the jurisdiction.
Obtain Initial Approval: After reviewing your documents, the authorities will issue initial approval for your business.
Lease Office Space: You must lease an office space or virtual office depending on the type of license you’re applying for.
Pay Fees and Obtain License: Upon completing all requirements, you’ll pay the necessary fees and receive your business license.
Compliance and Reporting Obligations
Operating a business in the UAE requires ongoing compliance with regulatory authorities. Companies must ensure they adhere to next-mentioned.
Annual Audits: Most companies, particularly in free zones, are required to submit audited financial statements annually to ensure transparency.
AML/KYC-Regulations: Businesses involved in financial services or other sensitive industries must comply with AML/KYC-rules.
Visa Quotas: Companies must apply for employee visas, and the number of visas issued is often tied to the size of the office space leased.
UAE ESR: Companies engaged in certain activities must demonstrate that they have sufficient economic presence in the UAE.
Failure to meet compliance requirements can result in penalties, fines, or in extreme cases, license suspension.
UAE Tax Benefits and Financial Considerations
One of the main attractions for companies setting up in the UAE is the favorable tax-regime. The UAE offers a tax-free environment for most business sectors, meaning no corporate or income tax is levied on companies. However, certain sectors like oil and gas or branches of foreign banks are subject to taxation.
In 2018, the UAE introduced VAT at a rate of 5%, which applies to most goods and services. Businesses must ensure they comply with VAT-regulations, including registering for VAT if their turnover exceeds the minimum threshold and filing VAT-returns regularly.
Another significant financial benefit of operating in a UAE free zone is the 100% repatriation of profits and capital, which provides significant flexibility for investors.
Challenges and Business Opportunities UAE
Setting up a company in the UAE presents both challenges and opportunities for businesses.
Opportunities are next-mentioned.
Access to a Global Market: The UAE’s strategic location between Europe, Africa, and Asia provides unparalleled access to global markets, making it an ideal location for international trade.
Diverse Economy: The UAE is rapidly diversifying its economy beyond oil, opening up opportunities in sectors such as technology, tourism, healthcare, and renewable energy.
Business-Friendly Environment: With numerous free zones and incentives for foreign investors, the UAE continues to attract businesses looking to benefit from its dynamic economy.
Challenges could be described as follows.
Navigating Complex Regulations: Although the UAE offers a clear legal framework, navigating different regulations across free zones, mainland, and offshore jurisdictions can be complex.
Cost of Setup: Setting up a business in the UAE can involve significant upfront costs, including license fees, visa costs, and leasing office space.
Cultural and Legal Adaptation: Businesses must adapt to the local cultural and legal environment, including understanding Islamic law (Sharia) and other cultural norms that affect business operations.
Tips for Choosing the Right Offshore Jurisdiction
Choosing the right jurisdiction for your company is critical for success. Here are some tips to help make the decision.
Consider Your Business Activity: Different free zones specialize in different industries, so choose one that aligns with your business.
Ownership Requirements: Check the ownership rules: free zones allow 100% foreign ownership, while mainland companies may require a local partner depending on the sector.
Long-Term Goals: Consider your long-term business objectives and whether the jurisdiction supports scalability and expansion.
Future Trends in Offshore Banking
Looking forward, offshore banking is likely to face increased regulatory scrutiny as global efforts to curb tax evasion and money laundering intensify. However, jurisdictions that maintain transparency while offering favorable tax and privacy regimes will continue to attract international businesses and investors.
In conclusion, the UAE offers a robust legal framework for business formation, with various business structures, tax benefits, and compliance requirements. With careful planning and legal guidance, businesses can take advantage of the opportunities available in this thriving market while navigating the challenges of regulatory compliance.
UAE has become a hub for international businesses due to its strategic location, strong economy, and attractive tax benefits. Entrepreneurs and corporations from around the globe are increasingly looking to set up their companies in the UAE, drawn by its business-friendly environment. However, establishing a company in the UAE involves understanding the legal framework, which governs how businesses operate in the region. Whether you are starting a small enterprise or expanding a multinational corporation, navigating the UAE’s legal landscape is critical to a smooth setup process. Such variant as ready-made firm in UAE gives entrepreneurs possibilities to start their business-activities faster.
This article explores the legal framework of company formation UAE, providing essential insights into business structures, licensing requirements, compliance, tax benefits, and the challenges and opportunities in this dynamic market.
Overview of Legal Framework of Business UAE
The UAE offers a clear and well-defined legal structure that makes it easier for businesses to set up and operate. The primary law governing companies in the UAE is Federal Law No. 2 of 2015 on Commercial Companies (the UAE Companies Law). This law regulates how companies are formed, their operations, and governance requirements. Businesses can operate either on the UAE mainland or in Free Zones, each governed by slightly different regulations.
DED is responsible for overseeing mainland businesses, while free zones have their own authorities regulating companies within their jurisdictions. For companies operating offshore, the UAE also has offshore jurisdictions such as RAK and JAFZA that offer flexible corporate structures.
Key UAE Company Structures
When setting up business UAE, choosing the right business structure is essential as it determines the legal obligations, ownership regulations, and tax benefits. There are several types of business structures available.
LLC: it’s one of the most popular business structures in the UAE, especially for those looking to operate on the mainland. Foreign investors can hold up to 100% ownership, depending on the industry and emirate.
Free Zone Organization: Free zones allow 100% foreign ownership, with the added benefit of zero taxation. These companies can engage in a wide range of business activities, but may be limited to conducting business outside the UAE or within their respective free zones.
Branch of a Foreign Company: Foreign companies can open branches in the UAE, allowing them to conduct the same business as their parent company. Branches do not have a separate legal identity from the parent company but must comply with UAE business regulations.
Sole Establishment: This structure is available to UAE and GCC nationals and allows a single person to own a business. It is ideal for small, local businesses but offers less protection in terms of liability.
Offshore Company: Offshore companies are primarily used for international trade, asset protection, and holding investments. They cannot conduct business within the UAE but offer significant privacy and tax benefits.
UAE Licensing Process Points and Application
One of the most crucial steps in setting up a company in the UAE is obtaining the correct business license. The type of license you need depends on the nature of your business. The UAE offers three primary categories of permits:
commercial: For businesses engaged in trading activities;
professional: For service-based companies, such as consultancies or legal services;
industrial: For companies involved in manufacturing or industrial activities.
The application process for getting a business-license involves several steps.
Choose Business Activity: Clearly define the nature of your business as this will determine the type of license required.
Select the Legal Structure: Decide on the most appropriate business structure (e.g., LLC, free zone company, etc.).
Register Trade Name: Choose and register a unique trade name for your company.
Submit Application and Documentation: Submit the necessary paperwork to the relevant authorities, including copies of passports, proof of residence, and business plans, depending on the jurisdiction.
Obtain Initial Approval: After reviewing your documents, the authorities will issue initial approval for your business.
Lease Office Space: You must lease an office space or virtual office depending on the type of license you’re applying for.
Pay Fees and Obtain License: Upon completing all requirements, you’ll pay the necessary fees and receive your business license.
Compliance and Reporting Obligations
Operating a business in the UAE requires ongoing compliance with regulatory authorities. Companies must ensure they adhere to next-mentioned.
Annual Audits: Most companies, particularly in free zones, are required to submit audited financial statements annually to ensure transparency.
AML/KYC-Regulations: Businesses involved in financial services or other sensitive industries must comply with AML/KYC-rules.
Visa Quotas: Companies must apply for employee visas, and the number of visas issued is often tied to the size of the office space leased.
UAE ESR: Companies engaged in certain activities must demonstrate that they have sufficient economic presence in the UAE.
Failure to meet compliance requirements can result in penalties, fines, or in extreme cases, license suspension.
UAE Tax Benefits and Financial Considerations
One of the main attractions for companies setting up in the UAE is the favorable tax-regime. The UAE offers a tax-free environment for most business sectors, meaning no corporate or income tax is levied on companies. However, certain sectors like oil and gas or branches of foreign banks are subject to taxation.
In 2018, the UAE introduced VAT at a rate of 5%, which applies to most goods and services. Businesses must ensure they comply with VAT-regulations, including registering for VAT if their turnover exceeds the minimum threshold and filing VAT-returns regularly.
Another significant financial benefit of operating in a UAE free zone is the 100% repatriation of profits and capital, which provides significant flexibility for investors.
Challenges and Business Opportunities UAE
Setting up a company in the UAE presents both challenges and opportunities for businesses.
Opportunities are next-mentioned.
Access to a Global Market: The UAE’s strategic location between Europe, Africa, and Asia provides unparalleled access to global markets, making it an ideal location for international trade.
Diverse Economy: The UAE is rapidly diversifying its economy beyond oil, opening up opportunities in sectors such as technology, tourism, healthcare, and renewable energy.
Business-Friendly Environment: With numerous free zones and incentives for foreign investors, the UAE continues to attract businesses looking to benefit from its dynamic economy.
Challenges could be described as follows.
Navigating Complex Regulations: Although the UAE offers a clear legal framework, navigating different regulations across free zones, mainland, and offshore jurisdictions can be complex.
Cost of Setup: Setting up a business in the UAE can involve significant upfront costs, including license fees, visa costs, and leasing office space.
Cultural and Legal Adaptation: Businesses must adapt to the local cultural and legal environment, including understanding Islamic law (Sharia) and other cultural norms that affect business operations.
Tips for Choosing the Right Offshore Jurisdiction
Choosing the right jurisdiction for your company is critical for success. Here are some tips to help make the decision.
Consider Your Business Activity: Different free zones specialize in different industries, so choose one that aligns with your business.
Ownership Requirements: Check the ownership rules: free zones allow 100% foreign ownership, while mainland companies may require a local partner depending on the sector.
Long-Term Goals: Consider your long-term business objectives and whether the jurisdiction supports scalability and expansion.
Future Trends in Offshore Banking
Looking forward, offshore banking is likely to face increased regulatory scrutiny as global efforts to curb tax evasion and money laundering intensify. However, jurisdictions that maintain transparency while offering favorable tax and privacy regimes will continue to attract international businesses and investors.
In conclusion, the UAE offers a robust legal framework for business formation, with various business structures, tax benefits, and compliance requirements. With careful planning and legal guidance, businesses can take advantage of the opportunities available in this thriving market while navigating the challenges of regulatory compliance.
From your account reps to the interface itself, Google gives you plenty of recommendations on managing your ad campaigns. But are all of those good?
Should you ignore these recommendations and “hack” Google’s machine learning – or should you follow Google’s advice?
Two Google Ads experts – Ben Kruger and Anthony Higman – had an interesting debate on this topic at SMX Advanced.
Here are the key points from their discussion.
Performance Max (PMax) for non-ecommerce
Kruger, who was on the side of adopting, clearly took the stance that Performance Max is future and that all Google’s tools centers around it:
“My simple answer is that PMax is clearly the future of Google. It’s where everything is heading as, you know, if you’re talking to your reps, if you’re reading documentation, if you’re watching Gmail, which which happened, recently, everything seems to center around Pmax, and it’s talked about over and over again.”
“If you’re not learning and mastering the newest thing that Google is clearly pushing, then you’re potentially gonna get left behind when inevitably, whatever you’re used to gets sunsetted, deprecated or you’re forced to migrate over to PMax.”
PMax offers growth opportunities through AI-driven insights across various channels, but Kruger advised against relying solely on it, suggesting it should be part of a broader, strategic approach that includes learning from PMax to enhance dedicated campaigns.
Higman, who was on the side of hacking, said non-ecommerce brands, in particular, should avoid PMax. He sees “a lot of problems” with it:
“I do understand that Google is aggressively pushing PMax, But just because Google is pushing something doesn’t mean that everybody should jump on board.
“The more people that adopt PMax because of Google’s push for the new shiny object, the more they make it easier to deprecate certain things.
“My main beef with PMax is, again, the lack of transparency. They clearly wanna push everybody in automation, which I disagree with because not everybody fits into that box.”
Higman emphasized the importance of maintaining control and visibility over ad spend, especially for those with smaller budgets. He also expressed concern that widespread adoption of PMax could lead to the deprecation of more transparent tools.
Best match type
Kruger said there is a place for exact match, but if he had to choose, it would be broad match:
“Queries are getting way more, unique, specific and long tail. People are going to be conversing with Google search, asking it different ways, maybe using voice, maybe searching on Google Maps. Queries are evolving, and you’ll never be able to cover that with exact match.
“Broad match is analyzing past searches that this user has made, their location, thousands of other signals that only Broad Match has.
“With a growth mindset, it’s gonna find you new keywords. So with an exact match, your search terms are all your keywords, and you’re not gonna be able to move to that next frontier of growth to find new queries for you to acquire.”
Broad match is more effective in capturing the increasingly unique, specific and long-tail queries users are making, according to Kruger. It leverages Google’s AI to understand consumer intent and match ads to relevant searches by analyzing various signals, including the user’s past behavior and the content of landing pages.
Higman’s all-time favorite, of the present and past match types, is broad match modifier. But sticking to what is possible, he said he prefers exact match.
“This is another one of those control things. As Google removes control, their revenue goes up. Advertisers kinda get a little bit watered down results.”
“So I am a proponent of exact match, keeping things as tight as possible, and really targeting what you want to target.”
Kruger also noted that while exact match may be more expensive, it offers tighter control and more precise targeting compared to other match types. Despite still using phrase match for specific purposes, exact match is currently his preferred choice for achieving targeted campaign results.
Automation vs. control
When posed the question of automation versus control, Kruger said performance is what matters:
“That’s a trick question. I think the answer is performance, and I don’t care how I get there. That’s that’s all that matters to me, and I’m gonna use the best tools available to get the performance and the growth”
“That’s automation because it allows for performance at scale. I’m constantly finding new opportunities, for performance, and I’m able to find new levers of growth, to move my business along.”
While control is important, particularly for agencies focused on hitting specific targets within platforms like Google Ads, relying solely on controlled methods limits growth potential, Kruger said.
Balance is key, Kruger said, where strategic controls are combined with automation to drive significant business growth. In his experience, automation has consistently delivered the best performance outcomes.
Unsurprisingly, Higman’s stance is “1,000% control”:
“Google is pushing everybody into automation, which, again, it does have its use cases. I’m not saying that it does not, but we need to keep control to keep results.”
“I think that as privacy legislation meets automation, there’s gonna be a lot of problems down the road as there’s less data that can be fed to the the automation because of privacy legislation, things are gonna get wonky.”
“I also think from an agency perspective, control is extremely important. Client’s don’t want these weird things that are gonna happen with automation that bring in different kind of things that they’re really not going after.”
Higman is concerned that automation, with its lack of transparency, could lead to undesirable outcomes and urges others to resist the push toward automated systems that reduce control.
RSA (Responsive Search Ads) strategy
Maximizes all the headlines and descriptions that RSA’s have to offer, Kruger said:
“I completely max them out: 15 headlines, 5 descriptions, 20 images, all extensions, etc.
“I have seen first-hand that creative is targeting. You could have two different ad groups with the same keywords in it and if you change the assets in one of the RSAs to better match that keyword, the search terms that match to that ad group will move to the one that’s more relevant.
“Formats are completely gonna change. And by having a diverse set of assets in an RSA, you can increase your chances of landing different placements that those with an ETA definitely could not get into.”
As search engine results pages (SERPs) evolve, having a diverse set of assets in RSAs increases the chances of securing different placements, something expanded text ads (ETAs) cannot achieve, according to Kruger.
But Higman is not a fan of RSAs. He said:
“I think that the best RSA strategy is not RSAs. We still have accounts that have expanded text ads in them, and they outperform RSAs by miles every time, and they get all of the conversions.
“My RSA strategy is to keep RSAs as close to ETAs as possible.
“So we will only provide the minimum required headlines and descriptions, and we will pin those into place exactly where we want them based on past performance on expanded text ads.”
While Higman acknowledged the potential of RSAs to match headlines and descriptions to searches, that hasn’t been his experience. Overall, he has found that ETAs still significantly outperform RSAs.
Both experts agreed that ad strength scores may not be indicative of performance.
Nuanced perspectives
It should be noted that with each point each expert conceded that their “opponent” made valid points:
Higman conceded that automated solutions could benefit larger advertisers aiming for broad reach.
Kruger suggested that control-focused strategies might be more suitable for businesses with limited capacity to handle high lead volumes
The debate highlighted the ongoing tension in the PPC community between embracing Google’s automation push and maintaining granular control over campaigns.
The key takeaway is that while Google is clearly moving toward more automated solutions, the best approach depends on an advertiser’s specific goals, budget and capacity for growth.
Watch: The great debate: Should you hack or adopt Google Ads features?
You can watch the full session from SMX Advanced here:
Happy freshers week to all the new students out there! As a student, you tend to have quite a bit of spare time. However, it can be pretty sporadic – you never know which days you’ll have off!
Regular paid work can be tricky to maintain alongside studies. But, if you are still in need of some extra cash, there are plenty of ways you can make the most of your spare time when it comes up!
Take a look at these 7 ways that you can make money in your spare time as a student. And, if you need more ideas, take a look at the A-Z Guide to Making More Money.
As a student, you’re always acquiring specialist skills on subjects others might want to know about.
Earn back a bit of extra cash with tutoring, or offering your skills to teach online for sites like Coursera or Udemy. If devising a whole course sounds like too much, you can always help school students with particular subjects. Maybe you can help with their maths or English homework. Parents are always looking for extra study help for their children, and it’s a flexible job you can start right away.
Test out websites
Whenever you’ve got a spare 20 minutes, sites like What Users Do or UserTesting can earn you great money for just trying out a website and reporting back on the user experience. You’ll need to complete a trial run, have a good microphone, and clearly narrate what you do as you do it.
Once you’re approved, sites contact you to arrange assignments. You can take these assignments when you need some extra cash!
Sell stock photography
If you have a camera that can take decent quality images, capitalise on the chance to keep a little income trickling in. Sites like iStockphoto are always looking for contributions. Every time someone purchases one of your photos, you receive a small royalty fee.
Take clear, quality photos and submit them. The site itself will often let you know what sorts of themes and content they are requiring.
Get crafty!
If you’ve any talent for handicrafts, Etsy was made for the craft enthusiast at home. It’s easy to get started, and once you have some intriguing trinkets, you can advertise them online and start making sales.
Alternatively, you can flip items at home. Gumtree or eBayare perfect for these kinds of sales, and will allow you to make a tidy profit on unneeded goods.
Or, get into ‘flipping’: purchase items at low cost from car boot sales and sell them on for profit. Show off your newfound treasures online and get the best price. Learn how to be “amazing at selling on Ebay” with this article.
Take up odd jobs
Whether you’re handy around the house or a willing babysitter, whatever odd jobs you can help out with are available to view on sites like Fiverr or TaskRabbit.
If you’d rather not do odd jobs around the house, you might consider other kinds of jobs as a freelancer. Sites like Upwork and PeoplePerHour make it easy to list your skills, find jobs that people from across the globe need doing, and get to work! They do charge fees for every successfully completed job, but you can still find yourself taking on work which is interesting, and pays you a little extra.
Use your driving skills
If you have regular access to a vehicle, why not get paid as you travel round town?
Uber takes a little bit of time to become fully registered with, but if you’re a good driver with a full licence and no issues on your record, you can make extra money from just driving people around. This leaves the earning potential up to you, as you can agree to take passengers whenever it suits you.
Sell a book online
Are you passionate about any particular subject? Is there a large audience for it? Do you have a flair for fiction? Put it to use and write a great eBook!
There are lots of great ways you can get your book out there and sell it. Even for a few quid a pop, these things can add up! If your book becomes popular enough you never know what it could lead to.
BECOME A STUDENT NIGHTCLUB PROMOTER
If you love a good party (and as a student, you just might!) then why not make some extra cash from promoting events?
Being sociable and forging strong connections with DJs and nightclubs is crucial to make this work. You will need to convince people that this event is the right one for them, and that starts with your fun personality.
If you have a camera that can take decent quality images, capitalise on the chance to keep a little income trickling in. Sites like 
If you have regular access to a vehicle, why not get paid as you travel round town?
