Rick - Google Ads Specialist

Google Ads expert specializing in generating leads for service based businesses.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

Another account generating 46% of its call volume from Google Ads.

500+ Calls this year

Higher average duration than organic calls

Instant results vs waiting for SEO to kick in.

Bullish on PPC.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@AlexLathery My bet is that they're 78 years old and don't know how the internet works.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

Just went to a Claude meetup in Charleston, SC.

My biggest takeaway: we are SO early.

15 people in the room. A minister. A TV commercial director. A tequila brand owner. Engineers. Someone building Claude Code tools for NCAA basketball teams. Property developers.

All completely different industries. One common theme:
"What do we actually use this for?"

That question tells you everything.

People are genuinely interested but still struggling to build real use cases. Social media makes it look like everyone's shipping AI agents overnight.

The reality?

Most people get about 80% through an idea and then it breaks.

That's not a failure. That's where we are.

Social media is blowing this out of proportion. Making people feel behind when they're actually extremely early.

This whole thing feels like pre crypto days. Everyone knew it existed.

No real foundation yet.

People trying to figure out what to build and how to build it.

The execution gap is still wide open.

That gap is the opportunity.

If you can become an AI operator NOW, regardless of your industry, you'll be positioned to capitalize when this thing fully hits.

Because it's coming whether you're ready or not.

So stop being afraid to start something.

It's going to break. Expect it. But when it does, be grateful because that's the learning. Every time something breaks you're building a stronger foundation for what comes next.

Start now. Pick a project that sounds fun to you. Learn how it works. Understand the foundations, the concepts, the structures.

Then take all of that and apply it to everyday things. Things you can speed up. Things you can eliminate time from. Things you used to spend hours on.

The whole concept right now comes down to two questions:

How much time can you buy back with AI?

And what can you use AI to build, capitalize on, generate revenue with at a scale that wasn't even possible a year ago because you needed to pay developers to do it for you?

That barrier is gone now.

This is going to be a generational shift.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

The biggest lie that was ever told in the SMB space for paid ads that you need more leads.

The biggest truth ever told is that you need to get better at closing the leads you already have.

I can generate you leads all day long.

But if your team sucks at closing them, generating more is not the answer.

It's insane how bad businesses are when it comes to handling leads.

Paid ads won't work unless WE work.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@floschirmer 90%+ of our service based accounts use PMAX as a main driver.

We find that its easier to generate high quality phone calls vs form fills with PMAX.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

PMAX campaigns are a goldmine if they're set up properly.

All they need is a proper campaign setup and good conversion tracking to preform well.

This one is consistently generating $31 phone calls month over month.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

This is by far one of the worst Google Ads campaigns I've ever audited.

They paid $11,304 for 2 Phone Calls

Last Month $4,923 for 15 calls

At their prime they were paying under $100 per call.

This month its the worst its ever been.

Done by auto applying Google's recommendations.

Crazy part is it can easily be fixed by changing a few things.

But if you're running ads yourself it can be hard to figure out what levers to pull to make get the best results.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

Fastest way to tell if someone's using AI for their posts?

Look for the --

Excessive emoji's

Or out of character tone of voice.

😅

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

This is by far one of the worst Google Ads campaigns I've ever audited.

They paid $11,304 for 2 Phone Calls

Last Month $4,923 for 15 calls

At their prime they were paying under $100 per call.

This month its the worst its ever been.

Done by auto applying Google's recommendations.

Crazy part is it can easily be fixed by changing a few things.

But if you're running ads yourself it can be hard to figure out what levers to pull to make get the best results.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

Spent 4 months off X focusing traveling, operations, and growing my small agency.

Accomplished a lot since then and now I'm back!

What did I miss fam?

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@Jason______A He's never seen grandma Jason before.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@bobbyvickers Great setup here. Zapier is the OG AI agent.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@_toddanderson 5 bookmarks and no comments. The gatekeepers have arrived!

It's crazy how often this is overlooked. We do this for 100% of our landing pages.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@girdley Butterflies

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

I'm taking over a Google Ads account who came from a bigger agency but didn't deliver on what they promised.

Before they left, they systematically deleted:

- All negative keywords
- All ad copies
- All their "proprietary" work.

Basically held the account hostage without holding it hostage.

Here's the kicker.

The search history shows ZERO active management for months. Just minor budget adjustments.

Classic "set it and forget it" while charging $3k a month

Sad to see - The account itself actually had a good setup.

But without ongoing optimizations, even perfect setups die slowly.

Thankfully I work with 10+ companies in this industry and already have things extremely dialed in.

We'll plug in our strategies and get results within the first week.

Then continue to maintain and optimize the whole time their with us. Over 25+ touches on the account every month.

Turning them into a lifetime client.

Love to see it.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@STLChrisH Met someone going to school to be a radiologist. Was blown away by how much they make.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@googlewaqas I missed it. Practically impossible to find places like this outside the south west.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

Nothing beats the Mexican food in Phoenix.🤤

It's undefeated.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

It's all about how they season and cook the meat.

Soooo good.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

Your home page is NOT a landing page.

Running ads directly to this page is not a good idea for paid ads.

You want something that is optimized for conversions not information.

Make paid ads as frictionless as possible.

*Unless you've designed your home page as a landing page - We'll allow it if that's the case.

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@alexstanczyk When does the rug pull happen?

[Rick - Google Ads Specialist @PPCExpertRick]

@christmaslightr Straight to the point. I like it.

Bonus points to have it wrapped in Christmas lights too