Google shares dropped ~10% after hours yesterday. Search revenue growth slowed.
The DNS data saw it coming.
googleadservices.com is the endpoint behind Google ad clicks. In Cisco Umbrella's DNS data it fell from #97 in April to #140 in October
Google's Aug 17 bidding change targeted tCPA/tROAS campaigns.
So why did CPCs on our manual-CPC keyword jump 77%?
Exact match, US B2B, same bid the whole time, no seasonality. Nothing changed on our side. The auction around it did.
Google's Aug 17 bidding change targeted tCPA/tROAS.
To see if it moved the whole auction, I tracked a keyword it shouldn't touch: 1 exact match, manual CPC, same bid.
Avg CPC +77%
Median +79%
P90 +95%
P10 +17%
Same clicks. Same competitors. Just pricier.
#PPC #GoogleAds
How would you spend your time if you only have 15 minutes a week for google ads search term scrubbing? #googleads
Run our free playbook on your own data: ppc-ai-analytics.com/search-…
Everyone's posting about JEV for search term classification. "Thousands of queries sorted in seconds, no human needed."
Faster and cheaper? True.
Deciding your negatives? Different story 👇
JEV doesn't know that "best employment lawyer munich" pulls in every competitor's firm name at a premium. Your account manager does.
JEV can sort your PPC search terms. It shouldn't decide your negatives.
My full reality check:
ppc-ai-analytics.com/jev-sea…
AI Overviews on brand queries: 27% → 90% in September. Most people ask what this does to SEO clicks. I wanted to know what it does to paid search, so I checked Cisco Umbrella DNS data for googleadservices.com, the endpoint behind Google ad clicks +++
→ Sept 2026: weakest month since Jan 2025
→ Daily data turns down right after the first brand AI Overview spike on Sept 18
Full breakdown with charts: lnkd.in/gtQBDS6S
Are you seeing lower brand CTR since mid-September?
Google Ads tCPA is changing after Aug 17, 2026.
Budget-capped campaigns that currently beat their target may start “pacing toward” the target instead.
Example:
Target CPA: $10
Budget: $1,000
Actual CPA: $5
Today: ~200 conversions
After change: potentially closer to ~100
+++
That is why I struggle to see this as a pure advertiser benefit.
If the target stays at $10 while reality is $5, the system has permission to pay more per conversion.
Maybe volume increases in some cases.
But under a fixed budget, volume can also fall.
+++
PMAX reality check:
Reseller-heavy placements are where bot traffic hides and ad budgets quietly bleed.
We analyzed 3,376 PMAX display placements.
27% have 75–100% reseller chains in ads.txt.
That’s not “programmatic efficiency.”
That’s maximum opacity.
The logic is simple:
++
More resellers:
→ less accountability
→ higher fraud risk
Long reseller chains make it easier for:
• invalid traffic to blend in
• quality issues to spread
• responsibility to disappear
Even without outright fraud, margin leakage and low-quality inventory add up fast.