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What the episode covered
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103 - Stop Wasting Money on Paid Ads
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103 - Stop Wasting Money on Paid Ads
When people do their search for a particular brand name on Google and depending on what they find in the search results, many potential customers may decide to avoid making a purchase. And these brands are spending significant amounts of money on paid advertisements.
In this episode, Gert discusses a better alternative to putting your brand out there and ranking better than when you are spending lots of money on paid ads. Leverage your investment to raise more brand awareness.
- Listen to this episode and let Gert Mellak’s team of experts support you in taking control of how your brand can land on Google’s first page in search results.
01:33 Why are brands wasting 10s of 1000 dollars on paid ads but are not ranking?
- Wasting money on paid ads?
- Active Search Branding
I want to address a common issue that I see businesses facing: wasting money on paid ads. Before you dismiss this topic or move on to another episode, let me clarify that I’m not against paid ads. In fact, they can be incredibly effective. However, I often witness businesses throwing away thousands and thousands of dollars on ads that don’t deliver the desired results. And one crucial element is often missing, which is absolutely necessary for success.
What I would emphasize today
Search has moved beyond one channel. Google still matters, but your buyers also use AI answers, YouTube, Reddit, reviews, communities, and comparison content before they decide.
That means the practical question is not just “does this rank?” The better question is: does this help the right buyer find enough proof to trust us?
How to apply this now
- Diagnose the actual visibility gap.
- Check whether the buyer researches this topic on Google, AI tools, YouTube, Reddit, or another platform.
- Create the asset that answers the question clearly.
- Add proof, examples, and structure so both humans and AI systems can understand it.
- Measure whether the work leads to better qualified demand, not just more traffic.
My current take
The topic still matters, but the playbook has changed. SEO is no longer only about ranking a page. It is about being present with the right answer, on the right platform, at the moment the buyer is forming trust.
If you want to know where your visibility gaps are now, start with a diagnostic call or the AI Readiness Check.