Guides from the accounts. Updates from the platforms.
Two kinds of post. Guides written from what I've faced and fixed in real ad accounts, and platform updates from Meta, Google, TikTok, Microsoft and WhatsApp: what changed, what it means, and what I'm doing about it. Everything is checked against the source and dated.
Platform updates · 4 Nov 2026 Meta switches on on-device conversion measurement on 12 November: what to check before it does
A new Events Manager setting measures purchases on the customer's device alongside the pixel and the Conversions API. Reported ROAS is likely to rise. The three things I'm checking on every account before the switch, and why deduplication matters more than ever.
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Platform updates · 3 Nov 2026 Ads in Google AI Mode are coming to the UK in Q4 2026. Here's what your search campaigns will do automatically
Google announced on 28 October that ads in AI Mode are scaling to ten more countries, with the UK planned for Q4. Existing Search, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns become eligible with no new campaign and no opt-out. What serves where, which controls still apply, and how I'm preparing lead generation accounts.
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Meta ads · 2 Nov 2026 Facebook ads not working? The five things I check before touching the budget
When a Meta account is spending and nothing is coming back, the fix is usually in one of five places. How I work through them, with figures from accounts where each one was the problem.
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Platform updates · 30 Oct 2026 Microsoft Advertising, October 2026: Conversions API goes live and Performance Max finally gets search terms and audience controls
Microsoft's October roundup brought a server-side Conversions API, age, gender and device targeting for Performance Max, search term and auction insights reporting, and messaging guidelines for AI-written ads. What each one does and why it makes Bing worth another look for UK lead generation.
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Platform updates · 29 Oct 2026 Three Meta Ads changes for Q4 2026 worth acting on: Threads by default, new-customer targeting, creative-level reporting
Threads is now a default placement on every campaign, a single toggle can point an ad set at new customers only, and Ads Manager reports spend and ROAS per creative asset. What each one does and how I'm using them.
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Google Ads · 26 Oct 2026 How much do Google Ads cost in the UK? What decides it, and what I've paid per result
Published UK cost-per-click ranges, why they tell you less than you'd hope, and the four things that actually decide what a lead or a sale costs you, with real figures from accounts I've run.
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Meta ads · 19 Oct 2026 Click-to-WhatsApp ads: how I judge a lead that never fills in a form
A started chat isn't a lead until someone has qualified it. How I track, label and report WhatsApp leads from Meta ads, with figures from a catering launch.
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Platform updates · 15 Oct 2026 Google Tag Manager's 2026 changes: the new layout, destination tags and consent-based data controls
Tag Manager had its biggest update in years across August and October 2026: a redesigned interface, Google tag unification, new destination tags that replace the legacy Google tag and Conversion Linker, and settings that hold data back until consent is granted. What changed, what to migrate, and what I've done with the containers I manage.
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Google Ads · 12 Oct 2026 Performance Max for small businesses: when it works and when to switch it off
Performance Max can be the best campaign in the account or the one quietly wasting the budget. The three conditions I check, with the campaigns that went each way.
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Tracking · 5 Oct 2026 Meta's Conversions API, explained for business owners
What the Meta Conversions API is, why the pixel on its own misses sales since iOS 14, and the four questions to ask whoever built your website.
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Platform updates · 1 Oct 2026 WhatsApp Business pricing changed on 1 October 2026: what it means for Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns
Service messages are charged again beyond 1,000 a month, utility messages inside the 24-hour window are now paid, and the free window from Click-to-WhatsApp ads still stands. What changed, from Meta's own pricing page, and how I've adjusted the WhatsApp accounts I run.
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Strategy · 28 Sept 2026 What is ROAS, and what does a good one look like?
Return on ad spend in plain English, why a 36.88 and a 4.27 can both be excellent results, and the two questions to ask before you judge any ROAS figure.
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Platform updates · 24 Sept 2026 AI Max for Search in 2026: AI Brief, text disclaimers and the new search journey report
Google's two AI Max announcements this year, from its own blog: a way to steer the AI with written guidelines, mandatory text that survives final URL expansion, and a report that shows the search term, the asset and the landing page together. What they fix, and how I use AI Max on lead generation accounts.
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Google Ads · 21 Sept 2026 What I check first in a Google Ads account I've just inherited
The first hour in someone else's Google Ads account: conversion actions, the search terms report, brand spend, Performance Max placements and the landing page.
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Strategy · 14 Sept 2026 Google Ads vs Facebook Ads: which one should your business run?
One catches people who are already searching, the other finds people who weren't. How I decide between them, and three accounts where running both did a job neither could alone.
6 min read →
Tracking · 7 Sept 2026 The tracking I set up before spending a pound
Pixel, Conversions API, GA4, Tag Manager and call tracking: the order I set them up in on a new ad account, and why each one comes before the first campaign.
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Lead generation · 31 Aug 2026 Property lead generation on Meta and Google: what 2,422 leads in three months taught me
Volume is easy in property. Qualified leads that a sales team can close are not. The targeting, the form, the CRM set-up and the follow-up that took a developer's account to 800+ qualified leads a month.
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Platform updates · 27 Aug 2026 Meta is removing placement exclusions from ad sets. What that changes, and what still works
From August 2026 Meta has been removing the option to switch off individual placements at ad set level for sales, leads and engagement objectives. What was announced, what controls remain, and how I've handled it on restaurant and lead generation accounts.
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Meta ads · 24 Aug 2026 Why I stopped reporting reach to restaurant owners
Reach looks impressive in a report and tells an owner almost nothing. What I report instead for restaurants, with the campaigns that changed my mind.
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Lead generation · 17 Aug 2026 Lead forms or WhatsApp? What recruiting students in five Gulf markets taught me
Running Meta lead forms and WhatsApp side by side for an education consultancy across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, and why the answer was both.
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Meta ads · 10 Aug 2026 A fortnightly creative testing routine for Meta and TikTok ads
On social, the creative decides the cost per result before the targeting does. The two-week test I run on every account, what I judge it on, and the results it produced for two restaurant launches.
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Strategy · 3 Aug 2026 Running the same campaign in Manchester and Islamabad: what changes
Costs, creative and the way people buy are different between the UK and Pakistan. The fundamentals of a campaign aren't. What I've learnt running paid social in both, with the figures.
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Platform updates · 30 Jul 2026 TikTok's Q3 2026 ads preview: Smart+ for search and lead gen, Symphony Agent, and what matters outside ecommerce
TikTok published its product preview on 28 July 2026. Most of it is GMV Max and TikTok Shop. The pieces that matter for restaurants, launches and lead generation, and what I'm testing on the TikTok accounts I run.
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Tracking · 27 Jul 2026 Google Tag Manager set-up for a lead generation website: the events I use
A plain guide to the Tag Manager container I build before a campaign sends people to a website: the events, the triggers, the form listener and the consent rule, taken from a real architecture studio site.
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Platform updates · 11 Jun 2026 ChatGPT ads are live in the UK: what OpenAI has said, what advertisers can do, and what I'm testing
OpenAI switched on ads for UK free and Go users on 6 June 2026 and has since opened an Ads Manager beta to UK businesses. How the ads work, how they're targeted, what measurement exists, and the small test I'm running before recommending it to anyone.
5 min read →Nothing matches that yet. Try another word or topic.
Performance marketing glossaryCPM, ROAS, Conversions API, Performance Max and 40-odd other terms, explained for anyone who has to make a decision based on them. →Guides are written up as accounts close out a period; platform updates go up as they are announced and checked. RSS feed.