In this powerhouse episode of The POMCAST, Mike Shaug, Founder and CEO of Premier Online Marketing, shares expert-level insights on how to build, manage, and scale national paid search campaigns with large budgets and wide target areas. Drawing from his years of experience running high-stakes digital advertising efforts for clients across automotive, legal, real estate, and beyond, Mike walks listeners through the strategies that separate successful enterprise PPC campaigns from costly disasters.
Mike emphasizes that the stakes are much higher when managing national campaigns, where inefficiencies can burn through tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in a short time. He explains why campaign setup must begin with control in mind—outlining how targeting the entire country requires treating each state or metro as its own performance unit. Instead of running one catch-all campaign, Mike encourages segmentation by geography, customer type, and keyword theme to allow for deeper control over performance, pacing, and budget allocation.
He details how to structure ad groups with tightly clustered, intent-driven keywords, and why broad match should be avoided in favor of exact and phrase match types—especially when quality score and CPCs can swing wildly at scale. Mike also digs into how to use ad copy strategically, including price gating and message testing, and discusses how to run intelligent A/B tests across bid models, campaign types, and creative to consistently improve results. His management sprint process—reviewing performance data at specific intervals during the month—helps prevent budget drift and ensures campaigns stay aligned with KPIs like cost per lead and search impression share.
In the conversation, Mike also pulls back the curtain on how to identify and combat wasted spend. He shares methods for spotting geographic leakage, blocking bot traffic, managing keyword gaps, and mitigating irrelevant clicks through exclusions and negative keyword lists. He cautions listeners about deceptive in-platform audience segments and how vague or overly broad interests can lead to massive inefficiencies, especially on awareness-focused campaigns.
Mike rounds out the episode by exploring ad networks and bid strategies, weighing the benefits of Google Search, Performance Max, and tools like Optimizer and Marin for different campaign types. He stresses that even non-converting keywords may have strategic value for brand awareness or upper-funnel activity—but warns that keyword decisions must always be balanced against performance data, CRM insights, and business goals.
Whether you're managing a $5,000 monthly budget or $500,000, this episode is packed with real-world advice and actionable tactics to help marketers dominate national paid search—intelligently, profitably, and with confidence.
Premier Online Marketing helps businesses grow through smart SEO, content, and search strategies. Learn more at www.premieronlinemarketing.com
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