The PPC Mastery Podcast

Join The PPC Hub and get PPC OS: https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Louis Bogdan is 21. He was going to study computer science and become a developer, but fell in love with Google Ads instead.

Six months ago he had barely any clients. Today he and his co-founder Niku run Affirmed with more than 40 e-commerce clients, and their third team member is an AI agent called Alfie — which has its own Gmail, its own identity, and a spot on the team page of their website.

I sat down with Louis to go through how he built it, what his day actually looks like, what he still does by hand, and where AI let him down before he fixed it.

He also has the sharpest take on "AI first" I've heard: on its own, it means nothing. It's always AI-first something. You have to be the expert first, because AI can only be as good as you are.

What we get into:

✅ Why "AI first" is meaningless without an expertise attached to it

✅ The autopilot analogy: why the plane still needs a pilot with hours in the seat

✅ The diagnostic algorithm he built that checks every client account, every day, and tells him what's wrong

✅ 60% of his day automated today, 80% once the last skills land — and why all of that time goes into client acquisition

✅ Giving an agent read and write access, its own service account, and its own email

✅ Why he lowered his prices instead of raising them, and how the retainer works now

✅ The honest answer to "will AI improve my client results?" (it's not what most people want to hear)

✅ Where AI actually broke for him, and the one thing that fixed it

✅ Why he deleted LinkedIn off his phone

✅ His full client acquisition method, start to finish

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro: who Louis is and what he's built

01:55 From wanting to be a developer to falling into Google Ads

03:25 50+ courses, and what finally made it click

04:35 The post in The PPC Hub that found him a co-founder

05:40 What he was looking for in a partner

07:55 "AI first" on its own means nothing — AI first what?

09:00 Why you don't need to become an AI expert

10:45 The autopilot analogy: the plane still needs a pilot

11:35 How agents reshaped the work

12:35 The diagnostic algorithm that runs across every account daily

13:35 A full day a month on reports nobody read

14:40 60% of his day saved, and where that time goes

16:10 What he still does vs what the agents do

17:10 An average day, start to finish

21:00 Does he still open the Google Ads interface?

22:05 Read and write access, and giving the agent a service account

23:05 Meet Alfie, the agent that's on the team page

23:45 Which client communication is automated, and which isn't

25:10 Q from the chat: does the system improve client performance?

28:15 Pricing: £1,000 a month, no contracts, and why they went lower

31:00 CRO and landing pages: what they consult on instead of sell

33:00 Do you need to be technical? He is, and says you don't

35:50 Where AI went wrong for him, and what fixed it

38:45 Why a chat window isn't enough for this work

40:45 His advice if you're where he was 6–12 months ago

43:50 Where to find Louis

45:55 His client acquisition method, leaked

49:00 Wrap

Find Louis on LinkedIn, or in The PPC Hub — he's in there daily, and he still helps people with conversion tracking for free.

Affirmed: https://affirmed.co

Louis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imlouisbogdan/

The PPC Hub: https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Join The PPC Hub: https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Seth Gorton runs Searchly out of Cape Town. His pitch to clients is that they take full responsibility from click to conversion — so Google Ads, but also the landing page, the website, the CRM, and everything that happens after the click.

At Searchly, Seth uses AI agents to do 6x more with the same resources, scaling back from 6 to 3 team members.

I sat down with Seth to get into:

✅ How he grew his agency by adding CRO and AI systems
✅ Why he cut juniors and now only hires senior specialists
✅ What the "yes-man effect" is and why it worried him.
✅ How his team rebuilt a client's entire website in a weekend and lifted conversion rate 40%

We also went deep on the CRO side, which is where most Google Ads Specialists say they see the value but don't know where to start.

Seth headed up a CRO department before founding Searchly, so he walked through his actual process — and it's simpler than most people expect.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro: Seth Gorton and Searchly

00:50 Full responsibility from click to conversion

02:25 Building the agency on the Google Ads Success Formula from day one

03:35 What they actually offer: search, Bing, SEO, CRO

03:55 Why they launched Searchly Web

04:35 Where to start with CRO if you've never done it

05:20 Find the drop-off, then find out why

06:40 The grandmother test

07:00 How CRO and Google Ads feed each other

07:50 Quality score, landing pages, and the metric on top of the dashboard

08:55 Bringing AI into the CRO process

10:05 Claude's Microsoft Clarity connector

10:45 Why Alfred told him to stop building separate systems

12:05 A day in the workflow: barely opening the Google Ads interface

13:20 Connectors, and changing the Shopify site in real time

14:45 "Anything I want to build, I can build in seconds"

15:30 Should he grow the agency or not?

16:15 Six people down to three, and the yes-man effect

17:40 Why he's fearful for juniors right now

18:45 His advice: don't use agents until you know the fundamentals

19:30 Why senior-only makes sense for a small agency

20:40 Agents replaced 90% of the work juniors used to do

21:30 The fractional CMO move

22:05 Charging when the execution is commoditized

22:55 Pricing: no change, just more efficient

23:05 A website rebuilt in a weekend, and 40% more conversions

23:45 What makes a good landing page

24:15 Custom CRMs for lead gen clients

25:00 Where AI is not perfect

25:45 The campaign that never went live

26:35 Advice if you want to add CRO to your offer

28:45 No wireframes, straight to draft

29:45 Chrome DevTools, self-correcting AI, and version 37 in 30 minutes

30:20 The bubble we're all in

31:10 AI watermarks, and what they'll actually change

35:00 The client who said "don't use AI"

35:35 The ClickFunnels lesson

37:15 Wrap

Seth is on LinkedIn and in The PPC Hub, and he offered to grade your landing pages if you send them over.

Seth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-gorton/

Searchly: https://searchly.co.za/

The PPC Hub: https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Join The AI Agent Challenge: launch agents for Google Ads in 5 days: https://www.ppcmastery.com/ai 

Cindy Ebner runs the PPC department at a German search marketing agency working with finance and insurance clients. Three people, a lot of accounts, and no plan to hire — because AI agents took over most of the execution.

I sat down with her to go through the whole journey. She started in SEO on the content side, taught herself Google Ads on the job, and had never touched a terminal before last November. Now her team builds campaigns in minutes, runs audits with agents, and every specialist owns their own clients end to end.

We covered how she got there, what her week actually looks like now, what her team does differently, and the mistakes that cost her when she trusted the output too quickly.

What we get into:

✅ The one week her founder gave the whole team to do nothing but play with ChatGPT, and the prompt book that came out of it

✅ How campaign build time went from 8 hours to 6, to 3–4, to minutes

✅ The setup wall: "what is a terminal, and why can't I just use the app?"

✅ Turning SOPs you already have into skills your agents can run

✅ Her Monday planning skill: inbox plus Trello in, a finished team board out, 20 minutes later

✅ Why she blocks one hour a week just to develop her setup

✅ How the strategist/executor split disappeared, and what it did for her team's confidence in client calls

✅ The services they can offer now that they couldn't before: tracking, CRO, landing pages, offers, and AI Overview visibility

✅ What went wrong when she sent an agent's output to a client without checking it

✅ How careful to be with write access to a live account

✅ Her advice if you're curious about agents but not convinced yet

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro: who Cindy is and why she's on

00:50 From SEO content to running the PPC department

02:10 Three people on PPC, and why they didn't have to hire

03:10 The week her founder told the team to stop working and play with ChatGPT

05:20 Prompt books, SOPs, and presenting the process at OMR

07:10 Building their own campaign setup tool with Make and n8n

08:50 8 hours, then 6, then 3–4, then minutes

09:30 The Mike Rhodes video that made her buy the course on the spot

10:30 "What is a terminal?" — getting through the setup

11:30 Turning existing SOPs into skills

12:50 Building skills from The PPC Hub knowledge base

13:20 Friends of Search, and the full circle moment with Bob

15:00 What she'd say to anyone who thinks they're not technical enough

16:20 Why it never stops: new capabilities every week

17:40 A sneak peek at her PPC Summit talk

18:05 The Monday planning skill: email, Trello, and a finished board

20:00 Morning and evening check-ins with her setup

20:15 Block one hour a week to develop your own OS

21:10 The skills they use daily, and why the tracking specialist changed client conversations

21:50 The sanity check: nothing slips through anymore

23:10 The strategist vs executor split is gone

26:35 How the team took it, and how Jenny went from avoiding calls to leading them

28:55 Why the person doing the work should be the person on the call

29:25 New services they can sell now: tracking, CRO, landing pages, offers, GEO

32:40 The struggles: over-trusting the output, and the CTA that was actually there

34:20 Write access to a live account, and starting soft with negative keywords

35:30 Why long sessions produce more mistakes, and why dry runs matter

36:40 Advice if you're curious about agents but skeptical

38:50 Where to find Cindy

Cindy is speaking at The PPC Summit in Lisbon next month, where she's showing a full week inside an AI-first agency. She's also happy to be a sparring partner if you're getting started — find her on LinkedIn.

Follow Cindy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindy-ebner-479327153/

The PPC Summit, Lisbon: https://www.theppcsummit.com

The PPC Hub: https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

🎁 Get your free Google Ads Audit Templates: https://www.ppcmastery.com/audit

In this new mini-series (called Scaling with Bob), we take you behind the scenes of Bob's new freelance offer and what he's doing to help a Lead Gen client scale. We hope you enjoy these insights from the trenches!

🗞️ 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲.

Subscribe to The PPC Edge Newsletter and get our Google Ads Audit Templates for FREE (€199 value): https://www.ppcmastery.com/newsletter 

🔥 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯!

Join The PPC Hub: our global community of world-class Google Ads Specialists. Get trained by us all year round, and learn & grow together with like-minded PPCers from all over the world.

Become a member of The PPC Hub and make this the best year of your career! (2.000+ members) → https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Download the list of questions here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rVoTjdGKq2QwxQJ7729az5u7FS-lpTQM/view?usp=sharing

🎁 Get your free Google Ads Audit Templates: https://www.ppcmastery.com/audit

In this new mini-series (called Scaling with Bob), we take you behind the scenes of Bob's new freelance offer and what he's doing to help a Lead Gen client scale. We hope you enjoy these insights from the trenches!

🗞️ 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲.

Subscribe to The PPC Edge Newsletter and get our Google Ads Audit Templates for FREE (€199 value): https://www.ppcmastery.com/newsletter 

🔥 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯!

Join The PPC Hub: our global community of world-class Google Ads Specialists. Get trained by us all year round, and learn & grow together with like-minded PPCers from all over the world.

Become a member of The PPC Hub and make this the best year of your career! (2.000+ members) → https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

🎁 Get your free Google Ads Audit Templates: https://www.ppcmastery.com/audit

In this new mini-series (called Scaling with Bob), we take you behind the scenes of Bob's new freelance offer and what he's doing to help a Lead Gen client scale. We hope you enjoy these insights from the trenches!

🗞️ 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲.

Subscribe to The PPC Edge Newsletter and get our Google Ads Audit Templates for FREE (€199 value): https://www.ppcmastery.com/newsletter 

🔥 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯!

Join The PPC Hub: our global community of world-class Google Ads Specialists. Get trained by us all year round, and learn & grow together with like-minded PPCers from all over the world.

Become a member of The PPC Hub and make this the best year of your career! (2.000+ members) → https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

🎁 Get your free Google Ads Audit Templates: https://www.ppcmastery.com/audit

Follow Sandi Walsh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandralouisewalsh/

🗞️ 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲.

Subscribe to The PPC Edge Newsletter and get our Google Ads Audit Templates for FREE (€199 value): https://www.ppcmastery.com/newsletter 

🔥 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯!

Join The PPC Hub: our global community of world-class Google Ads Specialists. Get trained by us all year round, and learn & grow together with like-minded PPCers from all over the world.

Become a member of The PPC Hub and make this the best year of your career! (2.000+ members) → https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

🎁 Get your free Google Ads Audit Templates: https://www.ppcmastery.com/audit

Follow Lol Lowe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lollowe/

🗞️ 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲.

Subscribe to The PPC Edge Newsletter and get our Google Ads Audit Templates for FREE (€199 value): https://www.ppcmastery.com/newsletter 

🔥 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯!

Join The PPC Hub: our global community of world-class Google Ads Specialists. Get trained by us all year round, and learn & grow together with like-minded PPCers from all over the world.

Become a member of The PPC Hub and make this the best year of your career! (2.000+ members) → https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Irresistible Offers

00:38 Welcome to the PPC Mastery Podcast

01:15 Spotlight on Lol: Inspiring The PPC Hub

02:19 Lol's Journey and Client Success Stories

03:21 Deep Dive into Irresistible Offers

04:40 Case Study: Personal Training Business

06:41 Case Study: Coffee Subscription Business

14:20 Results and Impact of Irresistible Offers

17:50 Challenges and Client Conversations

22:10 Freelancing and The PPC Hub Community

30:44 Final Thoughts and Advice for PPC Experts

31:22 Closing Remarks and How to Stay Connected

🎁 Get your free Google Ads Audit Templates: https://www.ppcmastery.com/audit

Follow Jos Cobussen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jos-cobussen/

🗞️ 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲.

Subscribe to The PPC Edge Newsletter and get our Google Ads Audit Templates for FREE (€199 value): https://www.ppcmastery.com/newsletter 

🔥 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯!

Join The PPC Hub: our global community of world-class Google Ads Specialists. Get trained by us all year round, and learn & grow together with like-minded PPCers from all over the world.

Become a member of The PPC Hub and make this the best year of your career! (1.700+ members) → https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:00 Golden Nugget for PPC Experts

01:45 LinkedIn Strategies for Client Acquisition

03:19 Guest's Career Journey

05:16 Challenges and Successes in Freelancing

09:58 Specializing in Lead Generation

14:42 Marketing and Client Acquisition Strategies

19:14 Scaling and Future Plans

25:42 Networking and Joining the PPC Hub

25:49 Investing in Knowledge and Courses

27:53 Impact on Skills and Confidence

29:06 Honesty and Experimentation with Clients

31:37 Freelancing Tips and Recommendations

35:17 Red Flag Clients and Learning Experiences

38:27 Productivity Hacks for Freelancers

43:13 Final Thoughts and Career Advice

46:08 Connecting and Wrapping Up

🎁 Get your free Google Ads Audit Templates: https://www.ppcmastery.com/audit

Kat Sale is the Co-Founder of House of Performance and has grown her agency to 14 people in just a few years. In this episode, you'll learn why it's so important to build a good company culture, and how Kat has done that at HoP.

Follow Kat Sale on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-sale/

🗞️ 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗘𝗱𝗴𝗲.

Subscribe to The PPC Edge Newsletter and get our Google Ads Audit Templates for FREE (€199 value): https://www.ppcmastery.com/newsletter 

🔥 𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗱𝘀 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗣𝗖 𝗛𝘂𝗯!

Join The PPC Hub: our global community of world-class Google Ads Specialists. Get trained by us all year round, and learn & grow together with like-minded PPCers from all over the world.

Become a member of The PPC Hub and make this the best year of your career! (1.700+ members) → https://www.ppcmastery.com/hub

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

01:05 The Journey of House of Performance

02:23 Building a Unique Company Culture

05:53 Challenges and Growth

09:02 Team Dynamics and Client Relationships

17:25 Future Goals and Reflections

22:37 Firing a Difficult Client

23:13 Addressing Burnout in the Industry

24:31 The Importance of Curiosity and Perseverance

27:02 Specialization in Digital Marketing

28:38 Balancing Work and Family Life

32:05 Rapid Fire Questions

38:53 Final Thoughts and Takeaways