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Ads Decoded: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Google
Ads Decoded goes beyond the headlines to connect you with the people and teams behind Google Ads. Hosted by Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin, each episode brings you into the room for candid conversations about the mechanics and nuances of the platform - stripping away the jargon to reveal how things actually work. Tune in for practical insights to help you navigate change, be in the know about new and upcoming products, and ultimately get more value from Google Ads.Subscribe to Ads Decoded on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts to get alerted when new episodes drop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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- 1 weeks ago41 min
Google Marketing Live: Backstage with our product experts
Join us for the season one finale of Ads Decoded: a special live recording at Google Marketing Live with the product teams behind the day’s biggest announcements across Search, YouTube, agentic commerce, creative and measurement.First, host Ginny Marvin is joined by Google’s Head of Ads and Commerce, Vidhya Srinivasan, fresh off the keynote stage. They discuss how Gemini is fundamentally transforming intent understanding to keep with consumer behavior and deliver ads on longer, more complex searches, as well as unlocking performance on YouTube. Vidhya also shares the skills and mindsets she’s seeing in the teams who are succeeding in adapting and rewiring for the AI era. That’s followed by an in-depth, technical roundtable with product leaders to double-click on the why and how behind the headlines:- Reinventing ads for AI Search: Chris Monkman, Senior Director for Ads in AI Experiences, breaks down how AI Max and Performance Max deliver ads that provide rich answers to complex queries in AI Mode, and how the new AI Brief delivers the brand control and audience constraints you need. - Graduating measurement from report card to performance driver: Christine Turner, Managing Director for Measurement, Data & Audiences, talks about the compounding effects of data strength and details the rollout of new metrics like Campaign Type Attribution for Demand Gen, Attributed Branded Searches, and Qualified Future Conversions- Generating high-performing ad creative at scale: Josh Moser, Advertising Platform Senior Director, shares how bringing our most advanced AI models into Asset Studio really is allowing advertisers to quickly build and scale creative assets that are optimized for performance.Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter → https://goo.gle/3NO45ZWFind Ginny at linkedin.com/in/ginnymarvin and @adsliaison on X. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- May 6, 202635 min
On-brand, at scale: Driving performance with AI creative
Is generative AI leading to a "sea of sameness" in advertising? This week, we’re tackling the creative burden - from the pressure to produce endless aspect ratios for YouTube to the fear of losing brand control in an automated world.In this episode of Ads Decoded, host Ginny Marvin sits down with Charles Boyd (Group Product Manager - Creative, Google Ads) and Sarah Hathiramani (Director of Product Management, YouTube Ads) to bridge the gap between brand fidelity and AI-powered scale.In this deep dive:- Avoiding the sea of sameness: How to use generative AI to stand out rather than blend in.- Understanding Ad Strength: Why it’s a diagnostic metric for discovery, not a pass/fail performance report- Advertiser-in-the-Loop controls: Using text guidelines to steer AI while maintaining brand control- PMax Asset Experiments: How to use the new "guided A/B testing to isolate creative impact.Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter: https://goo.gle/4ryu6uVFind Ginny on LinkedIn at https://goo.gle/4aFEw4I and on X as https://goo.gle/3N2Q22r. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Apr 22, 202641 min
Why your Google Ads strategy needs the voice of YouTube Creators
For a long time, creator marketing was seen as a "big brand" awareness play or best suited for retail businesses. If your focus is on performance, B2B, or lead generation, creator content might not have been in your toolkit - until now. In this episode of Ads Decoded, host Ginny Marvin is live from the YouTube NewFronts stage with Melissa Hsieh Nikolic, Director of Product Management for YouTube Ads. They dive into how Google is making it easier for brands of all sizes and across sectors to integrate authentic creator voices directly into their performance campaigns within Google Ads and DV360.They cover:-The trust factor: Why creators help drive meaningful results for businesses across every industry - including finance and healthcare.-Finding your match: How to use AI-powered search in the Creator Partnerships hub in Google Ads to identify the right YouTube creator for your brand, no matter how "niche" your business might be.-Creative freedom vs. rigid specs: Why the magic happens when brands trade strict editorial scripts for a creator’s authentic voice.-Measuring success: Using Brand Lift with Search Lift and Conversion Lift studies and unified organic/paid reporting to prove performance Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter: https://goo.gle/4ryu6uVFind Ginny on LinkedIn at https://goo.gle/4aFEw4I and on X as https://goo.gle/3N2Q22r. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Apr 8, 202640 min
How to build a retail growth engine in 2026
Conversational shopping in AI Mode. Virtual try-on. Agentic checkout. Business Agent on Search. Google Lens in YouTube Shorts. Shoppable CTV. The secret powerhouse behind them all? Your product data. It’s no longer just a list of SKUs; it’s the high-resolution infrastructure for the next era of retail.In this episode of Ads Decoded, host Ginny Marvin is joined by Firas Yaghi, Global Product Lead for Retail Solutions, and Nadja Bissinger, Group Product Director for Retail on YouTube. They separate the hype from the strategic essentials, discussing the practical steps retailers can take now to deliver high-performing ads across Search, YouTube and new AI-powered experiences.In this conversation:-The product feed as foundation: Enriching your data with lifestyle images and rich descriptions to power multi-modal discovery.-From competing to compounding: Why it’s time to stop viewing campaign types as competitors and use a surround sound-style approach. -The signal shift: How Lookalikes have changed from rigid targets to multi-dimensional signals that give the AI the flexibility to find your next best customer.Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter: https://goo.gle/4ryu6uVFind Ginny on LinkedIn at https://goo.gle/4aFEw4I and on X as https://goo.gle/3N2Q22r Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Mar 25, 202644 min
Beyond the form fill: Mastering lead quality in the AI era
From tracking fragmented online-to-offline user journeys to navigating conversion windows that can stretch for months, lead gen marketers face a set of challenges that are uniquely complex. In this episode of Ads Decoded, we’re looking past the simple form fill to discuss how practitioners can master lead quality in an era of signal loss and AI-driven consumer behavior.Join Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin, Mimi Forsythe (Global Head of Lead Gen Solutions) and Lydia Azaret (Lead Gen Measurement PM) as they break down the steps needed - from lead scoring to data hygiene - to enable your campaigns to deliver high quality lead volume.In this episode:-The offline gap: Why mapping the full lead-to-sale journey is foundational to driving performance with Google AI.-Value-centric measurement: How to implement proxy values and lead scoring to tell the bidder what "good" looks like.-Data Manager: Navigating the one-stop hub for connecting CRMs and first-party data.-Tactical must-dos: Understanding the nuances of Enhanced Conversions for Leads (ECL) and Google Tag Gateway (GTG)Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter: https://goo.gle/4ryu6uVFind Ginny on LinkedIn at https://goo.gle/4aFEw4I and on X as https://goo.gle/3N2Q22r Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Mar 11, 202624 min
Budgets, bidding & AI-powered campaigns: Best practices for 2026
Getting your bidding and budget dialled in has always been a vital part of campaign success, but it takes on new significance in the era of AI. The strategies and settings you use do more than manage spend - they’re how you signal your business priorities to the system, so it can more effectively deliver on those goals.Join host Ginny Marvin as she sits down with Kristina Park and Carlo Buchmann, Google Ads product managers who specialize in budgets and bidding, to discuss modern best practices and the new capabilities AI is unlocking in these areas.We cover:Smart Bidding ‘cold starts’: Why you no longer need lots of conversion data to launch new campaigns with confidence.Mastering fixed-budget events: How campaign total budgets and seasonality adjustments can maximize your promotions.Finding growth: Using targets to scale with efficiency.Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter: https://goo.gle/4ryu6uVFind Ginny on LinkedIn at https://goo.gle/4aFEw4I and on X as @adsliaison / https://goo.gle/3N2Q22r Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Feb 25, 202636 min
Search ads: How Google is reimagining experiences that drive value
Ever wondered why the text asset you meant as a headline is showing as a sitelink? Or why Google introduced a button that lets users hide ads on Search? Changes to how text ads show up - especially as AI experiences like AI Overviews and AI Mode drive a total reimagining of Search - can make advertisers feel out of step with the mechanics of their campaigns. So in this special episode of Ads Decoded, we’re pulling back the curtain on the design and testing process behind these new ad experiences on Search. Join host Ginny Marvin, Abby Butler (Ads UI Product Manager) and Adam Bullock (Search Ads UX Lead) as they discuss the "ecosystem balance" between user trust and advertiser value that guides every change that makes it to the results page.In this deep dive:Testing for trust: The specific data points and rigorous vetting process required to move a new format from hypothesis to global rollout.Beyond the click: Why optimizing for user agency (like the new "hide" button) actually builds the long-term trust necessary for better advertiser ROI.Asset variety is key: Why you shouldn't get hung up on the impressions of a single asset, and focus on asset breadth to meet the specific intent of complex, conversation-driven queriesWant Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter: https://goo.gle/4ryu6uVFind Ginny on LinkedIn at https://goo.gle/4aFEw4I and on X as @adsliaison - https://goo.gle/3N2Q22r Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
- Feb 11, 202647 min
Is your Search campaign structure holding back performance?
Hyper-granular campaigns used to be the gold standard. But in 2026, holding onto that legacy structure might be your biggest hidden cost.Host Ginny Marvin joins Brandon Ervin, Director of Product Management for Search Ads, to discuss why simplifying your Search campaigns is the key to unlocking the full potential of AI Max and Smart Bidding. Learn how to stop chasing keywords and start capturing intent across the entire customer journey.Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter.In this episode, we cover:Aligning your campaign structure with your business goals, not just keyword permutationsHow to sandbox your restructure on lower-priority campaigns firstUsing ad group-level geo-targeting and brand exclusions to steer performance without segmentation.Community Q&A: AI Overviews eligibility and how autocomplete impacts matching.Want Ginny’s key takeaways and tips from this conversation? Subscribe to the Ads Decoded newsletter: https://goo.gle/4ryu6uVFind Ginny on LinkedIn at https://goo.gle/4aFEw4I and on X as @adsliaison - https://goo.gle/3N2Q22r Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
About Ads Decoded
Ads Decoded goes beyond the headlines to connect you with the people and teams behind Google Ads. Hosted by Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin, each episode brings you into the room for candid conversations about the mechanics and nuances of the platform - stripping away the jargon to reveal how things actually work. Tune in for practical insights to help you navigate change, be in the know about new and upcoming products, and ultimately get more value from Google Ads.Subscribe to Ads Decoded on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts to get alerted when new episodes drop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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