The Paid Search Podcast | A Weekly Podcast About Google Ads and Online Marketing

Answering Questions About Google Ads (Episode 524)

August 3, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

When You Break Your Google Ads Campaign, There's No Going Back

Chris Schaefer opens the episode with a blunt truth that every PPC manager learns the hard way: "If anyone could write a book about PPC, it's that I wish I hadn't done this because now there's no going back." The episode answers listener questions about recovering from skyrocketing CPCs, understanding why Performance Max search terms fail in dedicated search campaigns, and navigating Google's upcoming bidding changes.

The $43 Click That Won't Come Down

A listener named Chidi describes a nightmare scenario: a colleague increased a client's daily budget from $20 to $100 to spend more before month-end. The CPC jumped from $4 to $43. Even after reducing the budget to $50, the CPC remains stuck at $22. Chidi asks whether switching bid strategies or using portfolio bidding would fix it.

Schaefer pushes back on the premise. If the search terms are still high-intent and high-quality, a higher CPC isn't automatically a problem. Higher CPCs mean better ad placement, higher click-through rates, and often better conversion rates. "Very low CPCs will often lead to less qualified traffic," he notes. The real issue is that the campaign now gets maybe one click per day at $22.

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

Never miss an episode of The Paid Search Podcast | A Weekly Podcast About Google Ads and Online Marketing

Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What you'll learn

1 (00:48) **First Question: Extremely High Cost-Per-Click** - Chidi from Nigeria describes a campaign where a budget increase from $20 to $100/day caused the CPC to spike from $4 to $43, and it hasn't recovered.
2 (13:35) **Second Question: Call Reporting and Google Forwarding Numbers** - Jeff sent a video showing a discrepancy in call report availability across two accounts.
3 (17:54) **Third Question, Part 1: Pausing Seasonal Campaigns** - Helen asks how to handle campaigns that should only run for specific times like Valentine's Day.
4 (20:00) **Third Question, Part 2: Performance Max vs. Search Campaigns** - Helen asks why a search term that performs well inside a Performance Max campaign fails when targeted in a dedicated search campaign.
5 (26:00) **Fourth Question: "Limited by Budget" vs. "Lost IS (Budget)"** - Ben asks about the difference between the red "limited by budget" warning and the "search lost IS budget" metric, especially with upcoming Google Ads bidding changes.
6 (32:53) **Closing** - Chris invites listeners to send questions to [email protected] and mentions his one-on-one coaching and full management services available at ChrisShaefer.com.
7 Standout Quotes

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

This week Chris Schaeffer answers questions from listeners about Google Ads. The topics include how to deal with high CPCs, how call reports work in Google Ads, Performance Max vs Search, and Limited by Budget questions.

Try Opteo for free for 28 days - https://opteo.com/psp

Chris Schaeffer - http://www.chrisschaeffer.com

Submit a Question - https://www.paidsearchpodcast.com