Search Engine Land has published a new video, ‘The Google Grinch: How uncontested ads are wasting your marketing budget this holiday season’.

The SEL team says, “Google Search and Shopping Ads will see an explosion of spending this holiday season, potentially exceeding $70 billion. However, a little-known flaw in Google’s auction logic is causing many advertisers to pay more than they should when competitors are absent from the keyword auction. BrandPilot calls this the Uncontested Google Ads problem… a hidden driver of unnecessarily high (CPCs). Come hear how this mechanism works and, more importantly, how to fix it.

After this session, you’ll be able to:

  • Pinpoint why your CPCs are being artificially inflated when actual competitor pressure is absent.
  • Calculate the true scale of the wasted spend this flaw could be carving out of your annual media budget.
  • Implement AI-driven strategies that proactively prevent self-bidding across your Search and Shopping Ads, boosting efficiency and ROAS.”

Neil Patel’s Blog