Beyond the Paid

Welcome to Beyond the Paid!

April 25, 2023 By Melissa Mackey Leave a Comment

Welcome to Beyond the Paid, the official website for Melissa Mackey.

I’ve been in the search engine marketing space since the dawn of Google Ads (formerly AdWords) in 2002.

While I haven’t blogged on this site much recently, here are links to my recent articles in industry publications:

You can find my latest writings on Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal, and up-to-date commentary on #ppcchat on Twitter.

Find me on LinkedIn too.

I’ve spoken at search conferences since 2010. You can catch me at SMX Advanced this June.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: personal

The Case for Smart Display

February 23, 2018 By Melissa Mackey Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post is by Kelsey Hadaller of Hanapin Marketing. Learn how to be successful with Smart Display campaigns! The rollout of Smart Display campaigns was announced by AdWords in April 2017. Nearly a year later, the … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: adwords Tagged With: google display network, guest posts

Trust Us. We’re Google.

February 16, 2018 By Melissa Mackey 10 Comments

Back in December, Search Engine Land ran an article called What You Learn From Talking With Google’s Largest Advertisers All Day, Every Day. Written by Matt Lawson, it’s an interview Lawson did with Google’s chief search evangelist, Nick … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: adwords Tagged With: adwords

Keys to B2B PPC

February 9, 2018 By Melissa Mackey Leave a Comment

This week’s #PPCChat on February 6 was all about B2B PPC, a topic near and dear to my heart. It was a great chat, with lots of helpful information shared. Here are a few keys to B2B PPC that came out of the chat. B2B isn’t the same as … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: pay per click strategy Tagged With: b2b ppc, ppc for content marketing

2017 Reader Poll

December 8, 2017 By Melissa Mackey Leave a Comment

For the past 4 years, I've polled my loyal blog readers about what you want me to write about. I've loved hearing from you and seeing what topics are of interest. You all are the reason I keep writing, even when health issues make it challenging for … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: search engine marketing Tagged With: reader poll

PPC Ad Test Settings: The Great Debate

November 10, 2017 By Melissa Mackey 7 Comments

PPC ad testing is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s one of the most fun aspects of managing PPC campaigns: learning what ad copy performs best. It’s always fun to try something wild and crazy and have it perform well, or to prove an … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: adwords, pay per click strategy Tagged With: ad copy testing

What Type Of Info Really Sells Your PPC Audience?

October 27, 2017 By Melissa Mackey 2 Comments

In previous articles on PPC audiences, I’ve talked about the importance of audiences, who is the audience, and audience segmentation. All are necessary when conceptualizing a PPC campaign that’s using audience targeting. But once you set up the … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: pay per click strategy Tagged With: audience targeting

PPC Reports: We Can Do Better

October 20, 2017 By Melissa Mackey 1 Comment

Creating PPC reports is a big part of every PPC professional's job. Whether you work in-house or at an agency, it's almost always necessary to report on campaign performance. When I started doing PPC in 2002, reporting usually involved downloading … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: pay per click strategy Tagged With: ppc reports

Advanced Shopping Campaign Segmentation for Increased ROI

October 6, 2017 By Melissa Mackey Leave a Comment

Editor's Note: Today's guest post is by Kelsey Hadaller of Hanapin Marketing. Get ready for some excellent shopping and e-commerce tips! If ROI goals aren’t being met in your e-commerce account, consider segmenting your Shopping campaigns for a … [Continue reading]

Filed Under: e-commerce Tagged With: google shopping