Notes on reading signal from noise.
Written from what the product printed on live accounts, not from a keyword list.
24 pieces · newest firstRSS feed
The archive
All 24 pieces, grouped by what they're for. Newest first.
Field notes7
What the agents printed on live accounts, and the design rules behind the read.
Explainer · 7 min
Can AI audit your ad accounts?
AI audits ad accounts well for wasted spend, tracking gaps and signal quality, and hits a ceiling on strategy and context. Where the line sits, and why.
Explainer · 7 min
Why your Google Ads CPA rose: the August 2026 Target CPA change
On 17 August 2026 Google made budget-limited campaigns spend up to their Target CPA or ROAS. If you were beating your target, your CPA rose. Here is the read.
Essay · 7 min
Can AI run your ad account?
AI can do the reads, diagnosis and drafting, but it shouldn't hold the last click on live spend. What AI does well in ad management, and what stays human.
Field note · 8 min
You can't put a senior on every account. You can put a senior read on every account.
Twelve clients means twelve separate reads every day, each on its own data, each ranked by what that account is costing you.
Field note · 8 min
The 7-day window is lying to you before noon
Meta's 7-day click window rewrites yesterday's ROAS for a week. Which metrics are final within hours, which are still being written, and when to decide.
Field note · 5 min
Frequency is a lagging indicator. Watch CPM.
By the time frequency says your audience is tired, your cost already moved. Why the CPM curve, read with CTR, calls creative fatigue days earlier.
Field note · 8 min
Why Adgent leads with the verdict
Conclusion first, evidence underneath, nothing you didn't need. The design rule behind every Adgent verdict, with one live account as the worked example.
How-to & diagnostics12
Checks in order of recoverable spend, and what to look at before you pause anything.
How-to · 7 min
How to choose an AI media buying tool
AI ad tools split into four categories: creative generation, bid automation, analysis and diagnostics, and DSPs. A neutral map and a framework for picking by your bottleneck.
Diagnostic · 8 min
Why Performance Max isn't spending your full budget
Performance Max not spending your budget? It is usually not the budget: bid targets and Quality Score are likelier. A diagnostic ranked by likelihood.
How-to · 8 min
Google Ads account structure in 2026
In 2026 Google Ads structure is about signal, not manual control: single-theme ad groups, a brand split, and 30+ conversions a month per campaign. Plus a four-check audit.
How-to · 9 min
How much of your ad budget is wasted?
WordStream's study of 15,666 Google Ads accounts puts typical waste near a third of budget. Six named leaks, where each hides, and how to price it for your account.
How-to · 7 min
The Meta Ads account audit: the ten checks that recover spend
Audit a Meta Ads account in order of recoverable spend: verify pixel and CAPI signal first, then attribution, CBO leakage, placement drift and creative fatigue.
Diagnostic · 8 min
Why is my Meta ROAS dropping?
Meta ROAS dropping? Most drops are signal problems, not campaign problems. Check tracking, scaling, saturation, fatigue and attribution, in that order.
How-to · 8 min
Why did my CPA suddenly jump?
A CPA spike is usually one of four things: a tracking break, a learning reset, auction pressure or creative fatigue. Check them in that order before you pause.
Playbook · 9 min
How to audit a Performance Max campaign
Performance Max hides where the money goes. The checks that open the black box, ranked by impact: brand-spend detection and tracking first.
Playbook · 7 min
Is Performance Max cannibalizing your branded search?
Performance Max often takes credit for branded demand you would win for free, inflating its ROAS while adding little. How to spot it, stop it and measure it.
How-to · 9 min
How to audit a Google Ads account, properly
A Google Ads audit ordered by recoverable spend: tracking first, then search terms, placements, bid strategy and pacing. Twelve checks, red flags, and how often to run them.
How-to · 6 min
How to scale a winner without breaking it
Adding budget to a winning Meta campaign without a learning reset: why the size of each step matters more than the final number, and when to go sideways.
How-to · 7 min
Placement drift: the leak hiding in your average
A blended 3.8× ROAS can hide a placement returning 1.1× on a fifth of your budget. How placement drift happens and how to find the leak before you cut.
Definitions & comparisons5
Plain-language terms and side-by-sides, each with a test you can run yourself.
Comparison · 12 min
CBO vs ABO vs Advantage+: which budget model in 2026?
CBO buys efficiency; ABO buys answers; Advantage+ hands Meta the wheel. When each wins, how to move a winner from ABO to CBO, and the same choice on Google.
Comparison · 7 min
Meta vs Google Ads: which platform for your first $10k?
Google Ads captures demand people already have; Meta creates it. Which to start with depends on whether people search for what you sell. A side-by-side.
Definition · 8 min
What is an AI media buyer?
An AI media buyer reads ad accounts like a senior strategist, explains what changed and why, then carries the next move into account work. A plain-language guide, with three tests.
Comparison · 8 min
AI media buyer vs Performance Max vs dashboard
Three tools, three jobs: dashboards report, Performance Max optimizes the auction, and an AI media buyer reasons across the account.
Comparison · 7 min
Meta says 4.2×, Google says 3.1×. Both are right.
Meta and Google ROAS use different windows, credit models and conversion definitions. How to build a comparability boundary before you move budget.
Bring the question to your own account. Adgent returns the decision, the evidence underneath and what the finding is worth a month.
Pricing