Dean Yates
Fifteen years inside Google Ads accounts.
I'm a paid search specialist from Teesside. I run Google and Microsoft Ads for ecommerce and lead-gen businesses, and I founded Run The Numbers® to do the job the way I think it should be done. This is where I write about the work, the industry, and what I've learned running a business.
About me
Engineer first, paid search second.
I started out as an engineer. Royal Navy first, working on Harrier jets, then offshore as a marine engineer. That's still how I think about a Google Ads account. It's a system. Put good inputs in and you get good results out. Put crap in and that's what you'll get back.
I moved into paid search in 2014, spent the best part of a decade agency-side, and started Run The Numbers in 2023. No contracts, senior people on every account, and reporting that tells you the truth about your money.
Writing
What I've been thinking about.
- 247 bookings that were actually page views
Google Ads reported 247 bookings in a month. Two hundred and thirty-one of them were page views, and only three were real. Smart Bidding had been optimising to the fake number the whole time. If your reported conversions look better than your reality, this is how it happens and how to check your own account.
- Why small businesses stopped trusting marketing agencies
The wariness owners feel towards agencies isn't bad luck. The industry earned it. Here's what honest actually looks like.
- What Harrier jets taught me about Google Ads
The best training I had for paid search wasn't marketing. It was years spent treating machines as systems.
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Get in touch
Say hello.
Got a question about paid search, want a second opinion on your account, or just fancy talking shop? Send me a message and I'll get back to you.
You'll also find me on LinkedIn.