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Welcome to the Win with Paid Ads podcast for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and really anyone who has anything you want.

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More people to find.

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Whether you're starting from ground zero or scaling an eight figure business, you are exactly who this podcast was created for. Because you being the best kept secret helps no one.

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Right?

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That's why in every episode, I'll show you how you can use paid ads to hit your goals 10 times sooner. It's time you finally learn how to win with paid ads. You or someone on your team can do this.

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I'll show you how to score and.

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Be known by more. Let's get started.

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If you've ever said the algorithm hates you, I have good news for you. This episode is for you. It doesn't hate you, it doesn't judge you, it doesn't even know what you think. All it knows is it's going to follow patterns. And so when you think about paid advertising, there is the Google algorithm, there's the TikTok algorithm, there's the Facebook and Instagram algorithm. And all three of those algorithms have some things that are in common, and then there are also a few things that actually make them a little bit different. And so what I wanted to do is I wanted to make this episode for you, but secretly I actually made this for some of my clients because they're asking me like, how often is, is it that I can make changes to this ad? Or what is the algorithm looking for? How do I make sure the algorithm gets in front of the exact right person? That is what this episode is for. So I'm actually pulling some information from what Google says about its algorithm because obviously I'm not the algorithm or else we would have, you know, 20 million followers on Instagram. Okay, I understand this, but what I do know for sure is of everyone that I've met in this entrepreneur world, I would, I would say something that I'm very grateful for is we have probably the lowest audience and yet some of the highest revenue. And it's simply because with paid advertising, you don't need a lot of the people in. In paid advertising, you don't need a lot of people. You just need the right people. And so I want to walk you through how we are really able to maximize what the algorithm has share with us so that you can get in front of the right people. And by the way, don't forget, if you have not registered for the Win with Paid Ads challenge, click the link below this podcast or this YouTube video, because it is going to be five days of us diving Even deeper on how you or someone on your team can really win with paid advertising. And it's, it's 2026 now. It's, it's pretty normal at this point for people to understand that paid advertising is a requirement in their business. Like, if you are running a business and you're not at capacity, you, you should be running paid advertising because all you're going to do is just wait and hope for a referral, hope someone's finds you organically when you can really maximize how the algorithm works and speed up your revenue and your profitability. And that's what we're going to talk about in the Win with Paid Ads challenge. So click the link below and I'll see you there. It's going to be live. It's wonderful. All right, so let's get started on a few things. When you think about the algorithm, so you are, when you think about every ad platform out there, Whether it's Google, TikTok, YouTube, they all operate on this one truth. And it's not that you are fighting the algorithm, you are training the algorithm. So if you are giving it bad signals, you are training it to be confused and not be able to know who you're talking to. In fact, this was actually really cool. I met this guy on Instagram and he was in the NFL. He has these multiple YouTube channels and has over like, I think a million and a half subscribers. And so he and I met recently and I was giving him some ads, ideas and inspiration. He was giving me some organic inspiration. And he was like, even you, Ashley, on your organic YouTube. He's like, you could even be even more specific to train the algorithm better on who your target person is. And it's like, I'm so used to, like, if you think about it, I am so used to, as an advertising expert saying, I know that I can target the right person with ads. With organic, it's like, I hope I am, but the more. Like with organic, it's like you have to be so specific with the words that you say, the content. Yes. With ads, it's like, as long as I make sure the message is right, I know how to get it in front of the right people confidently. That's why organic has never been a huge priority for me. I do love with organic and I love how organic and paid work so well is oftentimes we'll post things organically, we'll see that it goes really well, and then we'll be like, oh, let's turn that into an ad specifically, or how can we take that ad message that worked well on Instagram organically, and how can we put that on TikTok or how can we put that on YouTube? So there's so much cross learnings. All right, so we have a lot to jump into today. So part one is going to be the thing that all of the algorithms have in common. So number one is every algorithm is going to optimize based on the inputs that you give it. So signals that the algorithm listens to when it comes to paid advertising specifically is tracking. So the pixels that you're setting up on your website for all these different platform, for all of these different platforms, the tag, the code, all that, that is what the algorithm is looking for. Because what it's trying to do with a pixel is saying who is the person that hits the website and actually fills out the form or actually completes the purchase? That is data for the algorithm to be able to learn off of is the behavior of people who are actually doing the thing you want. All algorithms have tracking pixels, the conversion events. They're all looking at the click behavior, they're all looking at the words, the creative, the visuals, the audio. They're all looking at the engagement patterns of how someone goes from finding your ad and what they're doing on the other side of it. With engaging. Strong signals are going to give the algorithm clarity. Weak or messy signals are going to confuse the algorithm. And confused algorithms, they don't stop, they just keep guessing. And that's what you don't want. So bad signals means bad optimization. So algorithms are not going to freely think they're going to follow that strongest pattern that they can detect, which you're in control of. So for instance, a bad signal for the algorithm would be you've selected the wrong conversion action. You don't have a conversion action set up. You have low quality leads marked as high quality leads. Spam or bot like actions are counting as conversions. You have duplicate events. Your tracking is a mess. That's why one of the first things we teach in our actual advertising training programs for our clients is how do we make certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have tracking set up. And in our brand new program that we just created, we have basically a rocket scientist. She is an aerospace engineer, she was a client of ours. She is like one of the most brilliant people ever when it comes to technology. She actually owns a technology company. And so who better to be able to say like I, I was showing everybody how to do all the tracking myself, and I still am and it's worked really well, but there's a few intricacies where someone has a very complicated, like back end setup or something's not clicking. And I was like, I am paying to solve this problem for my clients in 2026. So. So that this is solved. And so we have some expert training on that because it's so important to make sure that you are getting the right signals. The next thing is algorithms are all about pattern recognition. So every platform, what they do is they cluster different groups of people based on their behavior. And so they cluster groups by demographics, by interest, by past actions, engagement history. And this is why I say, often what you say determines who sees you. Because your messaging is your targeting the words that you say that the algorithm's gonna figure out who's the type of person. If you say practice functional medicine practitioners, the algorithm's definitely not gonna show it to me because I'm not that person. It's gonna say, who is the person that would respond to these words? And so if you film something in a gym and then you got a dumbbell and you're like, this is how you lose weight and get ripped. It's like, that's gonna optimize towards somebody who is interested in content related to a gym and people talking about losing weight. So what you say determines who sees you. And so clear messaging is the next one. Clear messaging is what wins. That is why one of the or actually day one of the Win with paid ads challenge is all about messaging. Because it's not just what you say, it's how you say it. And so really thinking about how are you saying it and how do you know exactly what to say so that you are memorable, so that people think of you so that they are not confused. How often have you ever met someone at a party and you're like, tell me a little bit about what you do. And. And then they tell you and you're like, that's so cool. And you're like, I have no idea what they do that is a messaging problem. And so many people, they think have a. They're doing so much, they're not thinking as much and being able to think about what your messaging is. That's why we talk about it. So in Google, Google calls that your quality score and meta, they call that your creative ranking. And TikTok, they call it your creative relevance. Those are the attributes of what they're looking for when they're really saying, is this message clear? Is it clear? Is it aligned? And does it remove guesswork from the Algorithm. Because here's why the algorithm cares, right? It's all about money. Google, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Spotify. All they care about is, will this advertiser put one in, get more than one out? Because they know if that's the case, you will spend more. And if you spend more, the algorithm wins because they get more of your money. They really are obsessing over giving you the person who's most likely to convert. And so your messaging clarity is really going to ensure that happens next. Volume is oxygen. If you really think about that, that's probably why so many people fail with their ads. Volume is oxygen. What that means is if you're spending $5 a day relentlessly getting seven clicks, you are lacking volume. Volume. You are not giving the algorithm enough room or oxygen to literally breathe. One of the things that I had my coaching call yesterday, actually, I was coaching from nine to five. I did have a lunch break built in, but I was coaching every single group in our whole company yesterday because I missed everybody from the break. And so I was back in. I was in full coaching mode. And one of the things that I had journaled yesterday morning was I was reflecting back on 2025 and why I feel like it resulted in the way that it did. Like us blowing our goal out of the water and our clients blowing their goals out of the water. And. And it was because of risk. And I'm sure someone wrote this somewhere, but what came out of my brain was risk and how the. The riskiest thing you could do is to not risk anything. Because if you risk nothing, unless you like, the best way I can think about it, I think I wrote this down. It's like the riskiest thing of all would be gaining nothing, because you risk nothing. And so I just want to. I want some of y' all to think about how your. Your $30 a month or $30 a week ad budget is absolutely risking nothing, and thus you're gaining nothing. So with the volume is oxygen, I just want you to ask, people ask me all the time, how much should they spend? And I say, what is the lifetime value of a customer? Like, if we think about right now, me as a customer with our team who is here helping us record this video, the lifetime value, six figures, if not more, over the duration of our partnership. And yet someone who does videography wouldn't spend a couple hundred dollars on an ad to gain a client that could pay back indefinitely. Like, no matter what your business is, whether it's real estate, whether you sell Equipment, whether you sell tractors, whether you're a therapist. I give this example for my husband with therapy. He's paid probably $30,000 in therapy. I'm like, I wonder what that cost per lead was to acquire. Like, it's so worth it. But volume is oxygen. Simply spend more sometimes and actually risk something so that you have the opportunity to gain everything. Next thing is, the algorithm has a learning period. And gosh, man, I have a whole training about learning period. I actually have a podcast, if you haven't listened to it, another episode. And it's basically about the learning period and how it says the learning period does not prevent you from your earning period. So often people are like, oh no, it says learning. It will stay learning for a while. Learning does not mean that it's broken. It simply means that the algorithm is calibrating, it's trying to figure itself out, it's trying to match your ad to the right person. And so all platforms confirm they need enough data to predict an outcome. Learning is just part of the system. And campaigns can still learn while they earn, right? So learning is not punishment, it's just alignment with the right audience. And that takes time and data, which is why the slower you're spending and the least amount that you're spending, the more time you're going to be in that learning period. Alright, so those are the things that are in common about the algorithm on the, on all the different platforms. So what about the algorithm is different between platforms? So for Meta, which is Facebook and Instagram, Meta is obsessed with who people are. So meta is very specific on the actual person. So it focuses on identity patterns, engagement prediction, and emotional and semantic understanding of your creative. So for instance, Meta has reported that to get an ad set fully out of learning, you would need 50 conversions per ad set per week. That is a lot. Now I will say many of my absolute top performing ads still say they are in learning and that is okay. We are profiting outrageously over here with our ads and so are all of my clients. So, well, the clients that actually watch the training and do the work and keep refining. Right. I will never guarantee a result because I can't guarantee your effort. But what I can guarantee is that clients have made millions of dollars through this. And so when you are setting up your campaigns and you're like, well, how do you get one out of learning? You may never get one out of learning. Like some of them may continuously be learning and you think it's a problem when you look at the results and you're like, hey, this is actually profiting really well. Keep it rolling. Meta also says campaigns will still perform very well in learning and stability matters more than forcing results. So I'd rather you say, hey, how can we like, spend at an amount that we feel good about so that we can be consistent with our. Spend as much as you can. There's times when you need to go up and down and I fully support that and the algorithm can too. But it really matters that you are not just forcing something to get 50 conversions just to get it. I'd rather you say is to set up the right way with the right audience, with the right targeting, with the right tracking, and it will perform. So Meta just hates chaos and constant changing. And so many of my clients, they're like clicking every single day and I'm like, this is why it's not working. You just need to let it step away so it can breathe and collect data and actually learn behavior versus learning that there's constant change and it's never going to be able to find the right person. So what makes Google different? So Google is think shopping ads on Google, search ads, YouTube ads, display ads, local ads, maps ads, all those. So on Google, Google is intent first. It is the number one most important thing when it comes to Google is what is the intent of the person and what is their action. So it cares most about their search intent, their in market behavior. Meaning what are they in the market for? What are they out literally in the marketplace searching for and looking for? Maybe it's a car, maybe it's a book, maybe it's training, maybe it's a podcast. Google looks about looks at content and relevance. Like how relevant is the result to what they're looking for. Google cares about auction time bidding. So really with Google, imagine people sitting in an auction where everybody's holding up their little stakes and like $3, $2, $5. Google is an auction. Every single time you search on google.com, an auction is going on so quickly, behind the scenes saying, who is willing to be in this auction? What are they willing to pay? And then Google is looking at the intent behind the person to match that creative with the best person. So for Google, smart bidding. So there's two ways you can pay your ads with Google. I don't want to get too nitty gritty. This is something we really dig into in our, in our training is the difference between smart bidding and manual bidding. And, and the best way to describe it is manual bidding is where you're saying, I want to pay the same amount for everyone. Smart bidding is saying, I don't want to pay the same amount for everyone because not everyone has the same amount of intent. And so I actually do recommend using both, but I have an order in which I do that and reasonings behind it. But what matters for you right now is that smart bidding stabilizes in about a week or two or as you get about 30 conversions. Learning never stops. It is always improving. And you don't fix the learning period. You just support it by giving it more room and more data and more time with less changes. Google hates being boxed in. Having budgets that are too tight, having really bad tracking or misaligned keywords can really tank your performance. And so that is why that is exactly what we focus on inside of our advertising training program. So TikTok, what makes TikTok different? TikTok is all about creative first. Okay, so, so creative is watch time engagement, the classification of the content and creative similarity clusters. Like it like buckets, different types of creative and says, ooh, this creative typically aligns best with this person. TikTok wants creator style, content, very strong hooks in the first two seconds and a very frequent creative refresh when it comes to your ads. And it typically takes about 50 conversions a week to exit Learning similar to meta and also campaigns still can perform so beautifully in learning. And creative fatigue, which is when you're running the same ad for too long, can kill results quickly. So on TikTok, the algorithm follows the content, not necessarily the advertiser. All right, so here's what the algorithms actually see. They see text and with that text, they're interpreting the meaning, the content, the intent, the alignment with the landing pages. They see images and videos. So the objects, the faces, the emotion of people, the tone, the style. They also see post click behavior. What happens on the other side? What's the bounce rate? How quickly are people hitting on that landing page and leaving? What's the, what's the watch time? What's the scroll depth? How long are they going? How many pages are they viewing? How many return visits? How many people are coming back to back to back to that same website? These behaviors tell the algorithm that that person is high intent. Find more people like them that do hang out on the website, that do convert. The other thing with the algorithm that is the case across all of them is that recency matters so much. So recent conversions and how the most recent people that took action on your website convert, it's looking at that more than old past data. So momentum actually compounds. And the more Recent, the data, the. That's really what the algorithm is going to focus on. So, in summary, how long does learning actually take? Well, for Meta, about 7 to 14 days or about 50 conversions. And ad set Google 7 to 14 days with about 30 conversions. And then TikTok is about 50. I will say I'm in an ad account all day, every day, multiple ad accounts, from people who spend $10 a day to people who spend $100,000 a day. And I'll tell you right now, I've seen ad accounts get out of learning with less than these minimums, and it's typically just rarer. So you may be like, oh, Ashley, I know you said 30 conversions. Mine has 15 or mine has 7. Great. There will be instances where the algorithm's just really able to figure out your audience more quickly. These are the average thresholds that it needs to get enough data to actually be able to optimize. All right, last thing here when it comes to the algorithm is just a few algorithm do's and don'ts. So here are the do's and I'll share with you the don'ts. So, number one, do choose one action that you want to optimize towards. Do make sure your tracking is clean and accurate. Do let the campaign breathe for a second. Right? Don't hover over a shoulder and tapping it literally constantly trying to change things. Do test multiple creatives consistently and then don't edit. Constantly use multiple different actions that you're optimizing towards. Starve or what we say, choke the budgets, mix warm and cold audiences and expect that it's going to optimize instantly or panic after 48 hours. I wrote that one in, too. I just want you to be able to let your campaigns breathe and just trust that the algorithm wants your money. If you really think about that, that's the most relieving thing possible that it wants so much of your money, because it just knows that all of these signals go into it, helping you find the right person so that you can spend more on your ads so confidently and honestly, happily, because the algorithm is doing the work that it can for you. So remember, the algorithm is not out to get you. It's just responding to you. But it is out to get your money, and that's a really good thing for you. So when you clean up your signals, when you really care about the algorithm, it can show it's carefree too, and find more people that you can buy from or that can buy from you. So I hope that was helpful. I have another episode I'm really excited to talk to you about. And the next one is all about YouTube targeting. So if you've never, never done YouTube ads, this next one's for you. And don't forget, before you go, click the link below. Get your ticket to the Win Win paid ads challenge. So go advertise your name, make it rain, and I'll see you on the next episode.