#Google Ads best practices | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sagetitans-123 · 4 months ago

Text

From Clicks to Conversions: Mastering Google Ads for Business Growth

Google Ads is indeed the most reliable form of digital marketing at this time. It does not matter whether you are a startup trying to make a name or an established organization that has an intention to grow; good utilization of Google Ads can provide you with great exposure and help you attract the desired customers and conversions.

The real challenge isn’t just running ads—it’s converting clicks into paying customers. Success with Google Ads comes down to smart execution and strategic planning. This guide will break down everything you need to know to optimize campaign performance, maximize ROI, and master Google Ads.

Understanding Google Ads and Why It Matters

By placing ads on websites, on YouTube, on SERPs, and across other networks, companies can use Google Ads to advertise and gain visibility to as many people as possible. This program is run on a PPC or cost-per-click model; you are charged only if someone clicks your ad.

Google Ads, if done well, can:

Allow you to target people actively searching for your products or services.

Enhance brand awareness and affirmative actions.

Gain more leads with pinpoint targeting.

Push your business size with data-driven marketing.

1. Define the goals

First off, clarify what you are trying to achieve. Your aims might well be:

Generation of leads

Increase in traffic to your website

Increase in sales

Awareness of brand

A well-crafted objective ensures that the ads executed will just be relevant and measurable.

2. Choose the Right Campaign Type

Google Ads offers various campaign types for different purposes:

Search Ads—Pop-ups on Google search results based on the specific keyword users search for.

Display Ads—visual ads that run on the Google Network Display.

Shopping Ads—Great for eCommerce businesses exhibiting their wares.

Video Ads—Advertisements appearing on YouTube and other platforms.

App Ads—Designed to promote mobile apps across multiple Google networks.

Selecting the right campaign type based on your goals ensures better performance and results.

3. Conduct Keyword Research

Each and every Google Ads 2025 campaign is built on keywords. Utilize resources such as Google Keyword Planner to find high-intent keywords that are pertinent to your company.

Focus on:

Exact match keywords to capture specific searches.

Broad match keywords to reach a wider audience.

Negative keywords to exclude irrelevant traffic and save budget.

4. Create Compelling Ad Copy

Your ad copy needs to grab attention and encourage action. Key elements of a strong ad copy include:

Headline: Use power words and include your primary keyword.

Description: Clearly highlight benefits and include a strong call to action (CTA).

URL Display Path: Ensure it’s relevant to the search intent.

5. Optimize Landing Pages

An ideal landing page should receive traffic from your advertisements. A landing page with a good conversion rate must have a clear title that matches the advertisement.

Be both aesthetically beautiful and responsive.

Add an appealing appeal to action. As an example, "Get a Free Consultation" is an effective call to action.

Make sure your website loads swiftly to prevent bounce rates.

6. Leverage Google Ads Tools for Better Performance

Google offers various tools to enhance your campaigns:

Google Analytics—Tracks user behavior and conversion rates.

Google Keyword Planner—Helps identify profitable keywords.

Google Ads Editor: Facilitates the design and administration of ads in bulk.

A/B testing tools are used to test several ad variants and identify the most effective ones.

Google Ads Tools: Better optimization and data-driven decisions are guaranteed.

Maximizing Conversions: Advanced Strategies

If you want to go beyond basic campaigns and significantly boost conversions, consider these advanced tactics:

1. Use Smart Bidding Strategies

Google Ads introduces more advanced AI-powered bidding strategies, including:

Target CPA: At the price you specify, this tool automatically adjusts bids to maximize conversions.

Maximize Conversions: This strategy optimizes bids for the best conversion rates by using machine learning.

2. Leverage Retargeting Ads

Not all visitors convert on the first visit.Retargeting allows you to show ads to users who have already engaged with your website. Use:

Dynamic Remarketing: Displays tailored advertisements according to user viewing history.

Standard Remarketing—Targets all past visitors with generic ads.

Customer Match—Uses existing customer data to re-engage audiences.

3. Optimize Ad Scheduling

Analyze your ad performance statistics to find the most effective times to place your advertising. You may cut down on wasted spending by scheduling advertising during high-converting hours with Google advertising.

4. Utilize Extensions for Higher CTR

Ad extensions increase visibility and provide additional information. Popular extensions include:

Call Extensions—Display a phone number for instant contact.

SiteLink Extensions—links to important website pages.

Location Extensions—Show your business address to local users.

5. Monitor & Adjust Regularly

The world of digital advertising is ever-evolving. Check your campaigns frequently, examine statistics, and change as necessary in light of results. Focus on:

Reducing CPC (cost-per-click) while maintaining conversions.

Eliminating underperforming keywords.

Refining audience targeting for better reach.

Conclusion

Getting clicks is only one aspect of mastering Google Ads; another is converting those hits into real conversions that propel company expansion. You may increase your return on investment and maintain your lead in the cutthroat digital market of Google Ads by utilizing the appropriate tactics, refining your advertising campaigns, and utilizing sophisticated Google Ads tools.

Sage Titans Academy provides comprehensive training and industry insights to help organizations flourish if you're looking for professional advice on managing high-performing Google Ads campaigns. To turn your advertising efforts into long-term success, start optimizing now!

#best practical digital marketing course #digital marketing #google ads #google ads service #google ads for b2b #google ads tools

0 notes

srishtijaiswal · 5 months ago

Text

Best Practices For PPC Campaigns: Key Strategies to Drive Success

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a powerful tool in digital marketing that allows businesses to drive targeted traffic to their websites. Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just starting out, implementing best practices for PPC campaigns is crucial to ensuring maximum return on investment (ROI). In this blog, we will explore some of the best practices for PPC campaigns, with insights from Digital Marketing Academy Noida, and guidance on how to choose the Best Digital Marketing Institute in Noida for a comprehensive learning experience.

Understand Your Goals: Define Your PPC Objectives

The first step in running a successful PPC campaign is defining clear and measurable goals. Whether your aim is to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales, knowing your objectives will help you tailor your PPC strategy accordingly. Best practices for PPC campaigns include setting realistic KPIs (key performance indicators) and monitoring them regularly to ensure your ads are performing as expected.

When enrolling in a Best Digital Marketing Institute in Noida, you’ll gain insights into setting up and tracking PPC campaigns effectively. Institutes like the Digital Marketing Academy Noida teach students how to use analytics tools to measure campaign performance, ensuring that every ad dollar spent is justified.

2. Target the Right Audience

Targeting the right audience is another critical aspect of successful PPC campaigns. Without proper targeting, your ads may not reach the right people, leading to wasted spend. A well-targeted campaign increases the chances of conversion, making it essential to define your target audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and location.

When learning at a Digital Marketing Academy Noida, students are trained to use advanced targeting tools such as Google Ads' audience segmentation and remarketing features. These techniques help ensure that your ads are seen by the most relevant users, increasing your chances of success.

3. Keyword Research: Choosing the Right Keywords

Keyword research is the backbone of any PPC campaign. Choosing the right keywords ensures that your ads appear when users search for terms related to your products or services. A solid PPC strategy includes both broad and long-tail keywords to capture a range of search queries.

A Best Digital Marketing Institute in Noida will teach students how to use tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush to identify high-converting keywords. With the right keyword strategy, your PPC ads will target users with high intent, increasing your chances of conversion.

4. Create Compelling Ad Copy

The ad copy is the first impression users will have of your brand, so it’s important to make it compelling and relevant. Your ad copy should clearly communicate the value proposition and include a strong call to action (CTA) that encourages users to click. Additionally, ensuring that your ad copy aligns with the landing page content is key to improving the user experience.

In a best digital marketing course with placement, students learn how to craft effective ad copy that resonates with their target audience. The ability to write persuasive ad copy is a skill that can make or break a PPC campaign, and proper training can help marketers excel in this area.

5. Optimize Landing Pages for Conversions

A successful PPC campaign doesn't just rely on well-crafted ads. Once users click on your ad, they are directed to a landing page that should be optimized for conversions. A good landing page is relevant to the ad, loads quickly, and provides clear next steps for the user.

Digital marketing institutes, including the Digital Marketing Academy Noida, teach the importance of creating optimized landing pages. These pages should include persuasive copy, relevant images, and clear CTAs that guide users towards conversion, whether it’s filling out a form, making a purchase, or signing up for a newsletter.

6. Monitor and Optimize Your Campaigns

PPC campaigns require continuous monitoring and optimization to ensure that they remain effective. Best practices for PPC campaigns include analyzing metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and cost-per-click (CPC). Based on this data, adjustments should be made to keywords, targeting, ad copy, and bidding strategies.

Institutes like the Best Digital Marketing Institute in Noida emphasize the importance of A/B testing and ongoing optimization. Students learn how to use analytics tools to fine-tune their campaigns, making real-time adjustments to improve performance and reduce wasted spend.

7. Leverage Automation and AI Tools

Automation and AI tools are becoming increasingly popular in the PPC world. These tools help streamline campaign management by automating tasks such as bidding, keyword targeting, and ad creation. Using AI can also help identify trends and opportunities for optimization, making it easier to scale your campaigns.

A best digital marketing course with placement will teach students how to use these advanced tools to improve campaign efficiency and results. Automation can save time and reduce human error, allowing marketers to focus on strategic decisions.

https://prinikacademy.com/best-practices-for-successful-ppc-campaigns/

#Google Ads #PPC Best Practices #Target Audience #Keyword Research #Ad Copy Optimization

0 notes

digiexpert894 · 8 months ago

Text

Mastering the Best Practices for Successful PPC Campaigns

To truly maximize your return on investment (ROI), it’s essential to understand and implement the best practices for successful PPC campaigns. Let’s dive into actionable strategies that can elevate your PPC efforts, save budget, and increase conversions.

1. Define Clear Objectives for Your PPC Campaign

Every successful PPC campaign starts with well-defined goals. What do you want to achieve with your ads? Whether it’s generating leads, increasing website traffic, or driving sales, having a clear objective helps shape your campaign structure, bidding strategy, and ad copy. Your objectives will guide the metrics you measure, such as click-through rate (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), or conversion rate (CVR).

2. Conduct Thorough Keyword Research

Keywords are the foundation of any PPC campaign. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify the keywords your target audience is searching for. Focus on a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords, considering the intent behind each. For example, long-tail keywords often show higher intent, leading to more qualified traffic. Properly segmenting keywords also ensures you’re targeting the right audience, optimizing ad spend and relevancy.

3. Use Negative Keywords to Save Budget

One of the best practices for successful PPC campaigns is to implement a negative keyword list. Negative keywords prevent your ad from showing for irrelevant searches, ensuring you don’t waste your budget on unqualified clicks. For example, if you’re advertising “luxury men’s watches,” you might want to add “cheap” as a negative keyword to avoid budget wastage on users looking for low-cost options. Regularly update this list to keep your campaigns efficient.

4. Craft Compelling Ad Copy and CTAs

Your ad copy is your chance to make a first impression. Make it clear, concise, and compelling. Focus on user benefits and include a strong call-to-action (CTA). For instance, “Shop the Best Deals” or “Get a Free Quote Today” can prompt users to click and engage with your site. Remember, an attractive offer combined with urgency can improve your ad’s CTR.

5. Optimize Your Landing Pages

Once users click on your ad, they should be taken to a landing page that matches their search intent and the ad’s message. Consistency between your ad copy and landing page content improves user experience and can lower your bounce rate. Your landing page should have a clear CTA, a user-friendly design, and optimized loading speed, as these factors contribute to a better Quality Score and a higher conversion rate.

6. Segment Your Audience

Audience segmentation allows you to tailor ads to specific groups based on demographics, location, interests, or behavior. Google Ads and social media platforms provide powerful targeting options to help you reach the right people. For example, if you run an e-commerce store, you might target a different ad to first-time visitors than to those who have already made a purchase. Audience segmentation enables personalized messaging that resonates, resulting in higher engagement and conversions.

7. Use A/B Testing to Optimize Ads

Running A/B tests is a vital component of best practices for successful PPC campaigns. Test different versions of ad copy, headlines, images, and CTAs to see what performs best. Small changes, like tweaking your headline or adjusting your CTA, can significantly impact your ad’s performance. Through continuous testing, you can optimize your ads for better CTR and conversion rates.

8. Monitor and Adjust Bids Regularly

Bid management is crucial to maintaining campaign profitability. PPC platforms like Google Ads offer various bidding strategies, including manual and automated options. Set a budget for each campaign and regularly review your bids to ensure you’re not overspending on low-performing keywords. By adjusting bids based on performance data, you can maximize ROI and allocate budget to top-performing keywords.

9. Analyze Performance Metrics

To gauge the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns, it’s essential to regularly analyze metrics such as CTR, CPC, and ROI. Tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads provide detailed reports on user behavior and ad performance. These insights help you identify what’s working and where adjustments are needed. Keep an eye on trends and adapt your strategy based on data, not assumptions.

10. Incorporate Remarketing Tactics

Remarketing is an excellent way to re-engage users who have previously visited your website but didn’t convert. Through remarketing, you can serve targeted ads to users as they browse other websites, reminding them of your product or service. For example, if someone added an item to their cart but didn’t complete the purchase, a remarketing ad can nudge them to return and finish the transaction. Remarketing often leads to higher conversion rates as it targets warm leads.

11. Stay Updated with Industry Changes

The world of PPC is constantly evolving, with new trends, technologies, and algorithm updates. Staying informed about the latest changes allows you to adapt and remain competitive. Attend webinars, read industry blogs, or join PPC forums to keep your skills sharp. By staying proactive, you ensure your campaigns leverage the latest tools and techniques.

12. Emphasize Mobile Optimization

In an increasingly mobile-driven world, ensuring your ads and landing pages are mobile-friendly is crucial. Mobile optimization improves user experience and prevents high bounce rates, especially on smartphones. Make sure that all elements, from images to CTAs, load quickly and display correctly on various screen sizes. A smooth mobile experience can help capture leads who are on the go, leading to a better ROI for your campaigns.

Following these best practices for successful PPC campaigns is essential for achieving sustainable results. By setting clear goals, conducting thorough keyword research, refining ad copy, and constantly analyzing performance, you can optimize your campaigns to increase clicks, conversions, and ultimately ROI. In PPC advertising, there’s no magic formula—success comes through continuous learning, testing, and refinement.

#PPC Best Practices #A/B Testing in PPC #Google Ads Tips #PPC Landing Pages #PPC Trends

1 note · View note

daivignanmarketingservices · 1 year ago

Text

Profitable Promotions:Ad Campaign Optimization for Maximum ROI

Profitable Promotions Ad Campaign Optimization for Maximum ROI In the digital marketing arena, Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a pivotal strategy for businesses aiming to elevate their online visibility and attract targeted website traffic efficiently. Yet, the essence of PPC success transcends mere campaign initiation; it lies in the meticulous optimization of these campaigns to secure a…

View On WordPress

#ad campaigns #best practices for ad campaign optimization for maximum ROI #conversion optimization techniques for ad campaigns #digital marketing strategies #digital-marketing #google adwords services #how to create profitable promotions for ad campaigns #marketing #pay-per-click #pay-per-click (PPC) advertising #PPC Services #seo #social-media-marketing #strategies to improve targeted advertising ROI #tips for cost-effective PPC campaigns

0 notes

sociallmediaheritage · 1 year ago

Text

Redefining Digital Marketing with Display Advertising Platforms

Digital marketing has undergone a significant transformation over the years, especially with the advent of display ad platforms. These platforms have revolutionized how businesses reach their target audience, offering a powerful way to showcase products and services through visually appealing banner ads. In this article, we'll explore the impact of display advertising platforms on digital marketing and discuss best practices for creating effective display ad campaigns.

The Evolution of Display Advertisement Platforms

Display banner advertising platforms have evolved from basic banner ads to sophisticated ad networks that leverage advanced targeting options and real-time bidding. One of the key advantages of display advertising is its ability to reach a large audience across various websites and apps, increasing brand visibility and driving traffic to your website.

Benefits of Display Ads Platforms

Targeted Advertising: Display ads best platforms allow you to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. This means you can ensure that your ads are seen by people who are likely to be interested in your products or services. By targeting the right audience, you can increase the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns and improve your return on investment (ROI).

Brand Awareness: Display ads are visually engaging and can help you build brand awareness and recognition among your target audience. By displaying your ads on relevant websites and apps, you can increase the visibility of your brand and make it more memorable to potential customers.

Cost-Effective: Display advertising can be more cost-effective than other forms of advertising, such as TV or print ads. With display advertising bookmark the best ads, you can reach a large audience at a relatively low cost, especially when you consider the potential reach and targeting options available. This makes display advertising a cost-effective option for businesses looking to maximize their advertising budget.

Measurable Outcomes: Platforms for display advertisements offer thorough analytics and reporting, enabling you to monitor the effectiveness of your ads in real-time. You can see metrics such as impressions, clicks, and conversions, which can help you understand how your ads are performing and make adjustments as needed to improve their effectiveness. By measuring the results of your display advertising campaigns, you can ensure that you are getting the most out of your advertising budget and achieving your marketing goals.

Display Ads Best Practices

Compelling Visuals: Using high-quality images and graphics is important because visual elements can grab the viewer's attention more effectively than text alone. Compelling visuals can help your ad stand out from the competition and make a lasting impression on your audience. They also play a crucial role in conveying your message and making it more memorable.

Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): A clear and concise CTA is essential for driving action from your audience. Your CTA should be prominently displayed in your advertising platforms and clearly state what action you want the viewer to take, such as "Shop Now," "Sign Up," or "Learn More." A strong CTA can help increase the click-through rate (CTR) of your ad and improve the overall effectiveness of your campaign.

Relevant Messaging: Tailoring your ad copy to resonate with your target audience is key to capturing their attention and persuading them to take action. Your messaging should highlight the benefits of your products or services and address the needs and interests of your audience. By creating relevant messaging, you can make your ads more engaging and increase the likelihood of conversion.

Mobile Optimization: With a significant portion of internet users accessing content through mobile devices, it's crucial to ensure that your display ads are optimized for mobile. This means designing ads that are visually appealing and easy to read on smaller screens, as well as ensuring fast loading times and a seamless user experience. Mobile optimization can help you reach a larger audience and improve the performance of your display advertising campaigns.

Google Ads Spy Tool and Ad Spy Tools

Tools like the Google Ads Spy Tool and other ad spy tools can provide valuable insights into your competitors' display ad strategies. By analyzing their ad creatives, messaging, and targeting, you can gain a competitive edge and refine your own display advertising campaigns.

Conclusion

The display advertising platforms have redefined digital marketing, offering businesses a powerful way to reach their target audience with visually engaging ads. By following best practices and leveraging tools like the Google Ads Spy Tool, you can create effective display ad campaigns that drive results and help you achieve your marketing goals.

#Display advertising platforms #Banner advertising network #Display ads best practices #Google ads spy tool #Ad spy tools

0 notes

mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year ago

Text

Even if you think AI search could be good, it won’t be good

TONIGHT (May 15), I'm in NORTH HOLLYWOOD for a screening of STEPHANIE KELTON'S FINDING THE MONEY; FRIDAY (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

The big news in search this week is that Google is continuing its transition to "AI search" – instead of typing in search terms and getting links to websites, you'll ask Google a question and an AI will compose an answer based on things it finds on the web:

https://blog.google/products/search/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024/

Google bills this as "let Google do the googling for you." Rather than searching the web yourself, you'll delegate this task to Google. Hidden in this pitch is a tacit admission that Google is no longer a convenient or reliable way to retrieve information, drowning as it is in AI-generated spam, poorly labeled ads, and SEO garbage:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

Googling used to be easy: type in a query, get back a screen of highly relevant results. Today, clicking the top links will take you to sites that paid for placement at the top of the screen (rather than the sites that best match your query). Clicking further down will get you scams, AI slop, or bulk-produced SEO nonsense.

AI-powered search promises to fix this, not by making Google search results better, but by having a bot sort through the search results and discard the nonsense that Google will continue to serve up, and summarize the high quality results.

Now, there are plenty of obvious objections to this plan. For starters, why wouldn't Google just make its search results better? Rather than building a LLM for the sole purpose of sorting through the garbage Google is either paid or tricked into serving up, why not just stop serving up garbage? We know that's possible, because other search engines serve really good results by paying for access to Google's back-end and then filtering the results:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

Another obvious objection: why would anyone write the web if the only purpose for doing so is to feed a bot that will summarize what you've written without sending anyone to your webpage? Whether you're a commercial publisher hoping to make money from advertising or subscriptions, or – like me – an open access publisher hoping to change people's minds, why would you invite Google to summarize your work without ever showing it to internet users? Nevermind how unfair that is, think about how implausible it is: if this is the way Google will work in the future, why wouldn't every publisher just block Google's crawler?

A third obvious objection: AI is bad. Not morally bad (though maybe morally bad, too!), but technically bad. It "hallucinates" nonsense answers, including dangerous nonsense. It's a supremely confident liar that can get you killed:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/01/mushroom-pickers-urged-to-avoid-foraging-books-on-amazon-that-appear-to-be-written-by-ai

The promises of AI are grossly oversold, including the promises Google makes, like its claim that its AI had discovered millions of useful new materials. In reality, the number of useful new materials Deepmind had discovered was zero:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/#reverse-centaurs

This is true of all of AI's most impressive demos. Often, "AI" turns out to be low-waged human workers in a distant call-center pretending to be robots:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/31/neural-interface-beta-tester/#tailfins

Sometimes, the AI robot dancing on stage turns out to literally be just a person in a robot suit pretending to be a robot:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

The AI video demos that represent "an existential threat to Hollywood filmmaking" turn out to be so cumbersome as to be practically useless (and vastly inferior to existing production techniques):

https://www.wheresyoured.at/expectations-versus-reality/

But let's take Google at its word. Let's stipulate that:

a) It can't fix search, only add a slop-filtering AI layer on top of it; and

b) The rest of the world will continue to let Google index its pages even if they derive no benefit from doing so; and

c) Google will shortly fix its AI, and all the lies about AI capabilities will be revealed to be premature truths that are finally realized.

AI search is still a bad idea. Because beyond all the obvious reasons that AI search is a terrible idea, there's a subtle – and incurable – defect in this plan: AI search – even excellent AI search – makes it far too easy for Google to cheat us, and Google can't stop cheating us.

Remember: enshittification isn't the result of worse people running tech companies today than in the years when tech services were good and useful. Rather, enshittification is rooted in the collapse of constraints that used to prevent those same people from making their services worse in service to increasing their profit margins:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/glitchbread/#electronic-shelf-tags

These companies always had the capacity to siphon value away from business customers (like publishers) and end-users (like searchers). That comes with the territory: digital businesses can alter their "business logic" from instant to instant, and for each user, allowing them to change payouts, prices and ranking. I call this "twiddling": turning the knobs on the system's back-end to make sure the house always wins:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

What changed wasn't the character of the leaders of these businesses, nor their capacity to cheat us. What changed was the consequences for cheating. When the tech companies merged to monopoly, they ceased to fear losing your business to a competitor.

Google's 90% search market share was attained by bribing everyone who operates a service or platform where you might encounter a search box to connect that box to Google. Spending tens of billions of dollars every year to make sure no one ever encounters a non-Google search is a cheaper way to retain your business than making sure Google is the very best search engine:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Competition was once a threat to Google; for years, its mantra was "competition is a click away." Today, competition is all but nonexistent.

Then the surveillance business consolidated into a small number of firms. Two companies dominate the commercial surveillance industry: Google and Meta, and they collude to rig the market:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue

That consolidation inevitably leads to regulatory capture: shorn of competitive pressure, the companies that dominate the sector can converge on a single message to policymakers and use their monopoly profits to turn that message into policy:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/

This is why Google doesn't have to worry about privacy laws. They've successfully prevented the passage of a US federal consumer privacy law. The last time the US passed a federal consumer privacy law was in 1988. It's a law that bans video store clerks from telling the newspapers which VHS cassettes you rented:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act

In Europe, Google's vast profits lets it fly an Irish flag of convenience, thus taking advantage of Ireland's tolerance for tax evasion and violations of European privacy law:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town

Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, and it also doesn't fear rival technologies. Google and its fellow Big Tech cartel members have expanded IP law to allow it to prevent third parties from reverse-engineer, hacking, or scraping its services. Google doesn't have to worry about ad-blocking, tracker blocking, or scrapers that filter out Google's lucrative, low-quality results:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, it doesn't fear rival technology and it doesn't fear its workers. Google's workforce once enjoyed enormous sway over the company's direction, thanks to their scarcity and market power. But Google has outgrown its dependence on its workers, and lays them off in vast numbers, even as it increases its profits and pisses away tens of billions on stock buybacks:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification

Google is fearless. It doesn't fear losing your business, or being punished by regulators, or being mired in guerrilla warfare with rival engineers. It certainly doesn't fear its workers.

Making search worse is good for Google. Reducing search quality increases the number of queries, and thus ads, that each user must make to find their answers:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

If Google can make things worse for searchers without losing their business, it can make more money for itself. Without the discipline of markets, regulators, tech or workers, it has no impediment to transferring value from searchers and publishers to itself.

Which brings me back to AI search. When Google substitutes its own summaries for links to pages, it creates innumerable opportunities to charge publishers for preferential placement in those summaries.

This is true of any algorithmic feed: while such feeds are important – even vital – for making sense of huge amounts of information, they can also be used to play a high-speed shell-game that makes suckers out of the rest of us:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/11/for-you/#the-algorithm-tm

When you trust someone to summarize the truth for you, you become terribly vulnerable to their self-serving lies. In an ideal world, these intermediaries would be "fiduciaries," with a solemn (and legally binding) duty to put your interests ahead of their own:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/treacherous-computing/#rewilding-the-internet

But Google is clear that its first duty is to its shareholders: not to publishers, not to searchers, not to "partners" or employees.

AI search makes cheating so easy, and Google cheats so much. Indeed, the defects in AI give Google a readymade excuse for any apparent self-dealing: "we didn't tell you a lie because someone paid us to (for example, to recommend a product, or a hotel room, or a political point of view). Sure, they did pay us, but that was just an AI 'hallucination.'"

The existence of well-known AI hallucinations creates a zone of plausible deniability for even more enshittification of Google search. As Madeleine Clare Elish writes, AI serves as a "moral crumple zone":

https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/260

That's why, even if you're willing to believe that Google could make a great AI-based search, we can nevertheless be certain that they won't.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/15/they-trust-me-dumb-fucks/#ai-search

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

djhughman https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Modular_synthesizer_-_%22Control_Voltage%22_electronic_music_shop_in_Portland_OR_-_School_Photos_PCC_%282015-05-23_12.43.01_by_djhughman%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #twiddling #ai #ai search #enshittification #discipline #google #search #monopolies #moral crumple zones #plausible deniability #algorithmic feeds

1K notes · View notes

ace-hell · 9 months ago

Text

Ok so i am late by like a month, i have been busy and STILL didn't finish my native jewish miku but fuck it here's indigenous, native israeli miku with a little of my touch and a small analysis:

The clothes:

The dress is double layered and based on biblical description i saw of the clothes ancient jews wore i added yellow hoops at the end of the dress to represent the color of our oppression- yellow belts under the muslim rule and yellow stars in the holocaust

The embroidery:

The Rikma(embroidery) is a personal project i am working on for the past 3 months. The embroidery that WAS practiced on the land eventually was allowed only to muslims and arabs, jews in ottoman syria/palestine were so oppressed and poor they didn't have access to threads and around 1800's some rabbis discoraged jews being involved in arab activity, not only that the jews has completely disconnected themselves from most of the arab culture after the spread of zionism to the land as a form of building their own identity. And if there were jews involved in embroidery it is unknown bc all the photos i see are labeled as "palestinian woman" with no explanation if it is a christian, muslim or jewish.

My project consists of making patterns and motifs based on jewish history, symbols, traditions, land etc and i try to make it original, unique and as diverse from the tatreez as possible to avoid conflict. If any of you want i can explain in a different analysis on what each pattern represents.

The jewelry:

I genuinely suck at drawing gold and jewelry and tried my best to adorn her with as much jewelry as i can. The side piece(that can barely be seen) is also a pattern i came up with, i call it "amulet"

(ps. I forgot to make her a normal necklace, wanted to make it with a hamsa)

Henna:

Henna is still practiced by jews, mainly sefardic and mizrahi jews + ashkenazi jews who grow up and participate in mizrahi culture. The henna on the hands is based on patterns i saw some jewish artists made (on google unfortunately it didn't have names) which has the star of david on it and on the legs i made a mix of bukharan and yemeni jewish henna.

So here it is. A native, indigenous jewish/judean/israeli(te) miku. I tried my best✨

1K notes · View notes

absinthe-over-tea · 11 days ago

Text

either way it's gonna || the pitt

pt 5 - 3.7k <<start at the beginning • prev • next>>

pairing: jack abbott x f!resident!reader quick synopsis: When Langdon leaves The Pitt for rehab, Robby hires you as a new senior resident. Meeting Jack on your first day spirals into a year of almosts and miscommunication — all you know is either way this goes, it's going to hurt. Inspired by Hurt by Jasmine Jethwa. tags/warnings: angst, will-they-won't-they, unspecified age gap (older man/younger woman), canon-typical death, probably an insulting number of medical inaccuracies but Google only tells you so much, Jack is taking Robby's title for Sad Boy™ this week, Jack's POV a/n: We are earning that will-they-won't-they, y'all. Thank each and every one of you who have read, liked, reblogged or commented on this fic. It's been amazing jumping back into writing, and I'm blown away at the response to my first-ever x reader fic! Sorry this one's a little late — work was a hellscape this week. Pls let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list! Not beta read.

Jack was pretty sure the universe was taunting him.

It had been hard enough to stay away from you when you were on day shifts and you only shared the hospital for a few minutes each day. Then, you got moved to night shift because Robby needed to keep an eye on fucking Frank Langdon.

He’d tried to keep his distance as best he could, respect your boundaries. You’d made it clear on your first day on the night shift — you were interested in a professional relationship with one another, and that was it.

But you were so fucking good. Impressive. Quick on your feet. Compassionate. Funny. You had the entire ED wrapped around your pretty little finger, and all he could do was watch from afar as you built connections with everyone in his department but him.

Then the night of that fucking Marine came.

The cops said it had been a convenience store robbery attempt gone wrong. She’d tried to stop the guy, talk him down from hurting the old man behind the counter, and he’d panicked. Turned on her instead.

Four lacerations, one puncturing a lung and another nicking the abdominal aorta. She’d already lost well over a liter of blood by the time she’d gotten to the hospital. Anyone else, and Jack would have called it immediately. But she was so young. Had survived god knows what overseas just to be killed for being at the wrong place at the wrong time? For trying to protect someone else?

He always had a hard time reconciling a vet dying on his table. War made sense to him, even if the reasons we shipped people off to it didn’t. The death and destruction, it was every bit as devastating regardless of where it happened. But there was a logic to it happening in war at the hands of an IED or a sniper, at least in Jack’s mind.

He had a principle to hold onto. They died for their country, they knew the risks they signed up for, every soldier would willingly sacrifice themselves for what they are fighting for. Maybe it was just a lie he told himself — he’d long passed the time in his life when he was an idealist about the motives and practices of the U.S. military industrial complex. But it was something. This? This was nonsensical. Meaningless. A reminder that he was alive when so many in his old unit weren’t. A reminder that just because he survived his tours didn’t mean he’d survive tomorrow.

It always got him stuck in his head, stuck in 2007 in a desert field hospital.

Of course, you’d witnessed every second. His failure to save her, and his failure to step away. And then you’d gone and intercepted him at the foot of the stairs, too. Jack honestly wasn’t sure if he was immensely grateful you’d refused to let him be alone or disappointed to be pulled away from the doorway to the roof.

Either way, he was powerless to do anything but follow you out to his truck.

“Keys,” you prompted, voice somehow both soft and unyielding. You held out your hand in expectation. He should have argued with you. He was perfectly capable of driving himself, and it would mean leaving your car here. But he found himself handing over his keys without a fight.

The drive to your place was silent aside from the low drone of the radio. Later, Jack would kick himself for not taking the opportunity to watch you in his space — take in how you drove his GMC like you were born behind the wheel, posture relaxed and fingers tapping quietly in rhythm with the music.

But his mind was elsewhere. Busy replaying every second the Marine — Taylor, he’d learned her name was — was in front of him. Should he have applied more pressure, why did it take him so long to figure out her aorta had been nicked, why couldn’t he have just cauterized the wounds to stop the bleeding first and ask questions later like he would have done had they been in a warzone, why even attempt to wait for surgery, maybe he should have said to hell with Walsh’s critiques and just plugged the holes with his damn fingers, why the fuck didn’t she just run?

He knew the answers, deep down. Pressure wouldn’t have helped a collapsed lung, there was no way to know an artery was nicked without seeing or feeling it, cauterization came with risk of infection and you couldn’t cauterize a goddamn lung or an aorta, this wasn’t a warzone (and thank god for that), Walsh had the best hands in the building, she wouldn’t have been a Marine if she’d ran away from someone who needed her.

But knowing and feeling weren’t synonymous. The weight on his chest wouldn’t let up, and when he closed his eyes, all he could see was the eyes of her husband when he told him the love of his life was dead. So he stared blankly ahead while he started the analysis all over again.

Jack was pulled from his thoughts when the passenger door opened. You lived in a highrise, which somewhat shocked him. Didn’t seem like your type of place. You don’t actually know her outside of the hospital, he reminded himself. Part of him disagreed with that. He felt like he did know you, like he’d known you for far longer than he actually had. Then again, he’d already proven once that he wasn’t foolproof at reading you, so what did he know?

“Living room is through there, bathroom is down the hall to the right,” you said, opening the door wide to let him in first. You slipped your shoes off before stepping fully inside, picking them up and placing them in a shoe cabinet in the entryway once the door was shut and locked. His eyes snagged down to his own feet, to the tactical boots he still wore most shifts.

Of course, you noticed his gaze. “Oh, don’t feel like you have to. I really only do it out of habit. Strict parents and all that.” You huffed out a laugh at that statement, but there was something off about it. Like it was a defense mechanism rather than genuine.

“I don’t mind,” he assured, crouching down to untie his boots. He realized suddenly that he didn’t know if you knew, if you’d ever seen his prosthetic before. “It’s just-” But you cut him off before he could finish stammering out an admission about the metal that you’d see in place of the lower part of his right leg.

“Jack, seriously. Most prosthetics are made to be worn with shoes. If it’s easier to keep them on, keep them on.” You said it so casually, attention already shifted away from him to the now open fridge door. So you did know.

He made his way over to one of the barstools arranged at your kitchen island, setting his bag down on the stool next to him and watching as you pulled out a carton of eggs, bacon and strawberries from the fridge.

“I didn’t realize you knew.” He didn’t specify, but he knew you’d understand.

“Heather told me, back when I first started,” you admitted, and Jack could see a slight flush color the tops of your cheeks. You didn’t meet his eyes, almost seeming embarrassed — though Jack didn’t understand what there was for you to feel embarrassed about. He didn’t advertise the prosthetic at work most of the time, but it also wasn’t a secret.

“You never mentioned.”

“Neither did you. I didn’t think it was any of my business.” He was grateful for the sentiment, a rarity at The Pitt where gossip might as well be its own form of currency. But part of him wanted it to be your business, wanted you to make everything about him your business.

“This will take a minute — I’m unfortunately faster with a suture kit than a skillet,” you deftly changed the subject with a wry smile.

“Would you like some help?” Jack was far from a savant in the kitchen, but he didn’t want you to think you had to cook for him.

“No, no. I promised you breakfast and a view, and I’m a woman of my word.” You gestured to the doorway that led to the living room. “Go make yourself at home out on the balcony. As much as I hate this apartment sometimes, the sunrise is admittedly pretty great.”

You all but shooed him out of the kitchen, and he figured you must not want the audience.

Jack let himself linger in your living room, allowing himself to be distracted by taking in every single detail of your space. It was tastefully decorated, a cream sectional with perfectly placed throw pillows against one wall and a matching end table and coffee table set. A reading chair sat under a curved lampshade in the opposite corner next to bookshelves that were near bursting.

He smiled to himself at the mental image of you curled up with a blanket and a book in that chair, hair pulled up in that same messy bun you always kept it in at work, eyes flying through the words on the page in front of you like they did a patient chart.

He was a little disappointed that you didn’t have any photos framed, on the walls or otherwise. Nothing to tell him about the people you spent time with other than the Pitt crew or your family. In fact, looking around the room, it was almost as if the reading corner was the only part of the room that actually felt lived in. Maybe you’d recently moved or something.

Jack eventually made his way out to the small balcony. You hadn’t been kidding about the view of the skyline. The sun was just peaking above the buildings in downtown Pittsburgh across the river.

Alone with his own thoughts again, Jack’s mind went back to Taylor. How this was the first morning her husband would be waking up without her. It’d be the first time she didn’t go through her morning routine, whatever it had been. It’d be the first time the home she and her husband had shared would be quiet in the morning without her puttering around and getting ready.

He leaned over with his forearms against the balcony railing, eyes aggressively held shut to hold back the wetness forming behind them.

Jack knew intimately how loud that silence was. After his wife died, he used to have the TV or police scanner on constantly. Anything to drown out the quiet. A decade later, and he still felt the loss in those first few moments of silence in the mornings between him opening his door and his police scanner being turned on as background noise while he readied for sleep.

Inhale, two, three, four. Hold, two three four. Exhale, two three four. Hold, two, three, four. It was a tip his therapist had taught him, a way to regulate his nervous system when emotions threatened to overwhelm him, to keep himself from falling apart.

A hand smoothed over his shoulder, and he immediately straightened in alarm.

“It’s just me,” you said softly, pulling your hand back. He missed the sensation, the warmth he could feel even through the layers of his scrub top and undershirt, as soon as it was gone. “I didn’t mean to startle you, I guess you didn’t hear me calling your name. Breakfast’s ready.”

He nodded absently and followed you back inside. You’d put music on, lyrics playing low over the stereo. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who didn’t love the quiet.

Two plates were waiting at the small breakfast nook off to the side of the kitchen, piled with sausage, eggs, fruit and toast. A matching mug sat steaming next to one of the plates, your sticker-clad water bottle you always had within reach during shifts next to the other.

You padded over to the bench, curling your legs underneath you as you sat. He sat in the chair opposite of you. Took a cautious sip of the mug you’d obviously prepared for him and tasted chamomile tea lightly sweetened with honey instead of coffee. How you knew that was his typical end-of-shift drink, he had no idea.

He’d expected an interrogation once you started eating. You weren’t typically one to hold back when you had questions, and he knew there were a million ping-ponging around in that beautiful head of yours. But you didn’t say anything. Instead, you held a paperback book open on the table in front of you with one hand and ate with the other. He got the sense that you weren’t ignoring him, but rather giving him space. Allowing him peace without loneliness.

The entire scene was oddly domestic, intimate in a way that twisted at something in Jack’s chest. A longing he hadn’t experienced in a very long time before you’d waltzed into his life.

When you both finished eating, you dog-eared your page and set your book aside, got up and took both of your plates to the sink. Jack shifted to get up and help, but you just placed that hand on his shoulder again, silently telling him to stay put.

He watched you as you rinsed the plates, placed them in the dishwasher and walked back to the table to grab his mug. There were so many things he wanted to say, felt he should say. Thank you for breakfast. I’m sorry for being such shit company. I didn’t know just how badly I didn’t want to be alone after last night. I tried my best not to, but I think I fell in love with you anyway.

You broke the silence before he could force any words past the lump lodged in his throat, though, once again saving him from himself. “You don’t have to talk about it,” you said, your hand once again finding his shoulder as you made your way past him again. All he could do was look up at you, meeting those eyes that held more kindness toward him than he felt he deserved. “But I want you to know that I’m here. If you need me.”

And god, he did need you. Desperately. Rules and propriety and all sense of self preservation be damned.

When he didn’t say anything, you gave him a small smile and his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before starting to move away. His hand reached out, fingers wrapping around your wrist to keep you there, closing his eyes and leaning his head against your arm. Needing more of your warmth, more of you.

You let out an exhale, gingerly turning in his grasp until you were facing him. Your other hand came up to tenderly weave through his hair. The soothing sensation of your fingertips against his scalp forced a low hum to leave him as he leaned deeper into your embrace.

He used the hand still clutching to your wrist to drag you in front of him. He just needed more of you, more of that unending warmth that was slowly chasing away that bone-deep cold that had taken over him throughout the night.

You let him, not saying anything as his forehead rested against your abdomen and his hands landed on the backs of your lower thighs, keeping you there for him to lean against. Any second now, you’d pull away. You’d reassert the boundaries you’d drawn months ago. But he’d take whatever comfort you’d allow him in the meantime, holding onto you like you were his only mooring in a storm.

“Survived a damn war and then murdered five minutes from home,” he whispered, voice hoarse and barely loud enough to be heard. “She had her whole life ahead of her. And now she’s gone, another full life lost, and I’m still here left trying to figure out why.”

He felt the way your arms tightened around him, how your body curved just slightly over him. Sheltering him. “Oh, Jack.”

It was the way you said his name, like hearing him in pain hurt you, that broke the fucking dam. Hot tears he’d been holding back for the better part of five hours streamed down his face, and he let out an audible sob.

You didn’t pull away, just held onto him as his shoulders shook and his fingers dug into the backs of your legs to keep him anchored. His ears were ringing too loud for him to hear you, but he could feel the vibrations of your voice speaking to him.

For the first time in years, maybe in over a decade, he let himself be held while he lost it. He didn’t try to be strong and he didn’t try to hold back the tears and he didn’t try to rationalize away the anger and sadness and bone-breaking guilt. Instead, he allowed you to hold the broken pieces together for him. Let himself need you.

With every pass of your fingers through his hair and every fresh wave of tears that he let your shirt absorb, he felt a little bit more of the pain slowly start to drain until all he felt was numbness and overwhelming exhaustion.

Once his fingers unclenched themselves from your skin, you stood a little straighter. Your hands coaxed him to look up at you, and he noticed that your own eyes were a little glassy. He opened his mouth to apologize for upsetting you, but you shook your head. Used your thumbs to gently and painstakingly wipe any remaining tears from his cheeks.

“I should go,” he said finally, and god, his voice was wrecked.

“Absolutely not,” you protested, your own voice resolute. “You’re exhausted and in no state to drive. You’re staying; I have a guest room with black out curtains and a perfectly comfortable bed.” You left no room for argument, and he would have found the defiant glint in your eye daring him to challenge you adorable under different circumstances.

Maybe it was a testament to just how tired Jack was that he didn’t fight you on it. Or, maybe it was a testament to the grip you had on his heart. He couldn’t recall ever putting up much of a fight when it came to you.

You showed him to your guest bathroom, pointing out where he could find towels and a still-packaged spare toothbrush. You told him to leave his hospital clothes in the hamper and you’d put them in the wash with your own.

He savored the feel of the hot water and the smell of your soap, and by the time he stepped across the hall and into your guest room wearing the spare tshirt and boxers he always kept in his go-bag, you’d already drawn the curtains, turned down the top sheet and duvet, and set out a glass of water with three ibuprofen on the bedside table. A small alarm clock radio was turned to some sports broadcast, as if she somehow knew he’d need the noise, and the only light in the room was coming from the warm light of a lamp on the opposite side of the bed.

Once again, he was struck with the casual intimacy of it all. To be taken care of in this effortless sort of way, like there was nothing else you would be doing with your morning other than making sure he didn’t lose himself.

For a split second, he saw a version of what his life could be like with you laid out in front of him.

Working night shifts together before leaving the hospital arm in arm, quiet drives back to your shared space, breakfasts and morning bedtime routines before shuffling into bed together. Your fingers in his hair chasing away his worst nights, and his mouth chasing away yours. Falling asleep curled up next to you, the radio a quiet lull in the background. Waking up the same way.

It was so close he felt like could reach out and grab it, this future he knew he didn’t deserve and thought he’d lost forever. So when you went to leave, telling him you’d give him some privacy and bidding him a soft goodnight, he let himself reach out and grab your hand.

“Stay,” he begged. “You were right, I… I don’t want to be alone.”

When he met your eyes, he expected to find hesitation. Maybe even pity. But instead, he was met with an inexplicable expression shining in those beautiful, striking eyes of yours. It almost seemed like something close to hope.

“Let me take a shower and brush my teeth real quick. I’ll be right back,” you promised. You squeezed the hand that was still holding onto yours before letting go and stepping back through the door.

Jack took the opportunity to go through the routine of taking off his prosthetic — he hadn’t put his liner back on after the shower for the short walk across the hall — and massaging the tissue around his scar. He also downed the full glass of water you’d left him and all three ibuprofen. By the time he was done 10 minutes later, you were cautiously padding back into the room, face bare, hair down and clad in an old, oversized tshirt and pajama shorts.

“Are you sure?” you asked hesitantly, one knee propped on the bed. As if there was a universe where he’d rather be alone than next to you.

He nodded and you crawled the rest of the way under the covers, leaning over to switch off the lamp. You were both turned toward each other, and he reached out, searching for you in the now dark room, wanting you as close as you’d allow him.

“Is this okay?” Suddenly, he was the one hesitant, not sure where the lines were anymore.

You curled into him willingly, head fitting seamlessly into the crook of his shoulder and a hand coming up to curl against his chest. “Yeah. It’s okay.”

He inhaled deeply, the scent of your vanilla bourbon lotion flooding his senses, and the remaining tension fully melted from his body with his exhale. Sleep overtook him before he even finished taking his next breath.

#the pitt #jack abbot x reader #the pitt fanfiction #the pitt x reader #dr jack abbot x reader #mads writes stuff

269 notes · View notes