The Bearded IFA Diaries | Google Ads: Are You Wasting Your Money?

How much money are businesses wasting on Google Ads without even realising it? In this episode of The Bearded IFA Diaries, I'm joined by Dan Roberts, co-founder of Three Clicks Digital, for a fascinating conversation about Google Ads, PPC, entrepreneurship and the rapidly changing world of digital marketing. Dan and his two co-founders came from agency backgrounds and kept seeing the same problems: account managers stretched across too many clients, generic campaigns, a lack of communication and businesses spending significant amounts on advertising without really understanding what they were getting in return. So they decided to do something about it. They founded Three Clicks Digital, deliberately choosing to specialise in Google and Microsoft Ads rather than trying to become another full-service digital marketing agency. We get into exactly what PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising is, how it works and, importantly, how businesses can use it effectively to generate measurable results. We also discuss why specialisation matters. Is there an advantage in becoming exceptionally good at one thing rather than trying to offer everything? It's a subject that comes up regularly on the podcast, and Dan has some interesting thoughts from both the agency and business-owner perspective. Of course, we couldn't talk about digital marketing in 2026 without mentioning AI. We explore how technology is changing Google Ads, what automation means for PPC specialists, how search behaviour itself could change and where human expertise still fits into an increasingly AI-driven world. Three Clicks Digital is also one of the first UK agencies accepted as a ChatGPT Ads partner, so we discuss what the emergence of advertising within AI platforms could mean for businesses and the wider digital advertising landscape. And, as always, we go beyond the technical stuff. Dan shares his own journey, the decision to start Three Clicks with his business partners, the challenges of building a new company and their ambitions for the future. In this episode: 💻 What PPC actually is and how Google Ads works 💷 Why businesses can waste money on poorly managed campaigns 🎯 When PPC can—and can't—work for a business 🔍 Why Three Clicks decided to become specialists rather than generalists 📊 Understanding the numbers that actually matter 🤝 Why communication between an agency and its clients is so important 🚀 Dan's journey into business ownership 👥 Founding a company with two business partners 🤖 How AI is already changing digital advertising 🔮 What the future of Google, search and PPC could look like 💬 The emergence of ChatGPT Ads and what it could mean for businesses Even if you've never run a Google Ads campaign in your life, this is a really interesting conversation about business, technology, specialisation and how the way we find products and services online is changing. And if you're already spending money on PPC, you might listen to this one slightly differently... particularly when we start talking about wasted ad spend! 😬 🌐 Find out more about Dan and Three Clicks Digital: https://threeclicksdigital.co.uk/ 🎙️ The Bearded IFA Diaries — real conversations with business owners, leaders and entrepreneurs about their journeys, their challenges and the lessons they've learned along the way.