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The Upp.ai blog

Articles, customer stories, and playbooks from the team building Upp.ai. Built for retail and ecommerce operators who care about results.

Two-column comparison of PPC reporting metrics: click-through rate, impression share, platform ROAS alone and keyword-level CPC struck through under 'retire from the board pack', with incremental revenue, profit after ad spend, blended return and match-source spend split highlighted under 'report instead'.

Paid media

PPC reporting in 2026: what metrics actually matter after the AI Max migration

September's AI Max migration quietly rewired how Search campaigns match and report. The metrics worth presenting now, the ones to retire from the board pack, and how to reconcile the change.

Upp.ai insights team

27 Oct 20268 min read

Diagram of a Google Shopping product listing next to a feed health checklist: title structure, GTIN and price accuracy and product types pass, while 1,406 images below the new 500 by 500 pixel minimum carry a warning ahead of enforcement on 31 January 2027.

Google Ads

Google Shopping feed optimisation: the 2026 playbook for UK retail brands

PMax assembles your ads from your product data, so the feed decides which auctions you enter. A practical playbook for UK retail — and the 31 January 2027 image deadline to beat.

Upp.ai insights team

25 Oct 20268 min read

Diagram of Performance Max channel prioritisation: Google channels set to high priority and funded first, with Search partners and the Display Network set to low priority under 10% and 50% daily budget caps, and a note that Display Expansion migrates in February 2027.

Google Ads

Performance Max channel prioritisation: the complete UK ecommerce guide

Google is rolling out channel prioritisation and budget allocation controls from 15 October. What UK retail teams can set inside PMax, what they still can't, and the February 2027 date to diary.

Upp.ai insights team

23 Oct 20269 min read

Illustration of reported ROAS 4.2x with the portion that would have happened anyway stripped out, leaving 1.6x incremental revenue proven against a holdout.

Paid media

Why incrementality has replaced ROAS as the measure that matters

Finance is now asking a different question, and incrementality is the only lens that answers it.

Upp.ai insights team

26 Aug 20261 min read

Split graphic contrasting a team managing platforms manually with a team setting strategy while Rubin executes across Google, Meta and Microsoft Ads, captioned: Your team decides the direction. Rubin executes inside it.

Paid media

What is Microsoft PMax, and how is it different from Google's?

The same automation concept as Google's, with different inventory, less signal and its own pacing. Where the two differ and why they should be managed separately.

Upp.ai insights team

24 Aug 20261 min read

Illustration of a Search campaign card upgrading to AI Max, with search term matching and text customisation switched on and Rubin executing to the target

Google Ads

Google AI Max auto-upgrade: what changes on 1 September

Two Search features move into AI Max automatically between 1 and 30 September. What changes, which defaults switch on, and the checklist to run before the window opens.

Upp.ai insights team

18 Aug 20264 min read

Split illustration: a cluttered manual bid sheet on the left, Rubin monitoring Google, Meta and Microsoft on the right, under the line Bring clarity to your paid media.

Paid media

Why the paid media market moves faster than teams can react

53% of PPC professionals say the job is harder than it was two years ago. The reason is not a skills gap: purchase intent now forms across more surfaces than any team can watch.

Upp.ai insights team

14 Aug 20262 min read

AI search

Answer engines don't click: what AEO and GEO mean for paid media

In two years, answer engine optimisation (AEO) and generative engine optimisation (GEO) have gone from SEO jargon to the fastest-rising discipline in search. The demand your campaigns bid on is increasingly read, and answered, by a model first. Here is what the answer layer means for paid media, and for the money behind it.

Upp.ai insights team

30 Jul 20269 min read

Upp.ai illustration of a Google Ads bid slider: a muted sphere marked “Actual £5” converging on a glossy purple target handle marked “Target CPA £10”, under a chip reading “Google Ads · 17 August 2026”.

Paid media

The 17 August bidding audit: is your outperformance strategy, or drift?

From 17 August, budget-limited campaigns on Target CPA and Target ROAS will deliver the number you typed, not the number you got used to. More configuration work has just landed on every media team. The winners will treat it as strategy.

Upp.ai insights team

13 Jul 20269 min read