How long have you been working in PPC?
I’ve been working in the PPC industry for 3 years now – the same length of time as I’ve been working at Lunio. Prior to that I was working in SEO, Content, and Podcast Production for another Manchester-based SaaS business (Podcast.co)
How did you get started in PPC?
My role is not strictly in PPC i.e. I do not spend any time managing campaigns hands-on in Google Ads. Instead my role focuses on creating content and recording interviews with leading experts about the latest developments and headlines form the world of paid media.
My background is PPC-adjacent as my first few marketing roles were focused on content creation for SEO / organic traffic. When starting at Lunio 3 years ago, I had to get up to speed on the world of PPC quite quickly, and this was helped by conducting interviews with some of the thoughts leaders in the space.
If you went to college or university, what did you study? If not college, do you have any other degrees or certifications?
My undergraduate degree was in Optometry from the University of Manchester. I then briefly worked as an Optometrist for Specsavers in the UK (for around 6 months). I really did not enjoy high-street Optometry as the role was heavily sales / target driven, and also very repetitive.
After leaving Specsavers in 2015 and returning home to Northern Ireland with my parents, I completed a diploma in Journalism from the National Council for the Training of Journalists in the UK.
In Sept 2016 I then returned to the University of Manchester to complete a Masters in Science Communication. A Master’s in Science Communication is a postgraduate degree that trains students to effectively communicate complex scientific and technical information to a variety of audiences, including the public, policymakers, and specific industries.
What was your first job that involved PPC?
Running the Lunio blog, webinars, and YouTube channel:
https://www.lunio.ai/blog
https://www.lunio.ai/webinars
https://www.youtube.com/@lunio_ai/featured
What is your current position and how long have you been in it?
Content Lead @ Lunio
I’ve been in this role since July 2022
What kinds of things do you currently handle or manage in PPC?
I don’t run campaigns myself – but my content primarily focuses on interviewing thought leaders in the space and covering the latest ad platform updates.
At Lunio I am responsible for overseeing the performance of our paid search campaigns, ensuring budget it allocated as efficiently as possible. And I’m also responsible for running LinkedIn Ads to drive registrations for Lunio webinars.
Has your career path had any hiccups or nontraditional aspects that you’d like to share?
Yes – see my previous points about beginning in Optometry before retraining and then going into digital marketing. Prior to Lunio my role was heavily focused on podcast production. That put me in a unique position to cover the PPC and pad media industry via webinars and podcasts.
What are you most proud of in your PPC career?
My 2 most popular interviews to date, one with Jyll Saskin Gales, and the other with Rand Fishkin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLeLxkydkmQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7a5Q0RXghA
I’ve also hosted several webinars at Lunio which have achieved more than 1000+ registrations (w/ Navah Hopkins, Thomas Eccel, and Adriaan Dekker). My webinar with Adriaan Dekker focused on PMax Strategies, and had more than 450 live attendees.
Seeing positive feedback from people who attend my live webinars is very rewarding, and one of the things I’m most proud of.
What, if anything, do you wish you could “do over” in your PPC career?
Start the Lunio podcast earlier (was only launched in Jan 2025). We’ve grown the Lunio YouTube channel from 100 subscribers in Jan 2025 to 610+ subcribers in Dec 2025. I wish I would have started creating podcasts and videos sooner so we’d be closer to 1k subscribers by now!
If you could give advice to someone either considering or just starting out in PPC, what would that be?
Connect with others in the space on LinkedIn who share useful info. Post content yourself on LinkedIn (especially your thoughts, opinions, and reactions to the latest ad platform updates). And also get to as many in-person meetups and events as you can. In the new era on AI, I believe physical in-person events are going to become more and more valuable.
Don’t fall victim to “Shiny Object Syndrome” – you don’t need to worry about the latest “advanced” strategies until you’re built up a very strong grasp of the fundamentals on Google Ads, as that’s what will drive 80% of your results.
Also don’t forget to consider the things that fall outside of ad platform interfaces such as offer design, landing page optimisation, and consumer psychology.
Are you interested in speaking opportunities? If so, what topics are your jam?
Yes. Preferred topics would be:
- Tackling the problem of invalid traffic across major ad platforms like Google & Meta
- Content creation and video production for B2B SaaS brands
- Key insights and lessons learned from hosting the Paid Media Lab podcast
Anything else you’d like to share?
Be careful if you are investing heavily in LinkedIn and TikTok ads – data from Lunio reveals both of these platforms have very high average invalid traffic rates compared to Google.
For example, as part of a recent cross-platform analysis of more than 2.7 billion clicks, we found that TikTok’s average invalid traffic rate was a staggering 24%. In contrast, the average invalid traffic rate across the Google Ads ecosystem was 7%.
Where can people find you to connect (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-deeney-scicomm/
And subscribe to Lunio’s YouTube channel to catch my latest podcast.