01
Ad platforms
- Google Ads: Shopping, Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen
- Sklik for the Czech market
- ChatGPT Ads (OpenAI Ads) since April 2026
- Microsoft Ads on international accounts
Karel Huk · PPC specialist for e-commerceEight years in marketing.
Agency, in-house, now freelance.
I have worked at Alza and today I lead (among other things) Shopping for an international marketplace. I run e-commerce budgets myself, with no juniors between me and the campaigns.
- 8 yrsin marketing
- $75M+invested in PPC
- 50+clients
- 12+ marketswhere I run campaigns
01Story
How I got here
I did not start with campaigns. I started in general marketing. With copy, websites and email. I worked my way to performance and analytics.
My first years were marketing at its widest: content, websites, social, email. I know advertising is just one piece of the puzzle, and that it is hard to win when the rest of the journey does not work.
E-commerce is what pulled me toward performance. A lot can be counted there and the numbers do not lie. I enjoy hunting for growth and efficiency opportunities more than inventing creative.
At Alza I looked after consumer electronics. A large catalog, tough competition and lower margins. That is where I learned to read a campaign as part of a business rather than as an account in Google Ads.
Then came an international marketplace, where I still work: hundreds of thousands of products and campaigns across more than ten markets. At that scale you automate whatever you can. Today I know how to save time for strategic decisions.
Alongside that I have had my own clients since 2019. Online stores where I run the budget personally and the engagements last for years.
02Career path
The road here
Every stop added something the one before it was missing.
2018 to 2021
Marketing specialist
Content, websites, communication for international projects, email. The broad base everything else stands on.
2020 to 2022
Performance marketing for e-commerce
Google Ads, Sklik, GA4, technical SEO and my first product feeds. This is where I traded breadth for performance.
2019 to today
Freelance, business ID 08581835
My own clients: online stores with budgets from $10k a month. Since 2022 mostly Google Ads, feeds and automation.
2022 to 2023
PPC specialist, Alza.cz
Consumer electronics, accountable for revenue and return. I hit target six quarters in a row and the budgets I ran kept growing.
2024 to today
Senior SEM consultant, international marketplace
Shopping campaigns and product data at scale: hundreds of thousands of items, over ten markets, thousands of granular campaigns built through the API. After a structural rebuild and feed work, revenue from US PLA campaigns grew by roughly 40%, and roughly tenfold over three years.
03Tools
What I work with
Every PPC person knows the ad platforms. The difference is what you bring to them.
02
Product data
- Google Merchant Center and supplemental sources
- Mergado and my own feed enrichment tool
- Preparing data for AI Shopping and AI Overviews
- Catalogs of over 100,000 items
03
Measurement
- GA4, Google Tag Manager, Consent Mode v2
- Server-side conversion tracking
- OpenAI Pixel and Conversions API
- Looker Studio reports you open 24/7
04
Automation
- Google Ads API, Merchant API, GA4 API, GTM API
- Python, SQL, BigQuery, Google Apps Script
- Scripts watching targets, budgets and drift
- Scripts public on GitHub
04Approach
How I think about an account
The order is the same every time and it rarely starts with campaigns.
01
Measurement first
Before I rebuild anything, I sort the conversion actions out. On three of the five accounts I went through in 2026, the Conversions metric mixed purchases with store visits. Optimizing toward that number is pointless.
02
Then the feed
The feed is what the algorithm reads instead of your website. A supplemental source lets me fix titles, attributes and categories without touching the store.
03
Then structure
Budget poured into the wrong structure only burns faster. An account I took over after eighteen months of someone else's management now does three times the orders at the same ROAS.
04
Bidding last
I derive targets from your margin. Anything a script can watch, I do not watch by hand, so I have enough time left for the account's strategic direction.
05Due diligence
What to ask when you hire a PPC senior
Put these to anyone, me included. I answer them upfront so you know what to expect.
How much of those numbers was your own decision?
On client accounts, all of it: strategy, structure and daily tuning are mine. At Alza I was part of a team, and it's the same at the international marketplace where I still work. So for both I speak only about the segment I'm responsible for. The $75M+ invested in PPC is a total across eight years and every role.
What do results look like for a normal store, not a corporation?
Client accounts say the most. My longest engagement has been running for 3+ years, one store sits at ROAS 7.58 after 14 months with orders tripled, and a new account did 78 orders in month one and 141 in month two at a ROAS of 4.27. The numbers sit in context on the results page.
How do you know your change is what worked?
For feed enrichment I measure against a control group of products from the same account and subtract the seasonal trend. Where that is not possible I say so and stop treating the number as credit. That is why the case studies include what did not work.
How much of that automation actually runs?
Scripts watching targets and budgets run weekly on client accounts, feed enrichment has been through 100,000+ products, and through the API I built 3,000 campaigns across 12 countries in a week. My scripts are public at github.com/hukkarel for you to read: budget pacing alerts, search term n-gram analysis, a bid target check and a Merchant Center disapproval monitor.
When will you tell me you don't want the job?
When the budget is under $10k a month, my fee would weigh too heavily on your cost of sale. When the store's problem sits somewhere other than advertising, I say so and tell you where the money should go instead. You hear both on the first call, not three months in.
06Pricing
What it costs
A precise quote follows the first call. Here is the frame, so you know what to expect.
From $400 one-time
One-time deep-dive audit
I go through the account, the feed and the tracking, and within 3 days you have a list of where money is leaking today. From $400, depending on account size. I compare it with a free audit in my article on free vs. paid PPC audits.
From $400 a month
Ongoing management
I take over campaigns, feed and measurement, including a report you open 24/7. From $400 a month, depending on account size and scope of work.
Second opinion
Consulting and strategy
Have your own specialist and want a second opinion? I lead strategy and advise over the numbers regularly, while the day-to-day stays with you.
No lock-in, cancel any time. A long notice period would only be insurance against bad work. How the management fee is set and which three models you will meet on the market is in my article on the cost of Google Ads management.
07Contact
Let's find out whether I can help.
I reply within 24 hours. The call takes 30 minutes.
If PPC is the wrong spend for you, you will hear that from me.
Prefer to reach me directly?