On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Zaid Ammari. What sets Zaid apart is his ability to transform complex data into actionable insights, empowering businesses to make smarter marketing decisions. His mantra, 'work smarter, not harder,' is reflected in his approach to managing PPC campaigns and optimising SEO strategies.
In today's episode, Zaid will share his insights on how businesses can leverage paid media, navigate recent changes in Google's SEO and Ads platform, and utilise data for maximum impact.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
While I was working at a bank, not making much money and unable to move up the ranks, Facebook launched and became popular. I decided to withdraw my savings and set up a car marketplace. I paid a developer to make the website, then the challenge was to get traffic to it. As well as putting up physical posters, I ran some Google Ads and learned from my mistakes, which helped me learn fast!
Eventually, I started looking at who I wanted on my website. I looked at time spent on the site, how many pages they look at, what they’re doing, and what keywords they’re clicking on from Google and how can I get more clicks from better keywords.
The biggest challenge is managing your budget and doing long-term projections. Every time I get a client, I run projections/estimates for them on how much money they’d need to spend to make some back. First, plan long term, you can’t just run marketing for 1-3 months, you need at least a year and you need to budget for it.
If my organic traffic is converting at 10% (buying a product/submitting forms/getting leads), I’d halve that and assume it’s my paid traffic conversion rate. Then I’d go into Google Ads to the free Google Keyword Planner to find the high-intent keywords (where people who click from are looking to purchase) and find the average cost-per-click to see how much money it makes sense to spend on Ads and keywords compared to what you’d expect back.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Most of my learning came from watching my dollars religiously. What happened to that $50 I spent today? I had to be careful because I had a super limited budget.’
‘If you’re not making a lot of money or selling high-ticket items from your business, it’s very challenging to do big advertising from the beginning.’
‘The hardest clients are those that are looking for lead generation because there’s a problem with tracking if you made money from that keyword.’
‘If you’re trying to rank on page 1 of Google, you could run a report and see what keywords you’re not ranking for on page 1 and start bidding on them. The top three positions get 50%+ of the traffic.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Zaid Ammari’s story is a testament to resilience and innovation in the digital marketing space. From his humble beginnings as a minimum-wage bank employee to becoming the founder of a leading digital agency, Zaid has carved a niche for himself as a formidable force in PPC and SEO. With over 11 years of experience, he has transformed the digital strategies of renowned brands such as Sony and the University of California, helping them not only meet but exceed their revenue goals.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
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And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures
