This week I spent far too long convinced there was a problem with the power supply in my office.
My Mac would charge, but not fast enough to keep up, even with light use. No issues with any other appliances, just my laptop gradually dying.
I tried different sockets, different adaptors (including a new one bought out of desperation), plugging the cable in ‘directly’ rather than through my usual hub.
No joy.
But back at home or in a nearby cafe, I could work and charge up just fine.
I spent Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday in this quandary – rationing battery, making strategic cafe dashes to recharge, and haranguing ChatGPT to make sense of the situation.
My landlord even sent a handyman to check the electrics… “Power’s on – all fine” (🙄 Obviously I’d need to escalate this to a ‘proper electrician’…).
Then the ‘aha’ moment.
In the office, I’d always plugged my charger into the same port – back right… (partly habit / convenience, partly an unexamined suspicion that the ’back’ ports were likely to be better for power cables).
But in a speculative rejig of peripherals, I plugged into a port on the other side of the Mac.
Boom – full charging power. Just like that.
The issue wasn’t the office, or the charger, or the mac itself…
It was that one port. A single variable that I’d unknowingly kept constant through every attempt at a fix.
Which naturally got me thinking about PPC. So three quick reminders:
1. Beware of confounding variables
When performance drops, it’s easy to blame the most visible factor — but that might just be what’s coinciding with the real issue.
Perhaps that one ad isn’t seeing a better CvR because it’s unpinned – it might also be the one that’s being served a higher proportion of Search Partners impressions…
Patterns in PPC can easily mislead – especially when multiple variables are shifting at the same time.
If you don’t isolate the right variable, you’ll spend three days blaming the office power supply 🙈.
2. Subtle faults, major impact
The port wasn’t obviously broken. It looked identical to the one that worked – and technically, it was ‘working’ – just not well enough.
In PPC, small settings can shape performance more than you’d expect.
A single misapplied negative keyword, a tracking template typo, or a region mistakenly excluded from targeting can all cause meaningful drag – even if everything seems to be running smoothly.
When you think performance isn’t what it should be, don’t just look for what’s broken. Look for what’s not quite right.
3. The dangers of habit
I always used that same port, because my setup in the office had just evolved that way.
In PPC, the same thing happens. We have go-to structures, match type practices, and setting configurations partly out of habit.
But what’s familiar isn’t always optimal. And what was optimal yesterday, may not be today. If you never question your defaults, you may not spot the habit that’s quietly holding you back.
