Meet Bernt Muurling, a digital marketing leader with 10+ years of expertise in PPC and a commitment to strengthening the industry by organizing the community-driven Dutch Agency Event and being a jury member for the Dutch Search Awards
He also co-founded the Taskforce Agency, where he applies his strategic expertise to deliver impactful PPC campaigns.
But that’s not all.. He is also the head of marketing at ClickPatrol, a tool that combats fake clicks in PPC, ensuring businesses maximize their ad investments.
With so much on his plate, let’s discover how he juggles all these responsibilities.
Can you tell us a little about your background and how you got started in the world of PPC?
Always a fun question. I started by forwarding ads on Marketplace. I then did this for various clients who were active online. Since I was 13 and worked for a low cost, I started doing other tasks for them.
From there, I launched my own webshops, selling adapters and cables for iPhones, which I successfully scaled. Through this, I gained a lot of SEO, affiliate and SEA experience where I eventually built several webshops myself, had affiliate websites and had several SEA clients.
Because I found out that focus would bring me further, I started to specialize completely in SEA / Google Ads. It paid off.
Reflecting on your journey, what’s the best investment you’ve made in your professional development?
The best investment is focus. A laptop or a keyboard is all luxury, nice of course but not necessary for a business.
Focusing on certain aspects will make you better and grow faster. It really brought me so much by dropping everything and going full Google Ads.
How do you juggle the responsibilities of leading at Taskforce Agency, heading marketing at ClickPatrol, and organizing the Dutch Agency Event?
This is a fun question that has contrast with the previous answers haha.
But after my freelance Google Ads adventure, I wanted more. I wanted to be an entrepreneur and grow businesses. With that knowledge, I started Taskforce, joined ClickPatrol, and co-founded the Dutch Agency Event with Taskforce.
Because growth is good in all the companies, I had the opportunity to start focusing mainly strategically instead of executively.
Very practically for the rest, I have a task list (Google Tasks) that I have on both my phone and computer. If I’m in bed at night and I think of something, I add it to the list right away.That way, it’s out of my head and the first thing I tackle in the morning. I did the same with this interview for example 🙂
What tools, habits, or delegation techniques do you rely on to stay organized?
As I said in my previous reply, it’s really just one tool. That is Google Tasks. I immediately put everything into tasks during meetings. If I am in bed and want something off my mind I immediately write out a task. When I’m in the shower and think of something I write it down immediately.
This keeps me structured while allowing room for creativity.
Google Tasks comes standard in your Google Workspace and has a very chill app.
How do you balance strategic thinking with daily operations?
Simply put, I don’t think you can truly balance both. It’s either one or the other, not both at the same time. This has to do with focus.
So I focus entirely on strategy.
You’re the head of marketing at ClickPatrol, a tool focused on combating fake clicks. How has fake click fraud evolved over the years?
Click fraud has evolved to become more sophisticated and aggressive. For instance, we’ve seen a surge in bots and scrapers, partly driven by advancements in AI.
Many assume Google’s click fraud detection is sufficient. What’s your perspective on this, and where do you see gaps that tools like ClickPatrol can address?
Simple answer. We see with our clients that the percentage of what Google is blocking and therefore getting money back from is increasing slightly. In addition, we can just really show that visitors are coming through an AWS (Amazon) server. In 99% of cases, these are certainly not real users. Yet, advertisers still end up paying for them.
Our platform is fully transparent, presenting all the data and equipping you with the right tools to determine its value for yourself.
Can you walk us through how ClickPatrol detects and prevents fake clicks? What sets it apart from other tools in the market?
Sure, how we detect fake traffic is actually quite simple. We have developed our own methods and buy external data from more than 8 parties. Based on all the factors we have developed a points system that does the following, example if 100 is fake and 0 is not fake: does not have javascript active in the browser (10 points), uses VPN (5 points), is known to be a data server (10 points) and that way we make a decision whether it is fake or not.
What trends are you seeing in the techniques used by fraudsters?
So what you see these days is that fake traffic nowadays is increasing “real” traffic. So someone working in a country like India who fills out a Recaptcha very quickly for the bot, for example. So our software can detect that because we go a step further than just a physical check.
As an agency leader, what qualities and skills do you prioritize when hiring PPC experts?
Only one skill is really important to me. And that is eagerness. You have to be eager to learn. Then the rest will come naturally.
We now have 15 top performers on board who are eager to work on themselves. And that pays off positively every day.
You’re active on LinkedIn with over 12,000 followers. How important is building an online presence for professionals in this field? Has it contributed to generating new business opportunities for you?
For me, it’s mostly an exhaust valve. I’ve gotten to know an enormous number of people through LinkedIn and actually made friends. Of course, with that comes the benefits such as a positive image when a client looks us up. But my main focus is really on sharing useful information.
When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I like to work, it’s my hobby. I don’t see it as work.
But when I am not performing my hobby I like to play field hockey, run, watch documentaries and explore the world.
If you could choose any fictional character to be your mentor, who would it be and why?
Haha, nice question. I think Iron Man. Smart, leader and above all just decent.
Thank you, Bernt, for sharing your story and insights with us. For those who want to dive deeper into his expertise, follow Bernt’s content on LinkedIn and if you’re curious about ClickPatrol, it offers a 7-day free trial to experience its capabilities firsthand.
Hana Kobzová is a freelance PPC expert and the founder of PPC News Feed. She’s passionate about helping PPC community to stay updated. Whether it’s sharing recent updates, discovering new tricks, optimizing workflows, or programming useful scripts, Hana is always finding ways to empower professionals within the PPC community.