Welcome to Cultivative’s weekly roundup for all things PPC from around the web—everything you need to know right now about PPC!
At Cultivative, we’re all about making your life easier. We’ve gathered the top PPC news and innovations from around the web and getting it into your hands. Check out what we found this past week.
Google Ads is phasing out Modified Broad Match keywords — here’s what to do
by Frederick Vallaeys | Feb 5, 2021

Starting in February 2021, Phrase Match is absorbing Modified Broad Match. Phrase Match’s preference to have the words from the query appear in roughly the same order as in the keyword will remain. But rather than only allowing Close Variant matches, there may now be many more words added in between. Advertisers with Phrase Match will see traffic increase, and those with Broad Match Modified should expect a decrease in traffic. Frederick Vallaeys recommends that advertisers continue to monitor search terms reports to find instances of poor matches and add any necessary negative keywords.
10 Alternatives To Google And Facebook Ads
by PPC HERO | Feb 8, 2021

To help you diversify your paid media mix, PPC HERO takes a look at ten options available for those PPC managers who have run out of growth opportunities in Google Ads and Facebook Ads, including:
1. Microsoft Advertising
2. Quora
3. AdRoll
4. Amazon
5. Quantcast
6. BuySellAds
7. Infolinks
8. Instagram
9. LinkedIn
10. Pinterest
How Much Do Instagram Ads Cost in 2021? (+ How to Make the Most of Your Budget)
by Akvile DeFazio | Feb 8, 2021

Instagram can be more expensive than Facebook in some instances. However, don’t let it deter you from seeing how effective this visual platform can be. If Instagram is a visual platform your target audience is already using, you may want to advertise on Instagram. It offers advanced targeting and flexibility to make it accessible for almost any business. To help you understand the cost, Akvile DeFazio puts into perspective:
- How Instagram ads work
- What makes Instagram advertising worth the price
- Factors that influence Instagram ad pricing
- Average rates of Instagram ads
- Ways to get the most out of your Instagram ad budget
7 Powerful Benefits of Using PPC Advertising
by Corey Morris | Feb 8, 2021

According to Corey Morris, you can find compelling arguments for Google Ads or Microsoft Ads, whether you’re trying to convince your boss or a client. If you need help making a case for PPC advertising, he recommends suggesting these seven powerful benefits of using PPC:
1. PPC Contributes to Business Goals
2. PPC Is Measurable & Trackable
3. Quick Entry
4. You’re in Control
5. PPC Works Well With Other Marketing Channels
6. Incredible Targeting Options
7. A Wealth of Marketing Data
Digital Marketing KPIs You Can’t Ignore
by Alyssa Anderson | Feb 9, 2021

Emphasizing these KPIs in your digital marketing strategy offers the ability to significantly enhance your brand awareness, site activity, customer engagement, conversion rates, and overall sales and revenue. To determine what works best for your business so you can improve your digital strategies, Alyssa Anderson recommends paying close attention to these KPIs:
1. Inbound Link Building
2. Impressions Served
3. Conversion Rate (CVR)
4. Bounce Rate
5. Cost Per Click (CPC)
6. Cost Per Action (CPA)
7. Revenue Per Channel
8. Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)
Up level your bidding practice with Enhanced Manual Bidding
by Piyush Naik, Lauren Tallody, Dianna Wu | Feb 9, 2021

Microsoft Advertising announced that all manual bidding strategies will be optimized by Enhanced CPC (eCPC). Enhanced CPC will become the bid strategy for all search, shopping, and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns not yet opted into Automated Bidding. Starting in March 2021 and continuing through April 2021, all existing search, shopping, and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns without any automated bidding strategies in place will be automatically migrated to Enhanced CPC. All ad groups and keywords will also be set to inherit bidding from their parent campaign. To make this migration seamless, starting on April 5, 2021, any new campaigns created will no longer have the option of Manual CPC. By April 30, 2021, any campaigns not yet using eCPC will be automatically migrated.
In-SERP lead forms convert Google Ads users without a click-through
by Carolyn Lyden | Feb 10, 2021

Lead form extensions are now available for Google advertisers in Search, Video, and Discovery. If opted in, the lead form appears in the SERP instead of requiring users to click through to an advertiser’s landing page to complete a form. After the form completion, the lead can choose to go to the advertiser’s site or continue searching on Google. Carolyn Lyden notes that Lead form extensions may be beneficial to certain industries or target keywords that are further down the funnel.
We hope you learned something new you can apply to your PPC business strategy. Let us know in the comments below what you want to start implementing. As always, we are happy to be a resource for your paid advertising needs. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.
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