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.
How Do I Get My PPC Campaigns Ready for a Cookieless World?
By Navah Hopkins | Apr 12, 2021

With the first major migration to FloC beginning in Q2 of 2021, we’re getting one step closer to a cookieless world. Navah Hopkins covers which strategies will thrive, which are retiring, and mission-critical actions to take moving forward surrounding Google’s updates:
- Remarketing Will Thrive in a New Way
- Vanity Domains Are Retiring in the Face of First-Party Data
- Personalized Creative Thrives as We Focus on More Than Just Ads
Downstream performance impact of Microsoft Audience Network ads
By Jackie Hoyt, Alex Tonin | Apr 12, 2021

Microsoft Advertising’s Advertiser Analytics & Insights Group found that exposure to Microsoft Audience Ads generates a lift in awareness, consideration, and conversion for advertisers based on audience targeting solutions. Testing was conducted over the past nine months with dozens of client studies across multiple verticals to measure the lift driven by ad exposure (impression, even without a click) of Microsoft Audience Network ads. Microsoft’s Audience Intelligence targeting can provide unique data and measurement in a cookieless world.
Google’s “Project Bernanke” Favors Google Over Other Advertisers
By Amy Bishop | Apr 12, 2021

In a recent anti-trust case, it has been alleged that Google has been giving its own ads an unfair advantage within the Google Display Network in a program called “Project Bernanke.” The concerns with Project Bernanke are grounded in the fact that Google is both the ad auction platform and an ad buyer. Because of Google’s position on both ends of the ad buying process, they have access to data that other advertisers – including their competitors within the ad auction – would not have had access to, in order to inform their ad buying decisions. Some are calling out this unfair advantage as insider trading. Project Bernanke was estimated to generate $230 million in 2013 alone. Google maintains that the data acquired through their system is comparable to data available through other ad buying tools.
4 Ways to Collect Valuable First-Party Data in a Cookieless World
By Joe Martinez | Apr 12, 2021

With Facebook’s iOS 14 policies beginning to affect advertisers and Google’s recent privacy statements, advertisers have realized that they will lose the targeting options and third-party data points they have been using for several years. We can still start implementing tactics to try and cushion any major effects from the channels updating their policies. Joe Martinez reviews these PPC-focused strategies to collect first-party data:
- Utilize lead gen campaigns
- Use custom questions
- Test out other ad platforms
- Spend more time focusing on brand-building
How to Use Google Ads Optimization Score to Make Better Ads
By Animalz | Apr 13, 2021

The Google Optimization Score is an estimation of how well your Google ads are set to perform. Along with the score, which runs from 0 to 100%, you’ll see personalized recommendations that can help you optimize your campaigns. Google Ads recommendations help you create better ads based on the campaign goals you’ve specified in your account, and you can choose whether or not to implement those recommendations. Learn the essentials for using Google Ads Optimization score to improve your advertising strategy, including:
- What the Google Ads Optimization Score is
- The differences between types of Google Ads recommendations
- How to improve your ads with Optimization Score and other recommendations
Google Ads rolling out auto-applied recommendations
By Barry Schwartz | Apr 14, 2021

Google announced the official launch of auto-applied Google Ads recommendations that can improve your account performance and save time. This is an opt-in feature, and you can choose from over 17 recommendations to apply automatically within the Google Ads setting. Auto-applied recommendations might save people time, but it might not always be the smartest way to spend your ad money – make sure the recommendations being applied positively impact your ROI and campaign objectives.
How to Use PPC to Build a First Party Data Set
By Michelle Morgan | Apr 14, 2021

As third-party data sources evolve, advertisers will need to learn how to generate first-party audiences through PPC to fuel accurate audience targeting in digital marketing. Michelle Morgan offers four insights for building your own first-party data sets:
- Know Where to Find Your Audience
- Offer Something of Value
- Price Your Item of Value Appropriately
- Follow Through on Your Top of Funnel Leads
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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