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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 Integrates With WooCommerce For Easy Product Uploads

By Matt Southern | Jun 9, 2021

There is now an extension for WooCommerce that allows 4.4 million merchants to upload their product inventory to Google for free. Merchants of all sizes can upload products to Google, create free listings and ad campaigns, review performance metrics, and more without leaving their dashboard. The Google Listings & Ads extension focuses on accomplishing these three main objectives for retailers:

• Connecting their store seamlessly with Google Merchant Center
• Reaching online shoppers with free listings
• Boosting store traffic and sales with Smart Shopping Campaigns

Google Announces New Reporting Features in GA4

By Amy Bishop | Jun 10, 2021

Marketers are receiving new reporting features in Google Analytics 4 to dig deeper into key insights. These new features aim to help marketers fill the gaps of those who opt-out of being tracked and help advertisers access the most data that they need more quickly while recognizing that those data points vary from business to business. I highlight what marketers need to know about:

• New Lefthand Navigation Menu
• Expanded Conversion Modeling
• More Flexible Reporting in GA4
• Data-Driven Attribution Modeling
• The Advertising Snapshot

5 Best Google Ads Alternatives to Diversify & Grow

By Brooke Osmundson | Jun 11, 2021

There are many other ways to reach new customers and re-engage existing ones besides Google Ads. Whether you have reached a plateau or want to diversify and reach new audiences, you have options. You may want to look to other platforms due to rising CPCs and competition in Google Ads, maxed out Impression Share, or untapped Audiences & User Pools. Brooke Osmundson reviews the advantages of the following alternatives to Google Ads:

• Microsoft Ads
• Quora Ads
• Adobe Advertising Cloud
• LinkedIn Ads
• Quantcast

7 Ways to Improve Facebook Lead Ads

By Anna Sonnenberg | Jun 14, 2021

You should consider adding some new audiences to your campaigns if your Facebook lead generation ads aren’t providing great results. Anna Sonnenberg reviews how you can use these seven highly targeted audiences to boost your lead generation campaigns and target prospects at the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey:

1. Facebook Page- or Instagram Account-Based Custom Audience
2. Website-Based Custom Audience
3. Video Views-Based Custom Audience
4. Instant Experience–Based Custom Audience
5. Virtual Event-Based Custom Audience
6. Customer List-Based Custom Audience
7. Lookalike Audience

Google Audience Expansion vs Optimized Targeting: The Difference Explained

By Amy Bishop | Jun 15, 2021

Some campaigns using audience expansion are being migrated to optimized targeting. The primary difference between Google’s Audience Expansion and Optimized Targeting is that the first looks to expand only upon the audiences in any given campaign, while the latter isn’t relegated to expanding only on the specific targeted audiences but rather can expand more fluidly in any area of targeting – such as demographics, for instance, in order to drive more of the intended action. Optimized Targeting algorithms will aim to increase the number of conversions delivered with the same budget and will prioritize whoever is believed to be most likely to take the intended action, which may not be the original targets. The transition from audience expansion to optimized targeting will happen automatically, which means advertisers aren’t able to opt-out of the adjustment. Only Video Action and Discovery campaigns employing audience expansion are eligible for this change. This migration is set to happen before the end of June.

The rise of the conscious traveler

By Cristiano Ventura and Qin Xiao | Jun 16, 2021

Travelers have started expressing the desire for more meaningful and sustainable travel experiences. In response, Microsoft Advertising has launched a new ad format called Tours and Activities Ads. “These intent-driven, feed-based ad types, are visually engaging premium placements, which are triggered when people are looking for activities of a particular type in a certain location. Due to their contextual relevancy, they’ve proven to be highly effective in increasing awareness for advertisers and driving bookings.” The open beta is available to advertisers in the US and UK.

Why and How You Should Use Google Ads for Your SEO Campaign

By David Pagotto | Jun 16, 2021

You can use paid ads to generate valuable data that you can use for your SEO campaigns. For example, you can use paid ads to test the SEO ROI before you embark on a campaign, gather data on user engagement with your content, optimize your page titles and meta descriptions for clicks, and build a similar audience. David Pagotto demonstrates how you can utilize Google Ads to test a page before you embark on a costly long-term SEO campaign by following these steps:

1. Test the potential SEO ROI
2. Gain on-page engagement insights
3. Optimize your site’s metadata for CTR
4. Create a similar audience

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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