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.
PPC 2021 in review: Privacy and automation force advertisers to adapt
By George Nguyen | Dec 23, 2021 | Search Engine Land
“In 2021, PPC professionals navigated changes in keyword match types and automated bidding, scratched their heads at the prospect of a future without third-party cookies and navigated their role in an increasingly automated industry,” writes George Nguyen as he describes the last year. He summarizes the most impactful changes, announcements, and developments that shaped PPC in 2021, including:
- Farewell, broad match modified keywords
- Bundled bid strategies replaced standalone options
- FLoC was debated and delayed
- Google Ads gave PPC professionals a lot to adapt to
- Microsoft Advertising made waves of its own
- Vertical-specific ad updates
- Safety for advertisers and users
- Advertising and law
Future-proofing 2022 strategies: four things marketers need to know
By Abhishek Shrivastava | Dec 28, 2021 | ClickZ
Last year, the Great Reshuffle and privacy-first policies greatly impacted the advertising and marketing industries and will continue to disrupt the landscape in 2022. Based on what Abhishek Shrivastava has learned this year, here are four things to help future-proof your marketing strategy in 2022:
- Buying signals will outperform lookalike audiences
- Trusted brands will be more important than singular products
- B2B advertising is about to get better
- Zero-party data will emerge
Google rolls out placement exclusions for Smart Shopping campaigns
By George Nguyen | Dec 28, 2021 | Search Engine Land
Placement exclusions can be applied to the Google Display Network and YouTube for Smart Shopping campaigns. “More and more consumers are seeking to purchase from brands that align with their ethics and values. Being able to control what your ads appear alongside can help you prevent unwanted brand associations, which can, in turn, affect your conversion rates,” explains George Nguyen. “It’s unclear whether this feature will remain available once Smart Shopping campaigns are rolled into Performance Max campaigns in 2022.”
12 YouTube Ads Enhancements That Improve Results
By Anna Sonnenberg | Dec 28, 2021 | SocialMedia Examiner
“From new ad types and targeting options to shoppable feeds and cross-channel optimization, you have so many opportunities to update and improve your YouTube ads,” writes Anna Sonnenberg. To help you enhance your video ad campaigns, Sonnenberg covers:
- Product Feeds
- Video Action Campaigns
- Efficient Reach Optimization
- YouTube Ad Sequence Campaigns
- In-Feed Ad Format
- Lead Form Extensions
- Improve Engagement With Related Video Extensions
- Customer Match
- Optimized Targeting Settings
- Shoppable Connected TV Ads
- TV in Reach Planner Tool
- Performance Max Campaigns
4 tips for creating visually stunning display ads
By George Nguyen | Dec 29, 2021 | Search Engine Land
At SMX Create, Rebecca Debono and Julia Thiel discussed how they create eye-catching ads that can help brands secure both their audience’s money and attention. They shared four tips for creating visually stunning ads to help brands cut through the noise and address customers’ motivators as well as barriers that may be clogging your sales funnel, including:
- Design for the part of the funnel you’re targeting
- Differentiate your brand by differentiating your ads
- Consider the elements of your brand kit
- Factor in the format
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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