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.
3 Things You Need to Know About Google’s New Prominence Metrics
By Wesley MacLaggan | Feb 27, 2019

Google recently announced that they will be sunsetting its “average position” metric in September. The new metrics should give better measurements of the reach of your ads and a more accurate view of your position in the ad auction. Search ad positions now have four “prominence metrics” that were launched in November: Impr. (Absolute Top) %, Impr. (Top) %, Search (Absolute Top) IS, and Search (Top) IS.
3 ways to lower your Amazon advertising ACoS
By Trevor George | Feb 27, 2019

As the Amazon ads platform grows, so does the number of advertisers– which means your ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale) will also rise with higher CPCs relative to demand. You can still make Amazon profitable by utilizing negative keywords, isolating your search terms, and practicing effective bid management. Trevor George shares tips on doing all three strategies.
Prominence Metrics: New Google Ads Search Position Metrics
By Kelly McGuigan | Feb 27, 2019

Kenshoo weighs in with their take on Google’s announcement to pull average position and replace with new prominence metrics. Kenshoo states that for their clients: “these new search position metrics in Google Ads means new opportunities for improved transparency into bid positioning, enhanced reporting and, of course, optimization.” They believe this will open up opportunities to compete for keywords on mobile, as well as ensure that you are getting the top share of the absolute top position on keywords that matter.
80% of Consumers Love Chatbots? Here’s What the Data Says [STUDY]
By Matt Southern | Feb 28, 2019

Uberall recently released stats on a study they performed showing that 80% of consumers like chatbots. The survey was given to more than 1,000 adults in the US to find out how they feel about chatbots. While 80% is impressive, you will find more interesting stats if you dive deeper. There’s still quite a bit of room for improvement and consumers, in general, need more convincing that they should use chatbots, to begin with.
5 Simple Tips to Prequalify Traffic with PPC Ads
By Tim Jensen | Mar 3, 2019

Want to learn how carefully written ad copy in your PPC ads can help you prequalify traffic, gate out the people that aren’t relevant, and boost ROI? Tim Jensen shares his top 5 tips:
1. Define a Qualified Conversion
2. Speak to Your Audience
3. Use Qualifying Words
4. Mention Specific Numbers
5. Use Ad Extensions
Increase Your Landing Page Speed (By Stealing Our Homework)
By Garrett Hughes | Mar 4, 2019

Now that Google is punishing poor mobile load times in its search rankings, it’s more important than ever for having fast landing pages. Garrett Hughes has “done the hard work for you” and put together a great list of resources and instructions on how to test and optimize speed for your landing pages.
Work Smarter, Not Harder, With Bing Ads Scripts
By Christi Olson | Mar 4, 2019

You’ve probably made your life easier by adding scripts to your PPC campaign management. If not, scripts (snippets of JavaScript) are part of the Google Ads and Bing Ads search interfaces that allow you to automate processes and tasks within your PPC accounts. Scripts allow easy automated management for campaigns, ad copy, negative keywords, search query, anomaly detection, campaign health, enhanced reporting and tracking quality scores. Four scripts you should definitely be using are:
1. URL Checker Script
2. Search Query Manager Script
3. Anomaly Detector Script
4. N-Gram Analysis Scripts
Google Ads API now out of beta, v0 will sunset April 30
By Ginny Marvin | Mar 4, 2019

Google Ads API v1 is now available and ready for use. The beta version of the Google Ads API will no longer be accessible as of April 30, 2019. You should have your client libraries updated before then!
Stop running out of budget with this Google Ads script
By Daniel Gilbert | Mar 4, 2019

This budget depletion warning script will warn you when you’re close to running out of your daily budget in Google Ads. The warning is ideal for smaller or limited budgets. Daniel Gilbert shares the script as well as instructions for installing it.
Developing a Sustainable PPC Strategy: What You Need to Know
By Loren Baker | Mar 4, 2019

Loren Baker gives us a recap of the SEJ ThinkTank webinar presented by Joel Bondorowsky, SEMrush PPC Academy Professor. Bondorowsky shared tips on how to develop a sustainable PPC campaign that drives results. He covers just about every aspect of running a successful PPC campaign. For his expert advice and opinions on sustaining your PPC strategy, this is a great read!
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.