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 Brings Optimization Score To Performance Max Campaigns
By Matt G. Southern | Jul 13, 2022 | Search Engine Journal

Google is rolling out six new features for Performance Max campaigns, including the long-awaited optimization score. Optimization score is a feature advertisers depend on when creating other types of campaigns in Google Ads, and now it’s available for Performance Max. Matt G. Southern provides details for the six new features for Performance Max campaigns, including:
- Optimization Score
- Seasonality Adjustments
- Data Exclusions
- Advanced Location Targeting Controls
- Explanations
- Diagnostic Insights
It’s a New Day: Five RSA Best Practices Now That Google Has Flipped the Switch
By Joshua Dreller | Jul 13, 2022 | Skai

On June 30, 2022, Google deprecated Expanded Text Ads (ETAs), and now marketers can only build new ads using the responsive search ad (RSAs) format. With RSAs, search marketers supply Google with 3-15 headlines and 2-4 lines of description resulting in 42,680 ad combinations! To make sure you’re completely ready for this new era of SEM, here are some critical best practices when using Google Search’s default ad format:
- Make sure all of your combinations work together
- Stay in control with RSA pinning
- Really love ETAs? Make “pseudo-ETAs” from RSAs with this hack.
- Remember your fundamental ad best practices
- Use the Ad Strength tool
- Watch Google’s brief RSA best practices tutorials
Google launches Ad Creative Studio to customize video and display ads
By Nicole Farley | Jul 14, 2022 | Search Engine Land

The Ads Creative Studio (ACS) was launched after a beta last year and is now available globally. The new feature is aimed at allowing advertisers to dynamically change ads aimed at multiple audiences and demographics. Nicole Farley notes, “If you’re running campaigns aimed at multiple audiences, the ACS seems like a helpful tool to quickly manage and make dynamic changes to video ads when you’re trying to reach multiple demographics, without creating additional campaigns or ad types.”
Social Media Advertising in 2022: Costs, Types, Tips & Top Channels
By Kristen McCormick | Jul 18, 2022 | WordStream

Social media advertising, or paid social, can be used to help your business soar past its goals. Kristen McCormick provides a guide to help you learn everything you need to know to get started and succeed with social media advertising. She covers:
- What is social media advertising?
- Benefits of social media advertising
- Social media ad stats
- Most popular paid social channels
- How does social media advertising work?
- How much do social media ads cost?
- How to get started with social media advertising
- Social media advertising tips
- Paid social channel breakdown
5 PPC Advertising Lessons From A B2B Growth Marketer
By Ashwin Balakrishnan | Jul 19, 2022 | Search Engine Journal

Ashwin Balakrishnan shares the five most important lessons from his time leading marketing for a bootstrapped PPC ad tech brand, including:
- Treat Your Ad Budget Like Your Investment Budget
- Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew
- Brand Matters, Even In PPC
- Focus On Offer, Targeting, And Creative In That Order
- There’s More To Advertising Than Google And Meta
What’s a Good Click-Through Rate For …
By Elisa Gabbert | Jul 19, 2022 | WordStream

It’s helpful to have some general guidelines on what qualifies as a good click-through rate. It will vary depending on a number of factors, including your industry and keywords. Elisa Gabbert covers what is a good click-through rate in 2022 for:
- Pay-per-click ads
- Banner ads
- Email newsletters
What Are The Creative Requirements For Responsive Display Ads?
By Navah Hopkins | Jul 20, 2022 | Search Engine Journal

“Display ads are no longer the remarketing afterthought they used to be. A powerful creative matched with clever targeting can inspire transactional desire, as well as prequalify prospects with important insights,” writes Navah Hopkins. Hopkins takes a look at the following questions to ensure the correct display set-up:
- Who can advertise on display?
- Which creatives are acceptable?
- How are placements impacted by creatives?
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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