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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 Analytics just introduced a new suggested audience

By Nicole Farley | Nov 15, 2022 | Search Engine Land

There are currently about 18 suggested audiences available in GA4 properties. The new suggested audience is called “7-day unnotified users.” These are app users who have not been reached via push notification. “Suggested audiences help advertisers easily add audience segments for the industry categories you use the most. Test different segments and most importantly, start setting up GA4 now before it sunsets in July 2023,” writes Nicole Farley.

Yelp introduces video and image Spotlight Ads on their homescreen

By Nicole Farley | Nov 17, 2022 | Search Engine Land

“Yelp’s new Spotlight Ads provide brands with the ability to promote 7-30 second videos or static images on Yelp’s homescreen. Yelp says the new ads are an evolution of their Seasonal Spotlight Ads, which allowed brands to promote static ads related to seasonal or holiday offerings,” writes Nicole Farley. Farley suggests national and regional brands with physical locations such as restaurants or storefronts should test Yelp’s new Spotlight Ads.

Device-specific PPC: Why it still matters today

By Jonathan Kagan | Nov 17, 2022 | Search Engine Land

Jonathan Kagan is an avid advocate of separating PPC campaigns by device because mobile platforms dominate the internet and search consumption. Mobile’s contribution to ecommerce and direct response campaigns has risen dramatically. Mobile should be isolated from desktop because of two huge factors: budgeting and performance. To help you understand why it is important to use device-specific PPC, Kagan covers the following:

• Why doing PPC by device is important
• Won’t the search engines allocate my spend and optimize for performance?
• How will this work with a low budget?
• Who shouldn’t do this?
• Why is device segmentation more important than SKAG?

Marketing in a recession: How to avoid 5 common mistakes

By Laura Schiele | Nov 18, 2022 | Search Engine Land

Many are anxious about the macroeconomy right now, leading some marketers to make hasty decisions that run counter to their businesses’ short- and long-term health. Instead of making hasty and costly marketing decisions, Laura Schiele discusses how to position your brand to survive and thrive over the long haul, including these mistakes to avoid:

1. Cutting instead of reducing
2. Cutting without referencing account history
3. Cutting without referencing CRM data
4. Cutting new campaigns prematurely
5. Going blind to opportunity

5 best practices for tracking offline conversions in Google Ads

By Kerri Amodio | Nov 18, 2022 | Search Engine Land

“When setting it up for the first time, swapping out web-based campaign optimization goals for CRM-based goals can be tricky,” writes Kerri Amodio. Amodio shares five best practices to mitigate the risk, including:

1. Add values to your conversions
2. Optimize for all funnel stages
3. Optimize for the lowest conversion point possible
4. Continue to drive lower-funnel results
5. Test value-based bidding

How To Bypass Big Brands Bidding Up Your Terms

By Navah Hopkins | Nov 21, 2022 | Search Engine Journal

Competitors hijacking your best terms can be extremely frustrating, especially during the holiday season. To help you avoid getting sucked into a bidding war, Navah Hopkins covers:

1. Use Keyword Variants
2. Adjust Your Bidding Strategy
3. Use Audience Exclusions/Targets

How to (Really) Compete in Facebook Ads: The 9-Point Playbook

By Kristen McCormick | Nov 21, 2022 | WordStream

“Competing in Facebook ads, or any channel, for that matter, means not just going after your competitors. But achieving success in the ecosystem as a whole,” writes Kristen McCormick. To see what it takes to actually compete in Facebook ads so you can get the highest return on your investment, McCormick covers:

1. Take care of the fundamentals first
2. Understand what it takes to create an excellent ad
3. Build a full Facebook ads funnel
4. Lean into on-platform engagement
5. Use in-market segments from search
6. Be more strategic with interest targeting
7. Look at [more than just] their Facebook Ads
8. Look at who they’re targeting
9. Be smart with your lookalike audiences

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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