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.
How Important Is The Keyword In Paid Search?
By Navah Hopkins | Sep 13, 2023 | Search Engine Journal
Keywords, once essential for digital marketing strategies, are currently experiencing both decline and resurgence. They have historically played a crucial role in bidding on user queries and determining ad placement on search engine results pages. However, their mechanics have evolved over time, with close variants and audience-based keywords reshaping their relevance. The emergence of audience-based keywords for display and video campaigns has brought new functionality. Despite these changes, keywords remain important for aligning SEO and PPC efforts, but the privacy-first web and the hidden nature of search terms suggest a shift towards audience-focused strategies. The future may see a greater emphasis on audiences and creative elements, rather than specific keywords, in campaign planning.
Google Ads enhanced conversions and first-party data
By Andrew Wirtz | Sep 13, 2023 | Search Engine Land
Google Ads is undergoing a transformation, shifting towards prioritizing audience signals and first-party data. First-party data, collected through websites and digital marketing efforts, is becoming crucial for more precise audience targeting. Enhanced conversions, a feature in Google Ads, play a significant role by sending hashed first-party conversion data to Google, improving bidding accuracy. This process allows Google to match user data across devices and provides more reliable revenue and analytics data. To set up enhanced conversions, advertisers need to access their Google Ads account settings and enable this feature, ensuring the accuracy of data. Additionally, linking CRM data and utilizing smart bidding strategies can further enhance campaign performance as Google increasingly relies on machine learning.
How to protect your Google Ads account from glitches?
By Vimal Bharadwaj | Sep 15, 2023 | Optmyzr
Ad platform giants like Google Ads and Meta Ads frequently test new features, sometimes without prior notice to advertisers, leading to varying campaign performance. An incident involving Google Ads resulted in expanded targeting being re-enabled for an advertiser’s campaigns despite being turned off. While such glitches may not be widespread, they highlight the need for vigilance in PPC advertising. Automation tools can help protect accounts from unexpected changes by setting up alerts, proactively excluding low-quality ad placements, tracking performance changes, and providing detailed insights.
Google launches new AI tool to improve YouTube ad optimization
By Nicola Agius | Sep 15, 2023 | Search Engine Land
Google Ads has introduced a new tool called Creative Guidance to assist advertisers in optimizing their YouTube campaigns. This feature utilizes AI to evaluate video content and provide feedback based on best practices. For instance, if a video ad lacks essential elements like a prominent brand logo in the first 5 seconds, Creative Guidance will flag it and offer recommendations for improvement. The tool aims to enhance video ad performance by providing rapid feedback and actionable steps, ensuring campaigns are set up optimally. Google plans to introduce more attributes in the future and is set to launch a new user experience for all advertisers in 2024.
Enhanced Conversions in Google Ads: Benefits and Best Practices to Unlock Its Full Power
By Frederick Vallaeys | Sep 18, 2023 | Optmyzr
Google Ads has introduced Enhanced Conversions for Leads, simplifying offline conversion tracking for advertisers. This tool allows marketers to track offline conversions without modifying existing CRM or analytics systems. When a lead form is filled out on a website, the data is captured and hashed, then sent directly to Google Ads for matching with corresponding ad clicks. This process streamlines the integration within Google Ads, eliminating the need for engineering resources and technical expertise. Enhanced Conversions provides a more comprehensive view of the customer journey, enabling better bidding, improved targeting, and more accurate ROI calculations.
Are you being manipulated by Google Ads?
By Amy Hebdon | Sep 19, 2023 | Search Engine Land
Amy Hebdon explores how Google Ads utilizes covert persuasion tactics to shape user behavior and generate revenue. She discusses deceptive patterns, such as unexpected defaults and hidden options, that can lead users to unintended purchases or data surrender. The “obstacle course” tactic, which forces users to jump through hoops to perform actions, is highlighted as a barrier. Additionally, the article delves into completion bias, where users prioritize quick tasks over more critical ones, and how Google Ads capitalizes on it with completion scores like Ad Strength and Optimization score. The framing effect, which influences decisions based on how information is presented, is also discussed. Lastly, the article addresses authority bias, where users trust Google’s recommendations even when they may not align with their best interests, and how Google representatives may misrepresent themselves. It provides tips on protecting oneself from these persuasion tactics in Google Ads.
How to Create an Effective PPC Strategy in 7 Steps
By Dillon Gerrity | Sep 19, 2023 | Semrush
Your PPC advertising strategy is crucial for increasing sales, brand awareness, and differentiation in the market. Dillon Gerrity breaks down what a PPC strategy is and how to create one based on your marketing goals. He emphasizes defining PPC goals, performing keyword research, analyzing competition, creating concise and compelling ads, choosing a bidding strategy, setting up audience targeting, and continuously tracking and optimizing PPC campaigns. The article also suggests innovative tactics to stand out in PPC advertising and offers best practices, such as crafting compelling ad copy, optimizing landing pages, leveraging A/B testing, and leveling up PPC campaigns for success.
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.
Get your weekly dose of PPC industry news delivered right to your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter HERE.
English