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 Streamlines First-Party Data Management With New Tool
By Matt G. Southern | Oct 12, 2023 | Search Engine Journal
Google has unveiled its forthcoming tool, Google Ads Data Manager, designed to simplify the use and management of first-party customer data in digital marketing. Recognizing that first-party data, sourced directly from customers, is more trustworthy and enduring than third-party data, Google aims to address the issue that only a fraction of marketers employ this data across ad channels. The tool offers a centralized platform for data analysts and marketers to work together, eliminating the need for coding and preventing redundant tasks between professionals. Google intends to launch Ads Data Manager in 2024, with initial features centered on conversion measurement and customer list activation, and will later incorporate support for platforms like YouTube and data connectors for easier data access.
Value-based Bidding Drives Google Ads Success
By Matthew Umbro | Oct 12, 2023 | Practical Ecommerce
The landscape of Google Ads bid strategies has evolved over the years, with a focus on the importance of value-based bidding. For effective automated bidding, every conversion action, be it a purchase or a form submission, needs to have an assigned value. This ensures that the conversions are not just optimized for quantity but for profitability. Google offers “maximize conversion value” and “target return on ad spend” (tROAS) bid strategies to help advertisers achieve this, with tROAS being the pinnacle strategy to optimize for profit. Remembering conversion lags and focusing on value rather than sheer volume will position advertisers for long-term success in Google Ads.
5 reasons Amazon Ads is better than Google Ads for ecommerce
By Mark Meyerson | Oct 13, 2023 | Search Engine Land
Amazon Ads can be more effective than Google Ads for ecommerce businesses, despite Google’s dominance in the search engine market. A 2021 survey by Jumpshot revealed that 54% of all product-related searches in the U.S. occur on Amazon, offering higher conversion rates and more product-focused intent. While Google Ads has broader reach and easier entry due to its lower startup cost, Amazon Ads promises more long-term value and benefits such as better ROAS, easier tracking of conversions, and the opportunity for advertisers to dominate the entire search results page. Furthermore, investments in Amazon Ads positively influence organic product rankings and generate valuable customer reviews, which are crucial for sales and visibility on the platform.
4 Ways to Drive Leads from Your Holiday PPC Ads
By Michelle Morgan | Oct 17, 2023 | WordStream
Michelle Morgan discusses the considerations for lead generation businesses contemplating advertising during the holiday season. While ecommerce businesses ramp up their advertising efforts around Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other holiday events, lead generation companies might feel the season is less climactic. Morgan suggests several benefits to advertising during the holidays for lead gen companies, including lower competition and the heightened activity of consumers online. However, challenges like mindset shifts, increased costs due to ecommerce competition, and limited disposable income could be deterrents. To maximize the effectiveness of holiday advertising campaigns, businesses are advised to adjust their messaging based on holiday timing, embrace holiday-themed content, soften their calls to action, and consider extending their follow-up timeframe.
Google confirms sunset details for 4 attribution models in Ads and Analytics
By Nicola Agius | Oct 17, 2023 | Search Engine Land
Google plans to retire four rules-based attribution models from Google Ads and Google Analytics in mid-October 2023: First-click, Linear, Time decay, and Position-based. This change means that tracking anything besides the last click will become more complex as the data-driven attribution formula, which varies per advertiser, will be the primary model, and its specifics won’t be transparent. Those who used the retiring models will have their properties default to paid and organic data-driven attribution. Google’s decision to remove these models is due to their low adoption rates and the belief that the data-driven attribution model offers a more flexible approach, often leading to a 6% increase in conversions for advertisers.
Avoiding Keyword Cannibalization Between Your Paid and Organic Search Campaigns
By Corey Morris | Oct 18, 2023 | Search Engine Journal
Keyword cannibalization refers to conflicts or overlaps in content, strategy, or ads that can have negative consequences, such as competing with your own brand for SERP space. It can arise in organic search, paid search ads, or between SEO and PPC, leading to wasted marketing budget by paying for clicks that could have been achieved organically. To identify if you’re experiencing this issue, it’s vital to cross-check the keywords you’re bidding on in your paid campaigns against your organic keyword rankings using tools like Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Semrush. To avoid keyword cannibalization, it’s essential to have unified strategies for SEO and PPC, conduct thorough keyword research, use negative keywords in PPC campaigns, and regularly monitor and adjust your strategies.
Google Ads Location Targeting: 5 Big Mistakes to Avoid
By Mark Irvine | Oct 18, 2023 | WordStream
Local businesses often find it challenging to stand out online, especially on search engine results pages. Mark Irvine emphasizes the importance of optimizing Google Ads location targeting for better online visibility. Key takeaways include understanding the common mistakes in setting location targeting, such as making assumptions based on gut feelings or over-relying on CRM data for customer locations. He also provides insights into analyzing location performance in Google Ads and optimizing location performance using bid adjustments. Lastly, businesses are urged to revisit their targeting settings regularly to ensure they remain relevant and effective.
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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