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.
Traffic forecasting: Predicting potential return from the 87% of buyers who start with search
By Emily Alford | Jun 24, 2019
Digital advertising is growing at a rapid rate– many companies are using paid search, banner and out-stream video ads, in-stream video ads, and email marketing to attract those buyers who start their journey online. Traffic forecasting will be one of the most important tools decision makers can use for smarter ad spend. Emily Alford describes that “Traffic forecasting is the implementation of automated tools to help a brand predict which content will resonate with target audiences at a given time by aligning content with user intent.” Brands use traffic forecasting to see how keywords and search volume will perform, which in turn can help marketers compare competitor performance, allocate budgets, and identify opportunities that will generate results. Now that 87% of shoppers begin their buyer’s journey online, search ads have become the first salesperson a potential customer generally reaches out to. A good traffic forecasting tool will incorporate 1st and 3rd party data to examines trends in historical data, algorithm changes, and industry data.
Nine Google Ads hacks to improve your CTR and conversion rate
By Himanshu Rauthan | Jun 25, 2019
Are you optimizing all of Google Ads’ potential in your paid advertising? Himanshu Rauthan has 9 hacks for getting the most out of your Google Ads:
1. Pay attention to mobile
2. Write compelling ad copy
3. Competitor analysis
4. Use exclusions and negative keywords
5. Smart remarketing
6. Make the best use of In-Market Audiences
7. Optimize your “Quality Score”
8. Google Ads scripts
9. Effective use of bidding strategies
Content in B2B PPC Strategy: Preparation & Goal Setting
By Abby Woodcock | Jun 25, 2019
How effective are you at leveraging your content in your B2B PPC strategy? Abby Woodcock offers preparation and goal setting advice in part one of this series from ClixMarketing. If you can determine that content marketing is a strategy that works for your business, based on available resources, then you need to set appropriate goals. For example, do you want your content to increase leads, brand awareness, nurture leads, or user engagement? The next step is determining which type of content you will utilize as it pertains to your marketing funnel. Lastly, you need to determine what KPIs you will be measuring to gauge how well you are working towards your goals.
Better tracking with final URL suffix and more custom parameters
By Rosé Dorleans and Neha Garg | Jun 25, 2019
Microsoft Advertising has announced that they will be rolling out parallel tracking, the final URL suffix, and an expansion of the number of available custom parameters for better user and advertiser experience. Parallel tracking will take the consumer directly to your final URL while all the click-measurement processing is done in the background, making for faster loading. The new Final URL suffix field will be used to specify parameters you want to be attached to the end of your landing page URL. Custom parameter expansion allows you to define up to eight pairs of custom parameters with an additional increase in the character limit to 250 characters.
Fact or Myth: Mobile Killed Desktop
By Christi Olson | Jun 26, 2019
With mobile device use exploding right now, it may be easy to think that mobile advertising is killing advertising on desktop. However, the data does not support that line of thinking. Microsoft Advertising reports that desktop search and click volumes are continuing to grow year over year, albeit at a slower rate than mobile. Additionally, research from eMarketer finds that 80% of online conversions happen on desktops, while only 20% occur on mobile devices.
Negative Keywords for PPC: The Secret to Dramatically Higher ROI
By Pam Neely | Jun 26, 2019
Pam Neely reports that using negative keywords correctly can save you as much as 20-50% of your PPC advertising budget. Negative keywords added to your PPC account will prevent your ads from showing if a search query includes them. Negative broad match keywords will match any variation of a search query. If you want to be more targeted for keywords that don’t trigger your ads, negative phrase match keywords will block fewer searches than negative broad match keywords. Even more, targeted than negative phrase match keywords is negative exact match keywords. You can set negative keywords at multiple levels in your account at the account level, multi-campaign level, campaign level, ad group level, and keyword match type level.
How to run a successful competitor-focused paid campaign
By Matt LaMontagne | Jun 26, 2019
Matt LaMontagne shares five steps to set up and run a successful competitor-focused SEM campaign. Beginning with research, you should find the average monthly search volume, the number of relevant keyword variations, estimated keyword bids, and any potential conflicts or double-meanings for each of your competitors one by one. Then, you’ll want to narrow down your list of competitors to the top three. Create relevant landing pages for each of your competitors to tighten your message of how you are different and what you offer that they don’t. You’ll want to set up split testing from the beginning in your ad copy and should focus on testing different key and compelling differentiators in relation to a specific competitor. Lastly, you will want to focus on quality over quantity of leads and adjust your campaign accordingly.
Get your campaigns ready to reach the always-on deal seeker
By Kishore Kanakamedala | Jun 26, 2019
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are big digital advertising days, but consumers are on the lookout for deals year round. Google Ads is rolling out new tools to help businesses highlight in-store promotions, factor seasonal sales into their bidding strategy, and reach in-market consumers seasonally year round.
Google Gallery Ads – Another Day, Another New Ad Format
By Kamlyn Spivey | Jun 27, 2019
Google announced that Gallery Search Ads will be a new ad format rolling out later this year. They will consist of a series of 8-4 images that searchers can swipe through, much like Facebook’s Carousel Ads. They will also feature up to three headlines, just like expanded text ads, and will utilize taglines that are unique to each image. Advertisers will be charged by click or swipe. As for now, the new ads format will only be on mobile devices.
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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