A very big year for PPC marketing, 2018 saw a lot of changes; from AdWords being renamed ‘Google Ads’ to the launch of various new features, campaign types, tools, targeting options and enhancements and not forgetting the new Google Ads interface.
With the ever changing digital world comes new challenges and new opportunities for those providing professional PPC Services to plan and prepare for success now and in the future, no matter what it brings!
Paid Search Audiences
Since the beginning, paid search has always been about the keywords – however these can be misleading and lead to a lot of ‘wastage’ with PPC managers focusing too much on match types, bid optimisation and search volumes and not taking into account the target audience or the search intent of the keyword.
Hardly a new thing to the PPC world – audience targeting on paid search can be a great way to integrate audiences and keywords to get your ads in front of the right people and at the exact time they’re searching for what you’re selling.
Change Your Ads
Great ads will always be one of the key factors to a successful PPC campaign, no matter what PPC platform is used. The release of numerous innovative ad options in 2018 has opened up a whole host of fresh opportunities to help create the best possible ad for your audience.
Taking some time to revamp your ads can help to improve conversions and have a huge impact on your online marketing all of which is fully traceable using your Google Ads tracking tools.
Visual Search
Although many platforms have begun to roll out visual search features, this is still a very new technology, but something we can expect to see develop over the coming years.
Technology such as Google Lens allows users to take a photo on the app and use it straight away to directly search for related images, products and items that are similar to what was in that image. This type of technology is only going to become more advanced and widely used as the years go on.
Visual Search may be a long way off for use with paid search but when it does happen, it is expected to be a significant change to the digital marketing landscape. Although it’s not yet clear what form or way visual search will work exactly with PPC there are a few things you can do to help prepare websites for a smoother transition.
- Get them on Pinterest, these guys are ahead of the curve on visual search and should be part of future proofing your digital marketing strategy.
- Evaluate the search functionality of the website and determine any potential problems.
- Creative opportunities – with visual search, high quality imagery and creative capabilities will become more important than ever.
- Image SEO in relation to PPC.
- Discuss it with your clients to let them know what you’re doing to help prepare them and why.
PPC Automation
Google has invested heavily into building out their PPC automation feature which has been considered very much hit and miss over the years but the recent improvements have seen some impressive results.
Managed correctly, PPC automation can help to offload hours of manual work so that you can concentrate on important tasks such as landing pages and writing copy.
To really make the most of PPC automation you need to set up your campaigns to make sure the algorithm works in your favour by ensuring you;
- Write great ad copy
- Implement accurate and effective conversion tracking
- Identify ideal keywords and target audiences
PPC is ever changing and the future looks to be an endless abundance of great opportunities for savvy marketers to make the most of the latest PPC features and tools! Who knows what’s going to be possible in 1, 5 or even 10 years’ time!