3 PPC Trends To Know in 2023
Who could have possibly seen this one coming? Pay-per-click advertising is changing once again.
Between the privacy concerns and cookie tracking opt-outs impacting our ability to collect data, and Google’s new campaign and changing keyword match types, the old ways of PPC may not be effective for much longer.
To help you plan your campaigns and update your strategy for the new year, we’re breaking down three key PPC trends for 2023. Here’s what you need to know and how you can use these changes to improve your digital marketing performance.
1. Analytics, Data and GA4
One of the best parts of digital marketing has always been the easy access to data. With everything being measurable, there’s no guesswork. At least that was the idea.
But an increase in privacy constraints, loss of data sharing from Apple devices and the impending depreciation of third-party cookies means it is harder than ever before to understand what’s happening on your website and apps.
It’s long past time to move beyond paying attention to vanity metrics like clicks and impressions, and probably even time to stop focusing solely on Google Ads conversions. We need to take a bigger picture approach to analyzing PPC performance. We need to look at customer engagement across the entire buyer’s journey from subscriber, to lead, to customer and beyond to really understand what’s going on.
Google has helped with this a bit already. Your conversions in Google Ads have already most likely been moved from a Last Click attribution model to the Data-Driven model. With Last Click, all credit went to the most recent ad click. With Data-Driven, Google reviews all engagements between the prospect and your ads and calculates the actual contribution of each across the full conversion path.
That’s a big step in the right direction and how we need to start thinking about PPC conversions more generally. We need to look more broadly at how PPC fits into the overall marketing picture, not just how the individual campaigns are doing.
How do we do this?
We’ve already written about why you should switch to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and, by the way, you should really get on that if you’re still dragging your feet.
Next, get to work on integrating your CRM and customer data with Google Ads.
Bonus point: in addition to helping you better understand how PPC campaigns are impacting your overall marketing, the more offline, marketing automation, lead and email data you can provide to Google, the more signals they’ll be able to use to optimize your bids—which should lead to more conversions.
After you’ve integrated your data with Google Ads, you’ll want to assign values to your conversions so the system can understand which actions you deem to be the most important.
Ideally, the values assigned to your PPC conversions should line up with your lead scoring system. That way, you’re unleashing the power of Google’s AI and machine learning tools directly on moving prospects through the buyer’s journey.
2. Google Performance Max and the Inevitable March Toward Automation
Google Performance Max campaigns have become a big deal. It’s time to get on board before your competitors do.
The general rule is if Google is pushing a new ad type, you should test it. Those new ad types always seem to get better placements. Weird how that keeps happening.
Performance Max (or P-Max, to use a nickname that is not nearly as cool as Google thinks it is) is a multi-channel integrated approach.
You run one set of creative across all Google properties. That means your ads will reach potential customers across search, display, YouTube, Gmail and other placements Google is probably in the process of cooking up right now.
The campaigns are more automated than what you’re used to, relying on search data, conversion data and your own first party data integrations to reach your leads and customers across all Google products.
While still most effective for e-commerce and B2C businesses, the prominence Google has given the new ad type has made it something worth exploring and testing for companies in the manufacturing space.
There are a few things to keep in mind before you get started.
P-Max campaigns are designed to run alongside search campaigns. In other words, this is something you’ll want to try in addition to your search efforts, not as a replacement for them.
For these campaigns to truly work, you need to have rock-solid conversion tracking in place. So please put the time in to get that right before you lose money. Need help? I know a guy.
3. It’s the End of Keywords as We Know It and I Don’t Feel Fine
Google has long prided itself on being the marketing platform that gives its customers total control over their budgets. But that is changing.
Over the last few years, Google has been making big changes to how keywords and match types work, and it may finally be time to throw in the towel. I’ve fought the good fight for long enough, but it’s clear that Exact and Phrase Match ain’t what they used to be. Broad Match will soon be king.
In the past, keywords matched according to syntax, looking at the exact words within the search. Now, they match based on semantics, or the meaning conveyed by the search.
In order to understand the meaning and intent behind each search, Google’s meaning learning algorithm incorporates more signals for broad match terms, including audiences, bid strategies, landing pages, previous searches and predicted performance. Exact and Phrase Match have to adhere to additional matching requirements, which limits the number of signals used and can limit performance overall.
Broad match gets more data, and advertisers are starting to see positive results from switching. But before you go and switch all your keywords to broad match, there are a few things to keep in mind, especially for manufacturers.
Broad match works the best with audiences and smart bidding. You’re going to be casting a wide net, so the more data and signals you can provide, the better your performance will be. By overlapping an in-market or affinity audience over your broad terms, Google is able to target prospects most relevant to your business.
This is where things start to get tricky for manufacturers. Google’s in-market and affinity audiences are much more effective for B2C than B2B. If you’re selling vertical machining centers, you will have fewer options than someone selling running shoes. Testing audiences is critical for achieving the results you’re looking for.
You’re also going to need to spend a lot more time reviewing the search terms report and adding negative keywords. Like, A LOT more time. The new keyword system is designed to understand the meaning behind a search, but it still has a ways to go to understand niche manufacturing terms.
For example, someone searching for a cutting tool grinder could be looking for a little Dremel tool for home projects or a WALTER HELITRONIC G200. They are very different searches for wildly different products, but Google still struggles to differentiate.
Relying on broad match is going to trigger your ads for irrelevant searches. The hope is that by testing audiences and adding negative keywords, the system will learn more about your specific business and customers and, over time, you will see improved results.
As we move into testing keyword match types, it is also a good time to rethink your PPC campaigns and digital marketing strategy in general. A solid PPC strategy for 2023 would look like:
Search campaigns with broad match keywords to expand your reach and get prospects into the funnel.
Search campaigns with longer-tail, exact- and phrase-match terms optimized for down-funnel conversions.
All complemented by display, performance max and video campaigns also optimized toward the same goals.
Need help giving your PPC campaigns a refresh? Drop us a line. We’ll be happy to take a look.
