Paid search and pay-per-click (PPC) is a valuable tool for your digital marketing strategy, and it can significantly boost your business results. At Superb, we have a team of experts that can help you achieve the best results for your brand. Paid search and paid social are still a pivotal part of the success of your e-commerce business: advertisers spent 32% more on Facebook Ads in 2021, and Google has reported a 62% increase in total ad revenue as of Q2 2021.
Digital marketers and retailers continue to invest in ads to reach their target audience. As a result, paid search constantly evolves, although some elements remain the same. Therefore, it is critical to keep abreast of the latest trends, understand them, apply them and thus make the best of them. Below, we have gathered the most relevant trends for the year 2022:
Data restrictions and first-party data
As we mentioned before, Google plans to remove third-party cookies by 2023. This action is part of a broader plan to protect consumers’ data and comply with European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). So, what marketers can do to keep running digital ads to reach the right audience? First-Party data, information already collected by your team:
- Names and email addresses of people who fill out contact forms.
- People who’ve registered an account made a purchase, etc.
- Existing clients.
- Leads coming out forms on your website (eBooks, whitepapers, etc.)
One of the most effective ways to use source data is to triangulate intention: based on that intention and/or interest. Then, your brand can create a campaign that provides relevant content and information based on those particular needs.
Paid search keywords and ad creatives
Keywords maintain their position in the PPC field. However, experts predict that its function will deteriorate until it disappears or becomes a less relevant element. For example, Google removed the broad match modifier option in 2021. What to do in this scenario? Appeal to the creativity of online advertising. It is here that technologies such as virtual reality and formats such as videos and voice search will make their appearance in the coming years.
Virtual reality and voice search in PPC campaigns
More than half of online shoppers prefer voice or visual search, and this is a trend that will gain ground during 2022. In addition, almost 80% of online purchases are made through mobile devices, and smartphones are the preferred way to use the voice search function. So, how to implement it in your strategy?
Users use more natural language when searching by voice, so short-tail keywords may not benefit. Also, remember that most voice search queries start with question-oriented keywords.
Although virtual reality already has its place in social commerce, it is predicted that this technology will also be available in PPC campaigns. By allowing users to test products before buying, you not only ensure better purchase intent, but your creatives will be even more popular than those ads relying only on keywords.
AI and PPC automation
The Google Ads platform increasingly relies on machine learning to serve ads to the right audience, automate bids, and optimise campaigns. This applies to Google Smart Bidding and Responsive Search Ads (RSA).
For example, machine learning can be used for bid strategies, reduce advertising costs, and significantly decrease manual entry. In addition, the algorithm can dynamically find the right combination to boost performance and improve ROI with RSAs.
In the case of AI, it can help target ads to audiences more accurately, predict click-through rate (CTR) and conversions, and guide decisions around creative and campaign messaging. It can also analyse the offers likely to get the most traffic, predict the CTR (click-through rate) for future ads, and thus improve future PPC campaigns.
Advertise on TikTok
Social commerce continues to rise, and now there is a new player: TikTok. The popular short video social network with 1 billion monthly active users has launched its own digital advertising platform. You can read all about promoting your brand on TikTok in our latest article here.
Not only does it allow you to create native ads that will be displayed organically to users, but TikTok has also partnered with Shopify to help marketers advertise on the platform more efficiently.
The future of Google
“The good news is that you can improve privacy while still delivering business results (…) We’re investing across our products to help unlock insights into consumer behaviour and purchasing decisions using machine learning.” – Jerry Dischler, Google’s Vice president.
In a recent live stream, Jerry Dischler, Google’s vice president and CEO of ad writing, announced what’s new on the platform for 2022:
- Responsive search ads
- Broad match keywords
- Smart offers
- New Performance Max campaigns (in beta)
- Target CPA bid
- Use target ROAS in discovery ads and video action campaigns.
Our digital marketing services
Whether your goal is to increase newsletter sign-ups, download brochures, book appointments or conversions, our Superb Paid Search offering will deliver tangible results on all paid channels. Our team of experts can help you build and optimise your campaigns and retain your customers with well-timed adverts that show up on any device exactly when a search for your service or product is done.
Want to know more about it? Contact us today!
