2022 has been a year of feature enhancements, new tool releases and advanced automation. With new developments, comes the need for an up-to-date and refreshed PPC strategy.
Whether you are looking to refresh your existing strategy or find new and improved ways to reach your target audience, having a solid understanding of some key PPC trends could help you to boost performance and give you a better return on investment (ROI).
1. Conversion Action
Conversion actions are, in short, the meaningful actions that your customers and potential customers take on your site or app. These are the actions that are considered to drive value for your business.
Measuring your goals and core initiatives is a baseline for any pay per click marketing strategy. But it is important to consider that as the tracking possibilities in analytics and other ad platforms become more advanced, so do the type of actions you can track.
Generally speaking, digital marketers will be tracking multiple conversion actions per PPC account, and these can include:
- Sales
- Online chat
- Local actions such as directions
- Contact form
- Demo request
- Phone calls
- Custom goals
When tracking these conversions, consider whether or not you are already measuring everything you could be? Also consider the value you are associating with each action, and whether specific areas require more attention.
2. Don’t forget to monitor your automations
Throughout 2022, PPC ad platforms have continued to roll out more automation options to simplify campaign management and measurement. But it is important to consider that businesses still need to monitor this automation to ensure it’s working efficiently and driving the best possible results.
Determine which aspects of your PPC account can be automated, whether that’s bid management or creatives etc, and then continue to evaluate results and monitor performance throughout.
One example could be PPC campaigns that are using smart bidding strategies. These would need to be monitored and tweaked depending on performance, i.e. in terms of Target CPA or ROAS.
2. Review your ad copy
Whilst reviewing and updating ad copy can seem like a repetitive and almost never ending task, regularly testing it is a key aspect of any PPC campaign. In 2022, ad formats have undergone changes that make it even more essential.
Responsive search ads (RSAs) are the default in Google Ads, which includes 15 headlines and 4 descriptions mixed into various combinations for ad copy testing. PPC automation enables the most relevant and best performing version to be served on search engine results pages (SERPs), but it’s important to still keep an eye on this and ensure it’s aligned with your business values.
Keep an eye out for Google’s recommendations on improving headlines, adding keywords, removing keywords and including a call to action.
3. Consider Responsive Display Ads
Many online marketers use display ads as a core part of their PPC strategy. This could be down to wanting more control over brand messaging, or simply out of habit.
Responsive display ads could however, offer better reach, whilst simplifying the creation process. On top of simplifying this process, responsive display ads can often provide more inventory opportunities for businesses on the display network. Why is this? Because they dynamically combine descriptions, headlines and images that align with your target audience and ‘where they are’ online.
Responsive display ads run alongside image display ads, providing businesses with the opportunity to compare reach and performance results. You can also use Google Ads performance feedback to make optimisations where necessary within a response display campaign.
4. Explore Customer Match
When it comes to PPC, being able to reach the right audience, at the right time, and in the right place is essential for success. This has been the case long before PPC ad platforms developed advanced targeting on display networks.
If it doesn’t already, your 2022 strategy should include a deepdive into these audiences. One thing to consider this year is that with the crack-down on cookies, first-party data is more important than ever in the digital marketing landscape.
We would recommend utilising as much of your own data as possible For example, use data that your customers have shared with you to reach your target audience with your PPC ads. Customer match means that you can upload your own customer list to the ad platform to match with real users.This is available on the majority of PPC platforms.
Find out how to make the most of your first-party data here.
What next?
These are just a few of the things that PPC advertisers should be considering (if not already) in 2022 and beyond. If you have any questions or want to speak to a PPC expert regarding an existing or upcoming campaign, feel free to get in touch.