The Top PPC Trends Happening In 2022
For the foreseeable future, PPC with Google Ads, Facebook and other platforms is going to be one of the most popular ways to do online advertising. It’s direct, you have complete control, and you can make adjustments to your campaigns as you see results. What’s not to love?
The general principles behind PPC campaigns have not changed pretty much since the inception of Google Ads (previously known as AdWords). The idea is that you create your adverts and bid on certain keywords to have your advert displayed. You then pay when people click on your advert.
However, in 2022, there have been some interesting new developments that should be explored:
Automation Through AI And ML
This is a big one for businesses everywhere.
Automation is critical if you want to keep up with the constant change in demands from a consumer market that is now used to getting what they want, when they want it. The great thing is that through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), automation has become a lot easier to accomplish.
Smart bidding is one of the major changes that can be seen with Google Ads. It’s a form of ML that can optimize your adverts for you based on the goal you select for the campaign. This makes use of your budget far more efficient and makes it a lot easier for people who aren’t PPC experts to run their own campaigns.
Google Ads has also introduced automated testing and optimization. The system looks at statistical data and removes ads that aren’t performing while promoting the best ads and calls to action. Ads can also be dynamically created by the system using the data from your campaign and combining the best features from each advert. This includes changing the copy, call to action and the keywords you’re bidding on.
Video Ads
Video content is massive online right now.
Even Instagram has said that it is no longer primarily a photo-sharing app and weights video content higher in its algorithm. Google definitely hasn’t been left behind on the trend and has created vertical video ads that work with the Ads platform and takes advantage of all the screen real estate on a smartphone.
Another addition to the Google Ads wheelhouse is their Bumper Machine. Essentially, the platform uses ML to analyse videos and create six-second bumper ads from the content. These bumper ads are then displayed across YouTube.
Voice Search
With the rise in virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri and OK Google, voice search is becoming increasingly popular.
It’s much easier to verbally ask your phone or your smart watch for information than to type it in. With this comes a change in the way marketers are thinking about their PPC campaigns.
Firstly, voice search is primarily done on smartphones, which means the PPC ads need to be optimized for mobile. Secondly, people are going to phrase their searches as questions and using their natural speech patterns, meaning you need to consider more long-tail keywords. You may also want to include keywords that have terms such as “Hey Siri” and “OK Google”.
Alternative Niche Platforms
Google has long been the king of PPC, with Facebook coming in at a strong second in more recent years.
However, there has been a sharp move towards looking at niche marketing avenues even for large corporations. The idea is to find a way to make the ads more personalized and this can be done through targeting people on specific platforms. Websites like LinkedIn and Amazon are seeing a huge upswing in PPC advertisers.