Big Things to Expect for PPC in 2020 & Beyond

As you read this, it is likely either the very end of lovely old 2019 or we just ushered in a new decade with the welcoming of the year 2020. Regardless, let’s appreciate what this past year has brought with it for paid search.

• Greater audience segmentation and targeting capabilities

• Deeper and more complex automation and machine learning

• Growth within mobile use numbers and voice search

• Increased market grasp for ecommerce giant Amazon

One can expect the same types of increases in the new year, but I’d like to dig in further on those as well as call out some other new ideas, innovations and newer paid search platforms to which you’ll become more familiar as the months pass by. Let’s begin.

Automation/Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning

Within the digital marketing and paid search world, the terms automation, AI, and machine learning have become mainstream over the last couple of years. However, these industry modifiers take on additional meanings to advertisers and those that thrive within the digital marketing world.

If you ask any PPC professional, he or she will not be shy to admit that the automation of tedious daily tasks would open up their schedules to analyze search data and audiences while catering to better customer experiences. Shining examples of what could further be accomplished with automation are:

•  Scripts for account management alerts and changes

• Invest in Optimization Servicing Tools (OSTs): Adzooma or Search Squared are common tools now

• Use bidding rules for managing campaign performance

• Creating account-wide account to notify of major changes

• Automated reporting to reduce and eliminate time spent on manual reporting

• Reallocate your time really and truly diving into the data and breaking our audiences

• Start testing Smart Campaigns to help hit target KPIs

Smart Bidding

Few things are certain in life, but with the continued evolution of Smart Bidding, its robust & powerful nature will eventually wipe out the need to manually set bids is almost guaranteed. Less control? Maybe. But, again, more time to analyze that data, while building and improving upon deeper strategy? Absofreakinlutely!

Audience Segmentation

The most generic and straightforward way audiences have commonly been segmented up to this point have been based off of what URLs were visited, how the user interacted with the website (transactions, form fills, sign ups) and what videos they may have watched while on your site.

With the sheer amount of data we are now gathering these days, we are urged to segment these segments furthermore:

•  The type of user

• At which point did they leave your website

• What audiences they are interested in

• Age and gender

• What demographic they fall under

• Where they are physically when searching for your products and services

• What device are they viewing your site from?

• Did they enter from another website or what queries did they enter to get to you, if not?

Gaining this richer, additional data can help us identify what type of person is viewing your ad - who they are, their likes, their knowledge level - and allow us to control the impact and resonation of the ad messaging. Come to think of it, I really should write a future blog on the process of setting up and building out an audience list. I can then geek out there and spare you for now.

Voice Search

An average advertiser probably won’t see a large amount of voice search happening at this time, but preparing for the days when there will be an overwhelming majority of queries performed via voice, is the most important and valuable use of our time.

Visual Search

Visual Search gives users the ability to skip the typing of their search queries and take a photo in the moment or through an upload. It was initially conceived in 2015, to no surprise, by Pinterest, which later improved upon it with Pinterest Lens, in 2017. Instagram and Snapchat fell right in line shortly after that. In fact, Snapchat announced a Visual Search Partnership with Amazon (its own is aptly named Amazon Camera Search) in 2018. Bing then released its visual search engine.

How do you prepare for visual search?

Brands should at least start researching, creating and testing images which showcase their offerings. Ensure all images have ALT text, descriptive keyword-rich file names, image title tags and optimal file sizes at the highest image quality. And obviously, the more images the better.

Tighter Integration of PPC + SEO

This one can’t be said enough. It is not a competition between organic (SEO) and PPC. Each respective channel should prop up and hand the baton off, so to speak, to the other.

Best efforts should be made in 2020 through keyword discovery, efficient position strategy - what’s ranking well organically and what needs help to be able to fill those gaps. You should inform SEO with PPC data on the most profitable and viable terms to target for organic ranking boosts. Comb through SEO ranking data to decide which terms we should be paying for and which are best left exclusively to organic efforts. Another solid idea would be tying PPC copy data to SEO meta data.

Amazon

It was honestly just a matter of time before we saw the global behemoth, Amazon, muscle its way into the upper echelon of paid advertising. And sure enough - Amazon is now the 3rd-largest advertising platform, right behind Google and Facebook. Time will tell where they go from here.

Social Advertising

Speaking of Facebook, that platform along with Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest are more and more where everyone tends to be. Because of that, advertisers should and will be there as we enter into this next decade. A single shotgun PPC approach on one platform is going to no longer be a thing. Start the move now.

Bing is Back!

In rebranding itself (Bing Ads) as Microsoft Advertising, keying in on data, ad inventory and audience targeting, there are definite improvements - enough to warrant giving it another shot. There is still less competition, from a PPC standpoint, in my experience. Therefore, the costs per click are usually a fraction of most auctions on Google Ads for the same terms. My 2 cents worth, if you will.

A New Year (and Decade) Means New PPC Strategies

Don’t get left behind in this ever-changing paid search landscape. Stay competitive and in the know with new technologies and advancements. No single strategy will work for every advertiser. What worked in 2019 may no longer work in 2020. Try something different. Be a PPC innovator and not a PPC imitator. This year will be what we want it to be.

If you would like additional advice, further paid search insight, are interested in having an audit performed on your Pay-Per-Click account or if you have any questions about what’s coming down the PPC pipeline in the new year, feel free to contact Ecreativeworks any time.