Why Alignment With Customer Service Is Crucial For PPC via @sejournal, @timothyjjensen

Let’s think through a hypothetical purchase journey. An individual is in the market for an air purifier, and she starts off by searching for [best air purifiers] in Google.

Your ad shows up in results, and she clicks on it, impressed with the mention of being rated No. 1 in product rankings as well as the promise of a 10% discount code. She completes a purchase, and a few days later, the new air purifier arrives on her doorstep.

That’s all a perfect brand/customer relationship story so far, right? Your ad messaging and targeting worked perfectly to reach a prospect at the right moment.

However, the story doesn’t end at the point of purchase. Just over six months later, the air purifier stopped functioning.

She then goes to your website to see how she can contact customer service. After a fruitless, painful attempt to engage an AI chatbot that won’t provide anything further than generic responses, she picks up the phone and calls the number on the website.

She’s then faced with a lengthy sequence of recorded messages and the need to push a few buttons before she finally gets put on hold to talk to a rep. Half an hour later, she finally talks to a “real” person.

After describing her problem, she’s informed that, unfortunately, since it’s one day past the date the six-month warranty expired, and she didn’t pay for an extended warranty, the company will not replace the air purifier.

Beyond frustrated, she then proceeds to write negative reviews for the company all around the web, and tells all of her friends and family never to purchase from them.

We’ve all likely faced similar horror stories in dealing with brands, leaving you with a negative taste after you have to deal with customer service, despite any positive initial interactions.

Even with the best-run ad campaign in the world, unhappy experiences after the point of purchase will make or break a brand in the long run, particularly in an age of free and open sharing across the internet.

According to Zendesk Benchmark data, 3 out of 4 consumers are willing to spend more with businesses that offer a good customer service experience, and 60% of consumers have purchased from a brand entirely based on expected service.

Let’s dive into the importance of building connectivity between customer service and paid media efforts.

Ensuring Truth In Advertising

If you make a promise in your ads, your company should be able to make good on that promise. Think about messaging points in the ad copy that tie to customer service:

  • Money Back Guarantee.
  • 1 Year Warranty.
  • 24/7 Service.
  • No Fees.
Example of Ad with Benefit PointsScreenshot from search for [heating repair], Google, January 2025

Is your business truly refunding all unsatisfied customers within a window of time?

Are you honoring a warranty or nitpicking over minute issues?

Do you indeed have staff standing by for emergency service after hours?

Are there any potential hidden fees customers may encounter despite the promise of “no fees”?

Additionally, think through the list of offers that you currently have in the market.

If you mention a discount in an ad, will customer service staff be familiar with that discount and know how to apply it without hassle? Internal training across the organization is crucial to the effectiveness of ads.

Gaining Ideas For Ad Copy

Feedback from actual users can be one of the most valuable sources for quotes and benefit points to mention in ad copy.

Customer service teams are on the frontlines, hearing from users about what they like (and don’t like) about your products or services.

Perhaps you can listen in to a few customer calls periodically, or you can look at survey data compiled about top items of discussion.

Here are a few questions to think about when reviewing the data:

  • Are there points of confusion about what your product does that could be better addressed upfront in ad copy? For instance, if you sell software focused on small businesses and enterprise businesses are still signing up while finding it limiting, can you make “Small Business Software” a clearer part of ads?
  • Are there positive experiences you can call out from onboarding processes? For instance, if you have people work with customer service to customize your software for their unique business application, you can monitor the average time involved in the setup and call that out in ad copy if it is a reasonable amount.
  • Are there additional features you offer that people aren’t aware of until brought up in customer conversations? You can watch for these and work into ads where it makes sense.

Encouraging Reviews

Positive reviews can be a powerful selling point, and your customer service team is vital in the process of encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews.

This can happen after phone conversations or email interactions, and people may be more likely to be willing to leave a review after a constructive conversation.

Once you have reviews available to use, you can incorporate these into multiple places, such as your ad copy, imagery, or landing pages.

For ecommerce sellers, you can include store ratings with ads. Microsoft Advertising can also include review extensions from select sites.

Example of Ad with Store RatingsScreenshot from search for [shoes for sale], Google, January 2025

On your site, you can feature short statements from individuals talking about their experience with your products.

These can work well as trust signals, alongside mentions of brands that these people work for if selling B2B.

First-Party List Building

As privacy restrictions and limitations on tracking continue to affect how accurately advertisers can target, building your own first-party data can be a crucial piece of marketing.

Encouraging customers to opt into communication can help you build a list that you can then sync to various ad platforms. Your representatives can be key to incentivizing this process of signing up as they deal with people post-purchase.

From that point, you can use the list to create lookalike audiences (see Meta’s or Google’s instructions), in order to target those with similar characteristics to current customers.

Additionally, depending on the size of your list and the fields available in your customer relationship management (CRM), you can segment out lists for categories such as high-value customers, those who have bought select products, etc., and build different lookalike audiences to which you can target relevant messaging.

You also may have the opportunity to upsell customers on other products or features they may be eligible for.

For instance, if you sell industrial printers, you can target a list of purchasers who have not yet opted into a printer servicing program. These ads can align with efforts on representatives’ parts to reach out to customers directly about this program.

Start Connecting The Dots From Customer Service To PPC

If you haven’t made much effort in the past to align customer service learnings, start doing what you can to bring alignment with what you’re doing on the ad messaging front.

Depending on the size of your company and your position, you may have more or less a say in how the actual relationships with customers pan out, but you can be a voice for honesty in ads and only make promises that are backed up by real experience.

Next, work toward communicating with your customer service team to gain feedback that can tie into ad copy, as well as reviews to feature throughout the ad journey.

Finally, see where customer relationships can encourage list building for future targeting and lookalike seeds.

The more you can connect to the work of an organization outside of just being in the bubble of “running the ads,” the more effectiveness you’ll see from your paid media efforts.

More Resources:


Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A./Shutterstock

Google Phrase Match: Everything You Need To Know via @sejournal, @siliconvallaeys

Google has continued evolving its ad targeting systems, emphasizing AI-driven, intent-based matching that connects ads to user searches more flexibly.

With this shift, Google Ads aims to give advertisers a balance between reach and control – where phrase match keywords can now capture broader, intent-aligned search terms.

Recent updates focus on “relevant variations” of search terms, leaning heavily on Smart Bidding to provide cost-effective results while allowing AI to show ads for a broader set of queries that match the user’s intent rather than specific words.

Phrase Match Examples

Phrase match’s looser definition introduced in 2024 means ads can appear for broader, intent-aligned queries rather than just queries that contain the same words as the keyword.

For example, a keyword like “eco-friendly cleaning supplies” may trigger ads for searches like [sustainable cleaning products] or [green cleaning solutions].

While these queries don’t have the same words as the keyword, which phrase match used to require, Google’s AI judges these variations as relevant, offering broader reach without sacrificing quality.

User Insight: To analyze phrase match performance, monitor Google’s enhanced search term reporting, updated in June 2024.

With this update, Google improved visibility by including misspelled search queries alongside their correct counterparts, revealing approximately 9% more search terms that were previously categorized as “Other.”

This additional visibility allows you to identify trends better and spot irrelevant terms, providing more data to refine your campaigns for optimal results.

What Is Phrase Match In Google Ads?

Image from author, November 2024

Phrase match traditionally required ads to appear only for searches containing the keyword phrase in the exact order.

However, with Google’s transition to intent-based matching, ads can now appear for searches that align with the advertiser’s keyword intent, even if the phrase order or specific wording differs.

This means that ads may show on searches that include the meaning of the keyword, even if that meaning is implied or if the user’s search is a more specific form of it.

Example of Phrase Match Flexibility: Suppose your phrase match keyword is “tennis shoes.” With 2024’s updates, this keyword could trigger ads for searches like [men’s tennis sneakers] or [women’s sports shoes for tennis].

Although the words aren’t identical, Google’s AI recognizes that they share a similar intent, allowing advertisers to capture more relevant clicks within this broadened scope.

This approach enables advertisers to reach a wider audience than with an exact match but still maintains more control than broad match.

The syntax for phrase match remains the same – by placing quotes around the keyword, such as “tennis shoes,” advertisers signal Google to match ads to relevant variations of the keyword’s meaning.

This intent-based system ensures ads appear only on searches that closely relate to the product or service, giving advertisers the reach they need without diluting relevance.

New Brand Controls And Thematic Targeting In Phrase Match

Phrase match now prioritizes search intent over strict keyword matching, using Google’s AI to focus on relevance rather than exact phrasing.

This shift enables phrase match to capture a broader range of intent-aligned queries, making thematic keyword grouping a strategic approach.

Organizing keywords by theme allows advertisers to better manage reach and relevance within ad groups.

For instance, if you’re promoting fitness leggings, a thematic ad group could include terms like “workout leggings,” “athletic leggings,” and “high-performance gym tights.”

This approach ensures your ads reach intent-aligned searches across a focused product theme, achieving both precision and broader coverage.

The June 2024 update also introduced expanded brand controls that enhance targeting flexibility, allowing advertisers to better manage ad placements with two new tools: brand exclusions and brand inclusions.

Brand Exclusions

This setting allows you to prevent ads from appearing on specific brand-related search queries that don’t align with campaign goals.

It’s useful for filtering out irrelevant brand terms, misspellings, or close brand variants and is applicable across all match types and Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs).

By using brand exclusions, you can maintain ad relevance and ensure that impressions focus only on relevant traffic.

Brand Inclusions

Specific to broad match, brand inclusions allow ads to appear only on queries associated with selected brands.

This is useful if you want broad match reach but with more brand-specific targeting, helping you avoid unwanted brand associations while benefiting from broad match’s potential for higher reach.

Together, these brand controls offer advertisers more refined management over ad placements, which is especially helpful as phrase match broadens to capture more thematic intent.

However, it’s essential to monitor the impact of brand exclusions on reach and conversion rates.

Regularly review and adjust brand settings to optimize reach while maintaining ad quality and relevance.

Phrase Match Vs. Other Match Types

Image from author, November 2024

Phrase match stands distinct from exact and broad match types by offering a balanced middle ground between controlled targeting and reach.

Exact match remains the best option for high-precision campaigns, ensuring ads only appear for searches that closely match the target keyword.

Broad match, on the other hand, is often used in conjunction with Smart Bidding and Responsive Search Ads to allow Google’s AI to find additional conversions within bid targets, even when the keywords may be less directly related to the advertiser’s core terms.

For advertisers who want to balance control with reach, phrase match continues to provide a reliable option that blends intent-focused targeting with a reasonable scope.

Broad match can be beneficial when aiming for conversions at lower costs through Google’s automated relevance, though it requires careful monitoring to avoid potential misalignment with the brand’s focus.

As we compare these match types, recent performance data offers further insight into how each one delivers value in specific areas.

Optmyzr’s November 2024 analysis provides a deeper look at key metrics across exact, phrase, and broad match keywords, highlighting unique advantages that can guide strategic choices.

Performance Analysis Of Match Types

Strategic Data: Optmyzr’s November 2024 analysis of 992,028 keywords across 15,491 ad accounts highlights the unique strengths of each match type:

  • Exact Match: Delivers the highest precision with the highest ROAS (415%) and CTR (21.6%).
  • Phrase Match: Offers balanced reach, with the second-highest ROAS (314%) and CTR (11.4%).
  • Broad Match: Maximizes cost-effective volume, with the lowest ROAS (278%) and CTR (8.5%) but the highest conversion rate (8.52%).

Among the nearly one million keywords analyzed, 36% were phrase match, 33% were exact match, and 31% were broad match.

Match Type No. of accounts No. of campaigns No. of keywords Conv. rate ROAS CPC CPA CTR
Exact 12,936 57,219 332,343 7.98% 415.33% 1.40 17.59 21.66%
Phrase 15,491 69,592 353,050 9.31% 313.17% 1.71 18.33 11.36%
Broad 12,760 48,599 306,635 8.52% 277.71% 1.81 21.29 8.53%

Source: Optmyzr Keyword Study – November 2024

Advantages Of Using Phrase Match

Image from author, November 2024

Why Choose Phrase Match Over Exact and Broad Match?

With recent updates, phrase match now captures intent-aligned searches similarly to broad match, raising the question of why advertisers would still opt for it instead of relying solely on broad and exact match.

The reason lies in phrase match’s ability to deliver relevant reach with more control than broad match can offer.

While broad match can generate traffic across a wide range of search terms, it may attract some unrelated queries, even with Smart Bidding adjustments.

Phrase match offers a balance, allowing ads to reach more intent-aligned searches while filtering out terms that stray too far from the specific theme of the keyword.

This makes phrase match particularly valuable in campaigns where maintaining relevance within a competitive market is key but where exact match’s narrow targeting may miss valuable variations of user intent.

Image from author, November 2024

Advantages Of Using Phrase Match

Phrase match remains a highly effective tool, offering advertisers the flexibility to capture a range of relevant queries while maintaining a degree of control beyond what broad match provides.

Google’s AI updates enable phrase match to work seamlessly with Smart Bidding, aligning ads more accurately with intent-aligned queries, which can lead to higher click-through rates and better campaign efficiency.

These updates make it possible for phrase match to achieve a broader reach while still focusing on relevance, capturing queries close to the product or service theme.

For advertisers seeking a balance between reach and cost-efficiency, phrase match stands out as ideal – especially in competitive markets where control over search intent can help maximize ad relevance and minimize wasted spend.

Disadvantages Of Using Phrase Match

Phrase match, while flexible, carries some potential drawbacks.

The broad reach might lead to less relevant matches, which can result in increased costs if not monitored carefully. Negative keywords, brand exclusions, and regular adjustments are essential to keep your campaigns targeted and cost-effective.

Pro Tip: Brand exclusions, combined with a vigilant approach to monitoring search terms, can help avoid irrelevant clicks. Be cautious with overly generic phrase match keywords that may trigger less relevant ads, leading to wasted ad spend.

When To Use Phrase Match In Your PPC Campaigns

Phrase match is ideal for capturing a range of related searches without segmenting the campaign too narrowly.

Using thematic keyword groupings can help improve campaign efficiency, as Google’s systems now recognize broader but intent-aligned variations.

Pairing broad match with phrase match can be effective, especially for large-scale campaigns.

Broad match, when combined with Smart Bidding, can help identify new opportunities, while phrase match ensures the ad stays relevant to a specific theme.

Phrase Match Tips For Success

To enhance the effectiveness of phrase match keywords in your campaigns, consider implementing the following advanced strategies:

1. Leverage Thematic Ad Group Structuring

Organize your ad groups around specific themes or product categories. This approach ensures that your ads are triggered by search queries closely aligned with user intent, thereby improving ad relevance and performance.

For instance, grouping keywords like “eco-friendly cleaning supplies” and “sustainable cleaning products” within the same ad group can help target environmentally conscious consumers more effectively.

2. Implement Advanced Negative Keyword Strategies

Regularly update and refine your negative keyword list to exclude terms that are irrelevant or unlikely to convert.

This practice prevents your ads from appearing in unrelated searches, optimizing your budget and enhancing click-through rates.

For example, if you’re selling premium products, adding “cheap” or “discount” as negative keywords can help filter out bargain hunters.

3. Utilize Google’s Search Term Reports

Analyze search term reports to gain insights into the actual queries triggering your ads.

This analysis allows you to identify and add irrelevant terms as negative keywords and discover new, relevant keywords to target.

Regularly reviewing these reports helps fine-tune your keyword strategy for better alignment with user intent.

4. Apply Smart Bidding Strategies

Employ Smart Bidding strategies, such as Target CPA or Target ROAS, in conjunction with phrase match keywords.

Google’s machine learning algorithms can optimize bids in real-time, enhancing the likelihood of conversions and improving return on ad spend.

This approach leverages Google’s AI to adjust bids based on contextual signals, leading to more efficient budget utilization.

5. Conduct A/B Testing

Perform A/B tests on various elements of your campaigns, including ad copy, landing pages, and call-to-action phrases.

This experimentation helps determine what resonates most with your audience, allowing for data-driven optimizations that enhance overall campaign performance.

By integrating these advanced strategies, you can maximize the potential of phrase match keywords, ensuring your ads reach the most relevant audience while maintaining control over your advertising spend.

Key Takeaways

Google’s 2024 updates have reshaped phrase match, expanding reach but reducing the control advertisers once had over precise targeting. This shift to AI-driven matching requires adapting, as campaigns may capture broader traffic that sometimes strays from exact intent.

To make the most of phrase match under these new rules, focus on core best practices: use negative keywords to refine results, apply Smart Bidding to maximize ROI, and organize campaigns with thematic ad groups.

While this change limits some targeting precision, Google’s AI now helps uncover high-value, intent-aligned searches you might otherwise miss.

Final Takeaway: Though these updates may feel restrictive, staying proactive and adaptable can help you capture relevant audiences and maintain competitive performance in the evolving PPC landscape.

More resources:


Featured Image: myboys.me/Shutterstock

GA4 Metrics Every Advertiser Should Pay Attention To via @sejournal, @timothyjjensen

While paying attention to metrics in ad platforms is crucial to the success of any online advertising initiative, you can’t ignore what users are doing after they click the ad.

Sure, you can measure the website conversions in your ad platforms, but what else are people doing on your site that could be informative to your campaigns?

Google Analytics can help you gain insight into the steps beyond the initial click, answering questions such as:

  • How much time are users spending on your landing page, and are they looking at other pages on your site?
  • How many paid users are coming to your site for the first time, and how many have previously been on the site before interacting with ads?
  • What other channels have led them to your site in addition to paid?
  • Are they watching the videos you’ve embedded in your site?
  • What percentage of users are adding items to their carts and not checking out right away?

In this article, let’s take a look at several key metrics in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) that can help with these questions and more.

Key Event Counts & Rates

Key events in GA4 correlate to what you consider your primary business success metrics. These will vary based on your goals but may include lead form submissions, online account creation, purchases, or event registrations, to name a few options.

Confusingly, while key events may match what you think of as “conversions” in other channels, GA4 currently reserves the “conversions” nomenclature specifically for Google Ads conversions tracked via a linked account.

Events are a core functionality in GA4, with every action a user takes on the site potentially correlating to an event (from page views to form submissions).

However, you should think carefully about what events actually matter to your business bottom line to be marked as a key event.

Additionally, the key event rate is another metric you should consider. When looking at the session level, you will notice what percentage of sessions resulted in a key event taking place.

GA4 Acquisition ReportScreenshot from Google Analytics, November 2024

When looking at key events, you have a few useful ways to incorporate them, including:

  • View event counts and event rates by channel and by source/medium. For instance, you can compare key event rates between paid search and paid social to see which is more likely to yield qualified visits.
  • Look at performance by landing page to see which entry points attract the users most likely to take action. Are there any pages with low session volume and high key event rates that may be worth promoting more?
  • Filter specific key events to compare which ones have the highest volume and event rates. For instance, if you offer both a demo request and a free trial, you can compare which drives the most interest from paid search vs. paid social.
  • Compare attribution models (Advertising > Attribution > Attribution Models) to see how many key events are attributed to each source and channel when using a last-click model vs. a data-driven one.
    •  Last-click attribution credits the key event to the last non-direct source by which a user arrived on the site.
    • Data-driven attribution distributes credit between sources based on your account’s prior data. Factors may include time between visits from various sources, number of interactions, devices, and more. While this is, unfortunately, a “black box” model on Google’s part, it will help to weigh more toward sources that may have influenced consideration when users visit your site multiple times before taking action.

General Event Counts & Rates

While not every event should be considered a key event, you should take the time to look at other events that can give clues to user engagement on the site.

If you’ve turned on Enhanced Measurement, you can see events for actions such as scroll activity, file downloads, outbound clicks, and video interaction (for embedded YouTube videos).

While the specific application of these events will vary based on how your site is set up, here are a few ways they could be used in your analysis:

  • Determine if it is worth including an embedded video on your landing page. Are people watching the video, and if so, how far are they viewing on average? Additionally, are users who watch the video also more likely to submit a lead form or complete a purchase in the same session?
  • Weigh the importance of content below the fold on your landing page. Are a decent percentage of people bothering to scroll, or are most just viewing what is immediately visible when reaching the site?
  • Assess the value of downloadable content. If you’re offering a PDF such as an ebook or spec sheet, what percentage of people are clicking to download it?

To take these out-of-the-box events a step further, you can also set up custom events for more advanced tracking.

Ecommerce Metrics

For those promoting ecommerce sites, GA4 offers a robust set of metrics that allow you to analyze the full path of purchase behavior.

Once you’ve set up your site to incorporate ecommerce events, you can view them in Reports under Life Cycle > Monetization or Business Objectives > Sales. (Note that GA4 still displays the Life Cycle Collection instead of Business Objectives as default in certain circumstances.)

GA4 Ecommerce ReportScreenshot from Google Analytics, November 2024

Here are a few important metrics you should be paying attention to:

  • Transactions: The total number of purchases
  • Revenue: Get an idea of the income from on-site purchases, and use it to calculate return on ad spend (ROAS).
  • Add to cart: Understand how many users are expressing enough interest to add an item to their cart, and look at abandonment rates during the checkout process.

Engagement Metrics

GA4 introduced new metrics to assess how much interest users are showing while on your site, offering a more robust approach to measurement than the much-maligned bounce rate that was omnipresent in previous reporting.

In order to qualify as an “engaged session,” a session needs to last longer than 10 seconds, include two page views or screen views, or have a key event fire.

GA4 Engagement OverviewScreenshot from Google Analytics, November 2024

Looking at engaged sessions in addition to total sessions will offer a more accurate picture of how often people spent at least enough time on the site to absorb some of the content vs. immediately leaving.

The engagement rate will show you what percentage of sessions fit the “engaged” criteria, offering clues as to which landing pages and sources will most likely drive qualified individuals.

Another metric is average engagement time, showing the average amount of time spent on the site either by session (visit level) or by user (individual level), depending on the report you are viewing.

Finally, you can view new vs. returning users to get an idea of which channels will most likely drive people to the site for the first time vs. those who have previously interacted with it.

Of course, note that these metrics aren’t perfect (with cross-device users and privacy settings complicating accuracy), but they can at least give you a rough idea.

Additionally, be mindful that channels, where you’ve focused more heavily on retargeting, will naturally drive more returning users.

Ad Platform Integrated Metrics

If you have a Google Ads account, you should link it to your GA4 account in order to automatically pass through metrics from your campaigns. This will offer more robust data than just relying on UTM parameters.

To ensure Google Ads data is flowing correctly, make sure you have admin access to the account, turn on auto-tagging, and link the proper Ads account ID to the correct GA4 property.

GA4 Advertising ReportScreenshot from Google Analytics, November 2024

You can see this data correlated with GA4 key events under Advertising > Planning > Google Ads.

If desired, you can import cost data from non-Google ad platforms and view corresponding metrics in the Planning > All Channels report.

GA4 Conversions ReportScreenshot from Google Analytics, November 2024

Additionally, the Advertising > Conversion Performance report allows you to select a Google Ads account and Ads-based conversions to view counts by various breakdowns. This lets you compare totals for these conversions from Ads vs. other channels.

As an added bonus, you can also see a few GA4 metrics directly within the Ads interface if you select the option to “Import app and web metrics” when setting up your link.

The % engaged sessions (the percentage of total sessions qualifying as “engaged”), events/sessions, and average engagement duration are the three available as of the time of publishing.

These can be useful to get a quick view of which campaigns, ads, etc., will most likely attract users willing to spend time on your site.

As a side note, you should not be overly concerned about matching up sessions and click totals perfectly. These can vary for a number of reasons:

  • A session is only counted when a page is viewed, and any previous sessions have timed out. By default, if a user goes back to the site within 30 minutes, they will still be within the same session.
  • A user could click and leave the site before the GA4 code has time to fire, in which case the click would be counted, and a session would not register.
  • Some types of Google Ads campaigns count clicks for actions that may not entail visiting a website. For instance, Demand Gen campaigns include clicks to open Gmail ads.

Start Analyzing Your Paid Traffic

Now that we’ve reviewed several important GA4 metrics, think about how you can apply this data when managing your PPC campaigns.

Understanding the metrics available to you is one important step in mastering GA4, but being able to segment data and understand context is the other crucial step.

Be sure to review these metrics both at the channel and source level, as well as for individual landing pages you’re pushing traffic to.

Wherever possible, incorporate takeaways from GA4 into your PPC reporting as well to show insight beyond the ad platform data.

More resources:


Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

Google Ads 2024 Recap: With An Eye To 2025 via @sejournal, @adsliaison

This year brought a steady stream of updates in Google Ads that spanned across campaign types and creative, media activation, and measurement solutions – many informed directly by advertiser feedback.

I won’t cover every big update here, but building on a talk I gave at Hero Conf in San Diego recently, I’ll highlight some of the key themes in this year’s launches and the technological and consumer trends driving product innovation in Google Ads. (It was wonderful to catch up with old marketing friends and meet so many new ones!)

Let’s dig into some of the top trends and launches of what’s possible now to help you engage audiences and drive better results – and get a sense of where we’re headed.

Search Is Evolving & Bringing New Opportunities For Advertisers

Google Search is undergoing significant changes – both in the types of questions people ask, how they’re asking them, and in the results Google provides.

For many years, people largely searched with short two- to three-word queries. For advertisers, that meant we could simply target a list of keywords matching those short queries to reach the right audience.

This has been changing.

We are seeing people asking longer, more complex questions.

Queries of five or more words are growing 1.5 times faster than shorter queries (Source: Google Internal Data, Global-EN, November 2022 – April 2023 vs. November 2023 – April 2024). You may notice this in your own search behavior.

This shift is why we continue to invest so heavily in broad match to help ensure your Search strategy can keep up with the complexity and diversity of searches.

AI Overviews in Search combines large language models (LLMs) with Google’s core search systems to provide responses and resources for more complex queries.

AI Overviews is now available in more than 100 countries and territories, reaching more than 1 billion users monthly in six languages (Source: Alphabet Q3 2024 Earnings).

Additionally, visual searches on Google are growing, thanks to huge leaps in multi-modal visual search capabilities with Lens.

Overall, we’re now seeing 20 billion visual searches a month on Lens, and 1 in 4 visual searches has commercial intent (Source: Google Internal Data, Global. Lens, August-September 2024).

To help advertisers connect with consumers in these new experiences when relevant, we’ve introduced Shopping ads in Lens results globally and text and Shopping ads in AI Overviews on mobile in the U.S.

More Personalized Shopping Discovery

Another new experience to highlight is the completely reimagined Shopping tab.

Currently live on mobile in the U.S., the new Shopping tab experience features a personalized feed for signed-in users and a dedicated deals page. It also incorporates features like Virtual Try-On.

Powered by Gemini models, Virtual Try-On lets potential customers see how an item of clothing drapes, clings, and stretches on real models of different sizes and shapes rig by combining the images of real, diverse human models with photos of your garments from Merchant Center.

All apparel brands with a shopping feed and high-quality imagery are automatically opted into Apparel Try-On and can show in both free listings and Shopping ads.

And while we’re on the topic of Shopping, Merchant Center Next (now simply called Merchant Center) rolled out globally this year.

The new interface has feature parity with the previous version, plus more features such as generated performance insights, tailored recommendations, and visual reporting that you generate with plain language prompts.

Launch, Iterate, And Scale Engaging Creatives

Creative generation solutions make it easier for businesses to create and launch higher-performing, on-brand ads.

The conversational experience for Search campaigns expanded to more languages and is available in English, Spanish, French, and German. It’s also now powered by Gemini models.

This feature is particularly helpful for new and small business advertisers.

We’ve seen that advertisers that use the conversational experience in Google Ads are 63% more likely to publish Search campaigns with “Good” or “Excellent” Ad Strength (Source: Google Internal Data. US, English campaigns published after using asset generation vs. published without using asset generation. January 1-31, 2024).

In short, that means they’re launching campaigns that are more likely to perform better from the start.

Image from author, December 2024

We also made continued improvements in our generative AI models and capabilities to make it a whole lot easier to create varieties of high-quality, on-brand image and video assets at scale.

The asset enhancements feature for responsive display ads uses AI to automatically modify your ad with smart cropping to highlight focal points, text assets, and logo overlays on relevant image areas, and improve image resolution and sharpness. It can even animate your static images for more engaging ads.

We also expanded generative creative capabilities beyond Performance Max to other campaign types this year.

Image asset generation is available in Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, and App campaigns. It is now powered by Imagen 3, Google’s latest text-to-image model that generates crisper, more lifelike images for your ads.

To generate on-brand image assets, you can upload image references to help generate multiple image assets that better match your brand’s visual style.

Image editing got more capabilities this year as well and is now available in Performance Max, Demand Gen, Search, Display, and App campaigns.

During campaign construction, you can remove, add, modify elements, and extend backgrounds in your image assets, as well as adjust images to fit any size, aspect ratio, or orientation.

Pro tip: Image editing can be great for moments like seasonal campaigns to make sure your assets are on-trend with different holidays and moments during the year so they resonate strongly with audiences.

Note that image editing is different from Product Studio, which is where you can edit your product assets in Google Merchant Center and the Google and YouTube app on Shopify.

Product Studio also now supports reference images to create assets that reflect your brand’s visual style. And with image-to-video animation, it can quickly generate videos from your existing product images.

Speaking Of Video . . .

Image from author, December 2024

Creating great video assets for all the inventory options on YouTube can be challenging for businesses of all sizes.

This fall, we introduced video enhancements, which use Google AI to automatically create additional flipped and shortened versions of your existing videos.

These new ads go through extensive quality review before going live. You can remove generated assets you don’t want or opt-out (if desired) at the campaign level.

Voice-over is a new self-service feature available globally in the asset library in Google Ads. Simply add your script, choose the voice option you want, and then click to generate a voice-over for any YouTube video ad in more than 12 languages.

Long-form content is still extremely popular on YouTube, of course, but Shorts now see 70 billion daily views and an audience of 2 billion signed-in users monthly. And Shorts views on connected TVs more than doubled last year.

This year, we launched branded QR codes on YouTube connected TV. Viewers can scan the code on their phone to visit your website, make a purchase, or learn more about your product or service.

In Video View Campaigns, we introduced new format buying controls with the option to run ads on Shorts inventory only.

And if you’re interested in tapping the power of YouTube creators, Partnership ads powered by BrandConnect are now available in Google Ads globally.

You can use videos made by a creator and promote them as ads, then create new audience segments based on viewers of those videos.

A new video-linking API is also available to link creator videos to your Google Ads account at scale.

New Controls. More Transparency.

We all know that when using AI, better inputs lead to better outputs – and outcomes for your business.

Google AI doesn’t automatically know the definition of better results for your business – only you do. That’s why we’ve continued to add more ways to tell Google what’s important to your business.

In Search campaigns, brand inclusions allow you to use broad match, while still constraining your brand campaigns to serving on specific brand or related product queries.

Brand exclusions are now available for all match types and Dynamic Search Ads to prevent your ads from serving on certain brand queries, including misspellings and variants.

We also rolled out these highly requested updates for Search campaigns:

  • Negative keywords now take misspellings into account. Just add one negative keyword to exclude traffic from all misspelling variations.
  • The search term report shows 9% more search terms on average by reporting misspelled queries with the correctly spelled query.
Image from author, December 2024

You can also see this focus on controls and transparency emphasized in many of the Performance Max updates this year, such as:

  • With Brand guidelines, you get to tell Google about your brand colors and font to generate on-brand visuals.
  • Campaign-level negative keywords – a top ask – are in beta and will be rolling out soon.
  • IP exclusions are supported, and account-level placement exclusions now also apply to the Search partner network.
  • A new experiment allows you to test the impact of final URL expansion to let Google AI select the most relevant landing pages and help you match to additional relevant search queries.
  • To give you more flexibility when managing both Performance Max and Standard Shopping together, Ad Rank is now used to determine which campaign serves when you have product overlap between them.

In addition to controls, we’ve also added more insights for Performance Max, including:

  • Asset-level conversion reporting.
  • Impression share reporting.
  • Demographics in audience insights.
  • New target pacing insights.

This is an area we are actively focused on. Stay tuned for more in 2025!

More Bidding Options Tailored To Specific Goals

Another area I want to call out is the continued focus on expanding and improving bidding capabilities tailored to advertisers’ specific goals.

Here’s a look at some of the work happening in this area:

For retailers with both online and physical stores, omnichannel shoppers tend to spend more.

In Demand Gen campaigns, Omnichannel Goals is now in beta to give those retailers the ability to optimize towards both online conversions and Store Visits.

For lead gen advertisers, the customer journey can be complex. And, of course, not every customer has the same value to your business.

I’ve talked a lot about value-based bidding for lead gen advertisers this year, including a series of short videos followed by deeper dives here in Search Engine Journal.

Continuing to make value-based bidding easier to understand and execute will continue to be a focus area because we’ve seen the positive results it can drive for advertisers.

Lifecycle goals offer additional options to optimize toward your most valuable customers:

  • Last month, we added the ability to use custom experiments in PMax (in beta) and Search to test new customer acquisition.
  • The new retention goal is currently in beta for Performance Max. It allows you to optimize your campaign to win back lapsed customers to reduce churn rates.

And lastly, bidding to profit has also been a top ask from customers.

The new gross profit goal is in beta in Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns. It pulls in profit data from sources you already have, like Merchant Center, enabling you to bid to profit with Smart Bidding.

You can also easily switch between revenue and profit goals without disrupting performance.

Data, Measurement & Privacy

Image from author, December 2024

While advancements like image generation may capture attention, the solutions that provide Google AI with the necessary data are equally vital.

Your first-party data is the foundation for better performance and measurement. It helps drive better results and safeguard your campaigns against the impact of privacy changes and signal loss.

We’ve developed a number of privacy-centric solutions that enable durable measurement and allow you to make the most of your first-party data.

Google Ads Data Manager is a big step forward in simplifying the process of connecting your first-party data sources to your account and keeping your audience lists and conversion data complete and accurate.

This fall, we introduced confidential matching for Customer Match in Google Ads Data Manager. It securely processes first-party data for use in Google Ads.

This happens automatically in the background so you don’t have to think about it other than knowing your data remains encrypted and unseen by anyone – including Google.

We’ve also launched the option to encrypt the data yourself and receive proof that your data is processed as intended. And, we are currently running a closed beta to enable confidential matching for enhanced conversions for web.

Tag diagnostics for the Google Tag is available in Google Tag Manager, Google Ads, and Google Analytics to help you quickly identify and troubleshoot potential issues.

Measurement diagnostics for Enhanced Conversions for Leads is also fully rolled out in Google Ads. Use it to monitor your setup and ensure you can take action against the offline data you share with Google.

While we’re on lead generation, new lead funnel reporting for lead gen gives you added visibility into offline conversions when you share qualified and converted leads with Google.

Lastly, advanced consent mode includes two new parameters for sending consent signals needed for ad personalization and remarketing purposes to Google.

The easiest way to enable and maintain advanced consent mode is to work with a Google CMP partner.

The new integrated CMP setup in the Google Tag UI makes this even easier with select partners. Just connect your CMP and configure consent settings right within the Google Tag UI – no code editing needed.

Looking Ahead

AI’s power comes in helping you dynamically adapt to market shifts and create better experiences – and ultimately better outcomes – for your customers and your business.

When you put AI to work with good data and inputs about what you know about your business and goals, you can spend more time focused on, well, the joy of marketing.

In the year ahead, you can expect us to continue building on these capabilities to help you create and measure engaging experiences that drive incremental value for your business.

Keep the feedback coming, and be sure to check out the full recap of top launches across each campaign type in Google Ads this year!

More Resources:


Featured Image: Ginny Marvin/Google

Using Google Merchant Center Next For Competitive Analysis via @sejournal, @gilgildner

In Google Ads, where every click can be a potential sale, understanding your competition isn’t just strategic, it’s also absolutely necessary for creating a profitable ad campaign.

For our ecommerce clients, Google Merchant Center has long been a critical tool for managing unwieldy amounts of data.

When some ecommerce clients can stock thousands of SKUs or maybe even millions of SKU iterations, it enables us to manage shopping campaigns that would otherwise be impossible.

With new evolutions of machine learning and AI-powered Shopping on the horizon, making sure your store remains competitive in the massive landscape of ecommerce advertising is more important than ever.

Enter Merchant Center Next, which is the next evolution of Google’s product listing management tool. It’s designed to give ecommerce retailers a sharper edge in the competitive arena.

Here’s how you can use this tool not just for managing product feeds, but also for identifying huge opportunities in your competition.

Merchant Center Next is an upgraded platform that allows ecommerce stores to manage how their products appear on Google Shopping, both paid and organic.

But for this post, we’ll focus more on its analytics and insights features, which are a gold mine for competitive analysis.

How To Use Competitive Analysis Features In Merchant Center

First, you need to make sure your account actually has access to Merchant Center Next.

Although Google first announced a full rollout by September 2024, not all accounts have access yet. The integration with Google Ads is seamless, so it’s an easy click.

Second, take a look at the competitor visibility section. This section is reached by navigating to Analytics > Products, and then looking at different content tabs, labeled Traffic, Competitors, Popular Products, Pricing, and Promotions.

This shows you cards that highlight how your products stack up against the competition in terms of overall visibility. You can see who among your competitors is getting more clicks, where their ads rank, and how your own traffic compares.

Third, take a look at price competitiveness. Google Merchant Center Next provides insights into how product prices align with the overall market.

Are your SKUs priced above, similarly, or below the average price across the internet? The data within this section will help you adjust your pricing strategy easily.

Google Merchant Center Price CompetitivenessResearching Price Competitiveness Within Google Merchant Center. Screenshot from Google Merchant Center, November 2024.

Next, look at search trends. This section allows us to have a closer look at and to understand what consumers are looking for in aggregate.

It’s not just about products or individual SKUs, but also entire categories and product niches you may not be aware of.

Doing a deep dive into product performance can be massively valuable.

Best Sellers allows you to identify products flying off your virtual shelves. If competitors are selling items you don’t currently offer, this is a good indicator to consider product line expansion.

Out-of-stock Insights gives you a heads-up that you may need to restock a product – inventory management is always a huge issue with popular ecommerce stores.

How To Interpret Data For Real-World Use

One of my favorite metrics in Google Merchant Center Next is the Ad/Organic Ratio Analysis. This metric tells us how much of the traffic per product is paid versus organic.

You can infer competitor ad spend from this. If you can see a competitor has a high ratio of paid to organic, it means they’re possibly spending a lot more on ads than you, so it might be time to ramp up your Google Ads spend (something you’ve likely heard from plenty of Google reps).

Ad/Organic Ratio AnalysisAd/Organic Ratio Analysis in Google Merchant Center. Screenshot from Google Merchant Center, November 2024.

Since Merchant Center isn’t only about paid traffic, you can also use search term insights in the Analytics > Summary tab to help with your ecommerce store’s SEO performance.

Use these insights into keywords to refine product titles, descriptions, or even URLs. If a competitor’s product with a similar title is ranking higher, this can indicate possible opportunities for improvement.

Continuous monitoring and adapting to the current market are critical. Nothing seems to change faster than the digital advertising landscape.

Using Merchant Center Next to identify market shifts means you can discover new entrants, changing consumer preferences, seasonal trends, and more.

Merchant Center Product TrendsUsing Merchant Center Next to identify changing product trends. Screenshot from Google Merchant Center, November 2024.

Using this newly available data within Merchant Center can help you outsmart the competition – spotting gaps where you may be able to see that competitors are missing out on certain categories or price points.

If you can see that no other competitor offers free shipping, or aren’t bundling products in unique ways, these are all ways to leverage the data for your own benefit.

More Data Is Coming For Shopping

One of the biggest complaints over time has been that Google Ads seems to continually remove granular data from our fingertips, making it harder to optimize and improve campaigns.

This is especially important to ecommerce advertisers who often have unwieldy amounts of SKUs and transaction data to analyze.

Google Merchant Center Next actually seems to be bringing some of this data back into the fold. By leveraging this data – specifically the competitive analysis tools – you cannot only keep up with the rest of the ecommerce market, but also maybe even jump ahead.

Plus, Google Ads has been making some major strides in consumer-focused customized experiences within Google Shopping.

These AI-powered custom shopping experiences are still in their infancy, but making sure your campaigns are fully optimized within Merchant Center Next is the first step to staying competitive even through these new changes.

After all, the data that Google uses to train these new experiences come directly from stores just like yours (which can sometimes feel like a double-edged sword, to be sure).

All indications seem to be that this data will continue to increase. Not only has Performance Max been offering more and more data recently, but shakeups at Google Ads seem to indicate that more granular data may be coming to us from more than one platform.

Ecommerce knowledge and data aren’t just power – they are profit!

More resources:


Featured Image: eamesBot/Shutterstock

Performance Max For Ecommerce: Advanced Strategies And Pitfalls To Avoid

Since its launch in 2021, Performance Max (PMax) has transformed how ecommerce businesses approach Google Ads.

Google’s machine learning and AI, when applied across its entire advertising ecosystem, promises to maximize conversions and value and simplify campaign management.

However, with automation playing such a crucial role, the question arises: Can advertisers find the right balance between letting the algorithm work and exercising their strategic control?

Understanding Performance Max For Ecommerce

Your ads might get placed anywhere in Google’s network, including Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps.

For ecommerce businesses, this broad reach represents both an opportunity and a challenge.

While the system promises to optimize your campaigns in real-time, this automation comes with significant transparency challenges.

Mike Rhodes explains a fundamental issue facing advertisers:

“Performance Max campaigns have introduced a significant challenge for advertisers: a lack of transparency in budget allocation. This opacity makes it difficult for managers to understand where their budgets are truly going, hindering their ability to optimize campaigns effectively and maximize ROI.

Without clear insights into which placements, audiences, or assets drive performance, advertisers are essentially flying blind.

My Performance Max scripts solve this critical issue by pulling data from various sources to provide the clearest possible picture of budget allocation.”

This lack of transparency means advertisers must be more strategic in their campaign management and measurement approach.

Understanding the key components and how they work together becomes crucial for success.

Key Features For Ecommerce Success

Feed-Based Optimization

Your product feed – a digital catalogue containing all your product information – serves as the foundation of your Performance Max campaigns.

This is your store’s digital inventory that Google uses to create and display your ads across its networks.

The quality and optimization of your feed data directly impact your campaign’s performance. A well-optimized product feed should include:

  • Descriptive product titles that include key search terms.
  • Accurate pricing and availability information.
  • High-quality images that meet Google’s specifications.
  • Detailed product descriptions and specifications.
  • Proper categorization and product types.
  • Additional attributes like color, size, and brand.

For maximum effectiveness, regularly update your feed with:

  • Competitive pricing information.
  • Current inventory levels.
  • Seasonal product information.
  • New product launches.
  • Updated promotional messaging.

Asset-Based Approach

Your creative assets are fundamental to Performance Max’s success, serving as the foundation for ads across all of Google’s networks.

Unlike traditional campaigns where you create specific ads for each platform, Performance Max uses your provided assets – images, videos, text, and logos – to automatically generate optimized ad combinations for each placement and audience.

Sarah Steman provides valuable insight into asset optimization:

“A powerful PMax strategy is to leverage themed asset groups, especially during holidays or promotions.

By conducting a dedicated photoshoot and comparing its performance against evergreen assets, I can gain valuable insights for campaign optimization.”

Successful asset management requires:

  • Regular performance analysis.
  • Seasonal content updates.
  • A/B testing of different creative approaches.
  • Audience-specific variations.
  • Consistent brand messaging.

Smart Bidding Integration

Performance Max uses automated bidding strategies powered by machine learning to optimize for your chosen goals.

The system continuously learns from performance data to adjust bids in real-time across all channels.

Strategic Campaign Structure

Effective campaign segmentation is crucial for success. Susan Yen emphasizes the importance of audience targeting:

“Segmenting campaigns with custom audience signals ensures your ads target users with genuine intent, leading to stronger performance and higher-quality leads.”

Implementation considerations include:

  • Product categories and types.
  • Profit margins and pricing strategies.
  • Seasonal variations.
  • Geographic targeting.
  • Customer segments.
  • Performance goals.

Advanced Optimization Strategies

Performance Max works best as part of a holistic marketing strategy. Chris Chambers shares an innovative approach to device targeting:

“You can’t set device bid adjustments for PMax, but PMax does follow value rules that you set. So you can still set up a value rule multiplier for device types or geos, which gives you some control over how the PMax serves.”

Artur MacLellan of Hop Skip Media offers crucial insight into performance volatility:

“Some days it kills it, and others it is terrible. This is because if you have a lot of other top-of-funnel (TOF) traffic, like YouTube or Meta or Influencers, whenever those other channels push, PMax goes in and scoops up the conversions.”

Performance Monitoring and Optimization

Key optimization areas include:

1. Channel Management: Monitor how your budget is being distributed across channels:

  • Track performance metrics by placement.
  • Analyze channel interaction patterns.
  • Assess the impact on existing campaigns.
  • Identify and address channel cannibalization.
  • Review placement performance data.

2. Asset Optimization: Regular testing and refinement of creative elements:

    • Monitor asset performance ratings.
    • A/B test different creative approaches.
    • Update seasonal content proactively.
    • Create audience-specific variations.
    • Remove underperforming assets.

    3. Bidding Strategy: Fine-tune your automated bidding:

      • Review and adjust ROAS targets based on performance.
      • Monitor conversion patterns.
      • Analyze competitor activity.
      • Adjust targets for seasonal changes.
      • Consider device and location performance.

      Measuring Success And ROI

      Primary Metrics:

      • Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
      • Conversion Value.
      • Conversion Rate.
      • Average Order Value.
      • Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).
      • New vs. Returning Customer Ratio.

      Secondary Metrics:

      • Impression Share.
      • Click-Through Rate (CTR).
      • Asset Performance.
      • Channel Distribution.
      • Geographic Performance.
      • Device Performance.

      Implementation of best practices:

      • Set up proper conversion tracking.
      • Use value-based bidding when possible.
      • Monitor cross-channel attribution.
      • Regular performance audits.
      • Analyze customer lifetime value.

      Overcoming Common Challenges

      1. Performance Volatility

      • Implement consistent monitoring schedules.
      • Maintain a balanced channel mix.
      • Use complementary campaign types.
      • Set realistic performance expectations.
      • Regular strategy adjustments.

      2. Creative Performance

      • Regular creative refreshes.
      • Performance-based asset management.
      • Seasonal content planning.
      • Brand consistency across channels.
      • Regular creative testing.

      3. Budget Management

      • Strategic budget allocation.
      • Performance-based adjustments.
      • Seasonal planning.
      • Competitive analysis.
      • ROI optimization.

      Future Developments And Preparation

      As Google continues investing in AI capabilities, prepare for:

      1. Enhanced Transparency

      • Improved reporting features.
      • Better performance insights.
      • More detailed placement data.
      • Enhanced budget allocation visibility.

      2. AI Integration

      • Advanced asset creation.
      • Dynamic optimization.
      • Sophisticated audience targeting.
      • Improved testing capabilities.

      3. Data Integration

      • Enhanced first-party data usage.
      • Better cross-channel attribution.
      • Improved audience insights.
      • Advanced bidding algorithms.

        Conclusion

        Returning to our initial question about balancing automation with control, success with Performance Max requires a strategic approach that combines:

        • Well-structured campaigns.
        • High-quality product feeds.
        • Strategic asset groups.
        • Proper tracking implementation.
        • Regular monitoring and optimization.

        The future of Performance Max in ecommerce lies in finding the right balance between automation and strategic oversight.

        Those who master this balance while maintaining adaptability to new features will be best positioned to succeed in the evolving landscape of ecommerce advertising.

        Each component of your Performance Max strategy should work together to create a cohesive approach that leverages automation while maintaining strategic control.

        This balance, combined with regular optimization and adaptation to new features, will help ensure long-term success in your ecommerce advertising efforts.

        More resources:


        Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock

        [B2C Marketers] 5 Tips To Drive More Revenue With Google Ads AI via @sejournal, @invoca

        This post was sponsored by Invoca. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

        In today’s marketing world, AI is more than a buzzword — it’s a necessity.

        Nearly 90% of marketers plan to increase their investment in AI this year, primarily focusing on boosting their Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

        If you’re not using AI to maximize your ad budget, chances are your competitors are, which could leave you behind.

        But don’t worry — there are plenty of AI tools to help you get more from your campaigns, boost productivity, and drive revenue growth without spending more on ads. One of the most impactful marketing tools is Google Ads Smart Bidding.

        In this post, we’ll break down five essential Smart Bidding strategies that can help you drive more revenue.

        Want the tips without reading? Check out the video series >>>

        We’ll also explore how pairing Google’s AI with a revenue execution platform can elevate your ad performance.

        What Is Google Ads Smart Bidding?

        Google Ads Smart Bidding is an AI-driven tool that automatically adjusts bids in real-time to help you hit your campaign goals.

        Its strength lies in its ability to analyze patterns and trends far quicker than any human could.

        By optimizing your budget and freeing up your team for other high-value projects, Smart Bidding helps you focus on what matters most: growing revenue.

        5 Tips to Drive Revenue With Google Ads Smart Bidding

        Want the tips without reading? Check out the video series >>>

        1. Align Your Bidding Strategy With Revenue Goals

        Google Ads Smart Bidding offers multiple options tailored to different campaign objectives. Choosing the right strategy depends on your specific goals and budget. Here are a few:

        • Maximize Conversions: This Smart Bidding strategy sets bids to maximize the number of actions taken by users, such as sign-ups, purchases, or form submissions. It is ideal if you want to drive more actions like form fills, sign-ups, or purchases.
        • Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): With the target cost per acquisition (CPA) strategy, you specify the amount you’re willing to spend to acquire a customer. Google Ads then automatically sets bids to achieve that desired CPA. This strategy is best for maintaining cost efficiency by acquiring customers at a specific price.
        • Target ROAS: The target ROAS strategy allows you to set a specific ROAS goal, and Google Ads adjusts bids based on expected conversion values. If maximizing revenue while maintaining a specific ROAS is your priority, this is your go-to strategy.
        • Enhanced Conversions: You can use Enhanced Conversions to optimize for specific actions or events that hold significant value for your business. This strategy leverages machine learning to predict and adjust bids based on the likelihood of driving valuable conversions, improving the overall return on ad spend, and enhancing the efficiency of your marketing campaigns. According to Google, marketers who use this strategy see a 5% average conversion rate improvement on Search.

        The key is continuously monitoring performance and adjusting to hit your revenue targets.

        2. Use Advanced AI Tools To Reach More Customers

        Google offers new AI tools to take your Smart Bidding strategy to the next level, helping you expand your reach. You can pair these tools with your desired bidding strategy.

        Here’s what they are and how they work:

        • Broad Match: Use this tool to capture a wider audience by covering related searches and synonyms. Craft a comprehensive keyword list, incorporating broad-match keywords to increase visibility and attract potential customers who may use different search terms. According to Google, marketers who use Broad Match in Target CPA campaigns see 35% more conversions, on average.
        • Performance Max: This AI-powered tool optimizes your campaigns across all Google networks (YouTube, Google Maps, etc.) and ad formats to maximize results. With Performance Max, the AI technology automatically adjusts bids to achieve the best possible results, making it ideal for driving conversions and optimizing ad spend across Google’s expansive network. According to Google, marketers who use Performance Max achieve 18% more conversions at a similar cost per action. By pairing Broad Match with your chosen Smart Bidding model, you can maximize your query coverage on Google search.

        By combining Broad Match with Performance Max, you’ll significantly increase your reach and boost conversions.

        3. Use Revenue Execution Platforms To Supercharge Smart Bidding

        AI is only as good as the data it’s fed, and many marketers miss a crucial piece of the puzzle: phone call conversions.

        This can be a significant problem, as our research shows that 20-50% of conversions come in over the phone in many high-stakes purchase industries like healthcare, home services, automotive, and telecommunications.

        If you’re not tracking all of those phone call conversions, your Google Smart Bidding instance is likely underperforming. That’s because automated bidding tools track the number of conversions each ad variation drives and then optimize bids based on what’s performing best. If you’re not tracking the phone call conversions your ads drive, you’re not giving the tool a complete picture of your performance.

        Illustration, Invoca, October 2024
        Illustration, Invoca, October 2024

        A revenue execution platform like Invoca allows you to track these call conversions and feed them directly into Google Ads. This enables Google’s Smart Bidding AI to optimize more effectively, ensuring your ad dollars are spent on what truly drives revenue.

        Check out this video series, to learn more about revenue execution platforms.

        Illustration, Invoca, October 2024

        4. Optimize Retargeting With Rich Data Insights

        Retargeting is an incredibly cost-effective way to drive more conversions, especially when you’re targeting people who have already interacted with your brand. To enhance your retargeting efforts, first-party data is key — and phone conversations are a treasure trove of insights that can be unlocked with revenue execution platforms like Invoca.

        Phone conversations contain more insights than an online form fill ever could — when your customers call you, they tell you about their needs, preferences, and how to make them happy. Invoca’s AI analyzes these conversations at scale and mines them for insights. The beauty of it is that you can easily train the AI to capture whichever data points are most relevant to your business — for example, you can track products callers expressed interest in, if they were price-sensitive, and if they made a purchase.

        Check out the graphic below to see more of the data points you can collect with Invoca:

        Illustration, Invoca, October 2024

        With these deep conversation insights, you can build more complete customer profiles and retarget leads with more relevant ads. Below are a few common examples of retargeting and suppression strategies marketers use with Invoca’s first-party data:

        • Retarget callers who didn’t make a purchase with ads for the products they mentioned over the phone.
        • Retarget callers who bought over the phone with ads for relevant companion purchases.
        • Retarget callers who expressed price sensitivity with ads touting a special discount code.
        • Suppress callers who bought over the phone from seeing future ads for that product or service.

        5. Detect & Solve Call Experience Issues

        Many marketers lose potential revenue because they aren’t aware of call experience issues—missed calls, long hold times, or unoptimized call scripts that don’t convert leads. You could be flushing good leads down the drain without even knowing it. Using a revenue execution platform, you get detailed reports on call handling and identify areas where improvements are needed.

        Invoca shows you the total number of calls your Google Ads campaigns send to each location or contact center, the number of calls answered, the name of the agent who handled the call, the number of leads, and the number of calls successfully converted to revenue.

        If you notice specific locations or contact centers have high unanswered call rates, you can collaborate with them to improve call routing procedures and staffing. If you learn that some agents have low phone call conversion rates, you can review their call recordings and transcripts to learn the cause and notify their managers to help them improve.

        You’ll increase conversion rates and revenue from your Google Ads campaigns when you work with your contact centers and locations to correct these issues.

        Below is a sample Invoca report showing call handling by location:

        Illustration, Invoca, October 2024

        Addressing these issues, from ensuring calls are answered promptly to refining sales scripts, can lead to better conversion rates and higher revenue from your ad campaigns.

        By following these five tips and integrating a revenue execution platform, B2C marketers can fully take advantage of Google’s AI capabilities, driving conversions and revenue from every marketing dollar spent.

        Ready to learn more about how Invoca’s AI-powered revenue execution platform can help you level up your marketing? Check out this video series to see how it’s done.


        Image Credits

        Featured Image: Image by Invoca. Used with permission.

        In-Post Image: Images by Invoca. Used with permission.

        Ask A PPC: Should I Pause My Expanded Text Ads via @sejournal, @navahf

        The latest question for Ask A PPC is based on Ad Strength and Creative. It comes from Isha in Delhi, who asks:

        “Should extended text ads be paused or kept running as we can’t edit?”

        The short answer is the age-old, “It depends.”

        However, recent data indicates there may be more value in moving away from expanded text ads.

        In this post, we’ll go over:

        • The state of expanded text ads (ETAs).
        • Reasons to keep them.
        • Reasons to pause.

        This is a Google-specific perspective. However, the same logic could be applied to Microsoft.

        The State Of ETAs

        Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) allow users to include three 30-character headlines and two 90-character descriptions.

        These ads serve creative in the order specified in the original ad, but they might be truncated based on the search engine result pages (SERP) they served on.

        As a general rule, mobile SERPs would only show headlines one and two (with some truncation possible in headline two).

        They also were “deprecated” in June of 2022. The quotes exist because – while advertisers can no longer create or edit ETAs – ETAs were allowed to continue running.

        This is similar to standard ads (which received the same treatment in September 2017).

        As such, there are still a significant number of advertisers using ETAs instead of or in partnership with Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) and Performance Max ads.

        While I can’t share a concrete number of how many ETAs are still running, a recent Ad Strength study from Optmyzr found around 20% of advertisers still have some ETAs running in their accounts (~5,000 accounts).

        There is no clear answer on ETAs. It truly depends on the state of your business and performance.

        Reasons To Keep ETAs

        The biggest reason to keep ETAs is they are performing well.

        Most agree that 200% ROAS is the baseline for passable performance (i.e., put $1 in and get $2 back). Based on the data, ETAs seem to struggle to meet this:

        Length Bucket No. Of Ads CPC CPA CTR Conversion Rate ROAS
        0-20 69296 1.49 34.80 5.98% 4.27% 159.38%
        21-30 165899 1.78 30.52 6.61% 5.83% 148.83%
        31+ 8964 0.91 4.93 9.00% 18.42% 161.40%

        (Data from the Optmyzr Study)

        However, if you’re not using conversion values, you might need to use conversion rate and CPA to determine success.

        To contrast ETA data, here’s the Optmyzr data for RSAs:

        Heading Length Bucket No. Of Ads CPC CPA CTR Conversion Rate ROAS
        0-20 92744 1.26 17.36 8.85% 7.26% 208.78%
        21-30 716888 2.20 30.61 7.95% 7.19% 181.35%
        31+ 31631 1.86 40.01 7.75% 4.65% 224.73%

        While longer ads are close to ETA performance (which makes sense because longer ads are a tactic from the ETA era), it’s clear shorter ads outperform their predecessor.

        However, big data doesn’t always translate to your individual performance.

        That’s why, it’s critical to establish your own thresholds for performance. If you’re seeing your ad underperform (likely due to not being as eligible for enough SERPs), you may want to make the switch.

        It’s important to remember that you can’t “undo” this choice.

        Another reason to keep these ads is just so you can have them. Once they’re paused, you’re not getting them back.

        Reasons To Pause

        The main reason to move away from ETAs is you want the most access to all placements for your search terms.

        Google has many different SERPs which can force truncation. Leaning into RSAs and PMax ensures you have the most opportunity to succeed.

        Final Takeaway

        There is no right or wrong answer on whether to move away from ETAs. However, it is important that you honestly audit your ETAs and confirm they’re still working for you.

        Have a question about PPC? Submit via this form or tweet me @navahf with the #AskPPC hashtag. See you next month!

        Read the full Ad Strength & Creative Study from Optmyzr.

        More resources: 


        Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/SearchEngineJournal

        PPC Trends Coming In 2025 According To 7 Experts via @sejournal, @BennyJamminS

        Paid media has had its share of challenges alongside the disruption in SEO this year.

        We reached out to seven PPC experts to understand what’s happening in the industry and how marketers can prepare for the year ahead.

        To get the full rundown on trends for next year, download the PPC Trends 2025 ebook. In the ebook, you’ll see insights from:

        • Menachem Ani, Founder & CEO, JXT Group.
        • Andrea Atzori, Director, Ambire.
        • Navah Hopkins, Evangelist, Optmyzr.
        • Ameet Khabra, Founder, Hop Skip Media.
        • Brooke Osmundson, Director of Growth Marketing, Smith Micro Software, Inc.
        • Kirk Williams, Founder & Owner, ZATO PPC Marketing.
        • Ben Wood, Performance Director, Hallam.

        Here’s a bit about what they said.

        Platforms Are All-In On AI

        The loss of fine controls that many PPC experts predicted to come with generative AI integration seems to have gone ahead, with many platforms pushing advertisers to use new AI products.

        Based on how much the major platforms are spending on AI technology, these algorithm-based campaigns and generative AI-based creative features are likely to continue the march forward.

        This is good news in some ways and not so much in others. There will be plenty of opportunities for PPC marketers to remove repetitive and time-consuming tasks from workflows. However, it may become more difficult to assert human control and maintain human insights about your audience through the messaging.

        AI can power stronger personalization, but you also must be careful where it might mix with privacy concerns.

        Privacy And Third-Party Cookies Are Messy

        Privacy has been one of the most frustrating and confusing developments over the last year. Google’s approach to deprecating third-party cookies feels like it’s sitting in a field plucking the petals off a daisy – “I love third-party cookies, I love them not.”

        For now, Google Chrome is keeping third-party cookies, but that doesn’t mean all is well. Privacy regulations and expended user controls will likely erode the viability of third-party data as time goes on.

        Many PPC marketers are looking for ways to build closer relationships with audiences, gain vital opt-in first-party data, and leave third-party tracking behind. Just because it isn’t going away yet doesn’t mean it’s here to stay.

        The good news is that many of the experts agree in their approach to these core issues.

        In the ebook, you can discover which potential uses of AI they lean into and which they view with skepticism. You can also find out how they view data sources and audience cultivation.

        There are many more insights, as well, about new networks and omni-channel strategies, tracking behavior, and other topics.

        Download PPC Trends 2025 for actionable tips to get a head start on the year ahead.

        PPC Trends 2025


        Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal

        Tips For Running Paid Media Campaigns In Highly Regulated Industries via @sejournal, @timothyjjensen

        For those of us working within strict industries, managing paid media campaigns involves added layers of work that may not be included in less regulated companies.

        Healthcare, finance, and political organizations are potential examples here, although many industries have their own quirks both in internal policies and ad platform restrictions.

        According to EMARKETER, in 2023, the financial services industry made up 11.4% of U.S. digital ad spend, while healthcare & pharma entailed 7.3%.

        With these highly regulated industries entailing close to 20% of spend together (not counting other categories), that means many paid search marketers have touched or will touch campaigns in these areas at some point in their career.

        In order to manage campaigns successfully in these niches, you need to think about both how to efficiently work through processes in your own organization to ensure assets are approved and ready in a timely manner, as well as know what to expect after setting your campaigns live in the platforms.

        In this article, I’ll share a few tips to help, applicable both to those in-house at highly regulated organizations and to agency partners managing ads.

        Plan Ahead

        Work the expected timeline for approvals and edits into your planning for a campaign, and be realistic about how long it could take.

        When ad graphics need to be designed and also go through compliance and legal review, you can’t promise to have a campaign active in a week.

        Think through all the pieces you need to build out a set of campaigns:

        • Ad copy.
        • Images (created for all sizes needed).
        • Videos.
        • Keywords.
        • Audience lists.
        • Landing page.
        • Documentation of targeting criteria, if that needs to be approved.

        Then, you can work through a conservative schedule for the creation of each of these items, as well as planning to submit for approval and allowing additional time for edits and final approval.

        Additionally, think through other items that may be outside of your immediate control as a paid search manager, such as landing page development and additional approvals needed for that.

        Document Ad Formats & Use Consistent Templates

        Often, the individuals within your organization reviewing your paid media assets are not at an “in the weeds” level understanding of how ads will display.

        You can make the process smoother both for them and for yourself by clearly documenting individual ad formats and explaining nuances such as character limits and responsive ad functionality.

        Provide screenshots of possible ways that ads can display and provide links to platform previews where relevant.

        Building out an ad without activating it can provide an option to view it in multiple potential formats, especially for ad types like responsive display ads and Google Demand Gen that can appear in many different layouts.

        Meta’s Creative Hub is also a useful tool to build out sample ads and grab screenshots.

        Set up templates that you can use in the future, including guidelines directly in the documents, as well as formulas to flag issues such as going over character count.

        These can be created in Excel documents, shared Google Docs, or proprietary tools within your organization.

        Approve Multiple Variants At Once

        In organizations where the wheels of internal approvals move slowly, getting multiple text and image variants approved at once can help ease the process of updating ads in the future.

        This process may require some extra work upfront but will allow for more efficiency over time.

        For instance, you may launch a Meta campaign using one text variant and four image variants.

        When you’ve reached significance and are ready to move on to the next test, you can choose the best image and test it with multiple text variants.

        Having those text variants approved ahead of time will allow flexibility in being able to roll out this next initiative immediately when the prior test has wrapped up instead of having to wait for additional approval.

        Use Pinned Headlines And Descriptions

        Often, regulated industries require you to include a precisely worded disclaimer in ad copy. Pinned assets in responsive search ads are your friend here, as you can ensure that they will always show.

        Use the first or second headline position or the first description position, as beyond that, assets may be cut off.

        To pin an asset in a Google Ads search campaign, click the thumbtack symbol that appears when you mouse over a headline or description field.

        You can then select the number position to pin it to (1, 2, etc.). Note that if you pin multiple assets to the same position, Google may pick any of those assets to show.

        Google Responsive Ad pinned assetsScreenshot from Google Ads, September 2024

        Unfortunately, campaign types such as Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Display don’t allow you to pin headlines, so you’ll need to be more careful in providing copy that contains your desired disclaimers for those formats, or you may decide they are not workable with your requirements.

        You can also discuss allowing for a “one-click rule” that doesn’t require a disclaimer in ad copy as long as it appears on the landing page when users click through.

        Review Automatic Optimizations & Recommendations

        When every word of your ad copy needs to be approved by your organization to run, you need to be particularly careful about features such as Google’s automatically created assets, which can insert text you didn’t want in your ads.

        Be sure to turn these off for each campaign, before your boss or client contacts see them applied in the wild.

        To do so in bulk, go to the Campaigns section and navigate to Settings. Select all campaigns.

        Auto created assetsScreenshot from Google Ads, September 2024

        Click the Edit dropdown and scroll until you find “Change automatically created assets settings.” You’ll then see the form below, where you can select “Off” and optionally provide a reason to give Google feedback.

        Assets opt outScreenshot from Google Ads, September 2024

        Additionally, watch for settings that modify images in unexpected ways, such as Meta’s image optimization features, which can result in unapproved graphic variants being out in the wild or even the addition of animation and music.

        Look for the Advantage+ Creative section in ad set settings, and you’ll see an option to edit and turn off unwanted variations.

        Meta Advantage+ OptimizationsScreenshot from author, September 2024

        In general, be mindful that platforms are constantly testing new ways to automatically optimize and add assets. Watch for updated settings and checkboxes that you may not have seen before.

        Familiarize Yourself With Industry-Specific Guidelines

        Ad platforms often have their own stricter guidelines for sensitive industries, and you’ll need to be aware of what ad content and targeting settings can trigger disapprovals.

        For instance, Google does not allow certain demographic targeting for finance or healthcare. Remarketing is also banned for some industries.

        On the Meta Ads front, housing, credit, and employment ads are particularly restricted, with limitations on available targeting criteria. Political ads also require a verification process before being approved to run.

        You can keep up with these updates in a variety of ways:

        • Visit ad platform support pages, where they will provide updates on upcoming policy changes. Here are a few links to current policy resources, each of which outlines technicalities for restricted content:
        • If you have platform reps, they can share additional guidance, often with more detailed documentation not publicly available on the web, and can reach out to internal contacts to clarify specific questions you may have.
        • While it’s not the ideal path to go, you’ll inevitably learn do’s and don’ts for your industry through trial and error as ads and campaigns are flagged in your accounts. Be sure to make note of disapprovals you’ve encountered and how they were resolved.

        Often, ad platforms will provide a notice in the platform showing the specific policy violation or restriction that’s triggered for your ads.

        However, particularly in sensitive niches, there are cases where ads may not run or be limited from running without clear notice.

        In these cases, it’s helpful both to be as familiar with policies as possible when negotiating with support, as well as working directly with a platform rep if possible.

        Use The Ad Platform Appeal Process

        If you’ve complied with ad platform policy for your industry but are still facing disapproval issues, you can generally appeal for support.

        The Google Ads Policy Center (Tools > Troubleshooting > Policy Manager) offers a hub where you can track the status of appeals, and other major platforms also offer options to monitor the status of appeals.

        This is also an area where reps can sometimes be helpful in pushing through ad reviews or providing feedback that’s not showing in the ad platform interface.

        Start Adapting Your Approach

        If you’re managing PPC campaigns for a highly regulated industry, think through these tips to see where they can help improve your processes.

        Do you have the internal steps for campaign planning, approval, and execution documented?

        Are you fully familiar with how the ad platforms approach your industry?

        Take the steps to meet with your team or client and determine how you can apply these tips.

        More resources:


        Featured Image: VideoFlow/Shutterstock