Paid advertising platforms are expected to ramp up marketing services in 2020 – and the signs indicate more businesses will be resigned to adopt Pay-Per-Click targeting strategies in order to be visible in search engines. 

The whisper on the G-Vine is that Google will start limiting the number of weblinks that appear in search results. There are claims the search engine giant is already limiting searches to 300-400 links but the evidence is not substantiated. 

First of all, why would Google want to limit the number of searches? Doing so will cause unequal restraints on start-ups. 

In the eyes of some commentators, hardly anybody searches more than three pages of results anyway. The suggestion is that Google’s head ponchos have decided why bother with page four. 

That argument is a bit of stretch, but there is a reason to believe the whispers of limitations do have some substance. If online businesses cannot earn visibility through organic search, they will have to start paying for appearances. 

And that means more ad revenue for Google. It makes good business sense – for Google, Amazon, Facebook and every other platform that offer paid advertising.

With more competition in the paid ad space, it marketers will need to develop a PPC strategy that ensures you get a return on your ad spend. So here you go.

Learn How To Use Google’s Automated Tools

Google – and all those other tech moguls – have collected enormous amounts of data on internet users. They’ve even sneaked artificial intelligence (aka spying-technology) into the homes of consumers and given them friendly undercover names like Alexa, Echo and Home. 

The data collected by tech firms essentially paints a pattern of behaviour. This not only enables businesses to personalise ads to target audience segments, but it can also drill down to customers that are ready to buy rather than simply “browsing”. 

On the one hand, you could decide not to waste your ad spend on audiences that are not ready to buy. However, consumers buy from the brands they trust – and the earlier you reach your customers to build that trust, the more chance you have of converting browsers into buyers. 

The key for marketers is figuring out how to use automated tools and features effectively. If you’re not at least using some form of rules or scripts in your workflow, you’re already way behind. 

There are literally dozens of automated tools available. The one that is right for you will depend on your industry and the goals of your PPC campaigns. It’s therefore very difficult for us to offer accurate advice for everyone – but here’s a gateway list of PPC automated software to get you started.

Bear in mind that, like any off-the-shelf software, automation tools have their limitations. Choose the tool that makes your life easier, learn how to get the most effective data from it but be prepared to perform the remaining PPC analysis tasks manually. 

Smart Bidding Gets Smarter

Let’s stay with machine learning for a moment. Smart bidding is a feature most PPC professionals will probably want to take advantage of. Also known as “auction-time bidding”, this powerful ad management tool helps optimise bids by providing data in cost-per-click (CPC), target-cost-per-acquisition (TCPA) and return-on-advertising-spend (ROAS). 

Changes in customer behaviours make PPC bidding complex. This is particularly the case in fast-moving e-commerce sectors in which customers conduct searches in different ways.

Smart bidding is designed to help marketers optimise ads based on the goals you set. It uses thousands of real-time bidding signals but will ignore metrics you exclude so you can optimise your ads to land in front of a targeted audience that is most likely to convert.

By using automated tools like smart bidding, there is less manual work to do, which means you have more time to work on your content strategy. 

For example, a smart strategy is to capture attention and earn trust in the early stages of a customer journey and pounce when targeted customers are ready to buy. Customers in the middle of their journey can be a drain on resources. 

Include Video On Your Landings Pages 

A key part of your PPC strategy is to create content that provides customers with the information they need to know. The most important goal, however, as I mentioned a moment ago, is the trust element.

There are standard methods of earning trust throughout your website, but to convince consumers to buy your products over your competitors involves providing them with mouth-watering information about the benefits you offer. 

When creating content, the first thing on your mind should be, what your customer’s pain points are and how can you solve them. 

This is key for capturing customers in search engines in the early stages of their investigation. More tips on that later!

Videos are powerful media – one of the most effective for demonstrating how your product works. It’s far easier for consumers to get a feel for what they can do with a product when they see a visual demonstration rather than a written description. 

What’s more, marketing statistics indicate internet users spend 88% more time on a website because they are watching a video. 

Videos give marketers the opportunity to tell your brand story and provide relevant information so take the opportunity to show the human side of your brand.

Bear in mind that creating videos should not be limited to ads that focus on selling. The main goal remember, is to earn trust by providing information. Use video content to prove you are authentic and transparent by including social proof.  

The type of videos to make, or footage to show in feature videos, should include: 

• Product demos/explainer videos
• Behind-the-scenes footage
• Customer testimonials 
• Influencer reviews
• Timestamps 

No longer satisfied with content description overviews, consumers want to the convenience of knowing whether a video will provide the information they are searching for – and if so, at which point of the video they will find it.

Google video search function is so sophisticated, marketers can add timestamps to videos and pinpoint key segments of information. So don’t forget to optimise your videos to the max. 

Voice and Visual Searches

You know those “I don’t know what I want, but I’ll know it when I see it” moments you have? It turns out everybody else has those moments as well

You’ve probably heard voice searches will increase to around 50% in 2020. That statistic is not quite true. The infamous 50% voice search prediction will also include visual searches – and in truth, the latter will probably make up the bulk of the 50%.

Research shows that consumers are already interested in using visual search as part of their shopping experience.

As you can imagine, visual searches enhance text search by enabling end-users to browse through images. Any page that features images with the alt text field correctly updated will appear in visual searches. 

However, recent advancements in visual search technology from the likes of Pinterest, Bing and Amazon have taken visual search to the next level. Consumers are now able to click on an image and search for similar items. 

This function gives brands that don’t have huge budgets to bid big with a second opportunity to be seen – a bit like Amazon’s similar products section. 

Search engine users adopting Google Lens can save a lot of time searching for products they like. This represents a huge opportunity for retailers that offer better value than your rivals.

If you can create compelling images for your page content, visual search is a technology retailers should be taking advantage of to bolster PPC and SEO campaigns.

Should you also plan for voice search?

According to Global Web Index, one in five adults use voice search on mobile devices once a month. It’s not quite the prediction that originated from ComScore, but as the technology improves, it’s safe to say the number of people that successfully use voice search will increase.  

What this means for PPC professionals is your ads will be triggered by conversational search terms. We’re still a long way off seeing compatible matches between voice and paid ads but it makes sense for marketers to include long-tail keywords embedded into conversational style content. 

This will mean structuring your landing pages in a different way and testing impressions and click-through rate. 

A recent survey of top marketing priorities for 2020 indicated 72% of firms are not planning to optimise their clients’ websites for voice search any time soon. That’s good news for forward-thinking businesses that want to get ahead of the curve. 

Advanced Audience Segmentation 

Marketers that are not already using audience segmentation strategies for your PPC are already falling behind. We’re now heading into the territory of advanced audience segmentation. 

The information Google provides on consumer behaviour enables online brands to effectively group users into specified categories. Standard categories include demographics, psychographics and behaviours. 

With the advanced features, PPC marketers will have access to information that provides deeper insights such as customer needs, where they are in the customer journey and what products they are interested in. 

This data increases your chances of capturing your audience at the right moments and motivating them to take the next step. Focusing on understanding who your audience is and how you can solve their problems is going to be key.

As the digital landscape becomes more difficult to navigate, the need for brands to partner with digital marketing professionals becomes more evident. That’s what we’re here for, so give us a call to discuss your goals and the obstacles you’re struggling to overcome.