Google has given us some hints about the future of PPC. Here are five forecasts for PPC marketers to think about.
My favorite mysteries as a kid were Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories.
They all had memorable lines, but one of my favorites came from The Hound of the Baskervilles when Holmes tells Watson:
“There are many obvious things in the world that no one ever notices.
If Sir Doyle were still living today as a paid search digital marketer, I believe he would modify this comment to something like: “Google always leaves a trail of breadcrumbs, right to the future of PPC, if you only take the time to look.”
I recently decided to investigate, and the results were shocking.
I found too many breadcrumbs to count, and many of them led to various locations.
However, a small number of people offered a clear vision of what the PPC business will look like in the future.
Clue 1: New Google Ads Scripts Experience
Google Ads scripts have existed for almost as long as the platform itself.
However, if you ask around, you could have a hard time finding someone who has used Scripts in their PPC ads regularly, let alone anyone who has ever used any of them.
Google wants to change that.
Version 2 of Google Ads Scripts is now live, and it’s a significant step forward for Google to bring this feature to the forefront and promote its use with a complete information and training page.
What that means: With Google’s push toward automation, it’s critical to recognize that following along is not a choice.
It’s becoming a need.
Google makes a strong statement about the future of PPC, both near and far, with this new service.
The importance of automating your PPC campaign work will grow, and Google Scripts is here to help.
Clue 2: Acquisition of Looker
Looker is a Business Intelligence (BI) application that allows you to chart, graph, and present data so you can spot problems and possibilities.
This tool belongs in the same category as Microsoft’s Tableau and Power BI.
Google paid $2.6 billion to buy Looker three years ago.
This acquisition brought Google’s marketing channel UI to the data presentation pipeline full circle.
Google had previously constructed Big Query years before, giving them control over the data warehouse element of the data pipeline, but they lacked the BI component.
With the acquisition of Looker, Google was able to provide its consumers with a complete set of data tools from start to finish.
Users are no longer required to leave the Google ecosystem to get the platforms and applications they needed to create an end-to-end marketing service.
What that means: For digital marketers, dealing with structured data and larger datasets outside of the marketing channel UI will be the standard.
You may not need to become a certified data and analytics expert to work as a PPC manager, but you will need to be comfortable updating data sets, managing campaigns, and manipulating data inside your preferred BI application.
Clue 3: Broad Match & Responsive Ad Expansion
Is it just me, or does Google constantly promote the “Broad Match” bid strategy and “Responsive” ad setting option?
If you don’t define your keywords as a broad match when adding keywords to a new campaign, you’ll get a severe warning.
Consider the red text status alert that appears while evaluating campaign keywords.
You fear something is wrong, but it’s merely a “warning” that choosing “wide match” keywords for your ad campaign could result in more conversions.
Then there are display campaigns to consider!
Google conceals the basic display ad choice when creating a new display campaign and forces you to build a responsive display ad instead.
What it tells us: For more than a decade, Google has been recommending “suggestions” (which always gives Google greater control).
All I have to do now is link you to Expanded Text Ads to show you how it all comes together.
Google will gain increasing influence over our campaigns, to the point where it will handle almost everything, from a campaign set up to ad copywriting and bid strategy selection.
Clue 4: Google Glasses Announcement at I/O 2022
The long-awaited reappearance of “Google Glasses” (formally known as Proto 29) was announced with a slick visual presentation at Google’s annual I/O event.
While the movie was thin on details, it certainly had people wondering about the glasses’ possible applications, particularly their capacity to translate other languages.
What it means: Things change and will continue to change.
You will be disappointed if you expect to become an expert in all ad software and marketing methods and then coast on those skills for the rest of your career.
We’ll need to study and design campaigns for a new ad platform once “Google Glasses” are published and widely embraced.
Furthermore, if you think Google made this movie to brag about a niche product that would never scale, you’re in for a rude awakening.
This was Google’s version of planting a flag and proclaiming, “This market share is ours, and it’s going to be large!”
You now have two choices.
You can hide your head in the sand and hope on a shooting star that you’ll never have to use this revolutionary technology in your PPC work.
Alternatively, you might see this as an opportunity, set up a Google alert for any Google Glass-related news, and then start learning everything you can to become a leader in this new industry.
Clue 5: “Automatically Created Assets” Beta Feature
The biggest indication regarding the future of PPC services in Dubai can be found in the campaign menu, tucked between the “Bidding” and “Start and End Dates” buttons.
The “Automatically Created Assets” function, according to Google:
“…allows Google to assist you in creating headlines, descriptions, and other assets based on the material on your landing page, domain, and advertising.” Google will give you automated tools to help you customize your files based on keyword relevancy. This might make ads more relevant and effective.”
What it says: If you read the sentence carefully, you’ll notice that this one element has a significant impact.
In theory, Google can locate suitable keywords to bid on for your business, write headlines and descriptions for search advertising, and direct the advertisements to a relevant landing page with just one feature.
If you didn’t notice, those acts account for the majority of what a PPC Manager creates daily and will drastically affect what they perform as a marketer with PPC Management in Dubai.
The Future of PPC
So, what does this all mean, and how will it affect PPC marketers’ daily tasks?
Data Tracking & Analysis
Making sure data is labeled, monitored, categorized, and graphed is a huge part of the job if you haven’t noticed it in your day-to-day work.
As these elements become more intricate and clean data becomes king, this will become a more important part of your day.
Although you may not need to become a full-fledged data scientist, you will almost certainly need to learn how to collect and handle data in the future.
Managing the Systems That Manage Campaigns
The days of “pushing the levers” of a PPC campaign directly are over.
We may be in charge of the systems and machines that “pull” the levers for us.
The indirect management of campaigns appears possible, from building JavaScript code that runs depending on hundreds of input data points to designing a dedicated app for Google Glasses.
Automating the Work Will Become the Work
There’s no doubt that automating more of the chores we do now will be critical for PPC’s future success.
The new Google Script experience is all about automation, but if you’ve ever created a script, you know how difficult it can be to drive automation.
With the new “Automatically Created Assets” function, it’s evident that taking a bigger part in setting up the main page to include the best components for Google to use automatically will be critical.
It may not be the role you intended to play, but it could be the one you need in the future of PPC.
Conclusion
I could be correct about all of these forecasts, some of them, or none at all.
But, if history is any indication, the PPC manager’s role in 10 years will be very different from what we all do now.
Simply keep your eyes open for all of Google’s hints, and you’ll stay ahead of the game.