Google has just announced its top priorities for Google Ads in 2022. Over the past few years, we have seen a change in consumer behaviour, which presents both challenges and opportunities for advertisers. With Google identifying its most important advertising changes, it is a great opportunity for marketers to switch up their strategy. In this post, we’ll look at the top PPC trends for 2022. If you want to find out more about how your paid advertising can be improved, you can request a free PPC audit today.
Automation
Automation is a big part of Google Ads. Google states that 80% of advertisers are now using automated campaign strategies to free up management time on campaigns. Automation drives increased results and improves ad performance. It continues to play a substantial role in Google Ads in 2022 with two new campaign types: Performance Max and Discovery campaigns.
Performance Max campaigns allow advertisers to access the full Google advertising inventory. They are designed to help you find more converting customers across all of Google’s channels, including the likes of YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. The primary difference between Performance Max and other campaigns is that Google automates the targeting and delivery of the campaign based on the information that the advertiser provides.
Discovery campaigns are personalised ads that appear in Google’s feeds on the YouTube, Google, and Gmail apps. They are meant to reach audiences at the moment they are ready to discover new products and services. Google uses machine learning to determine when users are most likely to engage with a brand, and they should be used to scale conversions, reach customers, and reconnect with previous ones.
Both campaign types are focusing on reaching a large number of users from a single campaign. The benefits of these campaigns are that they require less management time, they have a multichannel reach utilising the full Google inventory, and they claim to improve your conversion rate by driving more converting users.
Campaign Measurement and Digital Privacy
Since the iOS 14 update, campaign tracking and measurement has been a challenge. Advertisers have faced difficulties in attributing sales or leads to their campaigns due to issues with privacy and third-party cookies. Without data, it is very hard to prove ROI and justify the spend on your marketing campaigns. Google is rolling out new solutions to tackle these issues, which include enhanced conversions, consent mode, conversion modelling and data driven attribution. All of this will be put in place with the use of first party data and API connections. It will make sure that advertisers are able to track the results of their marketing campaigns, whilst also respecting the users’ privacy.
There has also been an increasing need for user privacy and control of personal data in the digital space. Security is key and your users need to know that their data is safe. Google has updated its privacy playbook directed at advertisers. The main highlights are:
- build direct relationships with your customers
- ensure your campaign measurement stays accurate and actionable by utilising first party data
- drive performance by keeping your ads relevant
Data privacy guidelines and changes, machine learning, and automation are important trends that will affect Google Ads in 2022. Advertisers should adapt and embrace these changes to reach their target audience. Even if you aren’t keeping up with the developments, your competitors certainly are. Google Ads are a great way to create opportunities for your business and reach audiences that convert into loyal customers. This is why your business needs to follow the Google Ads trends to ensure that your ads are optimised and that you’re making the most of your investment.
With clearly defined goals, PPC campaigns can support all stages of your marketing funnel and deliver clear and measurable ROI.
