5 PPC Trends To Look Out For In 2021!

5 PPC Trends To Look Out For In 2021!

In a normal year, PPC is fairly unpredictable. But 2020 was anything but a normal year. Last year, nobody could have or would have predicted we would be dealing with the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic throughout most of 2020. 

Instead, our PPC experts at Embryo are busy talking about trends like automation, audience targeting, and privacy. Hopefully, 2021 will not throw quite as many curveballs at us doing PPC advertising.

So what will be the most important PPC trends in 2021?

1. Say Goodbye To Data

Obfuscation of data will, unfortunately, be a continuing trend in 2021

Between Google Ads limiting access to search query data to the pending obliteration of tracking cookies as we know it, digital marketers are going to have to adapt in a major way again in 2021.

So what can PPC marketers do to succeed in this environment?

Imperfect data is no one’s favourite, but savvy marketers will need to use incomplete data to see the signal from the noise. Rather than focus on the loss, wise marketers will still need to see what is working best with the 80% of the information they have and learn how to guide their campaigns to target more of that audience. 

A few ways you can do this include:

• Writing more “good” ads than “bad” ads with responsive ad assets.
• Reviewing patterns of search queries, rather than individual search terms. 
• Guiding automated bidding, rather than controlling bidding directly.  

2. Automation, Automation & Automation

Like it or not, ad platforms are taking away more control from PPC marketers. 

This will force us to rely on feeding better data back into the platforms. That better data will need to factor much more than just binary metrics, even where we used to use them. Leads will need to consider the quality and feed values back based upon this, or the platform will automate for those easy low-quality leads.

So if you want greater success in your PPC efforts, get familiar with how the automation works. Humans are still needed, but the platforms want their algorithms to have more leash.

3. Understand Your Audience & The Buyer Journey

In 2021, the most successful PPC marketers will be strategists focused on their target audience.

In an era where there is less control due to automation and AI, what matters is who sees your ads to ensure you’re driving qualified clicks. Therefore, advertisers who align PPC marketing efforts with the buyer journey will come out ahead of the pack in 2021.

As an advertiser, expect to spend time thinking about your customer and how they decide to buy from you. A few questions you will need to consider are:

• How long does the process take? 
• Where do they interact? 
• What information do they need? 
• What might they be searching for? 
• How do you measure success at each step?

The number one thing for everyone to do is get control of your audiences. Know who your target audience is. Know who is worth prospecting versus who is most likely to convert. Separate them, and manage them independently.

With less and less information being available related to the intent of a potential customer, marketers will need to evolve their approach and think more about engaging the right audiences.

4. Diversification Will Become More Important Than Ever

As Google continues to move away from actionable data and more toward machine learning, it will be vital for advertisers to be well-versed in other advertising platforms that allow them more control over their spending, reach, and messaging

One unintended consequence of the loss of control in Google will likely lead to more companies shifting PPC budgets to other search engines such as Microsoft Ads. This platform still gives marketers the robust data it needs to make sound strategic decisions.

As Google continues to move away from actionable data and more toward machine learning, it will be vital for advertisers to be well-versed in other advertising platforms that allow them more control over their spending, reach, and messaging. In order to do the best work you can for your business, you simply can’t rely on Google Ads as heavily as once possible.

Put simply: Diversification is key for a winning PPC strategy

The more diverse your media mix, the more nimble you can be. A diverse strategy puts you in a good place to capitalize on opportunities to scale and/or redistribute budget as needed in the wake of an unforeseen shake-up.

5. Constantly Test

If 2020 prepared us for nothing else, hopefully, it prepared us for this!

Here at Embryo, we believe that the biggest trend for 2021 is to always be testing and never get comfortable with what you currently have and know.

Being able to work alongside Google automation to feed it the best possible ads can only result in improvement. Instead of being stuck to one ad that currently performs well, you should strive to boost its performance by running regular ad variations that Google can then decide whether it will perform better in the short and the long run. 

This can be done through Responsive Search Ads and allowing Google to test different combinations of the headlines of your ads until it finds the perfect match, constantly updating these ads can create a small library of relevant headlines that are proven by data to perform at a high level. 

Testing may not change your account overnight, but sticking to testing over a six-month plan will see a huge increase in your account’s performance.