In this ever-changing online world, we often wake up to new realizations every now and then. It may be that your website which was till now on the first page of Google search results has somehow slipped in its ranking and is now no longer listed on the first page. Such is the speed of updates that Google and other search engines come up with. We witnessed a lot of new technologies coming into play in 2017, some of which survived the test of time while others just faded away. With the advancement in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence), Big Data, Machine Learning, Voice Navigation and new marketing techniques to reach out to customers, we will find more such PPC trends to follow.
In 2018, we came up with some new trends that are set to revolutionize the way digital marketing services will be provided over the coming years. So, let us see which trends are potent enough to change the state of PPC or PPC trends for 2018:
Structured Data will play a Bigger Role
Currently, the contribution of structured data is mainly in the field of Search engine optimization but we are set to see a lot more contribution of structured data. According to experts, after the success of the mobile-first-indexing strategy, structured data will be the next big thing for digital marketing companies. It has already shown its importance by becoming a vital part of ads in 2018. The use of structured data through product feeds and business data feeds will be the major rollout after structured data.
As per the usage pattern over the past two years, Google Manufacture Center is one of the most rarely used services. But the coming years are showing some new signs for it as more and more manufacturers will be contributing to its services. Google Manufacture Center’s services are now available to many more countries. With the further improvisation of knowledge panels, Google will find even more ways to implement its services. In fact, manufacturers will be provided the option to upload their data on Google Manufacture Center as follows:
Merchant Center feeds do not keep track of certain information like descriptions, key features, product titles, YouTube videos, etc. This PPC data will be further used to improve the overall product catalog of Google. Only the manufacturer, brand licensor, and owners will be able to access the Manufacturer’s Center irrespective of how the sale happens. Google has already started gathering more info from sources like images and schema markup and using that info in ads.
Competition Between Google And Amazon To Bring Innovation In Search Ad Campaigns
You might have already felt the competition between Google and Amazon on innovating new ideas to improve their search functionalities. If we go by expert’s predictions, Amazon is already posing a great threat to Google in the product search business. Maybe in a few years, Amazon will completely transform itself into a product search engine. To counter this, Google is already rolling out various ad-driven programs like Google Express, Purchases on Google, and Local Services by Google.
Many experts believe that competition with Amazon was the sole motive for launching Google Express. Google is already coordinating with some of the most popular retailers like Walmart and Costco to streamline checkout and provide instant free delivery on authentic orders. Google has been testing its messaging services with Google Assistant. In order to stay ahead of the competition, Google is also expanding its local services as of late. This expansion is expected to continue well across other digital marketing services sectors.
This is a fact that not many people are aware of the purchases made on Google. One possible reason can be that the program was created at a much slower rate and was running high on risk. Google has been trying its best to make its purchases through pop-up ads as easy as the one on Amazon.
Impact of Voice and Visual Search on User Behavior
The success of voice search is evident from the sales of Amazon’s voice-based service ‘Alexa’ and its counterpart from Google in the form of ‘Google Assistant’. Now, it is possible to do voice searches in complete sentences and receive answers for your queries. Google has made the visual search possible with its ‘Google Lens’. But the application of voice search is way more as compared to visual search and the increase in sales of smart speakers has proved this point.
At this point of time, both search methods are gaining popularity. However, there is a small chance of running any ad campaigns on such a medium even though they can allow digital marketing companies to monitor guest’s search behavior that comes with changes in media. The result delivered by these platforms is another factor that will determine how ads are run on such mediums. Whether the results come from visual assistants like Google Assistant, Cortana, Siri, or voice assistants like Amazon Echo and Google Home, people won’t see much changes in the ads and their sides.
There can be new changes in advertising only when the number of people using devices like smart speakers increases. A number of recent programs like native services, and purchases created through Google and Google Categories can give new interfaces to make and show sponsored messages on Google Home. As of now, both voice and visual search are going through their developing state, but it is something on which paid campaigns must be focusing to get more profits apart from regular efforts of SEO.
Effort and Operation driven changes for better
With the advent of new technologies and techniques, it is likely that most of the routine jobs will be transferred to engines and we can already see this in action. AI is expected to bring about a tremendous change among paid search practitioners, their teams or other digital marketing agencies. A number of changes that were implemented in the year 2017 include bid optimization, ad extension exhibition, ad creation and ad rotation. All these changes are automated which according to experts offers better functionalities. AI will not only drive automation but it will also save time and effort on tasks that ranks high in priority from a PPC trends perspective. It will enable the PPC team to further contribute to machine learning by making it more accurate.
Measurement of Incrementals and Expanding PPC channels
2018 is again going to be the year dominated by Google and Facebook. From an advertiser’s perspective, they still have several drawbacks including measurement errors, lack of transparency, and controversial ad placements. But regardless of the situation, digital marketing agencies are showing great confidence when it comes to investing in digital ads across these platforms. As a result, we can see more agile marketers looking for growth opportunities across channels and platforms. We can also see the reduced gap between search and social strategies. Other than Facebook and Google other social media platforms like Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Quora, and others bring in more quality for PPC advertisers. Well, 2018 may be the year for re-targeting.
A number of digital marketing companies are making use of the best technologies to fulfill their primary objective of audience targeting. Targeting the audience helps search analysts and markets to narrow down the window for effective customer retention and customize the re-targeting messages across browsers where most of their potential customers are expected to be.
Customer-targeted marketing combined with machine learning is helping clear the mess put in place by lazily designed re-targeting ideas that spoil the entire ad campaign’s objective.
So, let us be hopeful that the new technology-driven changes will provide new dimensions to digital marketing services that we are going to witness in 2018.