The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, and the way we run campaigns now is vastly different to the way we ran them even a year ago. So, when we think ahead, we have some bold predictions for what the coming years might look like in the PPC space. We’ve asked our paid search team to provide their hottest predictions, and we’ve collected them all below…
Jamie’s Predictions
AI-driven campaign and ad group creation will become the default
AI suggestions are currently in beta and are already being shown in the interface when creating campaigns and ads. At the time of writing, they can already provide headlines, descriptions and keyword suggestions for ads. With other AI such as ChatGPT already capable of recommending campaign structures and ideas just by giving a URL, it won’t be long until Google’s AI starts to do the same and develops to a level where the default way to create campaigns and ads is through an AI chatbot.
Costs per click (CPCs) will continue to rise
CPCs have been consistently increasing for a long time now, due to more advertisers increasing search budgets and competing with one another. There is little evidence to suggest that this will stop in the future.
Ad Grants compete in a similar way, against one another rather than against paying advertisers. This is being accelerated as Maximise Conversions slowly become the norm, as this allows charities to bid over the $2 limit.
George’s Predictions
Increased focus on non-text-based search functions
Among the marketing trends that provide the user with a unique experience and control are several new ways to search that are not text-based. Alongside voice search, one trend that has come into the fold recently is the use of visual search. According to new research, 62% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers want visual search capabilities, more than any other new technology.
It’s therefore not surprising that recently we have seen the launch of new and innovative ways to search. At the beginning of 2024, Google introduced the Circle to Search feature, which allows users to search for text, images or videos on their screen by circling, highlighting or tapping on them without switching apps; and it appears that Microsoft is now planning to take on Google’s search feature with its own version of Circle to Search called Circle to Copilot.
Search term changes will lead to keyword changes
In 2024, there has been a continuous rise in users engaging with search in a conversational manner, phrasing their queries as if they were talking to a real person. Adapting to these conversational queries will require both content optimisation with long-tail keywords made up of text that sounds natural when read aloud, and an understanding of the questions users are asking.
Additionally, voice search is taking centre stage, and we predict that this will only continue to grow. With people saying complete statements or asking questions when searching, pages will need to be optimised accordingly for full questions, and content will need to match user language. Phrases like that indicate user intentions (‘who’, ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘where’) should be used when optimising content to address these intents. This will be vital for SEO success.
Jessica’s Predictions
Expanded text ads (ETAs) will sunset
It’s been over two years since we stopped being able to edit ETAs. With responsive/dynamic formats the new norm, we think it’s only a matter of time before ETAs are sunset completely. The majority of advertisers have already transitioned fully to RSAs, but it may affect smaller advertisers or older accounts that still rely on legacy ETAs.
Lawsuits will force Google to allow other advertising providers on SERPs
This is another change that could come in the wake of the antitrust trials. The shopping experience on Google utilises various providers outside of Google, creating a fairer, non-monopolised system. In future, we may see other search advertising providers able to advertise on the Google search engine – changing the playing field in a big way.
The auction will be made more transparent
It was recently revealed that Google was using ‘knobs and tunings’ to raise prices in the ad auction. The only reason they can get away with this is because the auction itself is a black box. If Google wants to regain the trust of advertisers, they may have to make their auction process more transparent.
However, the thing about predictions is that they don’t always agree…
Dan’s Predictions
The auction will be made more opaque
With more and more machine learning being introduced to the way Google Ads operates, it’s only a matter of time until this gets rolled into the auction process to a significant extent. Since it’s nearly impossible to easily explain a machine learning algorithm, I predict that we will begin to learn LESS about what goes on in the auction process. I could anticipate things like quality score subfactors disappearing, and even quality score being replaced by something more akin to ad strength. I want to be wrong about this prediction, though.
The death of keywords is almost upon us
The trend within Google Ads for the last few years has been to push users towards broad match. Most recently, an option was added to campaigns that limited the user to only using broad match. This option is now on by default, meaning inexperienced advertisers are going to end up exclusively relying on broad match.
At the same time, Google has started talking a lot about ‘search trends’ – groupings of keywords that you apply to smart campaigns such as Performance Max.
My prediction is that Google is aiming to move to a keyword-less marketing model. Likely, they will be replaced with a sort of AI prompt, where we describe the type of search we want to target. For example, ‘I want to target users searching for information around the benefits of yoga’. Google would then use this to target to searches, rather than the more strict keyword system.
Ben’s Predictions
Keywords & ad copy will become AI-automated
In agreement with Dan, I believe we’re in the endgame with keywords, but I also believe this will extend to us losing the ability to optimise the ads themselves. Ad copy will be created through machine learning and generative AI trained on other ads and on the landing page itself.
Top-end digital media experts will assume more of a strategic role. This will mean increased emphasis on defining and differentiating the brand, rather than a product-centred approach, and this will result in a more complex channel mix. Moreover, more consideration should be given to the full user journey – including the landing page. Both landing page and brand strength will be increasingly important factors in improving PPC performance.
Will’s Predictions
Performance Max will impact the Ad Grants scheme – but not how you expect
It was announced last month that Performance Max (a goal-based campaign type allowing advertisers to reach their goals across all Google channels from a single campaign, by using machine learning to optimize ad delivery) is coming to Ad Grants. This caused much excitement as well as confusion across many advertisers, over how/whether this will benefit their accounts – with us at Uprise Up, generally airing on the sceptical side. I personally don’t think it will really benefit most of our accounts, or most accounts in the CPC community, which (at least in our case!) are well run, and will likely not benefit from a less hands-on / more automated approach.
However, for many smaller charities, with less expert involvement, this will likely provide an easier way to get started and bid on their key terms. I think this may increase the reach and budget utilisation for smaller Ad Grants accounts, which could lead to higher competition among Ad Grants accounts, higher CPCs, and generally lower levels of traffic generated from them going forward.
The death of manual bidding in Ad Grants
Since 2017, when Ad Grants using a Maximise Conversions bid strategy were then allowed to bid over $2, the adoption of automated bidding has skyrocketed. While it had a very shaky start, it has now become almost a necessity to use in most situations. This is due to the higher CPC allowance naturally raising the CPC across the whole Ad Grants scheme (bearing in mind, only Ad Grants can compete with Ad Grants), which means that in many cases, to even enter a bid auction, let alone rank, users bidding less than $2 hardly stand a chance. This leads to a vicious cycle of more and more advertisers adopting the strategy.
We find, even if the overall goal is to increase clicks, using a maximise conversion strategy can perform better than maximise clicks due to this reason i.e. expensive traffic is likely better than zero traffic. In addition to the Ad Grants scheme emphasising a focus on driving key site actions, we feel it’s only a matter of time before manual bidding disappears, and possibly maximise clicks too (at least without the option to bid above $2).
The predictions here are just that – predictions. It’s likely that some, if not most, of these will be proven wrong in the coming years. However, it’s always worth looking forwards into the future, and pondering over where our industry is headed.
Let us know what you think about our predictions, and any of your own!
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