What's new in PPC 2023

Can anyone believe we’re in the THIRD month of 2023 already? Almost a quarter of the way through the year. After a long January, February seemed to be the month the industry kicked itself into gear and we’re sharing what's new in PPC so far…

New features for Performance Max announced

Account and campaign-level brand exclusions

Google may actually be listening to marketers afterall. We have all been moaning since P. Max came out about the lack of control and Google is providing an olive branch in the form of negative keywords. Not only can we add negatives at account level but Google have announced we’ll be able to do this at campaign level soon, too.
Page feed refinement

Google also announced that we’d soon be able to upload a feed of page URL’s to Performance Max campaigns to give more control over the landing page when using final URL expansion.

3. Testing, testing 123

We’re now able to utilise Experiments within Performance Max campaigns allowing Marketers to see how testing P. Max against Standard Shopping can improve performance and replace older campaign formats. Standard Shopping has still been tested due to the visibility and control it provides Marketers, especially when used as a catch all. We’re currently undergoing an A/B test on which performs better when also running other P. Max campaigns. Watch this space!

4. Video Creation

For any Advertisers where creative is their sticking point, video creative is sometimes hard to come by. Google’s latest feature allows for videos to be easily created within their tool to ensure you’re maximising the assets for P. Max.

Google removes redundant keywords automatically

In early January, Google emailed Advertisers to announce they were expanding their auto apply recommendation for removing redundant keywords to include keywords with different match types, favoring Broad dMatch keywords. Without thorough testing of Broad Match Keywords in their accounts, some Advertisers were understandably unnerved by this move and opted out of the auto-apply recommendation.

Big moves from Microsoft

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced its Global Head of Microsoft Advertising was stepping down and Kya Sainsbury-Carter was stepping into the role. Well respected, this could bring even more new features from the underdog platform. The platform has grown over the last four quarters, taking a higher % of the search market and we’re excited to see what they do next.

TikTok is here to stay

You all know by now we love a bit of PPC and Paid Social collaboration. Well this month TikTok is reportedly entering the search ads market. Initially tested in Beta last year, the feature looks to be rolled out fully soon. We’re keen to share keyword data and insights across Google and TikTok to maximise the reach and performance of both platforms. It’s exciting to see another platform bridging the gap between PPC and Paid Social and reaching the valuable Gen Z and Millennial audience base in an engaging way.

Whether it’s our honed tips & tricks, the latest developments in the world of PPC and Paid Social, or learnings our team have recently discovered, you can find it all on our Insights page using the button below!