5 Must Follow PPC Trends in 2017

Increasing competition from Bing and from social media PPC are pushing everyone to excel in their PPC offerings. If you wish to take advantage of these improvements, here are some trends you need to be following in PPC advertising.

1. Personalized Targeting Will Continue to Grow

Audience targeting will require just as much consideration as keyword targeting going into the future. An easy way to get started with this is through device segmentation.

We have tablets, phones, laptops, desktops, and even phablets. Age plays a big part in who uses these types of devices. Of course, there are ways to personalize ads that go much deeper than one or two demographic markers. Start gathering that data!

2. Go Mobile

Mobile markets are more than just emerging. They are growing fast. Everyone is on the go and they want information when they want it without having to wait. While you may have some mobile PPC already, how are your voice search keywords?

Siri and Amazon Alexa are growing markets where people voice search for the things they are interested in. Aligning your PPC strategy with voice searches is going to be a top concern in the PPC field during 2017.

3. Expanded Text Ads

Any change Google makes to their PPC ads creates waves. With Google, you now have twice the space to use in text advertisements. More space is great because it allows you to write more descriptive ad copy.

Of course, this may cost more due to higher click-through rates and CPC values, but with more real estate on SERPs you’ll have a shot at a higher conversion rate as well. If you choose to leverage a new feature, keep an eye on ad spend.

4. Long Live the King(s)

While Bing has improved a bit over the years, there are clearly two kings. Facebook and Google continue to reign supreme when it comes to PPC advertising. That is not to say that you should ignore other options, but you should definitely take advantage of the behemoths that are Google and Facebook first.

In fact, with Google Shopping ads, expect ads to be bigger, bolder, and have more real estate on SERPs in 2017. Facebook is expected to continue its reign over social PPC ads for the foreseeable future. Look out LinkedIn and Twitter.

5. Lookalike Audiences

If you want to get your business out there and bring in the customers, lookalike audiences are going to be key. In the simplest terms, a lookalike audience shares certain common interests with your core target audience.

By advertising to both your core audience and a lookalike audience, you can generate more sales and more clicks. Facebook excels at finding lookalike audiences but Google is catching up fast. Expect to hear more about this over 2017.

These aren’t the only trends that are worth following for PPC advertising. However, across the board, these were the ones that insiders in the industry were watching as the five for businesses to be focused on. Paying attention to the above trends will help you go the distance in getting your company and services visible online in 2017.