That’s right, it’s nearly 2022 – can you believe it? It seems to our team that 2021 flew by in the blink of an eye with all of the changes happening in the world. While it may seem tempting to take a breather at work before the new year, I encourage you to stay energized and alert! Now is the time when budgets are reset, pacing is planned, campaigns are revamped, and of course, Google Ads rolls out its newest updates. In more recent Smarter Searches blogs, we’ve covered two of the most important of those amendments: the retirement of expanded text ads and consent mode. So today we are covering the top 3 New Year’s countdown reminders for managing Google Ad campaigns!
3- Keyword Privacy Thresholds
Beginning on February 1, 2022, Google Ads will begin enforcing previously established keyword privacy thresholds across all platforms by removing historical keyword data collected prior to September 1, 2020. So what does all this fancy jargon mean? Well here’s the scoop on the past year+ on data privacy and Google: to put it simply, Google has implemented enhanced data privacy options for users as this has become more important to consumers in the past year. In order to comply with these changes while providing marketers and analysts with the data they need to run successful campaigns, Google will be removing historical data on keywords as the time frame would not coincide with current agreements. All this to say, study your historical data closely before it goes away.
2- Responsive Search Ads (RSA)
With the retirement of ETA’s due to take effect on June 30th, 2022, Google has offered a replacement advertisement template known as responsive search ads or RSA. This format allows users to add up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions which will then be autogenerated into unique advertisements each time a keyword from corresponding ad groups is triggered. The great thing about this development is that you can opt into displaying the most responded to ads instead of less optimal combinations, thus the “responsive” part of its name. Personally, I believe that these are lifesavers because Google will rate your ad performance based on a scale of poor to excellent and offers suggestions on how to improve. My own suggestion to you for 2022: stay creative and incorporate ad group keywords into as many headlines as possible. Remember to copy over high-performing current expanded text ad copy into new RSAs!
1- Thorough PPC Audits
What’s a good paid campaign without revision? Similar to reduce, reuse, recycle, I like to think about the purpose of PPC audits in terms of 3 Rs: revisit, research, rewrite. Revisit each campaign by walking through settings, bidding strategy, target CPC, and budget. Then, research what keywords or ad language are underperforming. Lastly, rewrite or adjust ad copy and keyword lists to assist in optimization. Following this three-step process is sure to get you on the right track, but check out this sample PPC audit by PPC Hero to walk you through each layer in-depth.
Now I know this is a lot to take in, but having these three suggestions ringing in your mind as you ring in the new year will help so much. After they’ve set in, remember that it’s important to be patient and take time for yourself, as well – life isn’t all work! Take some pressure off yourself and get help where you need it; whether that’s researching answers to digital marketing questions or outsourcing to an agency, Smarter Searches is a great place to start! And lastly, from our team to yours, Happy New Year, and we hope your 2022 has a great start!
