PPCChat | What’s on Your Mind in PPC This Week?

Posted July 20th, 2022 by Amita & filed under PPCChat.

Greeting Happy Readers! This week’s PPCChat discussion was focused on what experts are thinking about PPC this week, how is performance max working for them, are clients expressing their feelings about the economy and recession. Here is the recap of the entire chat which was hosted by Julie F Bacchini.

Q1: What is on your mind in PPC this week?

I think I speak for all of #ppcchat when I say; 1. Why is PMax so unnecessarily complicated? and 2. That data lag issue last week nearly caused me a heart attack. @JonKagan

I’ve been thinking a lot about keyword & ad group segmentation recently. SKAGs are obviously a thing of the past, with a focus on themes now. But with that, how are people handling synonyms (ex: platform vs. tool vs. software)? @adclarke10

The main question I keep coming back to – is it best to segment these types of keywords into different ad groups, consolidate them into the same ad group, or consolidate even further down to just 1 or 2 keywords and then account for synonyms in RSAs/ad copy? @adclarke10

We’re focused on the Rogers outage – not sure if that crossed everyone’s feed, but all our phones and internet went down for a day! there’s aftermath to deal with. On my mind right now is the less and less we have on standard search. even the planner is janky. @JuliaVyse

Definitely, Performance Max and their performance is on my mind. The speed issues with Google’s tools have been tough also. The Google sales reps are also pretty aggressive and can sometimes be an unplanned headache during the day. @lchasse

When will Enhanced Conversions become the default way to measure conversions. Always think a little about a recession next year. @duanebrown

Data lag, UI load Speed. @sonofgorkhali

Add-on: Whats’ up with Google not respecting negative keywords? @sonofgorkhali

Q2: Are you using Performance Max? How is it going? What’s working? What is driving you nuts?

Dependent on the account we have a few tests running. For accounts with high volume conversions, it seems to be working well (although looking at GA it looks like a lot of Remarketing at play). @selley2134

PM campaigns have been hit or miss. They can work really, really well for some specific products or categories. Others do not work so well, but that has always been the case with campaigns, so I just figure we need to find those opportunities now. @lchasse

Yes, we began testing in mid-May for a real estate client. Didn’t see any conversions for the first week, but since then it’s been a top-3 conversion driver out of all campaigns. Currently rolling out for their other properties & interested to see the impact. @adclarke10

Trying it in replacement of smart shopping and local. In smart shopping, as a replacement, weeks 1+2 were bad. Since then, it has crushed it. For local, we compare it vs CPStoreVisit, it is ok. What’s driving me nuts is lack of data and info between the product and our rep. @JonKagan

We have been running PMax since Jan… all about not waiting until the last minute to test it out. Even though we just work on ecom and DTC 95% of the time… PMax is not the same across every ad account nor is the one silver bullet to run an ad account. @duanebrown

Q3: Are you feeling anything from clients or stakeholders that indicates nervousness about the economy and recession? If so, from what industry(s)?

Yes. public sector is concerned about what people might need and what behaviors might change. My liquor retail is worried about sales, my restos are worried about sales. my appliance retailer is worried about sales. yes. very worried. @JuliaVyse

Yes, I am starting to hear concerns and just feel it. Best thing you can do it not shy away from talking about it. Have some ideas ready for when clients start to get really nervous and want to cut things. @NeptuneMoon

I wish my NDA was not in play, I would love to share insight as I work within the finance industry. Construction and trucking are two industries folks are being conservative these days. @sonofgorkhali

Yes very concerned. The economy is always top of mind for brands especially if you are in segments that are considered non-essentials. @lchasse

Early signs point to yes. Contingency strategies are planned, with the hope of not having to deploy. What makes this different than 07/08 is low unemployment rate, so there isn’t a decline in demand. @JonKagan

We talk about with clients, vendors, and the internal team. Good to hear what everyone is seeing and hearing. We all just trying to make it through summer and then make it the best Autumn & Q4 possible. Data would suggest we won’t have a recession until 2023. @duanebrown

PPCChat Participants