PPCChat | PPC Myths & Misconceptions | 26th July 2022

Posted July 27th, 2022 by Amita & filed under PPCChat.

Welcome Happy Readers! During this week’s session, host Julie F Bacchini sought PPCers’ views on the biggest general PPC myths they have encountered in the industry and myths that are pushed by the PPC platforms. Here is the recap of this week’s PPCChat discussion

Q1: What are the biggest general PPC myths you’ve encountered from clients or stakeholders? How did you dispel them?

That Paid Search is Growth Hacking. It’s not, it’s capturing demand that has been generated elsewhere. That’s okay, it’s really awesome and works great… at what it’s supposed to do. @PPCKirk

Ooooh…where to start- That PPC works for everyone That CPCs are too high and something must be wrong if they are that high That PPC should work even when there aren’t any other channels running That automation is the answer to everything. @TheMarketingAnu

Not sure this is the biggest, but comes up all the time. “Branded ads are a waste of money. If I don’t run brand ads they will just click on my Organic results” Need them now more than ever with so much pmax out there. @selley2134

Seconding @PPCKirk and adding that many people think results will be instantaneous. @robert_brady

That people search according to your marketing calendar. some LONG convos on this. @JuliaVyse

Sometimes I run. Or Will have the discussions as to how untrue the misconceptions are. @TheMarketingAnu

Love @PPCKirk ‘s answer! 1. That you can just keep getting more and more traffic by spending more and more money. 2. That you can “try” PPC for a month and know if it will work. To dispel any myth, it is all about education and often providing context. @NeptuneMoon

THIS! Also a big reason why I generally don’t think SEM should be the only marketing strategy. It can work but almost every time there are other marketing efforts (outside of SEM) focused on increasing awareness my SEM results improve. @alexnicoll93

That anyone can do our job and it’s super easy, which is something I feel most people think about advertising and marketing overall. I often liken our job to chefs or writers. Not everyone can be on Master Chef or write a best seller. Our job is similar. @duanebrown

That ROI/ROAS is constant across spend levels. And that there is infinite room to keep spending more. @beyondthepaid

That just spending more money will generate more leads. There have been instances where explanations why this isn’t the case weren’t enough. So the only way to prove them wrong was to just increase spend and then let the results speak for themselves! @marketingsoph

That running Google Ads will help their organic results. While there are benefits of showing up paid + organically, turning on ads isn’t going to solve your SEO problems! @_RileyDuncan

Kirk has a great answer, to add to that a big myth we’ve encountered (often with tech/SaaS clients) is that success can be gained by quick testing in an “agile” format with low budgets and short timeframes. Sometimes you need to run/test over the course of months. @gilgildner

That everyone who does PPC does it the same way – so results are always comparable Also that results are always quick // you can tell if it is going to work in a month. @DigitalSamIAm

This one is cross discipline, but a lot of businesses still think that you can improve your organic rankings if you advertise on Google. Or that you can exclusively buy keywords somehow? Leads to explaining “how all of this works” conversations. @NeptuneMoon

That automation starts working overnight. “We turned on tCPA yesterday, why hasn’t our CPA improved today?” @beyondthepaid

Sometimes if I want to hit it home. I talk about 10 chefs all getting the same ingredients. You get 10 completely different dishes. The outcome isn’t always the same… having proper skills matter. @duanebrown

Common myths. The more money you put in, the more results we’ll get. – As much as ad platforms love your money, it won’t always translate into results. You can also get into a situation where you can’t spend more due to your bid settings. @C_J_Ridley

That you can’t cap your CPC in a competitive market using tImpShare and expect a high imp share. @beyondthepaid

That display/video/social don’t work because they couldn’t make it work in the past. Maybe you didn’t do it right, or didn’t measure it right, or maybe just maybe the industry is evolving all the time? @360vardi

Another myth I run into is that if the client is doing well organically then they don’t need SEM. While I see where that argument is coming from, I still believe that organic and paid results together can still be beneficial for a handful of reasons. @alexnicoll93

That the secret to PPC success is found in the Google Ads interface. How do I dispel it? I wrote a couple of ebooks about this. But, generally, if you’re not my client, I want you to believe this myth. (Especially if your my client’s competitor.) @stevegibsonppc

That PPC is on an island on its own and needs to just perform regardless of anything else. digital marketing is jazz. PPC can play on its own & can do ok, but if your site isn’t engaging, don’t work on branding, have bad bad sales process> you can’t make great music. @360vardi

That PPC should be responsible for all the heavy lifting & if calls / leads drop it “must be” PPC. A lot of clients don’t understand that if CPC goes ^, and budget stays the same, that their return goes down. Also the idea that high click volume = high lead volume. @AmaliaEFowler

The pace of success in PPC is a huge myth. There are still tons of users that think it’s a magic money machine that you just turn on and profit. The bigger the decision the more time it takes, even with ppc. I have one client that averages 10 visits before purchase. @armondhammer

That no one uses Microsoft Bing. I explain how Cortana is integrated in every windows machine & edge browser. Microsoft serves ads on @DuckDuckGo .Linkedin targeting data is built in & Microsoft reports on all unclicked search query impressions. @DavidMelamed

The biggest one is expecting Google can basically print money for your company if you create ads. I explain that is takes time and we need everything work well together. Messaging, landing pages, site experience, feeds, etc. @lchasse

I want other PPC people to believe in myths. No dispelling going on here! Lots of myths out there: like passing Google’s exams means you a marketer. No, it doesn’t. @stevegibsonppc

Q2: What are the biggest PPC myths you’ve encountered in the industry, in other words things that get discussed by PPC practitioners that you think qualify as myths? How/do you dispel them?

For me – it’s the silos. The fact that you think just seeing PPC data, you’ll be able to solve all the issues of what is going on. Or that if you share data with another channel, client will cut your budget and you don’t want that. @TheMarketingAnu

Not exactly a myth but my answer is when agencies/marketers/Google share “case studies” but intentional exclude conversion and cost metrics or date ranges and relevant comparisons. It’s misleading and does more damage than good. @C_J_Ridley

The biggest myth among PPC pros? Honestly, right now I think it’s folks who blame performance upon platform changes (ios14, itp2, ga4). Sometimes, yes those changes negatively affect performance, but it’s our entire job to navigate these changes for our clients. @gilgildner

I don’t hear so much myths as outdated recommendations: never use broad match, not understanding how match types work, blindly use automation, etc. @beyondthepaid

Education is needed with the client and the “competing” channel to show how it’s about an integrated strategy. @TheMarketingAnu

The biggest trap I think we can fall into as professionals is that our way is the only / best way. Another is that Google is never helpful – because I’ve had helpful Google employees or reps in the past. We can think in binary instead of context. @AmaliaEFowler

This could totally be a r/ppc thing. A lot of people talk about quality score as a KPI vs a tool to help you understand, at best, when something might be wrong. @duanebrown

That PPC specialists won’t have a job soon. I’ve been hearing this since I started in PPC in 2014… We have to adapt like any job in any industry. I’m so sick of all the scaremongering posts! @marketingsoph

I think it’s problematic when anyone goes around saying there is one “right” way to do something. Like their experience will work equally across all advertisers and industries. @robert_brady

That there’s one way to do something and it’s never going to change. We used to segment things by match types at the campaign level. Others didn’t. that’s ok. now match types are trash. you have to change with updates even when you hate the updates. @360vardi

I am not actually sure they believe it or not but have had a few accounts get audited & the client will come back with questions on our optimization score. Cant tell if they actually believe it’s important or just use that to scare the client. @selley2134

In the age of shopping feeds… many thinking, saying or suggesting that the shopping feed doesn’t matter or you set it and forget it. Your shopping feed should get updated at least a couple times a year…especially around your peak sales period. @duanebrown

The one that is currently driving me nuts is that automation is amazing and we should shift our focus elsewhere and just let it do its thing. The current automation is not designed to work equally well for all industries and biz sizes. It’s just not. @NeptuneMoon

I hold true to the fact that the answer for almost everything in this space “it depends”. So not really a specific answer about “myths” but content about what worked for one person may not fit with what you’re trying to accomplish even if it is a good idea overall. @alexnicoll93

That it’s a dog fight between automation and manual optimization. Every account/campaign/etc.. is very different and you need to find the balance between aggregation/segmentation and automation vs. levers and insights. Too many times I see people choosing one extreme. @360vardi

This is a bit niche, but as a writer, practitioners need to stop pushing creative teams away as if they CANT understand performance. It’s just a different animal, and brand creative owners can help you immensely! @JuliaVyse

There’s a bunch: 1. Blaming externalities (seasonality, iOS14, GA4, etc.) for poor ad account performance. 2. The “ML everything” or “structure doesn’t matter” arguments from certain people in the PPC universe 3. Everyone still clinging to KWs as the control lever. 4. Thinking PPC can fix a broken business 5. Thinking ROAS going up = Profit going up. 6. Segmenting PPC budgets is a good life choice. @DigitalSamIAm

Probably not as much here, but because PPC is changing so quickly some agencies and professionals are still using outdated tactics. This industry is changing so fast right now. SOPs can change a week after you create them in some cases. @lchasse

That Bing is the ‘go to’ platform for older demographics. There is data to suggest this is true but it feels like this has been said for so long now that it’s just not anymore. @PPC_Fraser

Q3: How about myths that are pushed by the platforms?

Optimization score is the be all end all. Automation is magic. rust us – you don’t need visibility. @AmaliaEFowler

This one feels almost to easy… Facebook: Everything is ok post 1OS14.5. Our machines know what to do. Google: Get that OptiScore to 100%. Spend tons on Display and you will see a lift in your conversions. Overall, sales rep understand how to run campaigns. @duanebrown

Nearly every Auto Apply recommendation. @TheMarketingAnu

Cracks knuckles… *OptiScore. *Increase budget for any problem. *Refresh VIDEO creative every 2 weeks. *iOS14 is so hard it ruined us all *all our machines are applicable to all problems. *let the machine decide. @JuliaVyse

This is my pet peeve lately. Their reps call and say they are experts in any, way shape or form. There are still brands that believe these (sales) reps have the best interest of the brand in mind and are not pushing the platform’s agenda over the brand. @lchasse

Too many to list, but anytime they use “upgrade” in their recommendations. @selley2134

That upper funnel activities will magically result in conversions later on. just spend money. it will be fine. Nah, you got to test, measure the impact and make decisions. @360vardi

That it doesn’t matter that they have less data, their models (conversion modeling) are completely trustworthy and equivalent to the conversion data we had previously! 2. That first party data has no downside for advertisers. (IT ABSOLUTELY DOES!) @NeptuneMoon

That channels are our partners Nah. Sorry. their priorities is to increase their revenue and sometimes that means shrinking client profit margins. @360vardi

Been told by Google reps that ad strength & ad extensions are now part of the Quality Score equation. From RSA research, seems like ad strength doesn’t matter. Anyone have more info here? @_RileyDuncan

That RSAs just need to work on their own and they will find the best combinations on their own. trust us. Nah dawg. I’ve seen some trash combos in the wild. I’d like to see the data that you’re seeing. thx @360vardi

Oh my… where do we begin? The Ad Strength scores for RSAs The push that granular metrics aren’t needed to make informed decisions on which RSA assets work and where your PMax campaigns are getting their sales from The Recommendations tab and OptiScores. @C_J_Ridley

Platforms making changes that are totally self-serving under the guise of “privacy” Ex: Google makes money per impression, so limiting insight into STRs, pushing broad match & automation, etc. in the name of “a better ad experience for users” is pretty disingenuous. @adclarke10

Google seems to believe that any incremental increase in conversion count or conversion value is worth chasing (regardless of cost). @robert_brady

Broad magically works and you no longer should worry about matching a searcher to an ad. Machine learning will do it for you. Ok. I guess, I’ll just use broad keywords and take a break then? @360vardi

PPCChat Participants