The PPC industry continues to evolve. New features and updates make it easier for advertisers to manage their tasks. However, do experts feel that something is still lacking in the major PPC platforms? Host Julie F Bacchini explored PPCers’ perspectives during this week’s PPCChat discussion.
Q1: Let’s start out generally – what do you think is missing these days in PPC as an industry?
A common code of ethics – foundational knowledge is out there in free and paid forms, but there is no conclusive ethics we all agree to. @navahhopkins
Ability to connect PPC with overall business insights. @alimehdimukadam
Also – I’d love to see more built-in cross-network training. @navahhopkins
Connection with overall marketing teams – I am hoping that silos start coming down as attribution as we know it goes away. @NeptuneMoon
Critical thinking, in a certain way. I’ve seen a few clients in different industries hear from Google and then get really disappointed when things don’t work as smoothly as expected. I don’t think it’s exactly a trust issue, but there’s a missing skepticism somewhere. @JuliaVyse
I’ll admit the reason I pushed for Optmyzr to share as much data is transparency into tactics and trends should be more accessible. I’d love to see other “big data” sources share as openly. @navahhopkins
I also think we might be a little directionless in general as we are navigating the AI-ization of every platform while simultaneously trying to figure out what it means a bit longer term for us as practitioners and for our clients. @NeptuneMoon
Transparency, attribution, full-funnel tracking, ability to optimize AI-focused campaigns, etc. etc. @AshSanh
Meaningful training and education for new folks. @ferkungamaboobo
A university degree that takes what’s going on in PPC in its curriculum. Now I know – a degree isn’t a must for going into the workplace – but I didn’t want to repeat Reid’s training and education answer. So next best thing, since Universities do get lots of students – prepare them properly for entering a world of Paid Search and Digital marketing in general! @TheMarketingAnu
Well, there are plenty of Digital Marketing degrees. I feel so much of training is just caught up in single people. @ferkungamaboobo
@TheMarketingAnu this! A lot of paid courses are filling this gap. The issue though is, by the time students learn & graduate – landscape would have evolved & changed. @alimehdimukadam
Like, “I follow what this person says” instead of “Here is a clearing house of real tests with real data” @ferkungamaboobo
There are a number of us who do college-level courses in the States. Absolutely should be wider spread. @navahhopkins
I have a question on training and such coming up! @NeptuneMoon
No one is actually publishing anything valid and repeatable in the way that we all literally have the skills to. it’s just I think it’d be a lot messier than we think, and what would provide rigor would invalidate 99% of what we do as marketers. @ferkungamaboobo
Q2: What is missing in paid search advertising (Google Ads & Microsoft Ads)?
Search term data. On that note – I’m currently testing different location targeting options to see if I can force search terms data without hitting the privacy issue. @navahhopkins
I am still mourning granular options to help lower conversion volume accounts. @NeptuneMoon
Individual placements. I want my Gmail and Local campaigns back! shut up pmax. @JuliaVyse
I don’t mind PMax, but I do mind that we don’t have weights for channels. @navahhopkins
I think at the client level, understanding that learning periods now apply in search advertising. Even though this has been true for a while, clients still largely expect it to be like the old days when campaigns jumped right into performing – and stayed there if say you raised your budget by 25%! @NeptuneMoon
Don’t know what’s missing as of now considering ‘search’ is evolving. Clarity (marketers/brands) on how to use search Illusion of – if it’s search it has to work.Kinda abstract. What’s missing is definition of keywords and match types – understanding of t. @alimehdimukadam
Well, if we are being honest @alimehdimukadam actual definitions of match types that mean anything. @NeptuneMoon
Back to basics knowledge. We’re so in the weeds that basic ideas like “what is causing CPC to rise” is often a much simpler answer than all the levers we see. @ferkungamaboobo
Exclusion options are also disappearing. @NeptuneMoon
Real testing options. If you want to run YT Shorts or YT audio, you’d better be ready to measure it including other placements. @JuliaVyse
And coming from a time when we had more granular control it is hard sometimes to accept the “to get this good traffic you have to also take this crappy traffic” that is today’s reality. I’m looking at you display networks (both Google and Microsoft). @NeptuneMoon
Advertiser input before updates happen!! From an SEL point – there are lots of people reporting Google tests that just don’t make sense – for advertisers. For Google’s pocket – sure! @TheMarketingAnu
Ad libraries for search would be pretty amazing. @NeptuneMoon
Sometimes I think Accountability is missing – or it’s at least a luxury. It’s easy to turn performance data into a *3 spidermen pointing at each other meme. Client looks at advertiser, advertiser looks at ad channel and/or client brand, ad channel laughs and says “What are you going to do about it?”This isn’t always the case, but I like clarity. And whether intentional or not, ad channels have created obfuscation in the way they’ve rolled out (or rolled back), features we’ve come to rely on. So what we’re left with is a complex puzzle of Boolean logic that contradicts itself when it chooses. @timmhalloran
It is messy in the way you describe @timmhalloran. I just put this as an answer to question 3 but it belongs here too – a platform change blackout period for October through December. Do not roll out anything new in Q4. Just don’t. @NeptuneMoon
Q3: What is missing in paid social advertising (Meta, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc.)?
Sanity. I know that sounds glib, but it’s the most succinct way I can put it. @JuliaVyse
Wish Meta would make lead conversion events and setting primary/secondary like Google much simpler and easier. @JawadZaheerKhan
And OFFLINE EDITORS. get all my self-serve setup OUT of a browser environment!!! @JuliaVyse
I would have said accurate conv tracking/attribution But that’s kinda missing from everywhere. @alimehdimukadam
Trustworthiness! Because this is well dodgy – https://x.com/rokhladnik/status/1848620427306012693 @TheMarketingAnu
I do like Meta’s conversion API though. You can even upload non-Meta events to it with tons of data points and it will try to match it. @JawadZaheerKhan
How about a “don’t change anything” blackout period from October through December? Like don’t push any new changes or features live in Q4? This applies equally to search advertising platforms. @NeptuneMoon
While I’m complaining, more rep support. Meta is totally out of Canada due to tantrums, but Google support has waned, and I’m getting most of my good conversations and implementation support from Snap, Pinterest, and Linkedin. @JuliaVyse
An “accelerated learning” option or “don’t go back into learning” option would be great too (again same for search). It is so dicey to make changes during important sales periods and clients think you can just keep adjusting on the fly and performance will only improve. @NeptuneMoon
@NeptuneMoon – I’d say September – December as they always put stuff in September and Q4 planning is done in August LOL (most the time lol) @Meriem
That is fair @Meriem – it is nuts that new stuff gets pushed out at the end of the year. heading into holiday season. Like all the AI crap in Google Shopping that is “rolling out in the coming months”???? @NeptuneMoon
The ability to see attribution in a way that’s not biased towards their ad channel. Meta is guilty of this. Most ad channels are but there’s is glaringly obvious. I look at the lead volume they’re taking credit for and I (and my clients) roll their eyes. Someone over there probably thought, “If we create the perception that our ad channel is the best performing one, then people will spend more.” I think we can agree that’s backfired though. NO ONE trusts Meta Ads data inherently without double-checking other sources. You can edit attribution more so now than in the past – but it rarely mirrors reality. Again, this is something all ad channels do, and most are at least semi-transparent about their attrib. windows, but it amazes me this is still such a big thing. Been like that since I started advertising. @timmhalloran
Q4: What is missing in PPC resources or training?
I am taking notes on this question’s answers. @NeptuneMoon
Rigor. Math. Basic Advertising Principles. There’s great training for how to do things, there’s solid tactical training. But not how/why. @ferkungamaboobo
I think there is so much noise in this area, as SO many people provide training now, however, with the amount things changing, not one training fits all and it’s not always up to date information e.g. i saw something the other day about average position lol @Meriem
Well yeah, though I’d argue avg pos is the biggest impact on CTR even today. @ferkungamaboobo
Learning how to do competitive research is an underrated PPC skill @NeptuneMoon
Copywriting. If you want to just connect a merchant centre and run AI ads, good for you. If you’re in B2B, or Public Sector, or Pharma, you better know how to write. @JuliaVyse
I think some so called “soft” skill training is also very much needed. How to have uncomfortable interactions – conversations or in writing. Listening to clients/stakeholders. Being flexible in thinking and approach. @NeptuneMoon
Tactical training is important. Williams with Shopping, Wilcox with LI, Heinke with Youtube, Gales with Pmax, Foxwell with Social (I could probably name like 20 more, including a lot of you here). But I’m going to agree with @ferkungamaboobo on teaching the how/why and @JuliaVyse on critical thinking. Especially with how fast things change. Hard to teach, but when you get someone that thinks like that it makes them so valuable. @timmhalloran
A big thing that I haven’t been able to train others to do, but that I seem to be able to do, is translation between Google wants, Client needs, Agency abilities. It’s very important to get everyone to understand what we all need and therefore how we can work together. @JuliaVyse
I think some of that split-brain is for managers though rather than front-line. I loved when my juniors gave me ideas i had to shoot down on the spot. Especially when they were insistent — because the third time, they’d refined the argument so I could make it to client/COO. @ferkungamaboobo
Honestly I think a “what has changed this month” for platforms would be great (as I add to my workload list….) @NeptuneMoon
“Google wants, Client needs, Agency abilities”I like that. It’s mine now. @timmhalloran
Take it Tim! let’s all get better! @JuliaVyse
How to bring client expectations in line with reality would be a great topic too. @NeptuneMoon
I like it because it summarizes a concept I deal with all the time but never put into words.@timmhalloran
Oh god, remember that disappointment can only happen if someone is optimistic in the first place. A client wanting Google to do cool stuff they can’t do, is in the right headspace to do cool stuff with you! @JuliaVyse
One specific technical topic with very little resources out there is uploading Qualified leads to Google using offline conversions and then effectively using that. @JawadZaheerKhan
@NeptuneMoon quite a few people do a what’s changed this month for the platforms, there are multiple newsletters on LinkedIn and email. A good social platforms one is HeyOrca! @Meriem
Q5: Anything else missing relative to PPC that we have not covered in the previous questions?
I think one of the biggest things I’ve had to untrain with juniors is oppressive negativity. “oh, of course, Google says that they’re just trying to pull a fast one” is not true but it’s how the entirety of the industry talks @ferkungamaboobo
@ferkungamaboobo I’d actually love to see some survey data on “generations” of PPCers because thought processes and ideas about PPC are quite different among the generations of practitioners. @NeptuneMoon
I’d like to see a survey – unassisted – of what major brands in different industries think digital platforms can do. parsing search to social would be a lot, but man. Understanding what you expect a self-serve search or social ad platform is capable of would be VERY helpful. @JuliaVyse
And you get people coming in with 6 months of part-time experience, and they’re pushing back on the times when the certs ARE correct because people frankly are just whining because work makes all of us whiny, but the content marketing mill incentivizes whining about work into authority. @ferkungamaboobo
We definitely get cynical easily. But parsing it into a legitimate critique, including ways to improve is a skill. not the same as whining, but the line is getting blurred for sure. @JuliaVyse
Should we talk about how Chrome quite literally is using the collective electricity of their user base to power their data-hungry, ram-thirsty browser? Probably has something to do with PPC. Don’t mind me, still collecting my thoughts from Pubcon @timmhalloran
To be fair @ferkungamaboobo all of the platforms’ customers are shareholders not advertisers. So some of their “best practices” are good for shareholders and not automatically good for advertisers. Part of our job is to be discerning on what it puts out there and recommend what is good for advertisers. @NeptuneMoon
I can’t count the number of times when clients have pushed back on basic best practices because it’s what Google says to do. @ferkungamaboobo
Actually @ferkungamaboobo that’s a great note on what’s missing: advertising best practices. We have over 100 years on the art of persuasion available to us, but sure, shove a shopping campaign in my face with no targeting. @JuliaVyse
Please, we have 30+ years of UX data and people are still using zig-zag patterns. @ferkungamaboobo
I also think that platforms don’t necessarily want us or advertisers thinking too hard about what makes quality advertising. They want us to let them do much of it for us in the name of AI. @NeptuneMoon
Then it bears repeating. @JuliaVyse
PPCChat Participants
- Navah Hopkins @navahhopkins
- Ali Mehdi Mukadam @alimehdimukadam
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- Julia Vyse @JuliaVyse
- Meriem @Meriem
- Tim Halloran @timmhalloran
- Jawad Zaheer Khan @JawadZaheerKhan
- Reid Thomas @ferkungamaboobo
- Anu Adegbola aka PPC Live founder @TheMarketingAnu
- Ash Sanh @AshSanh
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