11 PPC Trends that B2B Businesses Should be Aware of in 2022

In an increasingly competitive world, you want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your ad budget. With new Pay-Per-Click (PPC) strategies emerging all the time, it is painfully evident that if you’re not following the paid media news from 2021, leaving your PPC strategy for 2022 to suffer as a result.

However, with so many new updates occurring at a seemingly faster and faster rate it is becoming increasingly difficult to know which ones are worth paying attention to and which ones will just be a waste of resources.

2021 PPC Roundup

Sometimes before you take a look ahead at the newest PPC trends, it’s wise to step back and see where you’ve just come from. Google released an impressive 8 new big updates in the year of 2021 alone, making the world of online shopping even more accessible than ever before.

Of course, privacy was a core focus for many in 2021, leading to Google no longer supporting cookies, as well as other forms of data management coming into play to better support the privacy of online users.

Above and beyond all of this, we’ve seen digital technologies make gathering online data easier and ever, giving rise to personalized marketing content that drives customer engagement. All of this is set to continue, and rapidly evolve, in 2022.

11 PPC Trends That B2B Business Should Know in 2022

As we progress into 2022, we’ve already seen so many digital advertising trends 2022 takeover. So, on that note, let’s take a look at some of the paid media news we’ve come across so far.

1. Supervised Automation

Automation is fast taking over the world of marketing and become a standard for many ad platforms. The aim is to streamline the different elements of paid ad management. These features are already out there, continuing to evolve and gaining their own new features. This includes Google Ad Rules, Facebook Dynamic Ads, Google Responsive Display Ads and Smart Shopping Campaigns.

When it comes to automation, as much as these systems are able to take on and manage tasks, it does require ongoing supervision to ensure that everything runs as it should.

2. Customer Match Retargeting

This is one of Google’s best features that helps marketers reach specific individuals. Simply pull your CRM data, link it to Google and target unconverted leads. Retargeting is a valuable tool that can be automated to ensure that it is an ongoing, rewarding process.

3. Responsive Displays

Investment into responsive displays has increased as of late. They are versatile and can be used in almost any space. They’re also flexible to change, when need be, and can easily be scaled based on the campaign.

4. Keyword Maintenance

To ensure that you’re targeting the right people, you need to clean up your keyword lists. In addition to this, Google has also improved the broad match functionality to prioritize keywords.

5. Google Shopping Listing New Attributes

When it comes to adding new product listings, the ability to add new, relevant information is important when it comes to sales. This includes size, color, and condition. You can also add return policies and promotions to drive sales.

6. Voice Search

The smart speaker industry is set to boom, and with digital assistants being used more frequently, the need for online platforms to be compatible with this functionality will become a necessity. This also means that your PPC strategy will also need to be updated to reflect this.

7. The Future is Mobile

With around 70% of all paid impressions being generated through mobile platforms, it becomes increasingly important to have a mobile-friendly approach to marketing.

8. Imaged-Based Searches

For online users looking for an easier way to search for products, Google Lens and similar systems are ideal. What it does is it lets you upload an image that you would like to search. So instead of typing in keywords, it’ll use the image to search for related content and tailoring your PPC approach to accommodate this search method will help ensure your brand remains relevant.

9. Google May Be Dethroned

While Google is the crowd favorite when it comes to search engines, smaller search engines such as Bing and Amazon have reported increased traffic. If this trend continues, Google may find themselves losing the number one position. Finding ways of incorporating other browsers into your PPC campaign is becoming all the more necessary.

10. Video Content Leads the Way

With TikTok taking the social media world by storm, it’s become evident that video content is receiving more engagement than the “normal” static image posts. So much so that YouTube has launched YouTube Shorts while Instagram has launched Reels. To enhance your PPC efforts, engaging content is necessary, and this is where video content will make all the difference.

11. Smart Bidding for Smarter Results

“Winging it” is no longer an option. Though machine learning, bids can be tailored, and ads customized based on real-time user data and behavior. You now have the ability to know and understand your customer beforehand, instead of simply hoping for the best.

Google News Worth Noting

1. Goodbye Expanded Text Ads By June 2022, expanded text ads will no longer be supported by Google. What this means is you won’t be able to create new expanded text ads, however, existing ads can be run.
2. About This Ad – Required Online users can now view the “About This Ad” pages related to Shopping ad placements, Video and Display. This allows users to see why they were selected to view that ad. It now forms part of Google ads best practices in 2022 and is a requirement for all ads.

Upcoming Google Ads Update

So far, Google has already announced two new updates that are set to change the PPC game for the better. These updates include:

• Performance Max: Campaigns using Performance Max utilize some of Google’s best automation to ensure that you’re connecting with the right people at the right time.
• Experiments Page: Data-driven testing has a new home, the Experiments pager. Here, you can test different ads to see the impact certain changes may have and ensure that your campaign runs efficiently and effectively. This space is as the name implies, a space to experiment with options to ensure the best possible results.

Final Thoughts

Leveraging the current PPC trends is a great way to get the most out of your PPC advertising campaigns in 2022. While automation and AI will change the way businesses create and run ads, there will be a significant uptake in the number of video ads, including VR, across a variety of devices.

As well as this, marketers need to optimize their ads for voice search and incorporate alternative PPC platforms. By doing this and staying up to date with industry developments, generating improved results from PPC advertising campaigns in 2022 should be something that is easily achievable.