The Importance of PPC in an AI Search World

let's explore how PPC is going to help
get more eyes on your business in an AI
search world and we're going to look at
some principles for creating great ads
both with and without ai's help tons of
examples loads of lessons let's go
first off with this sort of genitive AI
search experience it's possible that
some websites will see fairly
significant organic traffic drops
particularly for commercial searches
where the genitive AI answers the
searcher's question directly in the
search results and it's possible that
this loss of informational traffic may
happen across organic search as well as
paid search one possible outcome of all
of this is that more businesses start
pushing into paid search in order to
bring that traffic onto their site the
kicker of course is that if lots of
people do this paid search then becomes
way more competitive on top of this with
Google and Microsoft both experimenting
with AI generated search ads the barrier
to entry for businesses using
pay-per-click in search is gonna drop
this could mean that pay-per-click
becomes more competitive making it more
important than ever then your ads are
sickeningly good of course to produce
sickeningly good pay-per-click ads is
unlikely that you're going to be relying
purely on generative AI to write your ad
copy but we'll come back to that a
little bit later on now Google is
showing ads alongside generative AI
search results here we can see a search
for good bikes for heli commute and then
we've got these shopping ads underneath
and we see this across a range of
searches that bring up generative AI
answers we also see ads in the same way
that we're used to seeing them on Google
so we don't expect the way that Google
treats ads to change that much but we do
expect the way that users interact with
ads to change Microsoft has begun
testing ads in their generative AI
answers as well including adding
sponsored citations the early feedback
from Microsoft on the click-through rate
and performance of ads in generative
search is that actually the
click-through rate has increased
compared to Old being without this
generative AI component so that is very
encouraging for marketers and indicating
that for some searches at least we may
actually be getting more traffic from
generative AI than we were previously
but there's also been a lot of focus on
display advertising and some of the AI
tools that Google will be bringing to
display advertisers again we expect the
user experience to be basically the same
where advertisers can use Google's ad
platform to run their display ads across
the Google Display Network and this will
continue to be an important marketing
channel for businesses that want to run
remarketing ads to Target people who've
already been on their website or who
want to get a lot of visibility across
the web very quickly for example
Ecommerce brand timu has been going
hardcore with their display ads as they
bring their product to Market in the US
we can see how their weekly display ad
spend has gone from around 400k up to
5.3 million dollars per week and as a
result they are everywhere open a
website temu ad open an app tmu ad it's
not remarketing they've just bought all
of the ad inventory on the internet now
of course not every brand can do this
timu has huge financial backing they
have a very wide product range with very
broad appeal and they're going to Market
in a very aggressive way but that
approach doesn't work for everyone so
what do you do if you need to be a
little bit more surgical in your ad
targeting and in particular how do you
create the best ads possible using PPC
best practice to get the most clicks for
your budget and by the way if you want
us to have a look at the ads that you're
already running and the PPC strategies
that you're already using we have a free
service that will take a look at exactly
what you've got going on at the moment
have a look at your goals and suggest
ways that you can improve the
performance of your ad campaigns just go
to exposureninja.com forward slash
review to request a free website and
marketing review one of the team will be
in touch to arrange your PPC review and
if relevant then we can ask you for
temporary access to your PPC account so
that we could audit what's going on
there and give you some pointers on how
to improve the performance this service
is completely free so go to
exposureninja.com forward slash review
to request your free review today now
there's been a lot of talk about the use
of generative AI to make ads and both
meta and Google are rolling out tools
that allow advertisers to use generative
AI to make their creative well it's
easier than ever to create ads it's not
easier than ever to create great ads
after all think about it pay-per-click
is a market economy if every Advertiser
has access to generative AI tools that
make their ad images look better or
create headlines and copy that doesn't
necessarily mean that every Advertiser
is going to be getting more clicks
remember the number of clicks that your
ads get is relative to the quality of
your ads versus competitors if everyone
has the same tools and is producing the
same ads nobody's click-through rate is
actually going to go up at all of course
if the ads that you've been producing so
far are way below average these donative
AI tools will at least bring you up to
that average level but if you really
want to win in the future of PPC you
need to be creating the best ad
imaginable so how do you do that now I'm
going to give you some suggestions from
our team the last one's going to blow
your mind firstly obviously start with
competitor research you need to know
what you're going up against and what
your potential customers are used to
seeing from businesses in your space
for search ads just search for your
Target keyword and see what comes up
what are the headlines that these ads
are using what's the body copy what's
the call to action what are the USPS
what are the things that make you want
to click on that ad rather than that
what are the extensions these ads are
using and go through to the landing page
what does that look like what does it do
what is it encouraging the visitor to do
and how compelling is it this search for
business tech support returned an ad
that highlighted that the business is
local and partnered with over a hundred
local businesses it also touches on some
great common pain points stressed
frustrated just one technology that
works and importantly the headline
includes that the business offers fast
and friendly it support this ad also
links off to four different landing
pages depending on your needs including
business it support it security and more
meaning users can more quickly get to
the relevant page for them this shortens
their journey and makes the path to
conversion much quicker than if they're
having to hunt around on your website
for the page that's most relevant okay
what about shopping ads well if shopping
ads are being triggered by the Target
searches that you're running look at the
product imagery first Sometimes doing
something different to stand out can be
a great thing but there are times in
digital marketing where actually trying
to stand out and being too different
doesn't really work and shopping imagery
is one of those when you search for
something like this best Trainers for
kids you expect to see the side profile
of the trainers you're not looking for a
trendy close-up of the laces or to see a
kid happily running off in the distance
that's not what users are looking for in
these shopping ads if you're analyzing
your competitors display or social ads
of course you can spend time on those
platforms and keep an eye out for the
sort of ads that you're seeing but there
are also a couple of really Nifty tools
which I'll show you in a minute that you
can use for competitor ad research on
display and social when we're analyzing
a competitor's display or social ads we
want to have a look at the text and
imagery or video that's being used for
example is the ad focused on a
particular product or service does the
ad take people straight through to a
particular promotion or is it more brand
focused is there a lead magnet that
requires a lower commitment level than
maybe the core purchase that they're
really aiming for for example here's an
ad on LinkedIn promoting the Earth shock
price on YouTube this ad takes you
directly to the Earth shock YouTube
channel another adexport tip is a
Facebook ad for Pella phone cases that
promotes their retro shapes collection
this is obviously a very image driven
product so the ads are exactly what we'd
expect they lead with the images of the
product clicking on this ad takes me to
the Retro shapes product page which is
much better than say driving someone
straight to the home page and leaving
them to hunt for that cool product that
they've just seen in the ad but rather
than doing this manually by far the best
way to analyze competitors display and
social ads is with a couple of nifty
tools firstly The Meta ad Library which
you'll probably be familiar with this
allows you to see the ads that any
company is running across Facebook
Instagram Facebook's Audience Network
and inside messenger for example here I
am looking looking at the TV ads on
Facebook and insta and I can see all the
creative I can see the copy and I can
also see how long these ads have been
running that's really important because
if an ad has been running for a long
time then usually that means that it's
performing reasonably well so if we're
going to take influence from some of our
competitors ad created we want to make
sure we're copying the stuff that
actually works but when it comes to
analyzing competitors display ads there
is a fantastic tool inside semrush
called ad Clarity and it can also give
you data on how much your competitors
are spending on Facebook and Instagram
as well now I'm not going to go into
this too much we have another video
talking about how amazing this thing is
but you can get a free trial of this at
exposure.ninja forward slash WTF is that
good now spending some good quality time
digging through your competitors ads
analyzing what are they promoting how
are they promoting it what's the
language and the methods that they're
using in their ad creative can be really
useful to help you identify the themes
that they are finding to be most
successful so let's say for example that
we were running some ads for an
accounting software well we might want
to look at a competitor like xero to
understand how are they getting clients
and which of their potential Target
audiences are they going after now we
can see here that they've got some ads
that have been running for over six
months now and we can see the angles
that they've been taking with this and
by looking at the creative we can
identify they're targeting a smaller
business audience here now if we look
down here we can see they've also run
some ads for their partner program some
of these are still running some of them
aren't and we can compare the ones that
are active against the ones that are
inactive to work out what made the
difference here we can then apply those
learnings to our own ad creative now
it's important to remember that no
competitor has perfect ads so what we
don't want to do is just copy what
they're already doing what we're really
looking for is the lessons and the
tweaks that they're making over time and
of course your ads need to embody your
brand they need to use your USPS and
your understanding of your target
audience okay so let's talk about
creating your ads and in particular the
text and the images that you're going to
be using now whether you're just running
search ads or whether you're running
display ads that are going to have a
component of text then we need to make
sure this text is succinct and to the
point does it highlight What Makes You
Different is it tantalizing enough to
get someone to click on it now notice
how this ad for meal delivery kit Gusto
targeting the keyword on Google food
subscription doesn't actually talk about
what Gusto offers instead they go
straight for the jugular with a massive
offer now if I'm competing against this
I need to make sure I understand is that
because the audience for this search
knows Gusto well enough that they don't
need to introduce the brand or is this a
potential mistake or does it show me
that unless I'm leading with some
massive discount I'm not going to be
able to afford to compete for this type
of search often the best ads include
real clear benefits and differentiators
so things like the reasons that make you
unique maybe you have award-winning
customer service a great warranty free
shipping and returns maybe your product
or packaging is made from sustainable
materials are you endorsed by a
celebrity or do you have other
credibility and social proof you don't
have to include all of this in every ad
obviously but if you know your customer
well and you've spent some time talking
to them then you can include the pieces
of all of that which are going to
resonate most with them and by the way
there's a video in the description which
helps you identify and Target your
perfect customer we also need to make
sure that your calls to action your ctas
are clear does the reader or Searcher
know where they're going to be going
when they click on that ad so let's look
at some examples of great ad copy this
ad for a staff training platform
includes credibility in the headline the
number one employee training platform
and highlights a USP that you can easily
track the employee training the
description is clear and succinct
doesn't rely on long sentences it
communicates exactly what this is about
in just a few words you can see the
benefits and you know that when you're
clicking on this ad you're going to get
a demo today an important when you go
through to the landing page you see that
that is exactly what you're being
offered a free demo of course you'll
want to test different types of AD copy
different approaches different USPS and
different ctas ad copy is never finished
and it's never perfect although we do
try Okay so we've got the tech stores it
but if we're going off to display and
social ads we're going to need to think
about visuals now our advice is here
that even if you see a competitor ad
that you really like don't just copy or
even just copy the style a bit because
your audience may already be fatigued
from that ad if your ads just look like
another one of theirs and they've
already saturated that market with those
ads sad times so it's much better to
look at the different elements of a
image or a video and think about how you
can take inspiration from each of these
one great thing that you can do as a
marketer is as you're around on the
internet seeing different types of ads
and looking at competitors you can start
to build your own swipe file these can
just simply be the screenshots of the
different ads that you like the most
that means when it comes time to brief
your Asian see or make some ads yourself
you already have all of that inspiration
stored in one place now on social media
organic or user generated content style
images tend to work better we all have
this involuntary ad filter so as soon as
we see something that doesn't look like
what we want on that social app for we
kind of scroll past it assuming that
it's an ad but user generated content
style ads like this one can be really
good now this is not a professionally
taken picture this looks like it was
taken in someone's Garden or a park in
fact the only giveaway that this isn't
out at all is the sponsored word or the
shop now CTA but of course you only see
those things once the image has stopped
your scroll so what about using AI tools
to create your ads well this type of
product image ad actually isn't the sort
of thing that you'd necessarily use AI
to create firstly it's not the type of
thing that the AI is particularly good
at and secondly because it's so easy to
create you actually don't really need to
go to AI to produce this but of course
there are times when AI can be a
fantastic companion in producing ad copy
for example brainstorming using chat gbt
to test different angles and have it
produce different ideas that you can
then sift through and find some that you
really like an AI image and video tools
can be great at adding the final touches
to your content but it's important here
not to just use them for the sake of it
because you have access just because you
can create a thousand different
creatives does that really mean that you
should would you not be better focusing
on your Target customer understanding
them deeply and creating something which
is really going to resonate with them
and are people really going to buy your
product just because you've changed the
background to a cityscape or a beach or
is it actually more likely that they're
going to buy your product because you've
sold them on the results or a lifestyle
and actually in the same way that people
scroll past ads that look a bit Addy
we're anticipating that there will
become a sort of AI ad creative fatigue
where people scroll past ads that look a
bit Ai and you already get this
regenerative AI copy often when you read
a generative AI I produced art or blog
or any sort of content it just feels a
little bit generic it can often be a lot
of words that don't really say anything
now keep in mind that consumers more
than ever want authenticity so if you're
publishing ad creative either written or
visual which feels generic or feels AI
That's not generally what consumers are
looking for okay AI ramble aside let's
get into the final PPC step testing your
ads of course you're going to be testing
different ads on different platforms
you're going to be testing different
USPS you're going to test different
creative ideas and the reason this is
the final step rather than the final
step is that you never really stop
testing and of course once you test you
learn from the winners and you adapt the
rest of your ads and then you test again
and if you don't get good results guess
what you test them all oh by the way
that bonus tip that I promised you
forget everything I've said so far
with a reason sometimes going totally
against the grain is the best way to get
results from PPC one of the highest
click-through rate ads I've ever run
used an image that had absolutely
nothing to do with the product it was a
pure Grabber one of the best search ads
I've ever run started with don't buy
this product until you've seen this
sometimes the key to winning in your
space is to take inspiration from
something completely different maybe
you're an e-commerce business and you
take inspiration from a B2B Service
Company or maybe you're a software
company and you take inspiration from a
direct to Consumer e-commerce business
always remember Duolingo exists and
they've gone viral on Tick Tock with
this crazy owl doing all sorts of
totally inappropriate ludicrous things
if you'd have put this in a brief and
try to get bored sign off not happening
no still have Anonymous about that out
search is evolving and so is
pay-per-click but this just means more
opportunities for the marketers and
brands that are able to adapt
opportunities like getting clicks from
AI generated ads by being the website
that's referenced or used to corroborate
the statement these things didn't exist
even a year ago but the thing that will
never change is that as long as you're
producing high quality ads that resonate
really well with your Target customer
you will see success and by the way if
you want to learn more about Google's
search generative experience or the AI
search results check out this video this
is so important to the future of digital
marketing both for SEO and pay-per-click
thanks for subscribing let us know what
you think in the comments and see you
next week