Over the last 10 years paid search has evolved from a keyword-targeting system to a match-making system in which content-to-intent alignment as determined by advanced AI models are the primary driver used for audience targeting. This has dramatically increased the importance of ad copy in Paid Search, making it more important than keywords or match types for audience targeting and performance.  In this post we will review a recent case study that proves unequivocally that ads are the new keywords.

AI has undeniably changed how brands understand their customers and interact with them.  Today's AI understands consumer motivations more deeply than what is typed into a search box.  Gone are the days when all you had to do was embrace the established definitions of search intent.  Now to compete successfully in the Paid Search channel you must embrace the role of AI, customize your ad copy to specific customer motivations, and do it at scale.  

The deprecation of ETAs are a continuation of a Google strategy to automate the paid search customer journey using NLP and Machine Learning technology.  As innovations in AI advance, search engines are leveraging these technologies to enhance user experience by understanding the relationships between words in user queries and advertiser content in order to generate the best possible customer journey for every query.

Zombie keywords are enabled keywords that are not receiving traffic. Isolating these keywords into new ad groups and getting them paired with the right ads can bring them to life, creating opportunities for growth and increased market share.  By bringing zombie keywords back to life, you can unearth value that has been lying dormant and is only waiting to be realized. How many of your zero impression keywords are zombies? Find out how you can reanimate zombie keywords to create new pathways that help you add revenue to your paid search account.

The brain can process an image in 13 milliseconds—a rate of about 75 frames per second. This means from the moment the user hits your page they are forming impressions about your brand, products or service offerings. Today, most blog posts will offer a few universal strategies for creating splash pages that convert; feature real people, use benefit statements, write pithy headlines, keep important elements above the fold.

Psychology provides marketers with a tremendous amount of research and knowledge about effectively engaging customers. In fact, a lot of commonly used marketing techniques are deeply rooted in psychological functions (e.g. social proof, scarcity, anchor pricing etc.) In order to use these techniques most effectively, it’s critical to understand the psychological differences between target audiences. Psychological traits, enduring patterns of behavior, provide the context needed to understand how techniques like scarcity marketing would impact engagement for a particular audience.

In 1997, Steve Jobs explained one of the most important principles of marketing in six words: “To me marketing is about Values.” He goes on to describe how some of the most iconic and successful brands resonate with customer’s personal values. This is a principle worth expanding upon.

We all live by a set of values that are important (or unimportant) to us. Some people value having fun and seeking adventure (Hedonism). Some value having influence and control over subordinates (Power). Still, others value helping people and making the world a better place (Benevolence). Values are beliefs and goals that transcend specific situations to motivate behavior. Understanding what consumers value is important because, much like personality traits and other individual differences, values have demonstrated powerful predictive ability in a number of customer experience and marketing operations. Values have also been shown to predict a variety of specific purchasing behaviors from choosing a new pair of sunglasses to purchasing environmentally friendly or organic products.