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Amol Ghemud Published: September 13, 2019
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Marketing is the tip of the spear of any business effort. Client interaction is a huge part of every marketing plan. As the client’s behavior and their preferred medium of communication change. So do the marketing strategies and plans.
Google PPC 2021 advertising at its very core is just like any other marketing channel. And just like any other marketing channel Google PPC advertising is not immune to change. If anything it is prone to change faster when compared to others.
So as a marketer working in Google ads it’s paramount to know what is beyond the horizon. What possible changes you may have to face when it comes to the future of Google ads. The one change that has already started to take over is “Automation”.
Yes, automation the bane of human labor. It is an age-old tale new technology making old labor obsolete. But that doesn’t have to be the case for us. You can either drown under the wave of change or you can ride it to get to even greater heights.
So here we present you with a glimpse into the future of Google ads automation.
Adding Negative Keywords
Adding negatives is one of the fundamental practices in Google ads. The more the better. But the research part is quite lengthy. You have to identify terms either from your search term report or do research and find them yourself.
What if this process could be automated? As you add keywords in your ad groups there will be a list of recommended negatives based on keywords you just entered.
This is how the set-up looks right now:
Keywords
Image: Adding Negative Keywords Now
And this is how it may look in the future:
Keywords
Image: Adding Negative Keywords in future
Also when you download the search term report potential negatives will already be marked.
Recommended Match types & Landing pages
Right now while adding keywords it is up to us to choose the best keyword match type according to our needs. But what if just after adding our keywords we would get match type recommendation. Google can easily implement this based on the data it has on bid value and search volume.
An image to clarify how and where you may find this option in the future:
Another future automation will be the selection of a landing page for your ads. Right now it is up to us to select the most appropriate landing page for our ads but in near future, Google will be able to suggest or directly implement the page it thinks would be best as a landing page.
Option to create search campaigns directly from shopping search report
The shopping search report is a treasure trove of opportunity keywords. Soon you will be able to utilize this treasure trove to form a search campaign directly. Everything you need for a search campaign is readily available and the opportunities are much larger.
AD – Copies
Have you had the pleasure of writing an Ad copy for your ads? Have you ever done it in a bulk? Then you must know how repetitive and boring this task becomes. But what if Google automates this task.
We already have proof in the form of the ad strength feature in a responsive search ad. In the future, you won’t have to write ad copy all you will have to do is enter the keywords and your site and google will write the best Ad copy for you.
This automation feature will not only reduce the amount of effort that goes into creating ad copies for different audience types. This will also increase the relevance of the ad and also make it more targeted. Google claims that the Ad strength feature helps increase clicks by 15% just imagine what will an ad created completely by Google can do.
Reporting
As mentioned earlier downloading search term reports weekly or bi-weekly and going through them to search for negatives and opportunities is one of the fundamental and best practices of Google ads. But what if this process becomes more automated?
You can automate this process to some extent even now. You can create a setup that sends the search term report to you weekly through the mail. You can set the filters for keywords that have no conversions but have a high cost this how you will find your negatives.
Combine these with the future negative keyword suggestion feature and you almost won’t have to anything related to negatives. This will be a huge advantage.
Bidding
“The future is here old man”. Don’t believe us? Then head to the automated bidding section of Google ads and witness for yourself. There is a bidding strategy for everything. It doesn’t matter if its clicks, conversions, impressions, ROAS and now even conversion value.
Google will go even one step further and suggest automated bid strategies best suited to your goals. For now, you can only select the most you are willing to spend for a click or conversion. Then google will increase or decrease the bid based on the probability of achieving the target set by you.
This only allows you to put a cap on the spend but in the future, you can expect a total loss of manual control on bidding. All you could do is add a budget and Google will decide which keywords are worth betting on. You trade control for efficiency.
Smart Campaigns
Now we talk about the biggest step taken by Google towards Automation. A nifty little service called Google Ads Express. This service’s feature was directly imported into Google ads and renamed as smart campaigns.
So what is so special about this smart campaign? Well, it lives up to its name. All you have to do is enter your website, a few lines about your business some ad copy and voila it’s done. No more weekly maintenance, no bid-adjustments, no keywords.
A fully automated campaign that’s the future. Right now smart campaigns have not reached the desirable levels of optimizations but with time and Google’s massive machine learning capabilities, a fully working campaign can be created in under 15 minutes.
Conclusion
Change is painful but necessary, the same is true for Google ads marketers. Like it or not automation is the future and that future is not very far now. So either we can adapt or perish. It’s better to shift towards a more strategic approach.
The reason humans worry about automation created by the system is that we can’t escape these. Given how busy the typical PPC manager is, this extra work is not something to look forward to. On one hand, automation saves the extra time while on the other it increases precision in operation.
The biggest disadvantage of automation in PPC is that AI is taking over the jobs of humans. Automation in PPC campaigns is great in some cases, but when you’re working with a smaller account, it’s really best for you to just stick with manually adjusting those PPC works. You’ll be building smart habits and learning the ins and out of the automation process and increasing your optimization skills in the long run.
There are many digital marketing agencies who work only on Google Ads. In the past, their company growth has significantly expanded. But, data says that with the advent of automation their growth is gradually declining. No wonder, we might see the reduction in the number of Google Ads marketing agencies in the near future. To avoid going into anonymity, such agencies must start acting on the following principles:
Start doing automation in day-to-day activity
Put less focus on tactics and let automation handle it
Concentrate more on the ‘strategic’ level
Work on the creative side (of ad copy)
Automation can either be a bane or boon for you depending on circumstances. All we can do is adapt and prepare for the inevitable.
What is core benefits of using Google ads automated bidding?
Google ads automation is becoming more common these days. The main benefit of automated bidding is that it takes the guesswork out of setting bids to meet your performance goals.
Each automated bid strategy is designed to help you achieve a specific goal for your business. Using AI, you can automatically adjust your bids based on the objectives you are seeking to achieve. The idea is that with the right data, AI will make a better decision for you as compared to a human decision.
This boosts the efficiency of your advertising dollars and saves time as well. The only issue that may occur is when there isn’t enough data for AI to make a calculated bid.
What are some of the benefits of leveraging Google ads automated bidding strategies?
Google ads automation is a great way to make the most of your advertising dollars. Two core benefits you can leverage include: Auction time bidding: The algorithms tailor bids to each user’s context, using relevant signals present at the time of the auction.
Machine learning: The use of machine learning to use algorithms to set the appropriate bid at every auction. Automated bidding uses machine learning to evaluate performance over time and optimize for your specific goal. Automated bidding takes guesswork out of the equation and will likely make a better decision for you. It also saves you much time.
How does automating your bid vs using manual bidding contribute to a successful Google ads campaign?
Google ads automation is an efficient way to run your campaign. But one question that’s often asked is whether you should opt for manual bidding or automated bidding. There are many benefits of using the automated bidding model.
The thing is, if you don’t bid efficiently, you could stand to lose valuable conversions. Google ads automated bidding is the best way to efficiently account for all available signals to help improve your overall performance.
In addition, automated bidding is likely to be more accurate and saves time. Compared to manual bidding, automated bidding is a better way to take your campaign forward and boost conversions.
What are smart campaigns?
Smart campaigns are an ad offering from Google. Smart campaigns automatically show ads to locals in your geographic area to drive traffic to your website, online sales, as well as in-store visits.
The benefit of smart campaigns is that they help you highlight the selling points of your business and attract more customers. You have the option to create a single campaign for your business, or run multiple campaigns to showcase different products and services on offer.
Each will come with its own set of keywords and themes. Using Smart Campaigns, you can showcase ads for your business on the search network, mobile device targeting, Google Maps, and even Google website partners.
What are smart display campaigns?
A Smart Display campaign automates and then optimizes targeting, bidding, and ads. It is powered by Google’s machine learning.
It can automatically find new and existing customers, set the right bids, and create engaging ads that adapt to any screen or ad space across the web and apps. It allows you to show your ads in a variety of formats across Google’s display network.
It allows advertisers to target their ads to audiences and placements that are most likely to drive conversions for their business without requiring any set targeting. All advertisers need to do is select a CPA goal and upload some ad assets and then Google handles the rest.
For Curious Minds
Automation is transforming the role from a hands-on technician to a strategic director. Your focus will shift from tedious tasks to high-level decision-making, as future Google Ads automation aims to handle repetitive processes, freeing you to concentrate on goals that require human intellect. Key areas being automated include:
Negative Keywords: The platform will suggest negative keywords based on the positive keywords you enter, streamlining a historically manual research process.
Ad Copy Creation: Leveraging features like Ad Strength, which already helps increase clicks by 15%, Google will soon write entire ad copies based on your landing page and keywords.
Landing Page Selection: The system will analyze your site and suggest the most relevant landing page for each ad group, improving user experience and conversion rates.
Embracing this change allows you to focus on audience analysis, creative strategy, and interpreting performance data, which are skills machines cannot replicate. To learn how to make this pivot, explore the full analysis.
The manual process of sifting through search term reports for negative keywords is a major efficiency bottleneck, but automation offers a direct solution. Instead of requiring you to download and manually analyze reports, Google Ads will integrate this process directly into your workflow. The platform will proactively identify and mark potential negative keywords within the search term report itself, saving considerable time. Furthermore, as you add positive keywords to an ad group, the system will provide a list of recommended negatives based on its vast data on user search behavior and intent. This proactive approach prevents budget waste on irrelevant clicks from the start, rather than just correcting it after the fact. By automating this foundational practice, you can allocate more resources to strategic planning and performance analysis, as detailed further in the complete guide.
The Ad Strength feature provides concrete evidence of automation's value in paid search today. It acts as a real-time AI-powered assistant, guiding you to create more effective responsive search ads by scoring the quality and relevance of your headlines and descriptions. The content highlights that using this feature can boost clicks by an average of 15%, a significant performance lift. This metric demonstrates that even partial automation yields tangible results. This success serves as a proof of concept for fully automated ad copy. If AI guidance can improve performance so substantially, an ad written entirely by Google's advanced systems, using your keywords and website content as input, promises even greater relevance, targeting, and, ultimately, higher conversion rates. Discover more about the technology driving these changes in the full article.
With automation taking over routine tasks, your value will shift from execution to strategy and interpretation. The next generation of PPC professionals will thrive by mastering areas where human insight remains irreplaceable. Instead of manually building campaigns, your role will be to guide the automation with superior inputs and strategic direction. Key areas of focus should include:
Deep Audience Understanding: Developing nuanced personas and understanding user journey stages to inform the AI's targeting.
High-Level Creative Strategy: Defining core messaging, value propositions, and emotional hooks that AI can then translate into ad copy.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Ensuring landing pages are perfectly aligned with ad messaging and provide a seamless user experience.
To fully prepare for this strategic evolution, it is essential to understand the specific changes on the horizon.
The 'wave of change' in Google Ads extends far beyond automated bidding to encompass the core building blocks of campaign creation and management. This shift reflects a broader industry trend where machine learning is applied to optimize processes that were once entirely manual. Key practices being automated include:
Negative Keyword Discovery: AI will suggest negative terms during keyword setup and highlight them in reports.
Match Type Recommendations: The system will advise on the optimal match type for your keywords based on historical performance data.
Ad Copywriting: Google will generate entire ad copies from your keywords and landing page content, moving beyond the current Ad Strength guidance.
Landing Page Assignment: The platform will automatically select the best destination URL for an ad to maximize relevance.
This evolution is happening now because of advancements in AI and the immense volume of data Google can process. Explore the full implications of this technological leap in our complete analysis.
The traditional method of building search campaigns requires you to manually export keywords from a shopping search report, research them, and write ad copy from scratch. The proposed automated approach creates a direct, streamlined pathway, offering significant advantages for e-commerce advertisers. This integration transforms a data source into an action platform. Instead of simply viewing performance data, you will be able to launch a new search campaign with a single click, leveraging a treasure trove of proven, high-intent keywords. Key factors to weigh:
Speed: Automation reduces a multi-step, hours-long process into minutes.
Accuracy: The campaign is built using keywords that have already demonstrated user interest and relevance within your shopping feed.
Opportunity: It lowers the barrier to capitalizing on emerging search trends identified in your shopping reports.
This shift makes campaign expansion more agile and data-driven. The full article explores how this and other changes will impact different business types.
To effectively prepare for Google's next wave of automation, your team should focus on strengthening the foundational assets the AI will rely on. A proactive approach ensures you can guide the automation for optimal results rather than simply reacting to it. Here is a stepwise plan:
Conduct a Comprehensive Landing Page Audit: Ensure every product or service has a dedicated, high-quality landing page. The AI needs clear, relevant content to make accurate selections.
Organize Website Structure Logically: A clean site hierarchy helps Google's crawlers and its automation tools understand the relationship between pages.
Refine Keyword Theming: Tighten your ad group themes now. This practice will help you better evaluate the AI's future match type recommendations.
Getting these elements in order now will ensure a smoother transition, as explained in greater detail within the full post.
The tedium of writing bulk ad copy often leads to generic messaging and missed opportunities for personalization, a problem Google's automation aims to solve directly. Instead of you having to manually craft headlines and descriptions, the future system will generate them for you. By simply providing your website URL and target keywords, Google’s AI will analyze your landing page content to create compelling ad copy. This approach replaces repetitive labor with machine-powered creativity. It not only saves enormous amounts of time but also enhances performance by dynamically tailoring ads to specific search queries, a feat difficult to achieve at scale manually. The success of the Ad Strength feature, which can increase clicks by 15%, is just a preview of the potential of fully AI-generated ads. Learn how this will change your campaign creation process in our full analysis.
The definition of a successful PPC manager will evolve from an expert executor to a strategic orchestrator. As automation handles the 'how' of campaign building, human value will be measured by the 'why' and 'what's next.' The focus will shift from tactical proficiency to strategic impact on broader business goals. Future success will be defined by:
Ability to Guide AI: Success will depend on providing high-quality inputs, like superior landing page content and clear business objectives, for the automation to work with.
Holistic Performance Analysis: Managers will need to connect Google Ads performance to overall business metrics like Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and market share growth.
Strategic Agility: The best managers will be those who can interpret automated reports to identify new market opportunities and pivot strategy quickly.
Metrics like Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) will remain key, but strategic KPIs will gain prominence. See the full article for more on the future of PPC roles.
The shopping search report currently shows the exact search terms users entered before clicking on one of your Shopping ads. This data is a 'treasure trove' because it reveals high-commercial-intent queries from users who are actively looking to buy products you sell. Unlike broad keyword research, this report contains terms that are already proven to drive traffic to your specific products. Google plans to automate campaign creation from it because all the necessary components for a successful search campaign are already present:
Proven Keywords: The search terms themselves.
Relevant Ad Groups: The product the user clicked on provides a natural ad group theme.
Effective Landing Pages: The product page serves as the ideal destination URL.
By building a direct creation tool, Google is simply connecting the dots in a process that many savvy marketers already perform manually. This change will make powerful, data-driven campaign expansion accessible to everyone.
The primary trade-off between automated and manual match type selection is one of efficiency versus granular control. Google's automated recommendations, based on vast bid and volume data, will likely optimize for the most common scenarios, saving time and preventing common errors for most users. This is a shift from tactical precision to strategic efficiency. However, experienced marketers might prefer manual control in specific situations:
Niche Industries: For highly technical products with unique search jargon, a human's contextual understanding may still outperform the AI's suggestions.
Aggressive Brand Defense: When bidding on competitor terms, a marketer may want to enforce exact match types with absolute certainty.
Hyper-Targeted Campaigns: In campaigns with extremely small, well-defined audiences, manual selection allows for a level of precision that automation may not yet offer.
The key is knowing when to trust the system and when to apply your own expertise, a balance explored further in the full article.
Agencies can prepare for enhanced automated reporting by shifting their workflow from data discovery to strategic validation and action. The goal is to build a process that complements, rather than duplicates, the AI's efforts. An effective workflow would involve these steps:
Schedule Regular Review Cadences: Instead of daily manual checks, schedule bi-weekly or monthly sessions to review Google’s automated suggestions for negative keywords.
Create a Validation Checklist: Develop a standardized checklist to quickly assess the relevance of suggested negatives based on each client's specific goals.
Focus on Trend Analysis: Use the time saved to analyze the types of negative keywords being suggested, which may indicate a need to adjust ad copy or landing page content.
This new workflow treats the AI as a junior analyst, with your team providing senior-level strategic oversight. The full article provides more details on adapting agency processes.
Amol has helped catalyse business growth with his strategic & data-driven methodologies. With a decade of experience in the field of marketing, he has donned multiple hats, from channel optimization, data analytics and creative brand positioning to growth engineering and sales.
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