Google is encouraging merchants to enable “conversion annotations” – social proof badges that highlight a product’s purchase popularity when displayed in Google Shopping ads. What’s new. Conversion annotations like “best selling” or “1K shopped here recently” provide visual cues about a product’s sales performance directly in the ad unit. Why we care. Conversion annotations incentivize advertisers to share valuable purchase data with Google for visibility boosts. But they’ll have to weigh the benefits against data privacy concerns. The pitch. Google claims conversion annotations can: Enhanc ..read more

Some Meta advertisers received an alert yesterday when they opened their accounts. A source from Meta confirmed this alert was sent in error.  What was announced? The message said setting new detailed targeting exclusions would no longer be possible when creating campaigns after June 28. Existing exclusions would remain unless ad set targeting is modified. Exclusions based on brand suitability and employment will still be allowed at the account level across all campaigns. However, this alert was an error, Meta confirmed to Search Engine Land. Why we care. Getting alerts about functiona ..read more

As Google Search continues to incorporate AI-generated answers into Search, links will live on, Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai told Bloomberg in a new interview. Here’s what you need to know from Pichai’s interview. Future of links. Unlike in previous statements, where Pichai indicated that the Search experience would evolve substantively in the next 10 years, in the Bloomberg interview he seemed to indicate that links to websites will continue to be an important part of Google Search results: “I think part of what makes Google Search differentiator is while there are times we give answer ..read more

TikTok is positioning itself as a prime destination for search discovery, touting its community-driven approach as a key differentiator from traditional search engines. New insights. TikTok released new insights emphasizing the platform’s role in driving discovery across the marketing funnel: 61% of TikTok users discover new brands/products on the app, 1.5x more than other platforms. 1 in 2 users go to TikTok to research products or brands.   91% of those inspired by the TikTok search followed through with an action. TikTok users are 1.5x more likely to discover and immediately pur ..read more

Reddit is exploring monetizing its search results pages, teasing a significant untapped opportunity for the popular online forum. Logical next step. With over 1 billion monthly searches on the platform, Reddit sees advertising against user searches as a logical next step to improve monetization after enhancing the core search experience. Reddit has also long benefited from Google search traffic, with indexed Reddit content attracting new users actively seeking information and communities. Why we care. Reddit venturing into search ads could present a lucrative opportunity to target users wit ..read more

Ads get you traffic. Landing pages get you customers. The post-click experience remains underrated in the grand scheme of PPC marketing. Many advertisers focus so extensively on ad campaigns that they neglect the experience on their website or landing page – which is where a sale is made or a lead generated – and all the other touchpoints that follow. To win new business and retain that hard-earned revenue, you must expand your scope to include what happens after ad clicks. In this article, I’ll walk you through: My own tried-and-tested landing page philosophy. How to improve the lead-gen po ..read more

Meta today introduced new generative AI features to help businesses create more engaging ad content across Facebook and Instagram. The big picture. Meta’s latest update will allow advertisers to automate parts of ad creation using brand products and guidelines to inspire the creations. Why we care. Automating the ad-creation process frees up time for advertisers to work on other parts of account management tasks that can’t be automated. Key updates. This update comes in two parts: Image Generation: Advertisers can now create complete image variations inspired by their original ad creative, i ..read more

Have you ever clicked on a brand’s ad and ended up on a website  you weren’t expecting? That’s ad hijacking. And it hurts advertisers and users.  Keep reading to learn how ad hijacking works, the risks it poses and how to protect your brand. What is ad hijacking? Ad hijacking is when an affiliate mimics a brand’s ads to steal clicks and revenue on their trademarked keywords. Affiliates do this to trick you into clicking on their ad instead of a real one from the brand. How does ad hijacking work? Imagine you search for [your favorite clothing brand]. Normally, the first ad you see ..read more

How does anyone document the amazing force for good that was Mark Irvine in a way that captures all that he was and all that he did for everyone? Mark would often call me his unpaid PR team, but what he didn’t realize is that he “paid” for it with his warmth, kindness and wit.  When I was asked to write this…I was stuck. It was so easy to talk about how amazing Mark was when he was standing right there…but now all the words feel like shadows to the bright light he represented to me and so many who knew and loved him.   Fair warning…I wrote a lot. So if you want the bullet point ..read more

A PPC professional’s job goes beyond just launching paid search campaigns. An equally important task is optimizing and scaling those campaigns for maximum effectiveness and impact. This requires diving deep into the performance data to uncover valuable insights that can inform optimization strategies. The data from your paid search campaigns contains a wealth of insights waiting to be uncovered. By analyzing metrics, keywords, competitive landscape and user paths, you can identify opportunities to improve targeting, messaging, budgets and overall campaign performance. This guide will walk thr ..read more