Automation almost always comes up. PPC<\/a> marketers are spoiled for choice on ways to automate their workflows, such as:<\/p>\n This article will not pass judgment on which automation options you might choose to opt into. Rather, it will outline the mechanics of each, as well as how to make them work.<\/p>\n Bidding arguably is one of the few things that should always be automated.<\/p>\n How advertisers automate is where there\u2019s room for different paths to profit:<\/p>\n If you opt for native bidding, it\u2019s vital that you trust your conversion tracking. Ad networks<\/a> use conversions as the main guiding light to know whether to invest or pull back.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s true that Max Clicks and Target Impression Share don\u2019t need conversion tracking data to function, it\u2019s still vital that you\u2019re feeding in the right data.<\/p>\n A common mistake people make is including too many conversion actions as primary. This usually results in double counting or including steps on the journey that aren\u2019t worth feeding into the algorithm.<\/p>\n Another common mistake is setting a target that isn\u2019t attainable. If the target cost per acquisition (TCPA) or target return on ad spend (TROAS) don\u2019t match the budget and auction prices, you\u2019ll likely underspend or flood your campaign with bad leads.<\/p>\n Rules and scripts are helpful when you have enough data to know what your bids should be. They typically need larger budgets to help compensate for being on manual bidding (and forfeiting the native bid signals).<\/p>\n The most common signals are:<\/p>\n While these do require healthy data, the biggest pitfall for rules\/scripts is the human element.<\/p>\n If the input is incorrect, it might hurt the campaign.<\/p>\n This used to be my favorite way to automate bids: set a conservative manual bid and go aggressive on the bid adjustments.<\/p>\n Bid adjustments could be used to direct budget away from, or towards, desired prospects and give the user the most control.<\/p>\n However, with the improvements to native bid adjustments, it\u2019s harder to justify using these. If you are planning on running a purely manual campaign, these are a must.<\/p>\n If you trust your conversion tracking, there\u2019s no reason not to use native bidding.<\/p>\n Native bidding pulls in signals advertisers aren\u2019t able to access and usually outperforms human-governed automation.<\/p>\n Max Conversions with a TCPA goal and Max Conversion Value without a goal beat \u201cmanual\u201d bidding\u2019s 6.8% conversion rate.<\/p>\n However, if you aren\u2019t able to put in accurate conversion value data or set realistic TCPA goals, going manual with rules, scripts, or bid adjustments will serve better.<\/p>\n When asked, many will say they prefer human creative<\/a> over automatically created text, display, and video ads.<\/p>\n The human mind is supposed to be better at coming up with the right content for the right audience.<\/p>\n However, what may go unnoticed is that the lion\u2019s share of auto-generated ads come from human creative. i.e., the text, tone, and images will be borrowed from the advertiser\u2019s site, existing ads, or social channels.<\/p>\n Creative falls into these categories:<\/p>\n Responsive ads and PMax ads all fundamentally follow the same objective: Take the content the advertiser provides and find the best combination for those assets.<\/p>\n Marketers can choose whether to allow full learning or to help it along by pinning creative to desired locations.<\/p>\n It can be tempting to pin all assets to recreate Expanded Text Ads. However, as this Optmyzr study<\/a> shows, you\u2019ll get a higher conversion rate by allowing for some freedom in the learning.<\/p>\n Visual creative (static display images and videos) are a bit tougher.<\/p>\n Brand style guidelines can make auto-generated ads a no-go. Be sure all creatives work with the templates, and if they don\u2019t, consider uploading a fully contained ad.<\/p>\n Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) are powerful; however, much of their utility has been absorbed into PMax. Part of their power is leveraging the well-SEOed nature of a site to help Google know which landing pages relate to a query.<\/p>\n Headlines are derived from the language on the landing page.<\/p>\n Currently, it\u2019s not a question of \u201cwhen\u201d \u2013 almost all creative has automation baked into it, to a certain extent.<\/p>\n The main choices to make are whether to fully delegate creative control or partner with the machine.<\/p>\n Assets (formerly known as extensions) should almost never be automated. This is because you want to use them to their fullest: highlighting high-value services, and amplifying ad messages.<\/p>\n Audiences<\/a> are the beating heart of PPC campaigns and the main lever advertisers have at their disposal.<\/p>\n\n
Automation In Bidding<\/h2>\n
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Native Bidding<\/h3>\n
Automated Rules<\/h3>\n
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Bid Adjustments<\/h3>\n
Which To Use?<\/h3>\n
![\"graph](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ppc-automation-when-how-to-use-it-via-sejournal-navahf.jpg\")
Image from Optmyzr, April 2023<\/span><\/div>\n![\"graph](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ppc-automation-when-how-to-use-it-via-sejournal-navahf-1.jpg\")
Image from Optmyzr, April 2023<\/span><\/div>\nCreative Automation<\/h2>\n
![\"Optmyzr](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ppc-automation-when-how-to-use-it-via-sejournal-navahf.png\")
Image from Optmyzr, April 2023<\/span><\/div>\nWhen To Use Auto-Generated Creative?<\/h3>\n
Audience Automation<\/h2>\n
![\"performance](\"https:\/\/marketingnewsbox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ppc-automation-when-how-to-use-it-via-sejournal-navahf-1.png\")