4 PPC Marketing Trends You Should Now Be Teaching

May 1, 2024

Pay-per-click or PPC advertising is a marketing model where advertisers pay when their ad is clicked.

It’s so popular as a lead generation channel that companies are projected to spend $190.5 billion on search advertising globally in 2024 according to Statista.

But to leverage the power of PPC advertising, your students need to know the trends that are coming down the line.

In this blog, we’ll dive into these 4 top PPC trends:

  1. AI & automation
  2. Voice search optimization
  3. Visual and AR ads
  4. Cross-channel integration

Let’s get started! 

1) AI & Automation

Advertising platforms like Google, Bing or Facebook use AI and automation for ad creation, targeting and optimizing bidding. It can also be used to predict consumer and purchasing behavior so marketers can create more targeted ad campaigns. 

Audience segmentation is one area where it can be particularly useful. For example, Meta has rolled out its Advantage+ audience. This uses advanced AI to find an audience based on past conversions, pixel data and interactions with previous ads.

AI can be a powerful ally for PPC, but it needs to be used properly (and also involve human input to make sure it’s on track!) 

Takeaway: To use PPC platforms properly your students need to know how to set up accurate conversion tracking and create good ad copy. It’s also crucial to identify target audiences and keywords that AI can help with either on the ad platforms or using tools like Ahrefs or Semrush.

2) Voice Search Optimization

Increasingly people are talking to devices to get information rather than typing into them! In fact, the global voice recognition tech market is projected to reach $50 billion in 2029, according to Statista. 

This means that voice search is on the rise and marketers need to optimize PPC campaign content to get heard by the right people. This requires marketers (and your students) to optimize content to make it more natural and conversational while still including the target keywords.  

For example, someone is more likely to ask Alexa, “Where can I find the best pasta in Rome?” in place of typing “best pasta in Rome.” 

There’s also a local play here for voice search. Location-based queries are common so it’s important to tailor any ads to have a local context along with considering geolocation integration and smartphone optimization.  

Takeaway: To adapt PPC campaigns to voice search, your students need to know how to find and integrate relevant long-tail keywords and create conversational ad copy.

3) Visual and AR Ads

The Augmented Reality (AR) Advertising market is projected to generate a revenue of US$5.2bn by 2024 according to Statista.  Like AI, AR has become more affordable and accessible making it an option for many companies in ad development. 

AR technology lends itself to industries such as fashion, beauty and even automotive as it can provide an immersive experience. 

For example, when the banking app Revolut launched its platinum card, it used AR to engage with people. The company installed ‘platinum portals’ across major European cities that could be unlocked using AR to give customers a glimpse of the new metal card.

While this AR experience is on a grand scale, marketers are turning to AR as a way to engage ad-fatigued consumers. Watch this space!

There are also developments in the area of visual search which marketers and your students should take into account. This allows users to interact with content through images by  leveraging AI for intuitive, image-based searching. For PPC, this requires the creation of visual product ads and optimized content for visual platforms.

4) Cross-channel integration

PPC campaigns should not work alone. In other words, they need to be linked to and boosted by other digital channels to drive performance. 

This means it no longer makes sense to just use PPC campaigns on a single platform like Google Ads or Facebook Ads. While these platforms do get results, they can only take your message and brand so far. 

That’s why cross-channel integration is so important. It helps to amplify a message across multiple touchpoints to reach more people – especially when people use multiple devices and channels on a daily basis. 

Takeaway: Understand the channels that can amplify the message of a PPC campaign and tailor content for each channel. This requires consistent messaging and branding across channels. 

Give your students hands-on PPC experience

Pay-per-click advertising is a crucial component of digital marketing strategy so it’s important to get hands-on experience. Get a free demo of our PPC simulation to see how it works and what your students can learn. The simulation covers campaign management, account optimisation, targeting and segmentation and reporting and analysis. Find out why universities, schools, and learning providers trust us to give students the skills they need to succeed in the workplace.