Holiday 2023 Guide Part 4: Optimizing Your Paid Search Strategy
2023 Paid Search Trends
The SERP is Becoming More Visual
New machine learning models are meeting consumer demand for a more visual and browsable SERP. Google is also pushing image-first PLAs, image extensions, free Google Merchant Center listings, and videos – while adding a second row of shopping ads below the fold. And PMAX campaigns continue to dominate other Google ad types, cannibalizing DSAs and Broad Text ads, and performing better than Non-Brand Text ads year-over-year.
The Path to Brand Discovery is Changing
When it comes to brand discovery, users are often turning to Amazon, TikTok, and YouTube to begin their research, over the traditional starting point - Google. Two important caveats to this trend are:
First search preference varies widely across generations - Gen Z and Millennials are more likely to favor social media platforms to begin their search, while Gen X and Baby Boomers are preferential to traditional search methods. (We will dig deeper into this topic in an upcoming installment of our Holiday 2023 Guide, so stay tuned).
This year, TikTok has lost some of its popularity as an e-commerce search engine tool, with just 3% of users choosing the app as their first option, compared to 5% in 2022. Amazon, on the other hand, increased to 49% from 45% last year. Google’s share was stable, dropping from 35% to 34%.
The bottom line? Don’t overreact and shift your marketing dollars from Google to TikTok or YouTube this holiday season. Google is still the top ad revenue engine, rivaled in a meaningful way by Amazon alone.
The Takeaway
While search engines like Google invest in image and video-based ads, other channels like TikTok are hot on growing their search functionality. Ultimately, it’s imperative for marketers to embrace a diverse channel and targeting mix this holiday season and beyond (while championing first-party data collection and insights). To stand out from the competition and meet consumers where they are, brands will need to intentionally deploy cross-channel strategies.
Get Your Search Ads Holiday-Ready
Optimize for ad strength to maximize performance
Small optimizations can go a long way - for example, improving the ad strength of at least one RSA in each ad group from an ad strength rating of Poor to Good or Excellent has been shown to drive an average increase in conversions of 12%, according to Google internal data. It is also good practice to leverage keyword insertion variables to dynamically update your ad text and better target your ad to relevant search queries.
Get visual before Q4
As discussed above, consumers are increasingly likely to engage with visual ad formats over standard text ads. Here are some rules of thumb to follow when building your Holiday 2023 ad campaigns:
1. Include at least 4 unique image assets in each ad group. This has shown to increase CTR by 10% on mobile.
2. Aspect ratios for your visual assets should be set to 1:1 or 1:9:1, and any 3-image collage ads should use a 1:1 ratio (images should be unique and will need to be approved in-platform).
3. Extend your reach with YouTube Search+ image assets - these can drive up to 100% higher CTRs than those without image assets.
4. When designing creative assets, strive for differentiated, relevant themes, and center the most important elements. Create continuity in the user experience by repurposing these images on the landing page.
🔥 Hot Tip 🔥 Images with non-white backgrounds generally perform best.
Dig Further into What’s Working
Audit your creative assets by checking the Asset Performance Rating, which ranks performance within asset groups and allows you to make a more informed decision when refreshing your creative mix. Another helpful tool is the Asset Combination Report, which analyzes top-performing combinations and generates a preview of how these ads would be displayed in the wild. Finally, leverage the Asset Audience Insightstool to identify which assets are resonating most with specific audiences and implement optimizations based on these learnings.
