TPE #13 - 3 ways to thrive in the age of automation

Read time: 8 minutes

As we all know now, Google Ads is in a huge automation revolution.

Google controls everything: what your ads look like, where your ads show, and even how much you pay for a click.

It’s all happening in front of our eyes, and there’s nothing we can do about it.

We’re not here to point fingers at a broken system - it’s just the way it is…

There is an ongoing debate going on about automation: some people love it, others hate it. But soon, there will be no more debate.

The automation revolution will soon come to an end, and we’ll enter a new era: the one of complete automation.

When everything is automated, how do you thrive as a business? What must you do now, so you can continue to beat your competitors, and win in the long-term?

Read on, we will answer those questions for you in this issue of The PPC Edge.

Let’s dive in!

No time to read? Here's the TLDR recap:

Google Ads is changing fast. Too fast for some PPCers. The automation revolution is coming to an end, and we’re entering a new era of complete automation.

If you didn’t adapt early, you are now officially behind. Luckily, there are still some things you can do to thrive and beat your competitors:

Fix your mindset:

• Do NOT complain
• Be skeptical, but practical
• Stay up to date with and deeply study all recent changes

And focus on these 3 key areas to remain relevant and take your skills to the next level:

1. Creative excellence
2. Conversion rate optimization
3. Data input

Ok, let's dive deep now!

If you haven’t adapted early, you are now officially behind!

We love taking a practical approach to Google Ads: just test everything, see what works for ourselves and scale our accounts accordingly.

However, sometimes it’s good to take a step back and look at our industry from a theoretical, perhaps more philosophical perspective.

Let’s take a closer look at the Google Ads space by applying the Diffusion of Innovation Model. This model was developed by communication theorist E.M. Rogers, of the University of New Mexico in 1962. 

It describes the pattern and speed at which new ideas or products are adopted by a population. New idea/product/feature adoption generally goes through five phases:

Phase 1 - innovators (2,5%): the first to try out new ideas (risk takers)

Phase 2 - early adopters (13,5%): people who are open to try new ideas (after the initial wave is over)

Phase 3 - early majority (34%): the first and biggest part of the general population, open to adopt mainstream ideas, even when relatively new

Phase 4 - late majority (34%): the second part of the general population, usually following mainstream adoption of new ideas

Phase 5 - laggards (16%): people who are behind mainstream adoption, usually because they’re risk-averse or not open to new ideas (because they stick to what they think is right)

Now, let’s look at how this applies to Google Ads by layering the Diffusion of Innovation Model on top of Google’s automation revolution.

How it applies to Google Ads 

Let’s look at how the different phases of the automation revolution fit perfectly on top of the Diffusion of Innovation Model:

2016 - innovators: in our opinion, the automation revolution started when Google introduced Smart Bidding in 2016. There was a lot of backlash, people were angry, and only a small group of PPCers tested and embraced this new feature. Most people stuck to manual setups (and rightly so - in the beginning, Smart Bidding definitely didn’t perform as well as it does today).

2018 - early adopters: machine learning becomes the norm as Smart Bidding improves and Google introduces new, automated products such as RSAs and Smart Shopping. Again, most PPCers were hesitant to use Smart Shopping and stuck to their highly converting query-sculpting Standard Shopping setups.

2021 - early majority: Google introduces Performance Max campaigns. Uh oh. One, almost fully automated campaign to rule them all? By now, most PPCers embrace Smart Shopping, but Performance Max gets little traction.

2022 - late majority: Google announces forced migration from Smart Shopping and other campaign types to Performance Max. Boom! The Big Bang of Google Ads, as Ed Leake called it. The biggest part of the PPC community is now forced to use Google’s highly automated products. We think we’re in this phase now - and it’s basically the last chance you have to adapt to Google’s automation before you are officially behind.

2023 and beyond - laggards: most people have adopted, but those who haven’t, are now officially behind. They are clueless on how to use Performance Max, because they didn’t even adapt to Smart Bidding in the first place.

Does this mean you should always be an innovator? No, most certainly not. As you may have witnessed yourself, automation generally works poorly in the beginning and gets better over time. If you are an early adopter, or even part of the early majority, you will still have plenty of competitive advantages. 

Is our industry changing too fast?

Now here’s the big problem: everything changes so fast - it’s extremely hard to keep up. Just look at what Google introduced (some announced, some silently without announcements) in the last couple of months:

Forced migration to pMax between June and September (it feels so long ago but it’s only been a couple of months).

September: Google announces they can now write your descriptions in pMax campaigns:

Source: email from Google titled “Update to Performance Max Final URL expansion” on September 13th

October: Google can now write your complete ads, based on other ads and your landing pages

October: broad match keyword-only campaigns are now in beta (thanks to Benjamin Wenner for this insight)

Source: Wordstream - is a future with no keyword match types in sight?

Ok so… Enough with the theory. You get the picture. Google has automated nearly everything, and will continue to do so in the future.

The question then is: what must you do NOW to make sure you don’t belong to the group of Laggards? So you don’t get crushed by your competitors, who adapted to automation much earlier than you?

Fix your mindset first

We think there will be 3 key focus areas for Google Ads Specialists to choose from, to thrive in the age of automation. Of course, there are more things to focus on, but these are the major ones in our opinion.

Before we dive in, let’s briefly look at the mindset shifts you need to undergo, in order to be successful with Google Ads in 2023 and beyond.

Do NOT complain. Please, stop complaining - immediately. You think it’s not fair what Google is doing? They’re only trying to fill their own pockets? Well, even if that is true, what are you going to do about it? Unless you have any legislation powers (which we doubt), stop complaining. It will not bring you anywhere.

Be skeptical, but practical. Always be skeptical of everything Google tells you to do - but also be practical. Just test everything you can, and see for yourself if something works or not. Stop overthinking, start doing.

Stay up to date with and deeply study all recent changes. Our industry is changing so fast, you need to have a system in place so you stay on top of all the new updates. On top of that, deeply study everything Google brings out. Don’t just read the headlines. Go a bit deeper, read the full announcements and any other support articles Google brings out. By doing this, you will already be ahead of 99% of other PPCers who just read headlines!

Ok, now that’s out of the way, let’s take a closer look at the 3 key areas to focus on in the age of complete automation.

3 key focus areas in the age of complete automation

Now when it comes to the future of Google Ads, we think there will be three key focus areas that you can specialize in to not only remain relevant, but also thrive and grow. Of course, you also need to manage accounts, performance, structure campaigns etc. - but those things belong to your already existing skillset as a Google Ads Specialist.

Truly become unstoppable, by layering one of the following three key focus areas on top of your existing skillset:

1. Creative excellence
2. Conversion rate optimization
3. Data input 

You can choose one to begin with, but if you really want to take it to the next level, master all three! Finally, let’s zoom in on the focus areas.

Creative excellence

With Performance Max campaigns, after you add a bunch of images, videos and copy assets. Google then decides how, where and when your ads show.

It’s up to you to make sure the right assets are plugged into your campaigns. You can become invaluable if you truly understand what kind of creatives work, how to use persuasive copywriting, how to use hooks or image design to grab attention, when to drop CTAs in videos, how to portray your products in images etc.

If you work in multidisciplinary teams, collaborate with Meta and TikTok media buyers. They already know the importance of good creatives, and have ton of experience in that regard. 

Learn from them, and then apply Google-specific best practices to your assets.

Conversion rate optimization

This is something that will never go away, and will only become more important. Conversion rate optimization (CRO), is not just testing the color of your CTA buttons on your landing page. It’s the entire process of making it easier for your customers to take the action you want them to take.

Create specific landing pages for specific products, without any distractions, and use them in your automated campaigns. The most important thing here is to just test, test, test. Just imagine what a 3% conversion rate uplift could mean to your performance - let alone 10-20%.

CRO is still super underrated and underutilized. It’s a great growth opportunity for you in the future.

Data input

And finally, data input is only going to become more and more important. It kind of goes hand in hand with creative excellence and CRO. By specializing in data input, you are responsible for everything that Google needs to steer on the best possible performance. This includes but is not limited to: product feed optimizations, making sure all conversion tracking is set up and working properly (too many people still struggle with enhanced conversions), using first-party audience data etc.

TLDR recap:

Google Ads is changing fast. Too fast for some PPCers. The automation revolution is coming to an end, and we’re entering a new era of complete automation.

If you didn’t adapt early, you are now officially behind. Luckily, there are still some things you can do to thrive and beat your competitors:

Fix your mindset:

• Do NOT complain
• Be skeptical, but practical
• Stay up to date with and deeply study all recent changes

And focus on these 3 key areas to remain relevant and take your skills to the next level:

1. Creative excellence
2. Conversion rate optimization
3. Data input

That’s it. Thanks for reading. Best of luck - we hope you will crush it in the age of complete automation!