Ex-Googler here to answer your questions...

[Conor Foley]

We can target zipcodes with Google Ads. The most restrictive is people in or regularly in a particular zipcode.

I would do that exactly @Andy Black. And of course, we can exclude certain locations. Or add a location + a radius of 'X' kilometers or miles which is handy.

 

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[Conor Foley]

Well, that's a right pithy intro. It almost reads like a headline. LOL. Welcome, Conor.

Thank you @Two Dog! Nice to meet you.

Thank you
Question for you: How much has Adwords geo-targeting advanced in the past ten years?

Like everything in tech its changed a lot. Tremendous improvements have been same for example cutting edge Machine Learning (ML) models. Which are trained using your own customer and sales data. Attribution and measurement of online activity has also came on leaps and bounds to SSO (Single Sign On) being the standard today.

We can actually assign a monetary value to a phone call, lead form or resource downloaded depending on how likely it is to lead to a final sale. These features are so crucial to success in today's world.

It's been a *long* time since using Adwords, but wondering about PPC vs. social media ads for a new venture. Someone was telling me about Facebook micro-targeting down to individual neighborhoods which would be helpful for selling local services.

Yeah it would be useful and is very similar to someone searching for 'X' Local Service in 'Y' Town. It indicates that person has their card in hand and is ready to buy. What we call, long tail keywords.

Ten years ago, I think Adwords local (whatever it was called then) was limited to keywords in a particular area about the size of a town. I don't recall it even being zip code level at the time.

 

[Two Dog]

I would do that exactly @Andy Black. And of course, we can exclude certain locations. Or add a location + a radius of 'X' kilometers or miles which is handy.

Ah, that's a good trick to know for advertising local services. Proximity is homeowners is important for getting started.

 

[Two Dog]

Coincidentally, the latest Empire Flippers newsletter headlined with this article. ​

Experts Believe We Should Become Ad Cyborgs​

PPC 2023​

The Ad Cyborg Model: How Entrepreneurs and Machines Will Run PPC Advertising in 2023​

10-second takeaway
A new expert panelist report reveals the future of PPC advertising... you can no longer rely on ad platform controls like budget, bids, and audiences; AI will be used for creative optimization; CPC will go up but your prices need to go down.

Advertisers who know how to feed the machines will win

22 PPC experts identified the key areas that are going to evolve in 2023 and how advertisers should adapt.

Automation
The ability to see nitty-gritty details like search queries and ad unit placement is going away—algorithms and automations are handling these now.

Advertisers will need to learn to work with bid strategies such as Max Conversions, Target CPA, and Target ROAS bidding as opposed to manually bidding for clicks; find a way to manage the systems and garner actual insights.

Using Your Human Super Powers
In the early days of PPC, you could get away with not knowing much about your audience because the technical controls we had for ad optimization were just so good.

As those controls and transparency go away, messaging and offers crafted specifically for your audience will drastically outperform a “guess and check” approach—machines will control the data, humans will feed consciousness and creativity.

Reprogramming to Adapt to a Low Economy
Inflation in CPC is real. How it's being calculated by the search engines is unclear, but since April 2022, CPCs have been rising dramatically. When you forecast 2023 budgets, instead of doing the standard 2-3% growth in CPCs, use a larger number (one expert recommends closer to 4-7%).

Advertisers will also need to design campaigns with a focus on price-conscious product lines, promos, and messaging with measurable benefits to account for low consumer spending.

AI is Getting Creative
AI use will likely expand beyond text ads and ad extensions. We already see AI-generated voiceovers in video advertising, and Google’s urging of Ad account managers to adopt more and more automated features will increase.

As you can see, the cyborg ad model is being formed. Advertisers are becoming aware of the strengths of the ad machines, their own human strengths, and how the two can work together.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Conor Foley]

Coincidentally, the latest Empire Flippers newsletter headlined with this article. ​

Experts Believe We Should Become Ad Cyborgs​

PPC 2023​

The Ad Cyborg Model: How Entrepreneurs and Machines Will Run PPC Advertising in 2023​

10-second takeaway
A new expert panelist report reveals the future of PPC advertising... you can no longer rely on ad platform controls like budget, bids, and audiences - Rely on Customer Match lists (1st Party data);

AI will be used for creative optimization (as it should);

CPC will go up but your prices need to go down.

Advertisers who know how to feed the machines will win

22 PPC experts identified the key areas that are going to evolve in 2023 and how advertisers should adapt.

Automation
The ability to see nitty-gritty details like search queries and ad unit placement is going away—algorithms and automations are handling these now.

Advertisers will need to learn to work with bid strategies such as Max Conversions, Target CPA, and Target ROAS bidding as opposed to manually bidding for clicks; find a way to manage the systems and garner actual insights.

This is super accurate & relevant. When using ML models it’s important to input high quality data such as your own customer & sales data (CRM integration / zapier tool) to optimise your bid stategies towards higher quality / higher revenue driving leads. This accelerates results.

Using Your Human Super Powers
In the early days of PPC, you could get away with not knowing much about your audience because the technical controls we had for ad optimization were just so good.

As those controls and transparency go away, messaging and offers crafted specifically for your audience will drastically outperform a “guess and check” approach—machines will control the data, humans will feed consciousness and creativity.

Reprogramming to Adapt to a Low Economy
Inflation in CPC is real. How it's being calculated by the search engines is unclear, but since April 2022, CPCs have been rising dramatically. When you forecast 2023 budgets, instead of doing the standard 2-3% growth in CPCs, use a larger number (one expert recommends closer to 4-7%).

Advertisers will also need to design campaigns with a focus on price-conscious product lines, promos, and messaging with measurable benefits to account for low consumer spending.

AI is Getting Creative
AI use will likely expand beyond text ads and ad extensions. We already see AI-generated voiceovers in video advertising, and Google’s urging of Ad account managers to adopt more and more automated features will increase.

As you can see, the cyborg ad model is being formed. Advertisers are becoming aware of the strengths of the ad machines, their own human strengths, and how the two can work together.