PPC Predictions 2024
The ever-changing landscape of PPC means that as advertisers, we don’t only expect change, but have learnt to embrace it. This means that PPC trends are constantly changing, and our experts have their own thoughts on what 2024 might hold.
Throughout 2023, we saw planned changes and updates from ad platforms, including at Google’s annual Google Marketing Live event, which touched upon some of the newest updates and information from the platform that will certainly change the way advertisers work in the future.
So, there are already some anticipated and confirmed changes that we’re expecting in the near future. The Circus PPC experts have offered up their personal predictions of the PPC trends that we might see next year.
2024’s PPC Trends Predictions
From rising CPCs and platform updates, to a decline in available data and a continuing uplift in AI – the team have offered up their predictions for the year ahead:
“Following pressure from PPC managers and business owners to share more data, Google will do so through their own API (or with scripts), meaning that only a limited number of people will be able to see the data.”
Ahmed Chopdat, Commercial Director
“The decline of third-party cookies. Google announced that third-party cookies won’t be supported by Chrome by the end of 2024 (other browsers like Safari and Firefox are already blocking them) as they attempt to improve user privacy.”
“I think we’ll see a big decline in available data from the Google Ads Platform due to the reception of GA4, which has already led to less visibility on the whole PPC journey as it is. This will drive customers to look for more third-party analytics systems generally.”
“Google will add more elements into Auto-apply Recommendations (AAR), and hide them in the system so it’s harder to opt out. However, this will present an easy win for advertisers when they onboard new accounts, as they will be able to get some quick wins from opting out of AAR that doesn’t benefit the client’s goals.”
Meg Wilson-Taylor, Operations Manager
“In a move towards ‘increased data flow, leading to improved performance’, I think Google will announce that the phasing out of Phrase Match keywords, and encourage advertisers to make use of Broad Match as part of their main search strategy. Long-term I see Exact changing as well, but would expect Phrase to go first.”
Anna Wood, Head of Client Services
“Bing recently introduced PMax, but considering the high level of automation, I doubt that many accounts will see positive performance. In the past, I’ve noticed that automation can perform weakly on Bing due to a smaller traffic and sales volume, which in turn, will elongate the time taken for the algorithm to learn.”
“Amazons ad revenue has grown 26% year on year and I expect this trend to continue into 2024 and beyond. They are going to develop more opportunities for advertisers, and will overtake Meta as the second largest ad platform in terms of ad revenue spend.”
“AI will continue to advance, and features such as auto-created assets will become more effortless, error-free and popular amongst advertisers.”
“Definitely an uptake in the use of AI. The potential it has to reduce the time and effort spent on mundane tasks is unmatched, and can free up time for more important activity.”
“CPCs are only going to continue to rise, which means that it’s more important than ever for advertisers and agencies to work closely with clients to best optimise their website to help improve conversion rates and drive growth.”
For more expert commentary, analysis and thoughts from our talented team of PPC professionals, check out our 2023 Black Friday Report – packed with insights around this year’s seasonal shopping event.
