This week’s PPCChat session was hosted by Julie F Bacchini where she and guest Frederick Vallaeys discussed all about Artificial Intelligence,Machine Learning and PPC.<\/p>\n
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So far there’s been conversations with the bosses that hear AI and ML as a buzzword. They really just want to make sure we’re on top of things. So I’m pushing to do more than just ride the buzz.\u00a0@mikecrimmins<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n We hear very little about AI\/ML from clients. But then again, B2B tends to be about 5 years behind on technology. They do get excited if we bring it up.\u00a0@Mel66<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n It’s strange how often it only comes up reactively. For things like close variants, or scripts etc.\u00a0@armondhammer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n AI & ML have not come up a ton in client conversations for me. Exceptions if they get calls from Google Ads pushing them on it and Smart whatever.\u00a0@NeptuneMoon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Lead Gen clients don’t generally ask for this unless it’s an ecommerce client, have you seen this?\u00a0Or when another agency emails them saying we can use Smart XYZ to boost value and then they ask me\u00a0@andreacruz92<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Coming from SMX Advanced I found it interesting that most people speak about ‘automation’. @MSFTAdvertising<\/a> likes to speak more about ‘AI’ and very few people speak about ‘ML’.\u00a0@siliconvallaeys<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Interest in AI tends to have more to do with personality than actual business needs of the company in most cases. Some people just love the promises of new tech.\u00a0@amyppc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Internally we talk about machine learning almost daily. So far, mostly in the context of close variants, the dilution of match types, and trying to figure out how to utilize the tech while living with a very long sales cycle. Been a challenge.\u00a0@SEM_PPC_MattV<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Clients have read about it or have heard about it, but they want to know more about it because they don\u2019t know how it works, what it means or how it can help them.\u00a0@esperanza_scl<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n It will only come up with clients if they have experience in using certain tools like Optmyzr or have been pitched from someone before! I think expectations still lie on me as the human to deliver campaigns the best way possible whether I utilise AI or not.\u00a0@scright<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Yes, we talk about it, but I’ve never sensed that clients were wondering why they use us.\u00a0@SEMFlem<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I find the average client cares less about whether we\u2019re doing AI or ML or Automation and just wants us to be trying the best strategies that will grow their accounts profitably. Most don\u2019t care if we\u2019re trying Smart Bidding or not unless it\u2019s working\/not working.\u00a0@PPCKirk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Clients don\u2019t bring it up, but it\u2019s something I bring up a lot in audits. If people aren\u2019t even testing bid strategies something is wrong. Because clients haven\u2019t heard much about it, they get excited about what it can do\u2026 As they should!\u00a0@markpgus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I think because of all the hype clients expect AI to work really well and even better than manual bidding already.\u00a0@lchasse<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n My current clients aren’t super savvy so I usually pull AI & ML out as shiny new things to test. At my previous job (big agency), having some kind of automated bidding solution in place was a best practice\/default for ALL campaigns\/clients.\u00a0@FindingAmanda<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Not really I usually just give the explanation of what it does without calling it AI or ML.\u00a0@StephanieErne<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n AI comes up in the sense that we are keeping on top of the latest research and if is makes sense, then use it where we can.\u00a0@ninacofer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Does not come up a ton. Clients more care about the outcome… they don’t care as much as we get there.\u00a0@duanebrown<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n For several of my clients, it’s incredibly important since they are location-based businesses. For example, one client we’re promoting summer passes for kids. We’re careful not to promote it more than 10 miles away from each. I wouldn’t want to drive my kids farther.@ScottOmiller<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n about once a week I hear a client discuss it, usually in the completely wrong context, and often revolves around food orders from GubHub, so needless to say, expectations are low.\u00a0@JonKagan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Not always. Most of my clients are happy enough with just knowing that we’re optimizing for conversions. They don’t necessarily care how it happens, just want to see growth.\u00a0@<\/a><\/span>ScottOmiller<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n It hasn’t really come.up with clients yet.\u00a0@adwordsgirl<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Huge, I wouldn’t be able to do my job on Search effectively without it in my opinion. Automated rules and alerts are a must on every account.\u00a0@scright<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n A lot. Bid strategies, budget management, scripts, reporting such as Tableau… it’s super important.\u00a0@Mel66<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Huge role, mostly in that we have to deal with close variants. Our offline KPIs can’t be tied to search queries in a reliable manner so this is a big challenge. Otherwise, we lean on scripts quite a bit for reporting.\u00a0@SEM_PPC_MattV<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n There are 2 levels of automation we use. First level is features driven by ML from the engines (e.g. Smart Bidding). Second are our own automations like rules we created and run on a schedule to keep the automations from the engines in check.\u00a0@siliconvallaeys<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I don’t have a ton automated right now – mostly rules and scripts, but doing more to work smarter and get better versed in automation options is one of my priorities for this year!\u00a0@NeptuneMoon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I keep testing it, because I believe most of us want it to work (especially the manual bidding) portions of it. In some cases it has worked, but well managed manual work still outperforms automated so far.\u00a0Rules & Scripts are a different animal, my life would not be the same without them. I separate what we call AI with those items (in my own head anyway)\u00a0@<\/a><\/span>lchasse<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n About 25%, but working towards increasing. But working on increasing it with everything from more tCPA (and testing other “smart” bidding), scripts and rules.\u00a0@mikecrimmins<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Very little. I find automated bidding tends to under-perform manual bidding. (Which is odd, as it should be better.)\u00a0@stevegibsonppc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n A lot for FB\/IG. They automate: – budget (CBO) – audience targeting (LAL) – bid (OCPM) – and creative testing. @jdprater<\/a><\/p>\n That totally depends on the size and budget of the client. The more data the better it works, if I have enough data I tend to use it or at least test some things.\u00a0@<\/a><\/span>StephanieErne<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Automation that we control is huge (natch). AI that we don’t I still tend to under utilize. Heck, I hardly use dynamic ads, let alone AI written ones.\u00a0@armondhammer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I think we forget how much automation is actually happening within the engine. There’s no such thing as truly manual paid search marketing.\u00a0@amyppc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Great question. We are making use of automation more and more every day (literally). We have developed a series of data studio reports, @Supermetrics<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>-supported sheets for data curation, scripts and other tech which saves ever-increasing amounts of time.\u00a0@jphebdon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Somewhat. We try to test as much as we can to see what works from automated bidding to responsive search ads.\u00a0@ninacofer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n A ton, but only where automation can truly help me get better results. I don’t tend to use it if it just makes things easier. But, it depends on the account of course.\u00a0@SEMFlem<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n An increasingly important role. We have some sort of automation in every account. Automated Rules for bids, budgets, scripts, etc.\u00a0@PPCKirk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Quite a bit. Bid strategies and ad rotation are big. I see manual cpc as a last resort. I think I\u2019m smart but I can\u2019t perform the same analysis in real time. Sure, I\u2019m analyzing if everything performs but it\u2019s about working smarter and realizing where ML is “smarter”.\u00a0@markpgus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Automation in the form of bidding, rules, alerts, scripts, reporting etc are essential to my business! The less day to day tasks I have to complete in the account the more time I have to spend on creating $ making strategies!\u00a0@FindingAmanda<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I would say 30-35% or so. We recently found success with tROAS and heavily adopted it. We also have scripts running that save a sign. amount of time in managing negatives to keep structure sound. We also have large automated reporting for account alerts.\u00a0@danlewis8<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I think it is progressive, early stages of a campaign between 0 and 10%, once an account is established, I’d say up to 75%.\u00a0@JonKagan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Being a small team… a lot. We try to automate as much as we can. Scripts being a huge player in that. Or just working our tech vendors to smooth our processes.\u00a0@duanebrown<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I mainly just use scripts at the moment.\u00a0@adwordsgirl<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’d say overall, automation is saving time…but there’s a lot of testing involved, especially when it comes to bidding.\u00a0@mikecrimmins<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n automation saves a TON of time. We no longer spend hours every week on budget pacing and bid management. Also we use @Adalysis<\/a> which has completely transformed our ad copy testing.\u00a0@Mel66<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The risk \/ liability of automations isn’t so much the time lost in building them, but the consequences of scaling the wrong thing. So many jump into automating without a strategy.\u00a0@amyppc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The end result far outweighs the initial setup time for any automation.\u00a0@danlewis8<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The scripts I run definitely save me quite some time. But sometimes I go into a blackhole and want to look at all the data too granularly.\u00a0@ninacofer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Automation is heavy on the time-commitment in the beginning. You need to take the time to set it up slowly and thoughtfully since you\u2019re giving something free rein in your account. After that, definitely a time-saver. Overall = time-saver.\u00a0@PPCKirk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n It saves tons of time. It allows us to be more strategic as managers and offload some of the tactical optimizations to the platform. IMO our roles are shifting to Conductors rather than hardcore musicians. It\u2019s true that you need to monitor more.\u00a0@markpgus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n they almost always take additional upfront time, but the beauty of automation is the time saved on the back end and the reproducibility of those efforts across clients\/platforms\/etc.. @jphebdon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The rules and scripts save a ton of time and are worth setting up and monitoring. AI bidding, currently takes time to test and build out properly. Intuitively we all know at some point it will be worth it however. @lchasse<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n how soon do you jump into testing a new automation? Do you wait for others to test it first? What’s the payoff in terms of being on the cutting edge but also spending more time figuring it out on behalf of the whole industry?\u00a0@siliconvallaeys<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Save time mostly. Although if we talk about ads… now they take me way more time because of all the headlines and descriptions. Creativity takes time.\u00a0@StephanieErne<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Do automations save you time or do they take up more time in testing, monitoring, explaining? If done right, automation absolutely saves time. Putting in extra time up front can save you from regular repative tasks and it adds up!\u00a0@FindingAmanda<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Depends on type of automation. tCPA\/autobidding\/smartwhatever have poor performance so far, but sales funnel is very long + KPIs are offline metrics. Tough to manage through all that. Scripts & rules to automate functions & some ops have been great!\u00a0@SEM_PPC_MattV<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n There is always a sunk cost for testing and trying out something new or early. When you find something that works, huge time savings. We automate . 95% of all reporting, which gives us time to focus on other bits.\u00a0@duanebrown<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n In the end they save time, especially if you were intending to do all the checks and changes the script is doing! They save me time so I can focus that saved time elsewhere.\u00a0@scright<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Great question. They definitely make the optimization part of my job easier, but also add some complexity in monitoring. Scripts and custom notifications help a lot to make sure things don’t go overboard.\u00a0@ScottOmiller<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n When talking automated rules \/ scripts they also save f*ckups and ‘oops I forgot’ or ‘I didn’t notice’. So sometimes they save your life instead of just time.\u00a0@StephanieErne<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n so this is a double edged sword, I lose time testing, but I save time at an aggregate level with reduced overhead needsI think back to search teams 15 years ago, prior to real automation, and the staff was often 2x-3x.\u00a0@JonKagan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Both actually! The summers are insanely busy for me personally due to weddings and what not so I’ve got scripts that alert when something has gone wrong and if there’s any account declining which helps me move faster.\u00a0@adwordsgirl<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bid strategy can be hit or miss on non-brand campaigns but does wonders on brand campaigns in competitive industries. Scripts and rules work on most accounts since they function with If and then statements.\u00a0@duanebrown<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n One of my favorite automations isn’t anything fancy, but just pausing sales copy when the sale ends. That used to cause so much anxiety, having to stay up til midnight, etc..\u00a0@amyppc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Well, (and I swear I don’t work for them) @Supermetrics<\/a> has been super valuable in automating reports, templates and tools. We use it to prep\/curate data in @googledocs<\/a> (sheets) that feed into a variety of client-facing reporting & internal pacing tools\/analysis and of course.. there are a wide variety of super-valuable scripts we’ve used from the likes of @siliconvallaeys<\/a> and @dangilbertppc<\/a>, as well as some internally-developed ones, that help make life easier.@jphebdon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Definetely broken links and flatlining campaigns notices.\u00a0@StephanieErne<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Housekeeping items are no-brainers. Negative conflicts, ad groups w\/ no active keywords, camps w\/ no active adgroups, and several others. Great timesavers.\u00a0@SEM_PPC_MattV<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n I have to hat tip to @siliconvallaeys<\/a> here, because I love the rules you can build out in @Optmyzr<\/a> + the alerts you can build into it for when things are not looking right (traffic, conversions, etc.\u00a0@lchasse<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Setting up alerts to warn you of potential account issues are a must-have for all PPC managers IMHO – high spend\/no conv keywords and big fluctuations in performance, for example.\u00a0@FindingAmanda<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Specific favorites are scripts that auto-add keywords as negatives that don’t meet defined criteria in queries. Web-queries for reporting.@<\/a><\/span>danlewis8<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n My favorite is brand keywords maximize presence\/clicks, its a no brainer.\u00a0@JonKagan<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Anything that takes a lot of time and not a lot of thought, I’m trying to automate.\u00a0@mikecrimmins<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Custom alerts for account health at the campaign, group, and keyword level. I’d begin there. From there you can identify where time is being taken up and then focus on that specifically.\u00a0@danlewis8<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Automated reports at the campaign level save me a ton of time. Also, alerts to significantly overspending campaigns or significant changes in keyword traffic.\u00a0@anna_arrow<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Bid strategies FTW. Max Conv for most campaigns where you are limited by budget are Automated rules though? Send me an email when things are in a downward spiral of death. Helps us get out in front of the problem.\u00a0@markpgus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n the script to not exceed the daily budget (& end up spending 2x) is a must have I guess.\u00a0@bufoting<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n We’ve struggled to make some of the in-engine automated-bidding work well consistently. But otherwise, tasks that can be broken into steps are almost always good candidates for automation. If you can proceduralize it, there’s a good chance you can automate it.\u00a0@jphebdon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Years ago I made an automated rule to increase max CPC daily if a certain condition was met. One of the dumbest things I’ve done on an account. You don’t automate that stuff!\u00a0@amyppc<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n We’ve found that targeting page rank, especially on non-brand keywords, can often lead to a financial catastrophe.\u00a0Q2: How much of a role does automation play in your PPC management?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Q3: Do automations save you time or do they take up more time in testing, monitoring, explaining?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Q4: What automations work well for you? Any must-haves that everyone should implement?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Q5: What automations don’t work well for you? Have you found tricks to make them work or did you give up?<\/strong><\/h4>\n