These Are the Google Ads Trends for 2023

1. Current developments in Google Ads
2. How to successfully implement the Google Ads Trends in 2023
3. These Tools Support You with the Google Ads Trends in 2023
4. Conclusion: How to be Successful with Google Ads in the Long Term

It is meant to become faster, better and more automated. That's also what Google promises its advertisers for the year 2023. Search Ads are not only supposed to deliver the best possible performance for companies, but also to be informative and relevant for searchers at the same time. In order to support this balance even more in the future, Google has announced several innovations over the past few months.

In this post, we will show you which Google updates are trending in 2023, and how you can get the most out of your campaigns. We will also introduce you to Search Engine Advertising software that you can use to optimize your campaigns and increase conversions.

Current developments in Google Ads

The year 2023 will be exciting for advertisers as Google has announced some innovations and changes regarding Google Ads. The search behavior of Google users changes quickly and constantly, and Google is trying to adapt to it better with new features and campaign types.

Responsive Search Ads

As of June 30, 2022, Responsive Search Ads (RSA) will be the new standard in every Google Ads Account. The familiar expanded text ads will remain, but can no longer be edited. With the "new" RSAs, only individual building blocks (15 headlines, 4 descriptions) can be created, which are automatically combined and - in the variant that works best - played out. Advertisers are thus faced with two challenges: they need a strategy on how to rebuild their ads and they have to deal with the question of whether this reconstruction also has an impact on their campaign structure? There's another interesting new feature in ad presentation: Google introduced Image Extensions last year. These are meant to enhance text ads with visual elements, allowing advertisers to better present their products or services.

Data-driven attribution in Google Analytics

A change that doesn't take place directly in the Google Ads account, but still has a huge influence on advertisers: since the beginning of January, Google Analytics has been offering cross-channel and data-driven attribution. The new attribution model uses machine learning to deliver a (based on the historical data of an account) tailor-made credit allocation for each conversion. This way, the models can be continuously improved and automatically adapt to the changes in the various touchpoint categories. The data-driven attribution is currently available in Google Analytics 4, where it is stored by default in the standard settings. You have to manually deactivate it if you don't want it.

New campaign type "Performance Max"

Attention, Online Marketers! Since November 2021, there's the campaign type "Performance Max", which allows ads to be played out with just one campaign on all Google Ads channels (YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps). The goal is to achieve maximum performance across channels and - of course - more conversions, with as little effort as possible on the part of advertisers. It definitely makes sense to carefully test this campaign type and provide an "experimental budget". The relevance of Performance Max campaigns will continue to increase in the long run. Google has already announced that this campaign type will replace Smart Shopping by the end of the year.

Performance Max will show as a campaign type selection if your advertising objective is “Sales”, “Leads”, or “Local store visits and promotions”.

Focus on Broad and Phrase Match

Last but not least, Google has made a change to its Match Types. As early as February 2021, Google began to phase out Broad Match Modifier (BMM) Keywords. The well-known Phrase Match was also updated in this process to catch part of the old Broad Match Modifier Keywords. The focus will therefore be on Broad and Phrase Match in the future. More on this in the next paragraph.

How to successfully implement the Google Ads Trends in 2023

To make a real breakthrough in 2023, we have put together the four most important steps for successful Google Ads campaigns in 2023 for you.

1. Define goals

Think about what role the Google Ads channel plays for your company goals. Depending on the priority, resources and budget must be made available. You should then break down your company goals onto the individual channels and campaigns and define the right KPIs to make your success truly measurable. Imagine the customer journey as a funnel in which each area has its own goals. From customer acquisition in the upper funnel to sales in the lower funnel, different goals can be defined. Based on this, the campaign setup in Google Ads should also be built. In addition, the pre-defined goals can help you select the right bidding strategy.

2. Use Google Automations

There has never been more automation possibilities in Google Ads, which make our lives easier:

• Smart Bidding Options: These are automated bidding strategies where bids are optimized for conversions or a conversion value through machine learning. Google uses all data available to set the ideal bid - depending on the search query entered, device, location, time of day and remarketing lists.
• Simplified structure through DSA and Broad Match: Even with fewer keywords, all relevant search queries can still be played.
• Safety net through Smart Bidding: It ensures that your budget is not burned, but that you still meet your ROAS specifications.

The advantages of Google Automation:

• Simpler management of your accounts by reducing complexity
• Increased team productivity as less manual work is required
• Increased data collection and “faster” learning of the algorithm
• Possibly better utilization of the set budget by Google

So, it makes sense to consolidate campaigns and work more strategically with the remaining campaigns. I recommend you to build a campaign structure that reflects your different company goals. Suppose an electronics retailer has different profit margins for televisions and cameras, the campaigns could be structured accordingly. Another approach could be to structure campaigns based on top or lower funnel.

3. Develop RSA Strategy

As already explained, Responsive Search Ads will soon be the new ad standard on Google. The way users search for something is constantly changing. And consumer trends are constantly changing and evolving as well. That's why about 15% of daily search queries are those that have never existed before. It is therefore even more important to make users aware of your company through relevant and useful ads. RSA offers you more flexibility in text creation and additional testing options. This way, you already have a reduced manual administration effort at the time of ad creation. Google allows automated testing with headline tests, thereby increasing relevance and showing the ad more often to your potential customers.

Example: How you can consolidate campaigns

4. Broad Match is back

The accuracy of Phrase Match was combined with the reach of Broad Match Modifier. The new Phrase Match is now broader than the “old” Phrase Match and slightly more restrictive than the discontinued Broad Match Modifier. According to Google, it's now easier to reach the right users. The following Match Types remain: Exact Match for precision, Broad Match for more reach, and Phrase Match for a balance of both.
The Broad Match is therefore making a comeback: With the earlier introduction of the Broad Match Modifier, the keyword option "Broad Match" seemed less attractive to users as it spread ads more widely compared to BMM and thus increased the risk of its ads being spent in an irrelevant context.
The improved Broad Match now analyzes additional signals (which are not considered in other Match Types) in your account to deliver more relevant search queries. Additional signals have been added including landing pages, keywords in their ad group and others.
Combined with Smart Bidding, these Broad Match signals can now help discover new opportunities and create the highest possible relevance of your ads for users. Additionally, 10% of all search queries are "written wrong" and constantly new groups of words are being added. With Broad Match, you also cover these misspelled and new search queries.

Why you should not ignore the Google Ads Trends

If you follow these four steps, you reduce your manual work in the account. Overall, the work of advertisers is becoming more and more strategic. For this, you should always keep your goals in mind. It is still important to group your ad groups in a thematically meaningful way. With the right campaign structure, the algorithm can understand faster and better which keywords work best with which ad options. And generally: Better data for better performance! Even a machine is only as good as the data with which we feed it. Correct measurement of success and the reports based on it are therefore essential to draw the right conclusions.

These Tools Support You with the Google Ads Trends in 2023

Search Engine Advertising (SEA) SoftwareFinchFinch, which we want to introduce to you in more detail now:

Finch

Finch is the first eCommerce growth platform that combines software and expert knowledge, and is maximally tailored to the needs of e-commerce companies.

For 12 years, Finch has been supporting brands and manufacturers in their growth on the most important digital channels, including Google Ads. Through working with countless customers all over the world, we know what matters: clearly defined goals, a sound growth plan, comparable data, meaningful reports, control over one's own processes, transparent and efficient workflows, expert knowledge across all relevant channels - and all of this integrated into a powerful platform.

These are the benefits:

• The heart of the Finch platform: a customer-specific, detailed growth plan for the next 12 months
• All in One: goals, next steps, timeline, daily tasks and results at a glance
• Integrated Task Management for efficient handling of campaigns
• Insights Reporting: clear dashboard, comparable data from different channels and meaningful reports
• Strategic consulting and support by experts cross-channel or -specific
• Full control and transparency for the advertiser
• Agnostic, channel-independent partner

On our software review platform OMR Reviews, we have compiled a series of Search Engine Advertising Tools for you, including the following:

• Google Ads
• Channable
• adsoul
• Channelpilot
• Adspert

Conclusion: How to be Successful with Google Ads in the Long Term

The trend is towards a simpler Google setup by using Google automations and feeding them optimally with the tips mentioned above. The operational effort is becoming less and less. In general: a solid strategy for Google Ads is key. In order to be able to filter out the right recommendations for action from the data as before, more expertise is now required. “For Google Ads, it's recommended to build internal SEA know-how in the long term or to find a suitable strategic partner”, summarizes Timo Bernsmann, Vice President Marketing at Finch.

Our SEA expert

Timo Bernsmann is Vice President Marketing and responsible for FINCH’s global marketing. Since his dual studies with a focus on E-commerce in 2006, Timo has been at home in digital marketing. He follows the development of digital advertising opportunities especially on Google with great interest. Timo has won several Google Premier Partner Awards with FINCH and secured several nominations. Since 2017, he has been one of the OMR experts on the topic of Google Ads and participates in many OMR formats from Deep Dives to Reports to the OMR Academy.