Conversational search results are becoming increasingly common, including in-depth SERP layouts and questions being answered without clicking through to sites. This has caused a slight rift in the digital marketing space with ads being pushed further down the SERPs with visibility no longer guaranteed. Aggressive bidding no longer achieves high results as it once did since AI Mode claimed the highest rank.

Opportunities

Google has suggested that ads will continue to play a role, and we can see that through the lens of AI Max campaigns. With SERPs becoming harder to navigate, we need to identify the opportunities to exploit, to ensure you and your business are staying ahead of the game. Search ads claimed the space above organic search results and clear defined shopping ad space at the top of SERPs. What we see now is a disruption to this through Google’s own AI. Now users see AI-generated summaries, follow-up prompts, instantly answered questions, giving users fewer reasons to scroll beyond Google’s AI.

Search is now all about resolving intent instantly rather. So how do you work around this?

Strategy

Change your strategy to allow Google to favour you over competitors by using a mix of both broad and niche messaging to position yourself towards AI responses and typical keyword-based ads.

• A/B test your messaging and find what’s really resonating with your audience.
• Don’t settle for maxing out your character limit on headlines and descriptions. People react to ad copy in different ways, so using shorter headlines and descriptions could make you stand out, where previously using the most real estate became a clear winner.
• Read your reviews, find your audience’s pain points and use this to your advantage.

Goals

Ensure you have your account setup to the conversion goals you want to achieve.

• Sometimes we come across accounts that have all sorts of goals measuring small elements like scroll-depth, button clicks etc. There’s nothing wrong with tracking this level of detail; however, using this as priority events on Google Ads can send the algorithm into a spiral with no clear direction on what you actually want to be achieving with your ads. We recommend applying these events as secondary goals and only using your most important events like ‘purchase’ or ‘lead submit’ as primary to give Google the appropriate signals for finding new leads or purchases.

Data

Strengthen first-party data by using CRM lists, offline conversion tracking, prioritizing clean lead or purchase signals.

• Coming off the back of primary and secondary goals, you can improve how Google finds new users by providing important first-party data. These signals can speed up the process of finding new quality customers, completely bypassing the learning phase. It’s a no-brainer.

Coverage

Use AI Max, and Performance Max in your campaign roster. The more areas you cover, the better you will be favoured.

• Gone are the days of just using search and display campaigns, though there’s no harm in still using this strategy, you’re absolutely leaving new conversions on the table. Having a varied approach with search, display, Performance Max and AI Max can open up new opportunities to find new customers in places you may not have used before. Being open and testing new features will always make you favoured in the eyes of the algorithm but you must ensure that you’re also controlling your ads and not relying on automation 100% of the time.

Final Thoughts

By rethinking how you measure your conversions, how you write your ad copy, and how you broaden your strategy will lead you to be in a better position while Google quietly reshapes what “search advertising” really means.