What to look out for in Paid Search in 2018?
Head of Paid search — Chris Lockwood — outlined the biggest things happening to paid search in 2018 at our client Christmas party, so we’ve taken the five most exciting ones and put them into this article. Here, Chris explains what to expect in 2018, and how you can make the most of these new trends.
1. AGNES
In 2018 we will be launching our own programmatic offering called ‘AGNES’. AGNES stands for Alpha’s Global Network & Exchange Service, and gives us access to a huge range of global exchange services. This programmatic system allows us to access highly-relevant third and first party datasets that can increase reach through display advertising. By being able to access a vast array of datasets, display ads run through AGNES are able to reach the right people at the right time (and in the right place) and drive campaign performance.
2. YOUTUBE GURUS
As YouTube and video advertising continues to grow and become one of the most influential mediums in the purchase funnel, we want to help our clients drive more relevant traffic through video. In order to do this, we are engaging in the YouTube Gurus program – a program that gives us first-hand access to product updates and best practices directly from YouTube experts at Google.
3. AMAZON
As we welcome Amazon Australia to the market, we expect to start seeing Amazon advertise on Google Shopping. As we see more and more of this, an increase in the competition and pricing in both paid search and for products can also be expected. While the entrance of Amazon into the Australian marketplace might seem daunting to some, we need to remember that it’s just another search engine, and so we should treat it like one.
4. AUTOMATIONS
As we start to integrate our new programmatic advertising through AGNES, we will also begin to expand our automated services — things like personalised search and integrations with PIMs & DMPs. As such, we will be spending more time developing strategies so that we can deep dive into our clients’ data and provide them the greatest results for their products.
5. GOOGLE ATTRIBUTIONS RELEASE
Google Attributions aims to simplify the complex problem of multichannel, multidevice attribution by leveraging the data that advertisers already have. Google Attributions works by looking at Google Analytics, Google Adwords, and DoubleClick Search results, and doesn’t require any additional site tagging. This allows us to see the entire user journey — and measure the impact of each marketing touchpoint along the way — to help us make more informed decisions about how to spend clients’ advertising budget.