Year in Search | Interview with Liam Wade
With the year coming to a close, PPC hubbub asked the leading search industry experts 3 questions about what they thought about 2018 and what 2019 might bring for Search.
Today, Liam Wade answered our questions. Liam is the Head of PPC at Impression, an award-winning digital agency based in Nottingham and London.
Q: What have you loved about Search this year?
“If 2018 isn’t the year that last click fully died, then it’s definitely the beginning of the end. We’ve noticed a real shift towards funnel-based marketing, even for smaller advertisers who usually stick to the high intent searches. Larger brands have been doing this forever, but we now have more tools than ever for even smaller advertisers to target users at different stages of the funnel with ease.
Another big highlight for me – “exactish match”. It’s causing a lot of advertisers to rethink their campaign structure frameworks, which is a great opportunity to get ahead of the competition. New best practices are sure to emerge!
I have to give a shoutout to Bing Ads too, who have been awesome this year. We’ve started to explore LinkedIn category targeting which has so much potential, particularly for B2B advertisers.”
Q: What have you hated about Search this year?
“Not a lot, in all honesty!
I’ll admit to being tired of the doomsdayers though – those scare tacticians who spread fear everytime there is a slight change to Google Ads. It’s a minority, but a loud one! The reaction to the change in exact match was interesting for sure. Confusing? Yes. The demise of Paid Search? Of course not.
I’m definitely guilty of this myself, but I’m learning to be more accepting of change. Granted, there have been some questionable decisions from Google, but search advertisers have never had more control of their ads than they do right now.”
Q: What do you think 2019 will bring?
“Obviously, more automation!
However, there’s a definite counter-reaction to this too. Agency-side, we’re already seeing brands moving away from agencies that offer mostly automated solutions. They’re seeking a more nuanced, contextual approach and something a little more individual in order to beat competitors.
We’re working a lot on bespoke solutions for individual client problems that blend automated and human approaches – enabling them to run more personalised marketing campaigns specific to their audiences.
I hope we get another change to keyword match types too, even if just to see the drama it causes!”
- Year in Search | Interview with Liam Wade - December 23, 2018