BrightBid, the ad tech platform for Google Search, has announced the release of “The Future of Search”, a white paper highlighting key industry trends in Google Search and the new technologies that help drive a higher return on ad spend. 

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a mass migration of companies, as marketing campaigns saw a shift to online platforms, creating a higher demand for digital marketing solutions. In an already highly competitive paid search environment, this forced marketers to bid well over the market value for impressions, clicks, and conversions while getting the same amount, if not lower, returns on ad spend (ROAS).

“Paid search is responsible for 28% of ad spend globally and the UK is higher than this at 40% in the latest data so it is not surprising that the UK was the second largest market for Google Search in 2021.  With CPC inflation at 15%, this makes standing out online a challenge and even more difficult to drive conversions,” said Gustav Westman, CEO and co-founder of BrightBid. “Businesses will need to compete for the top spot in Google Search results which will not come cheap. The question marketing teams will need to ask themselves is how these extra investments are improving performance and helping them reach their target audience vs just inflating their costs. This is where marketing processes and decisions can be enhanced by using automation and artificial intelligence-driven tools.”

With 63,000 search queries a second, 15% of which had never been entered before, it could be difficult to anticipate how customers might be searching for brands online. This, coupled with cost per click (CPC) inflation rising to 15% this year, makes it important for search campaigns to be optimised at even more granular levels. There is already proof that using AI as a partner in search not only enriches the marketing process but delivers a competitive advantage for businesses.

The white paper highlights four areas that, if companies act, will have a transformative effect on the success of their search strategy; Data integration & accuracy, a holistic approach across paid and organic skills and resource management along with AI, automation and machine learning.

“The partnership that exists between artificial intelligence and search is one that creates tremendous benefits for both the users and the business,” says Christos Stavropoulos, head of product at BrightBid. “This is because AI is able to mine long-tail keywords and discover new insights in audience behaviours - something even the most talented and experienced marketer could not do. Our AI and automation solution comes into its own as an additional layer on top of Google’s own products because it’s not a black box - marketing teams are able to see how it’s driving better performance, unlike the Google solution. We also only work with one competitor in any keyword auction meaning our AI does not inflate CPC’s which can happen if every player uses the Google solution without extra input. This all ensures that consumers receive relevant information on brands they actually want to engage with and saves businesses from wasting limited advertising budgets on campaigns and strategies that rarely lead to conversions or reach their target audience.”

BrightBid developed the white paper to showcase new trends in audience targeting, keyword selection, artificial intelligence (AI) and automation as well as provide practical steps businesses can take to improve their campaigns and maximise marketing budgets in 2023. 

BrightBid’s Future of Search white paper can be found here