Online advertising 2023 – How to succeed

Marketing 12 April 2023

New year new opportunities, says the manager after putting the new forecast for 2023 on your desk, which clearly shows that the company needs to increase sales to cope with inflation. As a marketing manager, you know that the best way to increase sales is by advertising online through various platforms. To get as much return as possible by advertising in 2023, you should focus more on the synergies between the different digital channels and learn to use automation to your advantage.

More and more importance is placed on content marketing

In 2023, the synergies between the various channels will become increasingly important. Another trend that will continue to grow in 2023 is that automation will continue to shape the landscape for both organic and paid advertising. In addition, credibility is increasingly emphasized with an extra E for EAT (experience, expertise, authority, and credibility). Website content must be supported by a credible online profile if you want to continue to strengthen organic visibility, which means that linking to strong social media profiles is becoming increasingly important for SEO as well. Synergies between the various digital channels will therefore play a more important role.

For example, if someone searches for information on Google, they may see an Instagram profile, if the profile has been properly optimized for organic visibility. Likewise, a well-optimized social media profile can boost SEO through credibility, and an SEO-optimized landing page with a fast loading time boosts SEM quality scores. Therefore, it is important to design a marketing plan that allows the various channels to interact to the company’s advantage. We see that SEO-friendly content is also becoming increasingly important for social media as the younger generations use TikTok and Instagram as a complement to Google when searching for information.

Tracking

An obvious thing perhaps, but still important to mention. Google Analytics Universal will be shut down on July 1, 2023 to be replaced by Google Analytics 4. Several countries have also banned Analytics from collecting data and many companies are now considering using other tools to track conversions. Cookies and GDPR data laws are here to stay and will affect how data is collected in 2023. If you have not already set up a Google Analytics 4 account, we recommend that you contact your web agency immediately.

SEO

SEO is not only important to be seen organically but also to increase user-friendliness and lower the cost per click for Google advertising by strengthening the quality score. Website speed will still play a big role in technical SEO, but can also affect SEM by raising the quality score. Another big trend is that Google will primarily place more and more emphasis on E-E-A-T which can be related to social media by linking content on the page to a profile. This confirms the hypothesis that the synergies between the different channels will grow stronger. More focus will also be given to featured snippets, which means that the content on the website needs to be adapted so that Google can easily sift out important information in point form.

Zero click is also a growing phenomenon which means that Google puts information high up in the search results. Google will also increasingly focus in 2023 on both voice and image search, which will also affect content optimization as speaking is different from how you write.

By adapting the content on the page for both Zero click and featured snippets, as well as linking the content to a credible web profile and improving speed, you have the opportunity to not only strengthen your organic visibility but also to improve SEM through increased quality scores.

SEM

Here, there is a lot of focus on automation from accounts. Everything from broad-matched keywords to Performance Max and fewer search terms make advertising on Google increasingly difficult to control. Google still allows some control and is even starting to give back some of the control that many SEM optimizers feel they have lost. By allowing negative listings for Performance Max and a limited possibility which platforms the ads have been shown on. However, Google will continue to push automation in 2023 and therefore it is important that you use automation to your advantage by:

 

  • Create negative keyword list for the brand if you run a Performance Max campaign as this often cannibalizes the brand. This often results in higher click costs.
  • Feel free to use pre-made scripts to facilitate the optimization and give back more control especially for Performance Max campaigns.
  • Carefully choose which target group signals you use. Don’t be afraid to test different signals until you find the right mix for Performance Max.
  • Be careful with the settings and choose the right campaign structure. Also remember that it is not just the Performance Max campaign that should perform but the whole account.
  • Dare to try a bit broader keywords and see if it gives better results if you don’t pause and return to phrase or exact matches.

Use automation to your advantage by using automated campaigns like Performance Max or Discovery as much for broad keywords to find new search terms and new audiences. In combination with search campaigns where we still have more control over CPC prices and search terms.

Is this something you feel you need help with? Do not hesitate to contact us for a proposal on how we can help your business grow.