10+ PPC Industry Trends Shaping Pay-Per-Click Advertising in 2024

PPC trends are driving significant changes in digital marketing, and companies must constantly adapt to new challenges in this realm. The impending twilight of the cookie era, the expansion of TikTok search and video advertising, the rise of voice search, more and more AI and automation solutions (including Google’s Performance Max and Demand Gen) – all of these are just happening. Instead of staying against the unavoidable, it’s much better to prepare for and make the most out of it.

In this post, I identify the most impactful changes and analyze how current PPC trends influence advertising strategies in paid channels. Read on to learn what changes in PPC advertising are most significant, how you can benefit from them, what consequences you should expect, and how to prepare for them to stay safe and drive growth.

Here is the list of PPC trends we will analyze:

1. The Cookies Revolution and the Rise of First-Party Data
2. PPC Automation and Harnessing AI
3. Voice Over Text: The Surge in Voice Search
4. Leveraging Video Ads: From Motion to Emotion
5. Increasing Role of Local PPC Strategies
6. The Growing Share of Performance Max and Demand Gen – Towards Googlopoly?
7. Data-Driven (More and More) PPC Campaigns
8. Expansion of Microsoft Advertising and Bing Ads (Against Google’s Hegemony)
9. More Landing Pages for Different Audiences
10. Other Trends

No further ado, let’s get to it!

What is PPC Trend?

A PPC trend refers to the most current or just emerging patterns or changes in pay-per-click advertising that significantly influence how marketers run their campaigns. Trends in paid ad campaigns are shaped by:

• advancements in technology,
• shifts in consumer behavior,
• and updates to advertising platforms like Google Ads, Amazon Ads, and social media.

Staying ahead of all of these is essential for advertisers to remain competitive, optimize their campaigns, and achieve higher ROI.

Generally, PPC trends can include new bidding strategies, automation tools, targeting methods, and ad formats that improve campaign performance.

10+ Impactfull PPC Trends in 2024

PPC trends shift industry practices inadvertently. They influence preferred paid ads strategies, as well as individual aspects of PPC like average ad spend, bidding tactics, methods of audience targeting, and – of course – preferred PPC ads types. Find below the complete list of current trends, along with analyses of why they are taking place and how they (most likely) change the digital marketing landscape.

1. The Cookies Revolution and the Rise of First-Party Data

Although, as reported by Wordstream, in 2023 80% of advertisers used third-party cookies, this changes in a blink of an eye. As this type of cookies gradually phase out due to privacy regulations (like GDPR and CCPA), businesses are shifting to first-party data – data they collect directly from users through their interactions, such as website visits, purchases, and email sign-ups. Google and other platforms are embracing this change to create a privacy-first environment where personalization still exists but without infringing on user privacy.

To adapt to this trend, businesses are now turning to first-party data, which is data collected directly from their own users. This can include data from user interactions like form fills, website visits, app usage, and purchase history. This data is more reliable and ethical, as users knowingly share their information with the business, leading to more trusted and personalized experiences.

Benefits of This Shift:

• Since first-party data is collected directly from users, it builds a more trusting relationship between businesses and customers. Customers know their data is being used responsibly for personalization.
• First-party data allows you to create more tailored marketing campaigns because it’s specific to how users really interact with your brand.
• Using first-party data aligns with privacy regulations like GDPR, ensuring your business stays legally compliant.

Potential Consequences:

• First-party data is only as rich as the user interactions you can collect. Brands that don’t have many touchpoints with customers might struggle to gather meaningful insights.
• Unlike third-party cookies, first-party data only covers interactions with your website or app, limiting visibility into user behavior on other sites.
• Brands must focus on building strong relationships and obtaining explicit consent to use customer data for advertising and personalization.

How can you prepare for this shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Implement Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems to collect and manage first-party data efficiently.
2. Ensure clear communication about data collection practices, ask for explicit consent, and provide transparency about how user data will be used.
3. Use first-party data to segment audiences based on behavior, preferences, and purchase history to create more personalized marketing strategies.
4. Engage users through incentives like newsletters, personalized offers, or loyalty programs to increase data collection touchpoints.
5. Make sure your marketing, data, and IT teams work closely together to maximize data utility while staying compliant with privacy regulations.

2. PPC Automation and Harnessing AI

PPC automation, driven primarily by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology, is constantly changing how advertisers manage campaigns. AI-powered tools simplify the management of PPC campaigns by automating processes like ad bidding, targeting, and ad creation. This allows businesses to focus on strategic decisions rather than manual tasks. Very popular last time smart bidding strategies (which optimize bids in real-time based on user behavior and contextual data) are a prime example of how AI is reshaping the PPC domain.

Also, AI tools are able to analyze vast amounts of data to improve campaign performance, enabling advertisers to target specific audiences with great precision.

Finally, advanced automations can optimize campaigns around the clock. As a result, bids are always adjusted to meet objectives without human intervention.

Benefits of this shift:

• Automation saves time by handling repetitive tasks, allowing marketers to focus on strategy.
• Machine learning algorithms adjust bids and ad placements in real-time, leading to more effective results.
• Automated strategies like smart bidding can optimize ad spend by targeting the most valuable audiences.

Potential consequences:

• Over-reliance on automation might limit control in campaign adjustments, even in cases where it would be desired or even necessary.
• Automation relies on data quality; poor data can lead to ineffective strategies.
• Implementing advanced automation tools may require technical expertise.

How can you prepare for this shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Use platforms that support AI and machine learning to automate processes like bidding and targeting.
2. Regularly clean and analyze your data to maintain the quality. Only that way it can support effective automation.
3. Equip your marketing team with skills to manage automated tools while keeping control over strategy.

3. Voice Over Text: The Surge in Voice Search

Voice search is rapidly gaining traction as more consumers use voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant to find information online. This trend is also heavily influencing PPC campaigns, pushing advertisers to adjust their strategies to accommodate voice-driven queries. Voice search is typically more conversational and natural, meaning that the way users search differs significantly from traditional text-based queries. As a result, PPC advertisers must optimize for long-tail keywords (or ones question-based) to stay competitive and capture the growing number of voice search users.

Voice search queries tend to be more location-specific and action-oriented, often reflecting an immediate need (e.g., “Where’s the nearest coffee shop?”). As a result, brands must rethink their keyword strategies and ad copy to match the natural language patterns of these queries. With the increased use of voice-enabled devices, businesses that optimize their PPC campaigns for voice search will have a distinct advantage over those that stick to traditional text-based strategies.

Benefits of this shift:

• As more people adopt voice search, optimizing for this gives businesses access to a broader, hands-free audience (e.g., people driving cars, doing training, etc.).
• Voice searches rely on long-tail, conversational phrases, providing opportunities for better user intent matching and more precise targeting.
• Voice queries often involve local searches, giving businesses the chance to attract users who are ready to take action, especially in their vicinity.

Potential consequences:

• Traditional text-based keywords may become less relevant, requiring advertisers to focus on natural, conversational language.
• Voice search data isn’t as readily available as text-based search data, making it harder to gather insights and refine strategies.
• Voice search optimization may require adapting to various voice assistant platforms, each with different algorithms and user behaviors.

How can you prepare for this shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Use more natural, conversational language in your PPC campaigns to capture voice queries. Focus on keywords that mimic how people speak, such as questions or commands.
2. Voice searches are frequently tied to local intent (e.g., “near me” queries), so optimizing for local search terms and ensuring your business is listed in online directories can boost visibility.
3. Since voice search is often conducted on mobile devices, ensure your site is mobile-friendly and loads quickly to provide a seamless user experience.

4. Leveraging Video Ads: From Motion to Emotion

Video ads are not new, but these days they become an integral part of PPC advertising, offering a visually engaging and effective way to connect with audiences. With the rise of platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, video content has become more accessible and widely consumed. As a result, businesses are increasingly incorporating video ads into their PPC strategies to enhance brand awareness, drive traffic, and generate leads. What makes video so powerful is its ability to engage both attention and emotion more efficiently than any other media format.

YouTube Ads have proven to be a game-changer for PPC advertisers. With billions of daily views, it looks like an ideal platform to create and share skippable or non-skippable ads, bumper ads, or even in-video overlays. This versatility allows advertisers to target specific demographics and deliver tailored content to users when they are most engaged.

TikTok also quickly develops video advertising features. For targeting certain audiences (particularly Gen Z) or promoting specific products, it could be the best ad channel.

Benefits of this shift:

• Video ads are more engaging and memorable than static images, increasing the likelihood of user interaction and brand recall.
• Video ads allow advertisers to use storytelling techniques, creating an emotional connection with the audience that can lead to higher conversion rates.
• With YouTube Ads, brands can reach a global audience and take advantage of precise targeting features, ensuring that their message reaches the right viewers.

Potential consequences:

• Video ads require more investment in production and editing compared to static ads, which can strain smaller advertising budgets.
• Poorly executed or repetitive video ads can lead to viewer frustration, especially on platforms like YouTube where ads are skippable.
• Measuring the effectiveness of video ads goes beyond simple clicks; it requires analyzing metrics like view duration, engagement rates, and emotional responses.

How can you prepare for this shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Focus on storytelling and emotional engagement to make your video ads memorable and impactful.
2. Use YouTube Ads to reach your target audience based on interests, demographics, and behavior, ensuring your video ad resonates with the right people.
3. Experiment with different types of video ads (skippable, non-skippable, bumper ads, etc.) to find the format that works best for your advertising campaigns.

5. Increasing Role of Local PPC Strategies

The surge in local search queries, often including terms like “near me,” has elevated the importance of local PPC strategies for businesses. Local PPC campaigns allow advertisers to target specific geographical areas, ensuring that ads reach nearby customers who are more likely to visit a physical location. Search engines like Google prioritize local results in many queries, making local ads essential for driving foot traffic to businesses, especially for industries like retail, services and restaurants.

Local PPC strategies utilize location extensions, targeting settings, and hyper-local keywords to connect businesses with their nearby audiences. By honing in on a defined geographic area, advertisers can maximize relevance, ensuring ads appear when users are actively searching for nearby products or services.

Benefits of This Shift:

• Targeting local audiences increases the likelihood of conversions as ads reach customers actively looking for nearby services or stores.
• Hyper-local targeting ensures your budget is spent efficiently on the most relevant customers.
• Local PPC campaigns help chains or franchises tailor ads to specific store locations, improving overall foot traffic and sales.

Potential Consequences:

• Focusing on local areas reduces the overall size of the target audience, which could limit brand exposure.
• As more businesses invest in local strategies, competition for top ad placements within the same geographic area will intensify.
• Running multiple local campaigns for different regions can require more time and resources to manage effectively.

How can you prepare for this shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Make sure your business address and contact information are prominently displayed in local search results by enabling location extensions.
2. Include in your PPC strategy local keywords to make your ads appearing for searches targeting nearby businesses.
3. Refine your PPC settings to target users based on proximity to your store or service area (so-called: geotargeting), ensuring ads reach relevant local audiences.

6. The Growing Share of Performance Max and Demand Gen – Towards Googlopoly?

Google continues to dominate the PPC advertising space, and with the rise of Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns, it is expanding its influence even further. Performance Max campaigns provide advertisers with the ability to reach customers across all of Google’s platforms, including Search, YouTube, Display, and Discover, in a single, unified campaign. These campaigns use automation and machine learning (discussed previously as a separate general trend) to optimize ad placements in real-time. Meanwhile, Demand Gen campaigns focus on visually engaging, discovery-based ads designed to reach users when they are most open to discovering new brands or products. It’s growing popularity should come as no surprise if we glimpse at stats like the ones you find at the end of this part.

Benefits of This Shift:

• The unified nature of Performance Max allows advertisers to target all of Google’s platforms simultaneously, increasing reach and campaign efficiency.
• The above helps advertisers optimize ads in real-time, reducing manual management and improving overall performance.
• Demand Gen ads help advertisers create visually compelling and discovery-driven ads that engage users early in their buying journey.

Potential Consequences:

• With automated bidding strategies playing a larger role, advertisers may feel they have less control over individual ad placements and the bidding process.
• Tracking performance across multiple platforms in a single campaign can complicate measurement and attribution.
• Balancing budgets between Performance Max and Demand Gen may require constant oversight to avoid inefficiencies or overspending.

How can you prepare for this shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Use audience signals to guide Google’s machine learning in identifying high-converting users.
2. Diversify your ad creative to cater to multiple platforms within a single campaign.
3. Integrate your Google Analytics with Performance Max for deeper insights into cross-platform performance.

7. Data-Driven (More and More) PPC Campaigns

The growing importance of data in digital marketing is obvious, and this also applies to PPC campaigns, where big datasets framed into solid databases and integrated with analytical tools become a reality, allowing for more accurate targeting and personalized ad delivery.

Platforms like Google Ads Data Hub allow for the aggregation and analysis of data from multiple sources, enabling deeper insights into user behavior. By using tools like this, advertisers can refine their strategies, target audiences more effectively, and make informed optimizations to a bidding strategy in real-time.

Additionally, data integration platforms like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and BigQuery offer the capability to track cross-platform performance, optimizing campaigns based on user journeys.

Benefits of This Shift:

• The ability to track user behavior across multiple platforms allows for hyper-targeted campaigns based on real data.
• Data-driven PPC campaigns can be continuously optimized in real-time, ensuring that budgets are allocated efficiently for maximum impact.
• Platforms like GA4 and BigQuery offer a unified view of the customer journey, providing a holistic understanding of how different channels contribute to conversions.

Potential Consequences:

• The complexity of managing and interpreting large datasets requires advanced knowledge and training in data analytics.
• Stricter data privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, may limit the use of certain data types, complicating personalization efforts.

How can you prepare for this shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Implement advanced data analytics platforms like Google Ads Data Hub, GA4, or BigQuery to centralize and analyze data from all channels.
2. Set up cross-device and cross-platform tracking to follow the user journey more accurately.
3. Stay up-to-date with evolving privacy regulations to ensure your data collection processes comply with current laws.

8. Expansion of Microsoft Advertising and Bing Ads (Against Google’s Hegemony)

For years, Google has been the dominant player in digital advertising, but Microsoft Advertising and Bing Ads are now stepping up as formidable competitors. With Bing continuing to grow its user base, Microsoft is leveraging its wide ecosystem – including LinkedIn, Outlook, and AI-powered Bing Search – to create a more integrated and all-inclusive platform for advertisers. These advancements offer marketers a way to diversify beyond Google’s monopoly, tapping into a less saturated ad space with lower competition.

Benefits of This Shift:

• Lower competition on Microsoft Advertising often results in lower cost-per-click (CPC) rates compared to Google Ads, making it more cost-effective.
• Bing attracts a slightly older and more affluent demographic compared to Google, offering marketers the ability to reach audiences who may not be as prevalent on other platforms.
• Integration with LinkedIn provides unique professional targeting options that aren’t available on other ad platforms, enabling more precise B2B marketing.

Potential Consequences:

• While Microsoft Advertising and Bing Ads offer lower competition, they still have a smaller user base than Google, limiting potential reach in certain markets.
• Advertisers familiar with Google’s ad tools may face a learning curve when switching to Microsoft’s platform, as the interfaces and optimization strategies differ.

How Can You Prepare for This Shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

• Take the time to learn the ins and outs of the Microsoft Advertising platform, including its unique features like LinkedIn targeting and AI-enhanced search ads.
• Test ad campaigns across both Google and Microsoft platforms to compare performance and optimize your advertising spend for maximum impact.
• Explore Microsoft’s various ad formats, including native ads and shopping campaigns, to broaden your advertising strategy and engage users in different ways.
• As Bing’s search algorithms differ slightly from Google’s, optimize your ads and content for Bing’s ranking factors to increase visibility and performance.

9. More Landing Pages for Different Audiences

Every marketer knows it well that landing pages are part and parcel of any PPC campaign. But what is new in 2024 is the number of landing pages companies typically build to achieve success. As PPC campaigns become more personalized and the audiences are segmented into different groups, companies built more pages to meet the unique needs of every single segment of users.

For example, if you offer various medical services, it’s good practice to have a separate landing page for each one (e.g., pages for dental services, aesthetic medicine, eye surgery, etc.), as the needs of different groups of patients obviously differ from each other. In this case, visitors from these different segments will be directed from ads to pages most closely related to what they search for, who they are, and how they’d like to be satisfied. You should adjust ad content and communication strategy for each landing page to maximize conversions, refining your overall advertising strategy.

Benefits of This Shift:

• Tailoring landing pages to specific audience segments improves conversion rates by addressing the unique needs and pain points of each group.
• Aligning landing pages with PPC ad copy ensures a more seamless and relevant user experience, increasing engagement.
• Segmenting landing pages for different audiences provides valuable insights into which groups respond best to specific messaging and offers, enabling more targeted optimizations.

Potential Consequences:

• Managing multiple landing pages can be complex and time-consuming, requiring careful organization and strategy (unless you utilize appropriate tools or features like Smart Sections).
• If you perform search engine optimization (from keyword targeting to addressing the structure and technical issues), your landing pages may continually bring additional leads or conversions , even if your PPC ad campaigns are finished.

How Can You Prepare for This Shift?

Here is a to-do checklist for seamless adaptation:

1. Create different landing pages for different segments or your audience interested in specific part of your offer. To accelerate and facilitate your work, don’t start from zero, but use customizable page templates available and personalize it properly.
2. Generate content with AI to save time, but perfect it manually to maintain optimal quality.
3. A/B test your pages and collect user behavior data to perform successful optimizations.
4. Perform mobile optimization to maximize conversions from mobile devices.
5. Incorporate dynamic content to provide personalized experiences without the need for manual updates.

10. Other Trends

There are even more PPC trends changing how marketers use paid advertising channels to increase ROI and bring conversions. Some of them are not as obvious and strong as the above-mentioned, but they may dominate the PPC landscape within the upcoming months. We can’t discuss them here thoroughly, but we should at least mention them to keep you aware of the constantly evolving digital advertising domain. Who knows, maybe we’ll expand on them in 2025?

Conversational Ads and Chatbots Integration

In recent months, more brands have been incorporating conversational ads and chatbots into their PPC campaigns to engage users directly, improving lead capture and conversions.

Programmatic Advertising Growth

Programmatic ads, which use automated technology to buy and place ads in real-time, are expected to increase in use as they provide precise targeting and more efficient ad placements.

Zero-Click Search Results

With the rise of featured snippets and knowledge panels, PPC strategies are shifting to focus on capturing zero-click search traffic by enhancing visibility in these prominent positions.

Interactive Ads (Polls, Quizzes)

Interactive ad formats, such as polls and quizzes, are gaining popularity as they offer more engagement and provide valuable user insights for brands.

Influencer-Integrated PPC Campaigns

More PPC campaigns are integrating influencer content directly into paid ads, leveraging the trust and authenticity influencers have with their audiences.

Develop Cutting-Edge PPC Trends for Enhanced Advertising Success

Now you are up to date with PPC marketing trends, so you can effectively prepare for the unavoidable and take full advantage of online advertising. As PPC continues to evolve, it’s clear that staying ahead of trends described above will be critical for businesses looking to remain competitive in 2024 and beyond. Whether you’re navigating the shift to first-party data, optimizing for voice search, or expanding into Microsoft Ads, adapting your strategies is key.

At Landingi, we strive to equip you with cutting-edge technologies, tools, and features necessary to win PPC battles against even the toughest competitors. From hundreds of templates crafted for different campaign goals and industries (currently the largest set in the business), through optimization tools like A/B testing and EventTracker, to top-notch solutions for AI content generation and multilingual translations.

Try the platform for free, make it a part of your PPC campaigns and discover for yourself why Landingi is the pick of giants like Sony, DAT, and Opera. Good luck!