The 2022 Evolution of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is always changing, however, the changes coming this year are of a massive scale. If you’re not remaining a step ahead of these changes, it will impact your visibility. Some of the most important changes involve Google ads and how they function.

Responsive Search Ads Take Over The Ad Copy In 2022

By mid-June 2022, Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) will no longer be supported by Google. Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) will become the Google ad standard. What’s the difference? Expanded Text Ads allow the advertiser to create three different headlines with up to 30 characters, as well as two 90-character descriptions and a URL. Launched in 2018, RSAs are automatically served based on their performance, using a set of up to four rotating descriptions and 15 headline options that the advertisers create. Google serves a variety of combinations of headlines and descriptions to automatically optimize the ad to achieve the best results. The requirements are graded from poor to great ads and these are used by machine learning in getting impressions.

Advantages and Disadvantages to Responsive Search Ads

Responsive Search Ads offer advertisers some advantage because Google does the work of machine learning to optimize what ads appear to searchers in an attempt to deliver them the best results. However, because of the way the ads are executed, advertisers are able to extract fewer insights about who is clicking on the ads and how they found your ad. This makes it more challenging to write the ad copy, but the ability to pin headlines and descriptions does give the advertiser some control of ad copy.

What to Do Now?

Even though Expanded Text Ads (ETA) are being discontinued, any that are created before the end of June will still be able to be used; they just won’t be able to be edited. Starting right now, it’s a great idea to create and test as many ETA ads as possible, so that you have the best headlines and descriptions to use for RSAs but also so that you have a bank of ETAs you can continue using after Google stops allowing you to edit them.

Google Ads Platform Isn’t the Only Game in Town

For years, Google has dominated search – and it still does, with approximately 85% of the market share. But there are other search engines that shouldn’t be completely overlooked. Bing has a small but growing presence, increasing its search ad revenue by more than 10% in 2021. If you’re marketing in other places in the world, China or Russia, Yandex and Baidu search engines are also worth considering. One search engine I’m watching closely is DuckDuckGo. The big promise from DuckDuckGo is that it promises searchers their anonymity. It is growing at a rapid pace.

 Video Ads Will Continue To Dominate

Video content is already a top driver, but video advertisements are growing in not just popularity and necessity. More than 80% of brands incorporate video into their marketing, and it’s predicted that more than three-quarters of all ads served by the end of 2022 will be video ads. The challenge with video ads will be keeping consumers’ attention. YouTube and TikTok offer a variety of advertising options for video ads, but the one to watch is TikTok:

• The platform has more than a billion users
• The average video length is 15 seconds – the average adult attention span for videos is between 10 and 15 seconds
• TikTok generated an estimated $1.9 billion revenue in 2020, a 457% increase in year-on-year

Driven by TikTok’s success with short format video, YouTube has established YouTube shorts, complete with $100 million to share with content creators. Instagram has also shifted to be a video-first platform, introducing both reels and IGTV. Google, in response, has developed an automated tool that creates short 6-second videos that can be shown in front of a YouTube video. Smart marketers will be betting on video ads.

Voice Search

Consumers are no longer typing or swiping into their phones – they are talking to them. Voice search will come to dominate the way in which people look for products, services, and information. The voice search market, using AI solutions such as Bixby, Siri, and Alexa, is expected to reach nearly $3 billion in 2022 and climb to more than $11 billion by 2026. The significance of the growth in voice search will directly impact local SEO. Between the ubiquity of mobile devices and the need for instant, local information, on-the-go voice search will become a dominant funnel to drive consumers to your brand.

The 2022 Digital Marketing Evolution Requires Action

If you want to remain visible and continue to drive consumers to your local or global business, changes to your digital marketing strategy will be inevitable. Working with an expert digital marketing partner like Peak to Peak Marketing can help you ensure that your strategy aligns with the new opportunities available. Get in touch to learn more.