Managing PPC campaigns can be a time-consuming task. You need to do everything from researching keywords to writing ad copy.

Thankfully, PPC automation capabilities are becoming more and more accessible to businesses of all sizes. The right PPC automation tools and strategies can significantly increase your campaigns’ efficiency and performance.

In this blog post, we’ll go over what you need to know to get started with PPC automation, including the definition of PPC automation, its benefits, and the tools you can use.

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PPC automation definition

PPC automation is the use of technology to run and optimize your PPC advertising campaigns and strategies. With PPC automation tools, you can automate PPC research, bidding, and more. Automating aspects of your PPC campaigns can save you significant amounts of time and improve ad performance.

The benefits of PPC automation

Businesses are using more and more automation as part of their PPC strategies, but is it worth integrating automation into your processes? Here are some of the benefits PPC automation can provide for your business.

Time savings

Perhaps the biggest benefit of PPC automation is the amount of time it can save you.

You can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend setting up and managing your campaigns while improving your results.

When you reduce the amount of time you spend on repetitive, time-consuming tasks, you free yourself up to spend more time on other high-value work.

Scalability

Reducing the time required to run your PPC campaigns makes scaling your PPC efforts more doable.

With PPC automation, you can run more ads without investing significantly more time. You can scale your PPC efforts up or down with less effort — and more flexibility.

Improved data collection

PPC automation tools can pull data from multiple sources and compile it into easy-to-read reports. This feature gives you a more complete view of your campaigns and enables you to analyze your data more accurately.

This enhanced analysis enables you to extract more valuable insights from your data, which you can use to improve your campaigns.

Optimized performance

When used correctly, PPC automation software can help you optimize your ads’ performance and improve your return on ad spend (ROAS).

With automation, you can make more informed decisions thanks to improved data, and PPC automation can adjust your tactics with more flexibility than doing so manually.

Access to tools

In some areas, access to advanced automation and artificial intelligence is limited for small businesses. With PPC, however, many ad platforms have built-in automation tools that anyone can use.

This accessibility means that any business can benefit from PPC automation without a significant upfront investment. These built-in tools are also typically easy to learn and use. In addition to the built-in capabilities, user-friendly third-party tools are also widely available.

Measuring what matters most

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Types of PPC automation tools

There are lots of options when it comes to PPC automation tools, which range in complexity and customizability.

Built-in tools

Many ad platforms offer built-in tools that can automate certain aspects of your campaigns. These tools are generally user-friendly and easy to set up. They can automate functions such as bidding.

Rule-driven automation

With platforms such as Google Ads, you can manually configure your settings to create rules that automate parts of your campaign management.

Using these rules, you can tell Google Ads to take different actions depending on the situation. For example, you can tell Google Ads to increase your bids on a given keyword if its performance passes a certain threshold.

Scripts

You can also create custom scripts using JavaScript code to automate your PPC management.

This approach requires programming skills and knowledge of how Google Ads works, although you may be able to find pre-written scripts you can use.

Scripts are especially useful for larger campaigns and companies that have a high number of campaigns. You may also want to use scripts to make custom changes that ready-made tools don’t offer.

Comprehensive PPC automation software

There are also various third-party tools available that you can use for advanced PPC automation.

These PPC automation software tools let you automate numerous aspects of your PPC campaigns, from adding ad extensions to distributing your budget.

Custom builds

You can also build a custom PPC automation solution. Of course, this approach requires development expertise. Large companies with specialized PPC needs are most likely to use this option.

What can you automate?

So, what aspects of your PPC efforts can you automate? Here are some of the most popular ways to use PPC automation.

Automated bidding

Automated bidding is one of the most common uses of PPC automation.

Ad platforms like Google Ads offer built-in bid automation tools that can be quite useful. You can set automated bid strategies based on your goals. Google Ads will then automatically adjust your settings to help you reach your goals.

Smart Bidding strategies adjust your bids for each auction to help you reach the conversion-based goals you set. These strategies use machine learning to adjust your bids and factor in aspects such as device, location language, and more for each search.

You can also use third-party tools and custom solutions to automate your bidding.

Automated ad testing

Automation can also help you test variations of ads to see which perform best.

With Google’s responsive search ads feature, you can create variants of headlines and descriptions for your search ads. Google Ads will track how these ads perform and automatically run the best-performing ads more often.

It’s also helpful to supplement Google’s automatic tests with your own A/B tests. There are many tools available to help you run tests, and some PPC automation software can automate substantial portions of your testing process.

Automated reporting

PPC ad platforms provide significant amounts of data by default, which you can use to measure and improve your campaigns’ effectiveness.

You can also use PPC automation tools like AdStage and Optmyzr to improve your data analysis and reporting. You can use them to combine data from your ad platform and other sources. These tools can automatically pull in data on a regular schedule, analyze it, and produce easy-to-read reports.

Automated campaign management

Using rules, scripts, and PPC automation tools, you can set up automatic management of various aspects of your PPC campaigns.

You can, for example, tell Google Ads to pause a campaign if click-through rate falls below a certain level. You can also automatically increase your bids if performance surpasses a certain threshold.

With scripts, you can create even more customized automation procedures. For example, you can have Google Ads automatically create new single keyword ad groups if the search terms pass a predetermined number of impressions.

How to get started with PPC automation

While every business will have a unique PPC automation plan, following these steps can help you get started with PPC automation.

1. Set goals for your PPC campaign: Make sure you know what you want to accomplish with your PPC campaigns before you begin automating. Having clear goals will help you choose the right automation tools and strategies.
2. Explore automation tools and built-in capabilities: Next, you’ll want to explore your automation options and brainstorm ideas for what to automate. Consider whether you can accomplish what you want with built-in tools or whether you need a more advanced solution.
3. Set up campaign and conversion monitoring: Make sure you have all necessary monitoring set up, including conversion tracking. This data will help you determine what’s working well and improve your strategies.
4. Implement your automation: Next, implement your automation and continue running your campaigns.
5. Test your campaigns: Don’t just assume that automation will help your campaigns perform better. Run A/B tests and other analyses to verify whether automation is improving your campaigns.
6. Gather data and revise: As you run your campaigns using automation, collect data and review it regularly. Then, adjust your tactics based on what you find. It’s important not to just set and forget your automation. Monitor it and update it as needed.

Ready to get started with PPC automation?

The world of digital marketing is becoming increasingly automated, and PPC is no exception. With the right strategies in place, PPC automation can save you significant amounts of time and improve your campaigns’ performance.

Now is the time to start exploring how PPC automation can help grow your business!

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