5 Ways To Fully Optimise Your SEM Campaigns With AI

Does your current SEM campaign spark joy?

It’s no longer safe to ignore the increasing presence of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning in the digital space.

AI, or machine learning, is essentially uses a series of models and algorithms that allow prediction learning in order to make data-driven decisions and solve complex problems on behalf of humans.

If you are already setting up your own PPC campaigns – you will know that the biggest roadblocks that you face include a lack of resources and a time crunch to sieve through millions of data in order to continuously optimise your campaigns.

With multiple complications and permutations that are specific to each campaign, this is where AI can come in to help – research shows that utilising AI can save campaign managers approximately 65% of crucial management time – which could translate to more time for strategy-building and other bottom line work.

In fact, on accounts that are set to optimise for conversions – it has been shown that machine learning is able to boost conversions by up to 100%.

And you already know, we are all about that #conversionlife.

So, instead of fighting and dismissing AI completely from your SEM marketing strategy, perhaps it is time to jump on the bandwagon and put it to good use – starting with these 5 ways for optimizing your campaigns, as shared by a Google Chief Search Evangelist!

1. Choosing the right goals

As much as AI fuels more accurate forecasting and provides valuable key insights – it does have its pitfalls.

Machine learning has yet to reach the stage that it is able to fully function without the help of human input, i.e., a foundation of quality data.

This means knowing the goals of your brand and company – what are you hoping to gain from your campaign? Are you simply looking for more leads to your website? Or are you looking to convert users into loyal, long-term customers?

AI will not be effectively optimising without complete, precise data from the business owners’ themselves – they will need to know as much information in order to target the right customers, show the right content, and automatically adjust bids for the right keywords in order to bring the results that you seek.

But as we would to emphasise again – this boils down all to YOU to input and set your goals straight FIRST.

2. Choose the right metrics

Following closely to the previous point, it’s important to know which metrics need to be monitored and tracked in order to successfully evaluate if your campaign has met your pre-determined goals.

Since we already know that AI can only learn and act on what a human shares with it – PPC managers need to sit down and identify and fully understand the list of metrics to focus on, focusing on their efforts in optimising them. What exactly do you need to track? Is it CTR (Click-Through-Rate)? CPA (Cost Per Action)? CPC (Cost Per Click)? For starters, we recommend focusing on only one or two key metrics to measure progress on Google Analytics.

In addition, it would be useful to also note down potential obstacles – who are your competitors and what are their goals and metrics? This can help guide your strategy in order to maximise the potential of AI.

3. Find the best customers

In case you haven’t already noticed, all these tips stem from knowing your business from the inside-out.

If you want Google and AI to target the right audience for you, and more importantly – acquire quality leads, you need to first review your target audience. Segment your customers by determining their customer lifetime value (CLV).

With that information, AI can then takeover to help you analyse the data and further segment your customers into their interests, needs and purchase intent – all while automating and optimizing the process in the long haul. This in turn can help in creating content that is relevant to each target segment – that’s free A/B testing done for you in a short amount of time as compared to doing so manually.

You may discover new audiences, relationships and trends that you may not have otherwise uncovered.

Knowing how to do successful scripting and schema mark-ups can prove to be extremely helpful up to this point, especially since AI speaks in the same language as Google does.

4. Think long-term

When maximising AI and machine learning – you need to think long-term.

Often times, brands get too carried away with obtaining leads that they neglect their current pool of customers.

Think of the entire marketing funnel – instead of focusing only on acquiring new customers – optimise your campaigns by utilising AI to integrate retention and loyalty strategies into the mix.

5. See the bigger picture

It isn’t enough to view AI and machine learning as the one-stop solution to a successful campaign. It is important to view the data gathered and learnt as a whole – pulling together the analytics from all your current data sources in order to see the big picture.

After all, AI is still at its embryonic stages – brands should not be fully dependent on it for now – instead using it as a supplement to other proven tactics and strategies for implementing successful PPC campaigns.

Consider enrolling in a Digital Marketing Course– it is one of the best ways to fully grasp and master the different tools at your disposal.

Better together – despite all the obvious advantages that it offers, AI and machine learning can still be easily manipulated when exposed to faulty or biased data.

Until it is able to fully explore and discover data on its own, human-machine interaction will still be an important attribute of any robust PPC strategy for now.

Will your SEM campaign spark joy now? We think it just might.