Digital consumers signal their individuality in all kinds of ways. Amsive Digital builds winning marketing strategies based on a deep understanding of those consumers and what drives their decision-making across all channels. Know who your customers are. Know where to find them. Know how to connect with them. Know if it’s working. That’s how Amsive Digital amplifies results and deliver award-winning digital advertising, SEO, social, analytics and digital creative services. AI has captured the public’s attention across the digital landscape, but it’s far from the only factor shifting how we interact online. Take a deeper look at how to leverage automation and machine learning to supplement your work while also navigating global trends that affect how we do business.

AI tools can create significant efficiencies for SEO, but misuse can lead to serious problems. There’s also more than just AI affecting the SEO landscape in 2023. Search results are governed by a series of ranking systems, all working concurrently to gauge and determine the best results for each term, and they’re routinely updated throughout the year. Both the Product Reviews Update and the Helpful Content Update have had a dramatic impact on rankings on a range of sites. On top of these changes, Google is seeing potentially serious competition as a search platform from Bing, Amazon, TikTok, etc., for the first time in recent memory.

When it comes to the new chatbots, Amsive Digitals know more about Microsoft’s New Bing than we do about Google’s Bard, given that the latter has yet to be released. Bard’s initial release will use Language Model for Dialogue Applications (or LaMDA for short), and Google has said that they’re focused on AI ethics and responsibility. Amsive Digital is waiting to see how effective it is when it finally launches, and the chatbots it currently has access to have some room for improvement.

Overview of a Shifting PPC Landscape

Inflation, fueled by global supply chain issues, political unrest, uncertain cultural climates, and more, is impacting people and businesses in the United States, Europe, and across the globe. It’s hard to find an industry unaffected by this, and it’s had a noticeable impact on consumer behavior. With rising costs of transportation, technology, ticket prices, energy, and more, it’s changed how people are spending their money.

One notable trend is that consumers are “trading down” and purchasing less expensive brands, primarily in product categories like food, personal care, and alcohol. They’re less likely to invest in high-ticket items and services, favoring options that offer more longevity.

Q. How to approach PPC in an uncertain climate

While today’s climate is undeniably concerning for businesses looking to sell goods and services, one of the best things you can do right now is to continue investing in advertising. Pull back on spending if necessary, but stopping altogether can be seriously detrimental.

A study of the 2007-2009 recession using modeled data on 200 brands showed that those that completely eliminated their advertising during that period took nearly five years to return to pre-recession levels of sales revenue. Companies that pulled back on their spending somewhat recovered in about six months, and those who continued investing in advertising throughout the recession actually saw a growth in profitability in the coming months and years.

There are a variety of factors at play here, but at the heart of it is that by eliminating ad spend, these companies lost equity with Google Ads and opened up that shelf space to competitors, and needed a longer learning curve to regain their lost step once they restarted their advertising campaigns.

As businesses navigate this uncertain climate, it’s important to optimize with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer.

It’s not about outspending your competition, it’s about outsmarting them. Work on improving the quality of your traffic by qualifying it before it gets to your website by getting back to the basics: negative keywords, keyword expansion, and testing.

Improve optimization for deeper KPIs if applicable, and invest in new advertising avenues like TikTok and Instagram. Gen Z increasingly turns to these platforms for their searches rather than Google. With competitive pricing on these platforms and unparalleled engagement, there’s huge potential for an improved and more focused reach.

Q. How automation + AI comes into play

These tools are already changing how some of the largest technology companies on the planet are planning for the future, and it’s important to understand the opportunities available through them, at the very least. Investing in these tools and pairing them with skilled people to put them to work to find and capitalize on opportunities at a rapid pace in the marketplace can give you an edge over your competition.

Q. How PPC and SEO Can Work Collaboratively

In order to best offset the effects of today’s uncertain climate, pairing SEO and PPC knowledge together can help both aspects’ efforts go farther than they would on their own. Sharing knowledge is key — by sharing search query reports and identifying keywords that can be mutually beneficial, it’s possible to identify points of progress. In many instances, certain keywords can be too expensive or competitive to bid on, but it may be possible to rank high for organically.

There are other areas where paid and organic search overlap, including landing page optimization, GMB listings, Meta information, and more. Ultimately, the key thing to keep in mind is that whether we’re PPC, SEO, Social, or PR, all Amsive Digital is doing is driving quality traffic to a site just using different methods.

Michael Coppola, Founder and CEO

“Together, we help our clients achieve tangible, measurable results. Focused on business outcomes — we bring a unique set of expertise and skills to the party.”