PPC
Search Engine Land is your source for PPC news, trends and content. You’ll find a range of up-to-date and authoritative resources to help you work smarter and make better decisions. What is PPC? Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a digital marketing model where advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. This fundamental concept is crucial to understanding the world of online advertising. For an effective strategy, it’s important to understand how PPC and SEO can work together to improve your overall marketing efforts.
Our coverage
We provide the latest news in the PPC industry, keeping you informed about changes, updates, and emerging trends that can impact your campaigns. For example, leveraging AI-driven search advertising can be a game-changer for campaign success. You can also explore the best practices in paid search strategy to refine your campaigns. Check out our recent articles on topics like making display campaigns profitable and managing paid media budget allocation. Our content spans from beginner-friendly introductions to advanced strategies, ensuring we cater to all levels of PPC expertise.
Expert insights
What you read here is written by our experienced in-house team and subject matter experts from leading brands and agencies. This diverse group of contributors ensures you get well-rounded, expert perspectives on PPC topics. Explore our latest job opportunities in search marketing if you’re looking to take your career to the next level. Our experts cover a wide range of subjects, from PPC competitor analysis to winning video advertising creative. We pride ourselves on providing authoritative information to guide your PPC decisions and strategy.
Practical tips and strategies
Our content includes tactic-rich tutorials designed to help you work smarter and make better decisions in your PPC efforts. Whether you’re looking to optimize your campaigns or explore new strategies, you’ll find valuable guidance here. For example, our Google Analytics 4 guide for PPC dives deep into how data can drive better campaign performance. We dive deep into important issues like the high cost of PPC efficiency and provide insights on ad platform updates for B2B in 2024.
Data-driven decision making
We offer the latest data to support your PPC initiatives. Our content is designed to provide you with the information you need to make informed choices and improve your campaign performance. Leveraging Google Analytics 4 will help you navigate the evolving landscape of PPC measurement and optimization. 
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Dig deeper into PPC:
Why Google is pushing advertisers toward demand-led budgeting
Viral trends and weak brand loyalty can quickly shift demand. Google’s answer is flexible budgets backed by ROI targets and AI guardrails.
Google Ads loosens business name rules for some advertisers
Google is giving eligible advertisers more flexibility to use recognized brand names that don’t exactly match their destination domains.
Google Ads brings A/B testing to Performance Max asset groups
You can now run controlled creative experiments in PMax to measure whether changes to creatives actually improve performance.
Google Ads will automatically pull promotions from advertisers’ websites
Google will soon automatically turn eligible website deals and coupons into promotion assets for Search and PMax campaigns.
Google Ads adds AI-powered campaign localization for international expansion
Google's Generative AI can now translate Search campaign assets, keywords, images and landing pages for new international markets
ChatGPT adds virtual try-on for clothes and accessories
Shoppers can now visualize clothing and accessories on themselves and save products for later without leaving ChatGPT
Publishers’ Google ad-tech antitrust claims clear a major legal hurdle
A judge’s ruling keeps publishers’ antitrust claims alive, preserving their path to seek potentially billions in damages from Google.
Google clarifies ‘Destination not working’ ad policy with more examples
Google expanded its “Destination not working” guidance to help advertisers diagnose and fix ad disapprovals
Microsoft Advertising adds HubSpot integration ahead of holiday season
Microsoft latest updates help lets advertisers connect campaigns to revenue, scale B2B targeting and test changes with less manual work.
Google location asset requirements: What you need to know
Wrong address? Missing location? Disapproved asset? Here’s where to look before changing your Google Ads setup.
OpenAI expands ChatGPT Ads with bulk product campaigns and deeper reporting
ChatGPT Ads now offer faster product campaign creation, deeper conversion reporting and expanded access across Southeast Asia.
Google expands cross-channel conversion reporting to app campaigns
Advertisers can now include app conversions in performance and attribution reporting while managing their attribution independently.
Report: ChatGPT Ads are growing fast, but advertisers are still figuring them out
New research reveals how early advertisers are approaching creative, landing pages and campaign strategy
Amazon Ads taps Yelp to turn product purchases into local service leads
Amazon Ads is turning high-intent shopping signals into local service leads, connecting shoppers with Yelp professionals.
Is your Google Ads account ready for Q4?
Black Friday isn’t the time to discover problems with your tracking, product feed, or margins. Here’s what to sort out beforehand.
Why Performance Max isn’t a YouTube ad strategy for ecommerce
YouTube can create demand that Search and Shopping can’t capture. But it needs creative and measurement built for how the channel works.
Microsoft opens Excluded Content Terms to all advertisers
Advertisers can now block up to 1,000 unwanted page-title terms, adding another layer of control over where their ads appear.
The August 17th Post-Mortem: What Google’s Smart Bidding update really changed
Join us on October 15th where Mike Ryan shows how Google’s August 17 update reshaped ROAS, CPCs, budgets and advertiser behavior.
Google tests a new look for mobile ad sitelinks
Google is testing a redesigned mobile ad sitelink layout that makes individual links darker, clearer and more prominent.
PPC monitoring: What to check between audits
Catch PPC account changes, budget problems, and unusual performance between audits — without turning every fluctuation into an alert.
Microsoft Ads API adds deeper search reporting and more PMax controls
Microsoft’s latest API update gives advertisers deeper search-to-landing-page insights, device exclusions for PMax and more.
Google Ads API v25.2 adds competitive benchmarks and PMax upgrades
Advertisers are getting more data and control across competitive benchmarking, PMax, Search bidding and creator insights.
Google tests bigger Local Services Ads
Google may be giving local advertisers more visibility possibly meaning a growth of investment in its pay-per-lead ad business.
Google Ads adds IP address and timestamp matching to Customer Match
Google Ads adds IP addresses and timestamps to Customer Match, promising stronger matching and new privacy considerations.
When more PPC budget doesn’t equal more leads
If search is carrying your lead generation strategy, increasing spend won’t replace the awareness and trust built across other channels.
How to use Google Veo to create video ads for PMax and Demand Gen
Turn existing creative assets into short-form video, with tips for image selection, formats, messaging, and performance measurement.
How much of your Google Ads conversions come from AI Max?
Combine AI Max expanded matches and landing page matches to measure conversion contribution and identify campaigns worth investigating.
Google expands its list of local advertising codes
Google is giving advertisers more guidance on regional advertising rules across six international markets.
Google expands AI Brief and adds deeper AI Max reporting
Advertisers are getting more ways to guide AI Max and see exactly how its automation shapes Search ad journeys.
Retail media is evolving. Here is what marketers should value now
Navigating fragmented retail media networks is exhausting. Discover how to evaluate key partners, prove incrementality, and build a cohesive commerce strategy.
Google opens native AI checkout to eligible Shopify merchants
Eligible Shopify merchants can now be automatically enrolled in native checkout across Google’s AI shopping experiences.
Google Ads reframes Smart Bidding learning around 50 conversions
Google now says Smart Bidding learning can take up to around 50 conversions or three conversion cycles.
Google Analytics adds hostname allowlists to fight spam traffic
Advertisers can now keep analytics data cleaner by allowing traffic only from approved domains.
Google Ads to test gun accessory ads on Search in the U.S.
Select firearm accessories will become eligible for advertising under a limited U.S. policy pilot starting in October.
Display ad costs fall ahead of the holiday shopping rush
Lower display ad costs could give holiday marketers a cheaper way to reach value-conscious shoppers before competition intensifies.
Google Ads lets offline uploads fill gaps in tag-based conversions
Advertisers can now supplement tag-based conversions with offline data to improve measurement and bidding accuracy.
Smarter ways to visualize search marketing data in 2027
Better data storytelling puts performance changes in context, surfaces hidden patterns, and gives stakeholders a clearer path forward.
CPC’s up, conversions down? Orchestrate data to find performance shifts
Decision Intelligence joins your Google Ads or ChatGPT Ads data to the whole market and hands back the action, not another chart to read.
Google Merchant Center adds API support for product reviews
Merchants can now automate product review uploads and management through Google’s Merchant API.
Google Ads rolls out AI video dubbing in Asset Studio
Google ads now allows select advertisers to localize video campaigns across 33 languages and locales without costly reshoots.