Key Takeaways

1. Evolution of Search Behavior:

   • In 2020, 98% of online questions were asked via search engines.
   • In 2024, search engines account for 61%, AI chatbots 30%, and social media 7%.
   • Only 8% of searches are in question format.

2. Challenges with PPC for Awareness:

   • Traditionally conversion-oriented
   • No discovery process
   • Lack of quick reach at scale
   • Attribution issues

3. Advantages of Social & Video for Awareness:

   • Wealth of targeting options
   • Discoverable via hashtags, topics, trends
   • Product in use & lifestyle imagery
   • Interactive content formats

4. Importance of Diversification:

   • Critical due to regulation changes, privacy settings, product changes, and algorithm preferences

5. Finding the Right Questions for Ads:

   • Focus on problems you can solve and questions you can answer with your product/service
   • Use question starters: when, where, which, why, how, what, can, are
   • Utilize tools like answerthepublic.com and alsoasked.com
   • Analyze customer testimonials and feedback

6. Effective PPC Strategies for Answering Questions:

   • Create granular, closely themed ad groups
   • Use a separate campaign with a dedicated budget (5-10% of total)
   • Implement target impression share bidding
   • Offer direct answers or solutions in headlines
   • Consider dynamic keyword insertion
   • Use business names, logos, relevant images, reviews, and price/promo assets

7. Measuring Top of Funnel PPC Success:

   • Focus on viewability over engagement and conversion
   • Key metrics: impressions, search impression share (SIS), SIS lost (budget), SIS lost (rank)

Action Items

1. Research relevant search terms and queries:

   • Use question starters to brainstorm potential queries
   • Utilize tools like Answer the Public and AlsoAsked
   • Analyze customer testimonials and feedback for common questions

2. Create closely themed ad groups:

   • Group similar questions and topics together
   • Ensure each ad group has a specific focus

3. Craft ad copy to demonstrate solutions and answer questions:

   • Offer direct answers or solutions in headlines
   • Consider using dynamic keyword insertion
   • Pin headlines to create coherent responses

4. Define measurement KPIs and set expectations:

   • Focus on viewability metrics rather than conversions
   • Key metrics: impressions, search impression share, and lost impression share

5. Create a new top of funnel campaign:

   • Set up a separate campaign with its own budget (5-10% of total)
   • Use target impression share bidding

6. Implement ad extensions and assets:

   • Add business names, logos, and relevant images
   • Use reviews in content or as extensions
   • Include price and promo assets
   • Utilize sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets for additional context

7. Set up regular optimizations:

   • Review key metrics such as impressions and search impression share
   • Compare achieved impression share vs. target
   • Check if target impression share is hitting max bids
   • Review search term reports regularly
   • Maintain closely themed ad groups

8. Monitor and adjust the strategy:

   • Regularly review performance and make necessary adjustments
   • Be prepared to adapt to changes in search behavior and platform updates

Remember: The goal of top of funnel paid search advertising is to raise awareness and provide valuable information to potential customers early in their journey. Focus on answering questions and solving problems rather than pushing for immediate conversions.