Reducing support for technical regulations – how does this affect PPC?

The proportion of Americans advocating more regulation for technology companies has fallen sharply since 2021.

In April 2021, 56% of Americans wanted more regulation. This year, that number falls to 44%.

Percentage of Americans who want to less government regulation in large technology companies has doubled, now one in five Americans is in favor of less regulation.

In this article, you will learn how this could affect PPC.

What causes the shift of the narrative?

There has been a lot of controversy over the last few years about the amount of free speech on social media platforms.

Some of the main controversies that may come to mind:

• Prohibition of individuals on social platforms due to offensive or hate speech
• Technology giants are buying media
• Combating misinformation and fact-checking

Twitter probably comes to mind when you hear that individuals are banned. However, Twitter is not the only culprit of the controversy.

Censorship is also a concern, with 77% of Americans believing that it is very or somewhat likely that social media sites are deliberately censoring views they find controversial.

How does this affect PPC in the long run?

Because there is likely to be less regulation in the future, this means that the media and advertising platforms have to maintain control over what they offer (or do not offer) to advertisers and users.

Advertisers have already noticed shifts in regulation or a lack of regulation in some respects.

Google (and other companies) implement policies that focus on consumer experience and privacy in favor of regulation.

This affects PPC in several ways:

• Removal of third party cookies
• Limit platform targeting options
• Wider initial targeting
• Search terms privacy in Google Ads

Removal of third party cookies

By removalthird party cookies, advertisers need to start building their first person lists. First person lists are a key component of re-targeting individuals in the future.

If you are wondering how to compile first person lists, you may need to start changing your PPC strategy.

Many companies see PPC as a channel for getting the last click. If your business has a longer sales cycle, try shifting your strategy and incorporating awareness tactics.

Also, consider measuring soft conversions to help you create first-person lists to guide your user to a potential purchase.

Limited and broader ad targeting options

If you work in the Meta advertising platform (formerly Facebook), you’ve probably come across what I like to call the “black line of death”:

Meta limits a number of ad targeting options, especially in the demographic area. Areas where I saw limitations include:

• Job titles
• employers
• Work functions

In addition, the platform introduced non-discriminatory practices. However, in some cases, this can reduce the effectiveness of your PPC strategy for advertisers.

For example, a local company wants to post a job advertisement for a foreman or construction worker.

They know that their target audience for this work is:

• men
• Age 25-50 years
• Within 30 miles of town

Now that they are trying to target this demographic of audiences, they have now immediately encountered disapproval of ads due to discriminatory practices in their view.

In order to show this job ad, they must now open their ad targeting to a wider audience, making their targeting and ad spending generally less effective.

If you are a small business, every dollar counts. You don’t have the money to waste on ineffective advertising.

Removals of search terms

Almost every advertiser has dealt with the lack of transparency of search terms in the last year.

In some cases, Google hides more than 60% of the search queries in your account for so-called “low search volume” or “non-converting search terms.”

However, advertisers know this is not the case. Google hides search terms that actually convert, and advertisers have no insight into what they’re looking for.

In particular, when moving to broad matching, advertisers need these guidelines to help them make better business decisions.

What can you do?

When it comes to removing features like ad targeting or search terms, my main recommendation is to speak up. If you have a representative on these platforms, use them to your advantage. Let your voice be heard.

Google has begun to take into account advertiser feedback, as evidenced by their revisions to the future sandbox of privacy.

In addition, please contact the Google Ads contact person Twitter. This is an opportunity to contact someone directly on Google about your questions or concerns.

As we move toward less (or more, depending on how you look at it) regulation in technology, you may need to rethink how PPC works for you.

Instead of looking at PPC as a last-click acquisition channel, look at it as an awareness-raising tool and a way to complement your overall marketing strategy.

Don’t keep your PPC efforts in the silo. This limits the relevance of this channel and ultimately the success of PPC,

---

Selected image: Azian Stock / Shutterstock