Pamela SapioDigital marketing tools and capabilities are always evolving—and PPC is a prime example.
It seems like every day, paid advertising platforms are telling us about an update or a new tool we have to use, so it can be easy to miss something if your eyes are not constantly scanning the headlines for the latest announcements.
Lucky for you, our strategists are on it!
Glen and Colby recently mentioned two Google Ads news bites that are important to know, especially since both are linked to the performance of your ad campaigns.
News bite #1: Say goodbye to Video Action campaigns
You can read the all about the change in this Google blog post, but here are the highlights:
As of April 2025, the option to create new VACs will no longer exist.
And beginning in July of this year, existing VACs will be upgraded automatically to Demand Gen campaigns.
Colby points out that in March, a migration tool was made available to help marketers manually upgrade their campaigns and carry over their historical data and learnings.
He adds (and you might have had the same thought as you were reading this) that it sounds a little bit like when Google set out to move everyone from Standard Shopping to Performance Max campaigns.
“And if we remember how that ended, in November they allowed us to deprioritize—or they deprioritized—PMax and allowed Shopping to go toe-to-toe with it,” he concludes. Meaning, as with all things Google Ads, stay tuned because you never know what they will decide next.
News bite #2: Misleading landing pages will be demoted
Glen was reading this article in Search Engine Journal and shared the highlights, mainly that irrelevant or misleading landing page content will be demoted in the search results.
He reminds viewers to always make sure your landing pages are:
- Fast
- Optimized for mobile
- Relevant to the keywords you are bidding on
Because otherwise, Google’s new upgraded prediction model will send your page to the back of the line, so to speak, if it thinks the content does meet user expectations. As a result, your conversion rates may take a serious hit.
“I feel like there’s no excuse at this point,” Colby adds. “That rule has been a rule for a while; you have to match your keyword, your ad, and your landing page. Gotta have that common theme.”
Exactly, says Glen—the key is consistency and congruency between the ad, the click, and the landing page. He mentions that at Solutions 8 we use a free tool called Microsoft Clarity that gives you insight into how long a user stays on your page, where they click, and where any potential roadblocks are. You can then compare that with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and figure out where you can make improvements.
For example, says Glen, if you have multiple sessions where people are bouncing in 10 or 15 seconds, you likely have a problem with your messaging. He goes on to say that conversion rate optimization (CRO) is very important these days.
“I often hear people say ‘Oh, we’ve got this new hack or this new method to hack the algorithm’ but at the end of the day, if your landing page for your offer is terrible, it doesn’t matter how good a strategy is, you’re not going to succeed. Simple as that.”
Stay tuned to the Solutions 8 blog for more Google Ads updates!
