These Google Ads Strategies No Longer Work in 2022

Over the past 12 months Google Ads has made some major changes to their platform, in fact the past 12 months has seen the most dramatic changes in Google Ads since I started my first campaign back in 2010. 

 These changes include:

•  Replacing expanded text ads with responsive search ads
•  Updating the way their keyword match types function 
•  Introducing Performance Max campaigns 

Because of all these dramatic changes I want to take you through the top 3 Google Ads strategies that no longer work in 2022.

And the first one is:

1. Ad Groups Based around match types

This strategy became really popular in around 2017 where people would have the 3 different ad groups targeting the same Keyword theme, for example if you were targeting “baby earmuffs” you would set-up 3 different ad groups targeting:

•  Broad match
•  Phrase match
•  Exact match 

Keywords for the “baby earmuffs” theme and this was an effective strategy as you could review the data and then just simply pause the underperforming Ad Group to focus more budget on the best performing match type.

However, with Google changing their keyword match types to now targeting keyword based on “meaning”.

This strategy no longer works because your exact match keywords can now target search inquires that don’t even include the same keyword as long as Google deems that they have the same meaning!

The updated strategy to use now is to use the 1 x Keyword Theme method where you are grouping keywords with the same meaning into the 1 ad group and then completing regular search term audits to add in extra negative Keywords so that you can filter out any unrelated or unprofitable search terms. 

The second strategy in Google Ads that no longer works is:

2. Setting your CPA conversion value targets too early

The Google recommendations tab will encourage you to start adding in a CPA or ROAS targeting inside the first 3-4 weeks which is absolutely crazy - and this is a discussion that I had with Google Ads here in Australia and while the staff member agreed with me he said there was no way to stop this recommendation popping up in accounts. 

It is important to understand that Google is giving you this recommendation based on indexed data from other competitors. 

 So if they are giving you a CPA target of $15 this is because other competitors that Google deem are in the same market as you have an average CPA of $15 BUT the problem with this:

•  The competitors that Google is using might not be direct competitors 
• The competitors might have different conversion settings. 

For example you might have a competitor who includes lower level conversion actions like Click to Call or store visits in their primary conversions while you might only be targeting sales & transactions. 

While there are other factors as well you can see from these 2 examples that this CPA recommendation is not based on your actual account Performance or the goals that you want to achieve. 

So the correct way to use a CPA or ROAS target is to first:

•  Focus on Maximise Clicks
•  Then switch to Maximise Conversion or Maximise Conversion Value in the first 15 - 90 days of the campaign with the decision being based on when you start to see conversions most days
•  From this point the focus is to then use a CPA or ROAS target once you see your CPA or ROAS performance stagnate so for example you can’t CPA 

The final Google Ads Strategy that is does not work in 2022 is:

3. Using a “catch all” shopping campaign

While I have never been a fan of this strategy as I much prefer to add a structure to my shopping campaigns through product category based ad groups & product groups this is a recommendation that Google is pushing more & more.

The reason for why this does not work is because Google will target products with the highest impression share NOT the highest number of conversions & CTR, so you get the result where the majority of your budget is spent on products with a lower CTR & Conversion rate than other products. 

So right now in 2022 and as we head into 2023 you need to understand that success in Google Ads is built around using the correct strategy and structure for not only setting up your Google Ads campaigns BUT also optimising your campaigns the right way.