How can data enhance search strategies and boost ROI?

Starting a Google Ads campaign is pretty easy these days, as long as you’ve got the basics of SEA down pat. But in the race for first place and budget optimisation, having the expertise of an SEA consultant makes all the difference. To ensure good positioning, mastery of Google Suite and bidding strategies is indispensable. Beyond this “classic” mode of search management, new approaches are developing thanks to the diversity of profiles agencies offer (data scientists, data engineers…). With resources like these, it’s now possible to multiply campaign performance by complementing the power of bidding algorithms.

The integration of business-centric data into ad-centric campaign management tools by SEA experts amplifies the power of algorithms by giving them more information to work with. Thanks to this process, advertisers can direct campaigns with great precision (bids, adjustments, distribution, personalisation) by cross-referencing available data deemed relevant by preliminary analyses. Algorithms work with custom databases that function according to each advertiser, his sector, his needs, etc. Note that data confidentiality is respected as it is only accessible to algorithms and not to Google or agency teams.

There are as many types of business data as there are companies, with particularities for each industry. While retail advertisers want to exploit turnover and ROI product data, tourism specialists aim to employ the principles of yield management by focusing on occupancy rate signals (hotel booking rates, airline seat occupancy, etc.).

Even industries that may seem less adapted to this type of functionality can maximise their results by integrating CRM data such as client life events (for anti-churn, upselling, or cross-selling purposes).
This means that any data likely to obtain a real-time photograph of an advertiser’s business situation is potentially exploitable.

And with real-time business data integration in Google Analytics 360, search campaign management can more closely reflect reality.

Some might say that business data isn’t new. It’s true that the SA360 interface has enabled collection and use of ancillary data in bidding strategies for several years now. But the innovation lies in using this data in real time to optimise strategies and maximise their profitability.

The power of this new approach is to use these signals that go beyond the media in our campaign management tools. Collaboration between SEA experts and data scientists is key for collecting and activating pertinent data for paid search campaigns. This means having “clean” and actionable databases available, as well as technical teams capable of implementing this new approach, either in an agency or with the advertiser. Today, few agencies can offer such a wide range of talents.

The major challenge for optimising search campaigns, and the reason why an agency is essential, lies in the processing and use of data. For the model to be efficient, statistical models must be precise and require careful focus to maintain the right balance between the quantity and quality of data used.