Two Trees Team Takeaways: SMX Next

What is SMX Next?

For almost twenty years, the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) has been the leading search marketing conference, showing more than 150,000 marketers globally how it’s done. Covering topics such as search challenges, opportunities for the upcoming months and years, and expert-led Q&As, SMX Next is a must-attend for search engine marketing professionals like us!

On November 13th and 14th, 2024, Director of Paid Media Sophie Fell and Media Buyer Samuel Tran attended multiple sessions covering search marketing. So, what did the experts take away from the sessions at SMX Next 2024?

Use the 80/20 rule to navigate constant updates

2024 was a big year for paid search - dubbed one of the most volatile years for PPC in recent memory by Danny Goodwin, Search Engine Land’s Editorial Director - with multiple feature changes, evolutions, and devolutions of Google and Microsoft products, and even an entirely new UI to contend with! As paid search experts, keeping on top of it all can feel exhausting. 

That’s why ‘Outsmarting Google Ads: Insider strategies to navigate changes like a pro’ hosted by Amy Hebdon was a must-attend session for both Sophie and Samuel. Sophie’s key takeaway from the session was adopting the Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule) not only to help prioritize tasks but also to estimate ahead of time the potential impact of new updates and features and whether the team should spend time, effort, and energy in adopting them. 

For Samuel, his key takeaway was the importance of staying up to date with Google updates and understanding them better. Amy Hebdon stressed how confusing these updates can be and offered an AI solution, Nora -Paid Search News Decoder. This AI solution is a custom GPT created by Amy to scan articles on Google updates and then provide users with actionable insights on the topic. Not only can marketers understand Google updates better, but they can also walk away with next-step actions to be on top of the never-ending changes in search marketing. 

Be aware of biases in PPC

As the first day of SMX continued, Navah Hopkins gave marketers a wake-up call by addressing potential biases that they can have regarding Google ads practices. She highlighted skeptical perceptions of optiscores, ad strength, and bidding strategies as they translate to ROI and overall performance. This is where Samuel’s biggest takeaway came in.

According to Optmyzr data, despite marketers’ reluctance to optiscore recommendations, a correlation between optiscore adherence to higher ROAS does exist. Regarding ad strength, stronger ad-strength ads had more impressions, but that did not always translate to high CTR and CVR. As for smart or automated bidding, there were no significant results to prove that it is better or worse than manual bidding. Overall, Navah’s presentation proves that biases exist in the PPC world, thus making it crucial for marketers to follow practices based on data rather than old or outdated perceptions.

Leverage first-party audience data for 2025

Day two of SMX Next began with a star-studded lineup of PPC experts discussing 2025 PPC trends to get ahead of now. 

Jyll Saskin Gales kicked off the session by pointing out how paid search marketers are ‘losing control’,  and how Google, in particular, is evolving away from advertiser-controlled inputs such as audience targeting and search terms towards audience signals and search themes, respectively. Her top tip was to reduce advertiser reliance on Google’s audience types and signals and to ensure first-party data is integrated accurately with your paid search account. 

While Jyll noted this wasn’t a new tactic, plenty of advertisers are falling short here in 2024 - and we agree! Ameet Khabra then mentioned how the reversal on third-party cookie depreciation has meant advertisers are now ‘putting off’ leveraging their first-party data for even longer. 

Sophie noted that although first-party integrations may seem daunting to advertisers, the ability to build audiences from your brand's data offers a substantial competitive advantage.

Be aware of AI tools and know how to use them

In 2024, AI still remains a hot and evolving tool for PPC marketers. To help marketers stay on top of available AI tools, Holly Kelly presented nine different platforms, including ChatGPT, Claude, Canva, and Optmyzr. With AI,  PPC marketers can drastically cut the time it takes to plan, create, and analyze data, thus making it crucial for AI adoption in 2025 - another crucial takeaway for Samuel.

At the core of every AI tool, good vs lousy prompting is a driving factor in achieving the quality of results that users expect. Holly showed contrasting results when prompting  AI with vague requests versus giving it rich context using brand names, pain points, and target demographics to emulate. With good prompting the possibilities with AI  research and content creation are endless. It’s not enough to be aware of what AI tools are available; it is also essential to understand how to use AI properly with good prompting.

Overall, AI is here to stay, so it's only a matter of time before all PPC marketers incorporate it into their workflow. As AI evolves, new implementations will emerge, making PPC strategies more effective when paired with these tools. 

Summary

So, with hours of expert content digested, what did team Two Trees learn? Our biggest takeaways were using the 80/20 rule and trusted sources of news to prioritize adopting new features, being mindful of possible biases in PPC practices, continuing to encourage advertisers to fully integrate their first-party data with the search (and social!) platforms, and finally, how AI tools can benefit marketing workflow and results.

To watch the SMX Next sessions on catch-up, register here.