1. This document and the information in it are provided in confidence, and may not be disclosed to any third party.
Trends in
Paid
Search:
Navigating the Digital
Landscape in 2024
October 2023

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SREEKANT LANKA
• 20+ years of cross-functional leadership experience
• Currently SVP Digital Solutions at iQuanti
• Previously, headed Programmatic Account Strategy for
Google
• Guest faculty at multiple business schools
• TEDx speaker

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About iQuanti
iQuanti ignites powerful and predictable digital marketing performance for global brands with an
approach rooted in data science and deep vertical knowledge.
• iQuanti offers a unique blend of channel management services, strategic consulting expertise, and proprietary product
offerings to empower brands to exceed their customer acquisition, engagement, and conversion goals.
• Founded in 2008, iQuanti now has 600+ employees across New York, Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco, as well as
Bangalore, London, Singapore, Mexico City and Toronto. In 2022, iQuanti’s top performance marketing results were
recognized on multiple global platforms including the Global Agency Awards, UK Search Awards, and International
Performance Marketing Awards. iQuanti was named to the Inc.5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the
U.S. for the ninth time in 2023.

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We drive strong ROI across the spectrum of digital marketing solutions
Digital Consulting Demand Generation Experience Optimization Data Science & Analytics
Services
Strategic roadmaps,
benchmarking, targeting
and cross-channel strategy
to drive rapid revenue
growth.
Driving qualified traffic
through the effective use of
digital marketing channels
and campaign optimization.
Engaging visitors and
converting them through
website personalization and
optimization, and mobile
optimization.
Providing a complete view into
your marketing effectiveness
through measurement
solutions, and actionable
audience insights.
Proprietary
Products &
Solutions
Digital Marketing
Assessment &
Benchmarking
Data-driven
performance and
impact assessments
for digital media
investments
SEO driven by
Predictive
Analytics
Holistic Search
Optimization
Solutions
Precision Targeting
Solutions
User Journey Analysis
& Personalization
CRO/Testing
Design &
Development
Foundational Analytics and
Measurement
Advanced Analytics and
Measurement
Staff augmentation
for banks

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IRINA KLEIN
• 20+ years of experience in Marketing, Strategy
and Partnerships
• Currently Sr. Managing Director & Head, Digital
Marketing at OneMain Financial
• Previous held leadership roles at Ditech, Digitas
Health, SAP, Unisys, etc.
• Board Member, Customer Experience at Rutgers
University-New Brunswick

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OMF Intro

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What are we covering today?
1 Changes in User Behavior and Search Landscape
2 Implications in Paid Search
3 Privacy Changes and Implications
4 Takeaways for 2024

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Changing User Behavior & Search Landscape

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Gen-Z: Most evolved Search users, likely to adapt the fastest to changing Search
landscape
• Gen-Z are evolved searchers, lead
the pack in trying new, varied ways
to search
• Search for products across
platforms: marketplaces, Social
Media, Search engines
• Highest Voice assistant
penetration among the Gen-Z
(60+%) (Insider Intelligence)
• Use longer search terms (4.9)
vs. rest of the groups (4.2) (Yardi
Corporate Blog)
• Gen-Z will most likely be the fastest
adapters of the changing Search
Landscape

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Multi-modal search likely to be more common as adoption of Voice & Visual search
increase
• Visual & Voice search are gradually
seeing increased adoption.
• With platforms making Voice &
Visual search more intuitive &
growing prominence of Social Media
in product searches, multi-modal
Search is likely to be more common
in future

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Search queries are likely to be more conversational in nature as SGE becomes
mainstream – almost like someone is asking a human, a question!
Searches will become more conversational
With the integration of LAMDA and ChatGPT, models will engage in
a free-flowing way about a seemingly endless number of topics.
Granular prompts will define use cases of AI
AI will synthesize insights for questions where there’s no
one right answer. AI-powered searches will distill
complex information & multiple perspectives into easy-
to-digest formats.

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Conversational, visual, AI-powered: The future of Google search
Google’s new way of responding to
search queries could change the way
people get information

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Today’s Customer: New implications and concerns
As younger consumers increasingly seek more interactivity, especially in search, financial services companies
need to adapt to meet these expectations. There are some newish implications and considerations for financial
services companies, but many of them have always been there...
New Implications
MobileFirst Approach Chatbots & Virtual Assistants Increased Social Media
Engagement
Ever Present Concerns
Accurate Real-time Information Feedback Mechanisms Simplified Onboarding Process

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Implications on Paid Search

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Paid ads listings placement with the new SGE environment
Possible Impact
• Lower CTR on Brand Search Ads
• Increased impression for PMAX
campaigns with newer native
formats
• Incremental CTR with SGE
• Limited information on Tracking

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Increased expansion on campaign and keyword types needed to ensure coverage
for new search queries
SGE: New ways of searching are likely to further increase
the variations Google sees each day,
A campaign structure with only Exact Match may not
offer sufficient coverage; queries could be missed.
Supplement with Performance Max and Broad Match
to fill in the gaps
Layer with Smart Bidding strategies to leverage AI to
make the best bid decisions. Utilize Value Based
Bidding to feed the best signals to the system.

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Exact Match has utilized AI to expand its matching ability
In some accounts, exact match keywords have matched with over 350 different search queries.
• Unlike its original form, exact match keywords are now triggering
multiple queries.
• This expanded matching helps Google ensure the wide variations of
search terms generated by SGE are targeted with ads.
• However, multiple matches can present an issue when different
themes are matched, displaying less relevant ad copy as a result.
• Using negatives to guide the matching to the correct ad groups, or
expanding RSA ad copy to include these themes will help improve
performance.

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Google has been leveraging AI to help advertisers meet their goals with Smart
bidding
Smart Bidding evaluates billions of combinations of signals and uses
AI to set the right bid for every search query
1
Broad Match - Google using AI to extend
its reach beyond exact and phrase match
by identifying related queries to reach
more customers and drive better
performance with broad match
Responsive Search ads: Google uses AI to mix and match creative
assets to provide the best experience for user
2

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Value based bidding showing promising results when configured with correct
signals for consumer banking products
Value Based
Vs.
Volume Based
Value Based Bidding: Quality over
Quantity
• Target High Value Prospects
• Better ROI
• Require less data
Up to
279%
ROAS lift
Observed for BFS accounts’ Non-Brand Search campaigns on
tROAS vs. simultaneously running tCPA campaigns. Both were
operating at similar CPA levels

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Google launched Performance Max in Nov 2021; A fully AI-powered campaign
type to tap into incremental conversion opportunities
Combine your marketing expertise with the
power of Google AI to maximize profitability
AI enables businesses to respond to dynamic shifts in consumer
demand in real time, and to present valuable customers with the
most relevant ads possible as they toggle among channels

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OneMain Financial is driving incremental reach beyond Google search via
Performance Max
Before PMAX in the
Mix
Source: Google
With PMAX reach has been expanded on Google
properties targeting high intent users across
Google networks (including search)
IMPACT
• Incremental Reach
• AI-optimized Ad Delivery
• Comparable acquisition cost with
Generic Search

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Google introduced "automatically created assets for responsive search ads" to combat
creative fatigue and improve ad performance
PROS
• Improved User Experience
• Higher Conversion Rate
• Automated Asset Creation
CONS
• Limited Control
• Requires Oversight
Keywords
Relevant
Web pages
Existing
Headlines &
Descriptions
Landing
Pages
Google creates
new headlines and
descriptions

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Bing launched Prometheus AI model, bringing the best of Search & Chat together
to deliver an elevated search experience
Bing Search
Bing Index Ranking Answers
Source: Search Engine Land
Open AI’s Most Advanced GPT Models
• Query broken down into simpler bite-sized searches
• Use Bing search index to get up to the minute latest
information
• Ranking algorithm used to decide what information/
documents to be used by GPT in the answer
• Show answers & results like weather, sports scores,
even Bing search ads directly in Bing chat answers
• Also includes citations & links to the content (unlike
ChatGPT)

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Privacy Changes & It’s Implications

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Enable effective measurement & enrich inputs to ML by setting up privacy safe
practices
Ineffective conversion tracking, will make Paid Search less effective.
Challenge
Advertisers face a drop in attributed conversions and overall performance due to the implementation of
consent banners, impacting smart bidding, attribution, ROAS, and revenue.
How does it work?
Google Consent Mode helps advertisers maintain measurement accuracy after implementing consent
banners, ensuring no loss in data while upholding user privacy.
Consent Mode introduces two new tag settings for managing cookies for advertising and analytics,
customizing Google tags’ behavior based on user consent, and measuring conversions effectively.
Solution
• Aids effective measurement by recovering data gaps through conversion modeling.
• Safeguards privacy by enabling Google tags to operate in a consent-aware manner.
Key Benefits

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Effectively leverage 1st party data for improved Paid Search performance
Google Ads Data Manager
Activate RLSAs by effectively using first party
data
Bolster smart-bidding by passing right signals,
suppressing poor signals for high value
acquisitions
Optimize campaign assets, such as ad copy
Optimize keywords

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Takeaways

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Key Takeaways
SEO + SEM
• Leveraging SEO + SEM to look at search holistically – especially in the age of integrated SGE.
• User are looking for the right information and opportunity to look at search from not just
acquisition but full funnel.
Leverage Automation
• Feeding ML with adequate right signals towards higher value acquisitions.
• Leveraging automation with guardrails to prevent media wastage.
• Maximize 1PD usage to drive Paid Search efficacy.
Keywords
• Monitor the shift in keywords and their intent. Long-tail, question-based and conversational
keywords may become more important.
• Address intent with relevant content topics. Topics with no search volume but informationally
relevant might start getting visibility.
Monitor KPIs
• As SERP is evolving, we need to monitor the key metrics and how they are evolving.
• Keywords, CTR, snippets visibility will continue to change and will need monitoring.

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Key takeaways for companies stitching digital and offline data
Unified Customer Journey Offline Conversion Tracking Customer Feedback & Surveys
Staff Training Testing & Optimization

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Bangalore
Singapore
London
Toronto
New York
Chicago
San Francisco
Mexico City
Sreekant.L@iquanti.com
Connect on LinkedIn
iQuanti.com
Thank You!