Matthew Gibbons is a Senior Data & Tech Writer at WebFX, where he strives to help businesses understand niche and complex marketing topics related to SEO, martech, and more. With a B.A. in Professional and Public Writing from Auburn University, he’s written over 1,000 marketing guides and video scripts since joining the company in 2020. In addition to the WebFX blog, you can find his work on SEO.com, Nutshell, TeamAI, and the WebFX YouTube channel. When he’s not pumping out fresh blog posts and articles, he’s usually fueling his Tolkien obsession or working on his latest creative project.
How to use AI for PPC? AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and specialized keyword research tools can help identify optimal keywords faster than manual research, though dedicated keyword tools typically provide better results than general-purpose AI chatbots.
How can AI assist with PPC keyword research? AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and specialized keyword research tools can help identify optimal keywords faster than manual research, though dedicated keyword tools typically provide better results than general-purpose AI chatbots.
What role does AI play in bid optimization? Google’s Smart Bidding uses machine learning to automatically bid on keywords, saving time on manual bidding — but marketers should set clear guidelines and monitor AI actions closely since giving AI direct control over spending can be risky.
How does AI improve PPC data analysis? AI tools can process large amounts of PPC campaign data and generate visual reports with charts and graphs, helping marketers identify patterns and trends that inform future campaign optimization strategies — with 51% of U.S. marketers reporting AI has helped their data processing.
Should AI completely replace human PPC management? No — AI should assist rather than replace human marketers, as effective advertising requires genuine human connection, creative thinking, and psychological insights that AI cannot provide, making human oversight essential for long-term success.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly transformed the marketing world, with over 80% of marketers worldwide using some form of AI in their digital strategies. From content creation to customer outreach, AI is changing how campaigns are planned and executed.
If you’re looking to learn how to use AI for PPC, AI can simplify keyword research, optimize bids, create compelling ad copy, and analyze campaign performance. Below, we’ll explore the most effective ways to harness AI to boost your PPC results.
An essential part of any PPC campaign is keyword research. You need to know which keywords to target with your ads, or else you won’t have much luck reaching the right people.
Historically, that required you to spend a lot of time manually identifying all the most optimal keywords to target, but AI can help make that process a whole lot faster.
To start with, you can try asking AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT for keyword recommendations. However, these tools aren’t built for keyword research, so that may not be the best idea.
Alternatively, you can find various keyword research tools out there — some of them free — that are AI-powered. These AI PPC tools can help you identify more keywords in less time. Still, not all of these tools are great at their jobs, so choose carefully.
2. Draft headlines and descriptions
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT can draft copy, headlines, and descriptions. That’s not the best use case for these platforms, though.
Expert insights from
Chris V.Lead Results Innovation Consultant at WebFX
“You can use generative AI to draft headlines or descriptions that match your brand voice quickly.”
Instead, you can use these tools to assist you with writing headlines and descriptions for your paid ads. By telling ChatGPT (or whichever tool you use) what type of tone you want and what it should be about, you can get it to help you develop ideas.
Of course, we don’t recommend letting ChatGPT write all your ads for you from start to finish. You should use these tools as helpers, but at the end of the day, your headlines and descriptions should go through some kind of editing process by your team to ensure that they’re truly optimized for your target audience.
3. Optimize bids
Bid optimization is one of the biggest struggles of paid advertising. Thankfully, this is another area where using AI for PPC management can come in handy.
AI bid optimization isn’t as new as other forms of AI. It’s been around for a while now in the form of Smart Bidding, a feature you can find in Google Ads. However, it’s only improved as AI has continued to advance.
Expert insights from
Chris V.Lead Results Innovation Consultant at WebFX
“AI and Machine Learning have long been a part of advertising, particularly within Google Ads. With the recent advances, these are becoming more apparent.”
Essentially, Smart Bidding is where machine learning bids on keywords for you so you don’t have to spend as much time doing it yourself.
You’ll want to be careful with this, though, since it’s not a good idea to give AI direct control over your spending. If you choose to use Smart Bidding, be sure to set guidelines on what it can do with your account and keep a close eye on its actions over time. The same goes for any other AI features in Google Ads.
4. Predict future ad trends
When running a PPC campaign, it’s important to optimize your campaigns for future changes. If you have reason to believe that certain keywords will bring more traffic than others at a certain time of year, you’ll want to adjust your campaign strategy during that period.
The best way to plan for these changes is with predictive analysis. That’s where you look at past and current trends in your PPC campaigns to predict what they’ll look like in the future. This is something AI can be really helpful for.
With the right predictive analysis tool, you can get automatic reports detailing what will likely happen to your PPC going forward. That allows you to plan your campaigns accordingly.
5. Analyze landing pages
Another great tip on how to use AI for PPC is to harness it for landing page analysis. Different AI PPC tools exist that can scan web pages and give you feedback on how well-optimized they are.
Some of these tools might analyze text, but with AI, you can also analyze other aspects of your landing pages, including design, user experience, and conversion potential.
6. Analyze campaign data
Finally, one of the best ways to use AI in PPC is to analyze your data. In fact, 51% of U.S. marketers said that AI tools have helped them with their data processing.
There are a variety of AI PPC tools that can analyze large chunks of PPC data and generate reports. These tools can produce charts and graphs that let you quickly visualize your campaign performance data.
By visualizing your data, you can find patterns and trends showing how to optimize your PPC campaigns going forward. That will lead to higher-quality campaigns in the long run.
Benefits of using AI in PPC
You may be unsure why you should use AI in PPC at all. And the truth is, you don’t have to by any means.
Whether or not to use AI is a choice each individual business should make on their own. Having said that, there are some advantages to it. AI can improve PPC by:
Saving time
Eliminating human error
Streamlining processes
Analyzing data faster
And more!
These all make good reasons for harnessing AI in your PPC efforts.
Risks and challenges of using AI for PPC
Here are some significant risks and challenges to be aware of when using AI in your PPC campaigns:
Let’s look at each of those a little more closely.
1. Loss of control and transparency
One problem with letting AI handle your PPC campaigns for you (especially your bidding) is that it can result in a loss of control over your advertising. Not only can it lessen your control, but it can also make it harder for you to tell what’s going on with your ads.
That’s because AI tools like Google’s Smart Bidding can often function as a “black box,” leaving you unsure exactly how the algorithm is making decisions about your ads or budget. That can make it a struggle to adjust your strategy or troubleshoot issues.
2. Data quality and adaptability issues
AI relies heavily on data. That’s especially true when it comes to paid advertising, where the quality and volume of your ad data is crucial to setting bids and targeting the right audience. However, AI is known to have issues with data quality at times, and they can also be easily thrown off by biased historical data.
Furthermore, advertising needs can sometimes change quickly in response to sudden market shifts or seasonality. While human advertisers can adapt rapidly to those changes, AI models — which rely heavily on past data — will struggle to do so in a timely manner.
3. Reduced human insight and creativity
Using AI can cut down on time. Unfortunately, it can also cut down on creativity. For an ad to be effective, it has to do more than target the right keywords and set the right bids. It has to connect with its audience on a psychological level that drives clicks and conversions.
AI, for all its strengths, isn’t really capable of creating genuine human connection or tapping into people’s deep-seated needs and pain points. It’s also not capable of coming up with new and creative methods of speaking to your audience. Only humans can do that, so an overreliance on AI can hurt your advertising success long-term.
FAQs about using AI for PPC management
Get the answers to some common questions about AI for PPC below!
You have a couple of options when it comes to using AI for PPC keyword research. For one, you can simply use AI chatbots (like ChatGPT) to generate lists of recommended keywords for you. This isn’t necessarily the most effective method, but it’s certainly the simplest.
If you want a more reliable system for finding valuable keywords, though, you can take advantage of the many AI-powered keyword research tools out there, some of which are even free.
Google Ads enables you to let AI handle your bidding for you through Smart Bidding, but what’s the best approach to using that feature? While we can’t recommend a specific bidding approach, since that’s entirely dependent on your unique needs, we can recommend that you keep a close eye on your bidding strategy.
In general, it’s not a good idea to hand the AI too much control over your ad spend. Make sure to set clear guidelines on what it’s allowed to do with your account, and monitor its decisions closely so that you can hit the brakes the moment it starts to go rogue.
There are two separate questions we have to ask here. Can AI write PPC ads? Yes. Can AI write good PPC ads on its own? No. It’s okay to use AI as a writing assistant when creating your ad copy, but never let it write your ads all on its own. Ultimately, your ad copy should still be human-written if you want it to be effective at reaching your target audience. AI should be limited to making suggestions or revisions.
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Now that you know how to use AI for PPC, you can start gathering the right tools to help you upgrade your paid ad campaigns. But AI can’t do the job entirely for you — you’ll still have to put in plenty of work if you want effective PPC campaigns.
Alternatively, of course, you could hire a professional agency like WebFX. We’re a leading tech-enabled PPC and the best Baltimore PPC agency. We have over 29 years of experience in the world of digital marketing, and we can drive more revenue for your company with our AI PPC services.
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Matthew Gibbons is a Senior Data & Tech Writer at WebFX, where he strives to help businesses understand niche and complex marketing topics related to SEO, martech, and more. With a B.A. in Professional and Public Writing from Auburn University, he’s written over 1,000 marketing guides and video scripts since joining the company in 2020. In addition to the WebFX blog, you can find his work on SEO.com, Nutshell, TeamAI, and the WebFX YouTube channel. When he’s not pumping out fresh blog posts and articles, he’s usually fueling his Tolkien obsession or working on his latest creative project.
