2016 brought its fair share of changes for paid search advertisers.  From the removal of the right-rail sidebar to the increased real-estate provided by expanded text ads, there was no shortage of AdWords and SERP updates in the ever-changing world of search marketing. Hopefully by now your paid search campaigns have taken advantage of these new features and, like us, you’re asking yourself “what’s next?”

Next year will undoubtedly continue to present new exciting features and opportunities for search engine marketers.  Here are a few to look out for:

Similar Audiences for Search

If you’ve had past success using remarketing lists or are looking to build brand awareness by acquiring new customers that fall into your brand’s targeted audience segments, then Similar Audiences for Search may be a good fit for your business.  This new feature allows advertisers to tap into Google’s user data to serve unique ads to users with similar search query behavior as your current site visitors.

Promotion Extensions

Promotion extensions allow search advertisers to easily highlight sales or discounts without having to update the ad copy in every piece of creative.  Perfect for holiday sales or limited time offers, the promo extension creates a linkable piece of text within your ad to display your company’s current offer and a promo code, if necessary.

Click-to-Message Extensions

Looking for a quick answer and don’t want to deal with the hassle of speaking to salespeople or customer service reps?  AdWords is introducing message extensions that allow customers to engage with businesses through texting.  With one tap of the finger on your mobile ad, customers can send you a text to book appointments, request quotes or get quick answers to frequently asked questions.