Meta ad costs are now growing faster than Google’s, according to new data. For the first time in a while, Meta’s CPMs are increasing at a rate greater than Google’s.
Traffic is cheaper on Meta (less specific targeting = lower CPMs), but lead costs are higher. So Meta for upper-funnel, Google for lower-funnel still holds.
Why? Well, competition is growing, and Advantage+ is making it easier for people to spend more money - meaning more competition for inventory.
Keyword CPCs remain pretty steady, which makes sense; the supply/demand balance there will generally be similar YoY for 90% of keywords, though of course the more people turn to Generative AI for these queries, the more this will change. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a significant increase in CPCs over the next 12 months..
But back to Meta; those who are reliant on its platforms for leads or sales might want to have a bit of a rethink, or at the very least monitor costs closely as we go into the busiest - and costliest - time of the year.
Further Reading: Search Engine Land
Elsewhere in Digital
The open web is in decline. We talked about the increase in Zero Click search last week, but now Google’s own execs admit people are moving away from websites in favour of apps, social, and AI answers. As we said last week, the real exam question is less “can SEO survive?” and more “what role does a website play in a closed ecosystem?”
Google was fined €3.5bn in the EU for abusing its dominance in adtech. Meanwhile, Meta and TikTok successfully challenged new EU tech fees, forcing regulators back to the drawing board.
Google is now rolling out AI Mode in beyond English-language searches.
Reddit continues to work to become more attractive for publishers, with new features designed to give more visibility on post performance.
Social Media TodayMeta has made numerous changes to its Community-notes style feature (which has effectively replaced moderators). It’ll now notify users about corrections and fact checks. Elsewhere, Facebook is also bringing back the poke!
Finally, The Guardian this week reported on how thousands of humans are fine-tuning Google’s Gemini in real time, making it seem much smarter than it actually is.
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If you’re feeling particularly generous and enjoyed this edition, I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Otherwise, I’ll see you next week 🫶