In the past few years, PPC automation has gone from a nice-to-have to a must-have for advertisers looking for the best account performance. You need automation not only to increase efficiency and reduce costs but also to secure more control and greater visibility into your accounts, considering that the major ad platforms have become more of a black box in recent years.
However, the biggest challenge is finding the right automation tool for your needs. A tool is a good fit if it puts you in control instead of just being a reskinned — insert an ad platform editor name — UI.
With so many tools available, each has its strengths and weaknesses, catering to different levels of expertise, campaign complexity, and budget constraints. Finding the right one requires careful consideration of factors like ease of use, automation capabilities, compatibility with your existing platforms, and pricing structures.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- What exactly is PPC Automation
- Why do you need it, and
- What are the best PPC automation tools available in the market today with varying levels of capabilities?
So, What Is PPC Automation?
PPC automation is the use of technology to maximize your time and resources by delegating mundane, repetitive, or time-consuming tasks to the machines while you focus on monitoring campaigns and overseeing the strategy.
Here are some examples of time-consuming tasks that can be automated: bid and budget management, finding and fixing errors in campaigns, automatically creating campaigns and ad groups, generating reports, and automatically writing and testing ads.
Why Do You Need PPC Automation?
Check out this chart below. It shows all the major changes and capabilities Google Ads has added from late 2020.
As you can see, Google has been on a roll with several updates in recent years thanks to the advancements in AI and machine learning. Microsoft Ads, Amazon Ads, Meta Ads, and the like have also followed suit in this department.
So advertisers wanting to drive the best results while keeping pace with so many changes have had to resort to automation. While a lot of advertisers have adopted these changes, a majority of them are not satisfied with the results.
That’s because there’s a sentiment amongst some advertisers that automation benefits the ad engines more than the advertisers.
The good news is you can make them work for you, with the help of automated scripts or a robust third-party PPC automation tool that understands the principle of automation layering: in other words, the tool you’re using should provide you with the control, security, and visibility you need for your accounts.
What Should You Look For in a PPC Automation Tool?
You need to look at four areas while looking for a PPC automation tool irrespective of your business type and size.
Now let’s look at some of the best PPC automation tools in the market. We’ve listed 8 tools here after a thorough research.
Best PPC Automation Tools
Optmyzr
Pricing: From $208/month ($10K spend, upto 25 accounts)
Rating: Rated 4.6/5 on G2 and 4.7/5 on Capterra
Optmyzr is a powerful, award-winning PPC management software that gives search marketers the tools they need for detailed insights, optimization, reporting, and automation. It is built for accounts of any size, diversity, or complexity.
From search to shopping to Performance Max, you can run Google Ads campaigns the way each account demands with Optmyzr.
And if you think of PPC as more than just Google, you’ll advertise with creativity and insight across several platforms. Our proven automation capabilities mean you can supervise and run campaigns your way, even when you’re working on other things.
Optmyzr’s Key Features
- Support for Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon Ads
- Ability to manage cross-platform budgets
- Powerful rule-based automation using the Rule Engine
- Ability to optimize Smart Bidding
- Powerful monitoring, auditing, reporting, bidding, budget management, and analysis capabilities
- In-depth tools for Responsive Search Ads, Value-Based Bidding, and Shopping
- Support for Performance Max campaigns (including support for scripts)
- PPC vertical benchmarks, competitor, and auction insights for Google Ads
- Integration with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zapier
What Kinds of Teams Use Optmyzr?
Optmyzr is used by a variety of teams such as:
- Digital marketing agencies: Helps scale their operations and improve their client service by providing them with the tools they need to manage multiple PPC campaigns efficiently.
- In-house marketing teams: Helps save time and improve their PPC performance by automating many of the tasks involved in managing campaigns. This frees up team members to focus on more strategic initiatives.
- Enterprise marketing teams: Helps manage their PPC spending much better by providing them with data-driven insights and recommendations.
- Individual PPC consultants: Helps streamline their workflow and manage multiple campaigns without the need for extensive resources.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Offers powerful automation layering capabilities to protect your accounts and give you back control
- Monitors anomalies and automatically notifies account owners
- Supports real-time data refresh
- Helps you build shopping campaigns 10 times faster than Google Ads
Cons
- Capabilities for Meta Ads are not on par with other paid social tools in the market
- Lacks support for LinkedIn, TikTok, and other social media platforms
Sign up for our 14-day free trial today to give Optmyzr a try. You will also get the resources you need to get started and more. Our team will also be on hand to answer questions and provide any support we can.
Skai
Pricing: On request
Rating: Rated 4/5 on G2 and 4.4/5 on Capterra
Skai is a cloud-based marketing solution, which helps organizations create, launch, and manage PPC marketing campaigns on a unified portal.
Skai’s Key Features
- Support for Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Pinterest, and LinkedIn Ads
- Powerful automation, RSA, audits, and reporting capabilities
- Integration with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zapier
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Good rule-based automation, RSA capabilities, and audits
- Good reporting features
- Ideal for enterprise teams
Cons
- Expensive, complicated pricing and free trial structure
- No script support for Google Ads Performance Max campaigns
- Has a longer support response time (6-24 hours) than Optmyzr (2 hours)
Read: How Skai compares to Optmyzr
Adalysis
Pricing: From $99/month ($50K spend, unlimited accounts)
Rating: Rated 4.8/5 on G2 and 4.6/5 on Capterra
Adalysis is a PPC management solution designed to help marketers manage advertising campaigns on Google and Bing search engines.
Adalysis’s Key Features
- Support for Google and Microsoft Ads
- Great tools for budgeting, bidding, auditing, and reporting
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Periodic campaign/account health checks
- Fast and intuitive onboarding
Cons
- No support for Amazon Ads and Meta Ads
- Limited capabilities for Performance Max, value-based bidding, shopping, and rule-based automation
- Doesn’t integrate with Microsoft Teams, or Zapier
Read: How Adalysis compares to Optmyzr
Marin
Pricing: From $2000/month (50 accounts)
Rating: Rated 3.8/5 on G2 and 3.4/5 on Capterra
Marin is a campaign management tool that helps marketers create & optimize campaigns for Google, Facebook & Amazon Ads.
Marin’s Key Features
- Good rule-based automation, RSA capabilities, and audits
- A good number of tools for shopping
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Powerful budgeting and reporting tools
- Really good product training content
Cons
- Marin’s bid management seems very black-box with no ability to apply your own insights
- Limited capabilities for Performance Max and value-based bidding
- Marin’s solutions for search, social, and reporting are very fragmented with complicated pricing
- The access to their tool is gated by a mandatory demo
- Poor reviews on G2 (3.8) and Capterra (3.4) compared to Optmyzr (4.7 G2 / 4.6 Capterra)
- Doesn’t integrate with Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zapier
Read: How Marin compares to Optmyzr
Revealbot
Pricing: From $99/month ($10K spend)
Rating: Rated 4.4/5 on G2 and 4.5/5 on Capterra
Revealbot helps to simplify the automation of your ad campaigns running on the most popular platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Google, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Revealbot’s Key Features
- Supports Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat Ads
- Powerful reporting tools and integrations
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Great support for popular social ad platforms
Cons
- Limited support for Google Ads and no support for Amazon Ads
- Limited rule-based automation for Google Ads
- Limited capabilities for Performance Max and value-based bidding
- Limited support for scripts
TrueClicks
Pricing: From $208/month ($50K spend, unlimited accounts)
Rating: Rated 4.5/5 on G2 and 4.5/5 on Capterra
TrueClicks is a cloud-based marketing software, which helps organizations create, launch, and manage PPC marketing campaigns on a unified portal.
TrueClicks’s Key Features
- Support for Google and Microsoft Ads
- Powerful auditing, monitoring, and budget pacing tools
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Free forever up to $50K monthly ad spend
- Great integrations with Looker Studio, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Power BI, and Tableau
Cons
- Doesn’t offer any capabilities for Amazon Ads and Meta Ads
- Limited rule-based automation
- No support for scripts or native reporting
- Limited capabilities for Performance Max and value-based bidding
- Limited insights and optimization capabilities compared to Optmyzr
- Doesn’t integrate with Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Zapier
Read: How TrueClicks compares to Optmyzr
NinjaCat
Pricing: On request
Rating: Rated 4.1/5 on G2 and 4.4/5 on Capterra
NinjaCat is a unified marketing analytics platform designed for agencies, media companies, and multi-location brands. They acquired shape.io, a PPC management platform.
NinjaCat’s Key Features
- A great set of marketing analytics tools
- Integrates with several SaaS tools ranging from ad platforms, and CRM systems, to ecommerce tools
- Powerful budget management tools (via shape.io)
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Supports most major ad platforms
- Offers excellent reporting and analysis tools
Cons
- NinjaCat’s forte is its suite of analytics tools
- UI looks clunky and outdated according to some users
Read: How NinjaCat compares to Optmyzr
Opteo
Pricing: From $99/month ($50K spend, 25 accounts)
Rating: Rated 4.5/5 on G2 and 4.8/5 on Capterra
Opteo is a Google Ads management tool that recommends optimizations based on continuous account monitoring of account performance data.
Opteo’s Key Features
- Support for Google Ads only
- Monitoring, reporting, bidding, and budget management capabilities
- Integrates with Slack
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy-to-understand UI
- Suitable for SMBs with limited PPC management needs
Cons
- No support for Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon Ads
- Uses a 12-hour refresh cycle, not real-time like Optmyzr
- Very limited automation and spend projection capabilities
- Limited support for shopping, RSA, and Performance Max
- Does not integrate with Microsoft Teams or Zapier
Read: How Opteo compares to Optmyzr
Acquisio
Pricing: On request
Rating: Rated 3.8/5 on G2 and 4/5 on Capterra
Acquisio is an AI-powered solution for marketers, agencies, and local SEM resellers to scale their PPC offerings on advertising platforms like Google, Meta, and Microsoft.
Acquisio’s Key Features
- Support for Google, Microsoft, and Meta Ads
- Has tools for group optimization, feed audits, and bid management for shopping campaigns
- Offers single-account and multi-account reports, audit reports, and automated delivery for reporting
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy-to-understand UI
- Suitable for SMBs with limited PPC management needs
Cons
- No support for Amazon Ads
- Limited rule-based automation
- Limited capabilities for Performance Max and value-based bidding
- Minimal support for shopping campaigns
- Bidding tools are fully black-box with limited recommendations and user control
- You’ll see a drop in performance when working with a high number of campaigns
- Doesn’t integrate with Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Zapier
Read: How Acquisio compares to Optmyzr
Madgicx
Pricing: From $44/month for the basic plan. Offers a 7-day free trial.
Rating: Rated 4.7/5 on G2 and 4.8/5 on Capterra
Madgicx is a cloud platform for Meta Ads ecommerce advertisers that offers a range of solutions to optimize all areas of their advertising - including Facebook tracking, automation, targeting, creatives, and ad management.
Madgicx’s Key Features
- An all-in-one automation and management solution for Meta Ads
- Facebook ad attribution
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Great rule-based automation and reporting tools
- Great Meta Ads insights features
- Detailed product training
Cons
- Very limited Google Ads support and no support for Microsoft and Amazon Ads
- Gets expensive after reaching certain ad spend levels
Build a Competitive Advantage with Automation
Automation is a net positive, says our Evangelist, Navah Hopkins. And it’s absolutely true. If you aren’t using it in 2024, you’re losing out.
The modern PPC advertiser’s job is no longer about pulling levers and pushing buttons in an ad interface. Your real value is your ability to contextualize, think creatively, and provide high-quality inputs. And a great PPC automation tool helps you do that.
If you think Optmyzr is the tool for you, sign up for a 14-day free trial today. Thousands of advertisers — from small agencies to big brands — worldwide use Optmyzr to manage over $5 billion in ad spend every year. Plus, if you want to know how Optmyzr’s various features help you in detail, talk to one of our experts today for a consultation call.
