How to plan a successful PPC campaign in 2018

We at SEMrush continuously monitor Google's updates, as the search engine rarely stands still. While testing the updates that are most likely to impact advertisers, we have come to the conclusion that Google is moving in the direction of "autopiloted" campaigns. The message is clear, the more you delegate to Google Ads' artificial mind - bids, placements, banner sizes, etc. - the more benefit you and your customers will get from the campaign. However, it will still be up to you to determine your audience, so it is important to be clear on who your customers are, which search terms they use to describe their query, and which visuals engage and trigger them. This initial input consisting of keywords, ad text, visuals and dozens of other aspects, must be as specific as possible.