Tag Archive for: Google Ads

Google is expanding its Travel Feeds feature for Search Ads, letting hotel ads include more detailed information from their feeds in ads that appear in search results. 

As the company said in an announcement:

“To help potential travelers get the most up-to-date and relevant info, advertisers have told us they want more opportunities to use Travel Feeds in Search Ads. Starting today, all hotel advertisers can now showcase feed data, such as hotels, prices, dates, ratings and images, in this ad format.”

The ad format for hotels now lets advertisers “use the same feed data already available in Hotel Center and used by travel advertisers in hotel campaigns to enhance more ad types.”

The hotel ads automatically pull price and landing pages 

The ads are customizable as well, with multiple design options available and selections based on ad relevance, creative, and query. 

Are These For You?

The new expanded hotel ads have been seen to increase click-through rates by up to 20%, based on Google’s internal data collected during testing. 

The ads also have the potential to increase efficiency when setting up ads by automatically displaying Travel Feeds in Search Ads once you have linked your Hotel Center account to your Google Ads account. 

To be eligible, you must have a Hotel Center account with a price accuracy rating of at least “Poor”.

Though currently limited to hotel ads, Google says it plans to test the Travel Feeds feature with other types of ads including travel attractions, car rentals, and local events.

Starting next month, Google will begin requiring brands running Local Service Ads (LSAs) to have an accurate, verified, and related Google Business Profile to continue running their ads.

Though LSAs have technically been accessible to any advertisers on Google’s platform, the company has clearly intended them to be linked with Google Business Profiles as part of their local marketing services. This move makes the two more tightly linked, making Business Profiles the “source of truth” for LSAs. 

What Is Happening?

As noted by Ben Fisher on X, Google is alerting people running Local Service Ads about upcoming changes.

In the notice, the company says that it will begin requiring accounts running SA to have a related Google Business Profile to continue running ads. Those without a GBP or those with inaccurate information in their business profile will see their ads paused beginning on this date. 

As Fisher said in his post about the alert:

“Your Google Business Profile is now the source of truth for LSA. LSA ads will be paused if you do not have a GBP attached to an LSA.”

Changes To Local Service Ads Reviews

Also mentioned in the alert is the fact that Google LSAs containing reviews will exclusively show reviews left on Google Business Profiles, making GBP the sole place you can manage reviews seen in local ads. 

Google Ads is introducing a new system it calls  “confidential matching” which provides a new way to protect your first-party data and the confidentiality of your clients while still integrating your data into its measurement tools and audience matching systems. 

In the announcement, Google says confidential matching will use “special software and hardware known as Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), [which will] unlock new ways for businesses to use their first-party data to reach customers and measure the impact of their digital ads campaigns.”

This means that Google will be unable to see any of your uploaded email addresses, phone numbers, or other customer data unless that information is already in Google Ads’ systems. 

The company says this “gives added data security and transparency, by isolating your business information during processing so that no one – including Google – can access the data being processed.”

Rather than just being an option for advertisers, Google is making confidential matching the default for any time data is uploaded to be used for Customer Match, and Ginny Marvin from Google says it will be coming to enhanced conversions and other Google Ads features in the future:

Now when you connect your first party data to Google Ads for Customer Match, and soon for enhanced conversions, it will automatically be processed using confidential matching – no additional work is required on your end.

Confidential matching is powered by a technology called confidential computing, which uses special software, and hardware called a trusted execution environment or TEE (you may recall we mentioned this at GML this year) to securely process data.

Confidential matching can ensure your data remains encrypted and unseen by anyone, including Google.

Advertisers also have the option to encrypt their data themselves and receive proof that their data is processed as intended.

Confidential matching is now available to all customers globally.

Google is giving advertisers the ability to opt out of showing ads across its Search Partner Network (SPN) following a concerning report that suggests ads may be being shown on controversial websites – even if you’ve placed those websites on a blocklist. 

The Claims

A report from Adalytics was recently published asserting that an unnamed Fortune 500 company had been upset and “surprised” after it learned that its ads were being served across several non-Google websites. 

Specifically, the report says that the company’s ads were being shown on Breitbart.com – a controversial right-wing news site that has been accused of racial bias, misleading articles, and incendiary perspectives. This is particularly problematic, as the company had added the domain to its exclusion list years before. 

As Adalytics stated:

“This raises the possibility that ads were served on websites and publishers despite the brand’s deliberate efforts to achieve brand safety and exercise control over their own media investments.”

In response, Google widely denied the claims in Adalytics’ report and suggested they ads shown were intentionally triggered. Still, the company announced it will allow brands to entirely opt-out of showing ads across the SPN if they desire. 

The company said:

“Though we take enormous issue with Adalytics’ methodology and conclusions, we always look to improve our products to meet our partners’ needs.”

Why It Matters

Having your ads shown alongside inappropriate or hateful content can be damaging to a brand’s reputation and develop negative associations for those who see it. Additionally, those who frequent problematic websites are unlikely to be your target market, so your ad budget is likely being wasted when this happens. 

Similar issues at X (formerly Twitter) have recently led to several large advertisers to publicly announce they were pulling ads from the social network following a report indicating X was displaying these ads alongside hate speech, racist, and white nationalist content. 

By giving advertisers the opportunity to opt-out, Google is ensuring that brands still can feel comfortable their ads aren’t being shown alongside objectionable content while the information from Adalytics’ report is further investigated. 

For more, read the full report here.

Google is launching an exciting new ad format called Demand Gen Campaigns which uses the latest AI tools to create highly targeted video and image ads for YouTube, as well as Google’s other platforms. 

The new ad product is designed to motivate advertisers to invest more outside of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram – Google Ads’ biggest competitors. 

What Are Demand Gen Campaigns?

Demand Gen Campaigns are video ads up to 15 seconds long, primarily intended to run as pre- or mid-roll YouTube placements. However, the company says the ads will show in other places as well, including as image carousels on mobile and bumper ads.. 

Most importantly, Demand Gen includes a suite of creative tools to help deliver messages and ads that are tailored for your audience. 

The ad product also generates “lookalike” audiences filled with potential new customers who match your existing customers. 

As with most Google Ad formats, advertisers can manage a wide range of ad delivery and budget options, allowing you to deliver more clicks, traffic, and conversions. 

Demand Gen Helps Target Shifting Audiences

stats about Demand Gen Campaignss

Google says that Demand Gen Campaigns are intended to help businesses reach consumers during a time when shopping habits are quickly changing.

The company cites recent surveys that show viewers typically split their time on social media between traditional platforms like Facebook and Instagram with others like YouTube. 

Additionally, more than 90% of people said they had watched content from a specific creator or artist across multiple platforms and formats in the past year. 

These ads are designed to help pull users onto YouTube, which Google believes offers a more genuine connection with creators. 

The ads are intended to do this by using visually engaging ads that are highly tailored for specific audiences across the entire Google ecosystem.

Demand Gen Campaigns Will Replace Discovery Ads

Demand Gen ad campaigns started rolling out to advertisers worldwide earlier this week, and will be replacing Google’s current ad option for its Discovery feed. Discovery campaigns will be phased out sometime in early 2024.

X (previously known as Twitter) is partnering with Google Ads in an attempt to make up for the declining ad revenue seen by the company since its takeover by Elon Musk. 

In the near future, X will be included as part of the Google Display Network, making it possible for many of the ads run by Google Ads to appear on the social network.

Why Is X Partnering With Google?

Since the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk last year, the company has seen an estimated 59% drop in ad revenue from the US. While numbers are not available globally, most analysts agree that this has dramatically hurt the social network’s profits 

Much of this reduction in ad revenue was sparked by Musk’s decisions to reduce moderation on the platform and to unban controversial accounts. Since then, advertisers have seen their ads appearing alongside increasingly objectionable content including hate speech, slurs, and nazi imagery. As you might expect, this has led many advertisers to completely stop advertising on the platform.

Can You Opt Out?

For brands concerned about potentially having ads shown alongside hateful or controversial media, it is important to know that you can choose to not have your ads shown on X or any other website. As a Google spokesperson told Ad Age:

“This is an opportunity for our advertisers to reach a broader audience, but as always they can choose what sites and apps their ads run on. Any publisher who participates in this type of partnership must abide by our publisher policies.”

Google is giving advertisers more control over where their ads appear in Search with two new features that have only been available to a small number of advertisers previously.

The company announced it will be bringing brand exclusions for Performance Max campaigns and broad match brand restrictions for all advertisers on Search. 

In the announcement, the company said that both pilot tests were “successful” and that bringing these tools to more advertisers would improve campaign performance. They also promise that using brand exclusions and restrictions will help improve reach by guaranteeing your ads are not appearing along controversial, irrelevant, or problematic search content.

Notably, these are one of the many new features on the platform which are being assisted with AI.

Google gave Search Engine Land two statements, one for each new ad feature:

“[Advertisers can] expand the reach of your brand campaigns with new brand restrictions for broad match. Broad match gives you the most relevant reach and conversions within your performance goals.”

“In the past, it may have been difficult to use broad match in campaigns with specific brand needs. That’s why we’re rolling out brand restrictions. This new feature will help you get the additional reach of broad match, while ensuring it is only matching to relevant brand traffic that you’ve specified.”

Google is adding two new campaign types for video ads aimed at driving video views or generating demand. 

The company announced the video-first campaign types during the Google Marketing Live event and said the ads would have placements on all Google-owned and operated properties. 

Below, we will talk a little about what each campaign type offers and when you can expect to try them for yourself.

Video View Campaigns

These campaigns are geared towards a singular purpose (driving views) and early testing shows these ads are successful. According to Google, one study using Video view campaigns saw 40% more views on average compared to in-stream skippable cost-per-view campaigns. 

The video view campaign type is also surprisingly versatile, allowing for a variety of formats including in-stream ads, in-feed ads, YouTube Shorts, and more. 

The beta is expected to launch next month.

Demand Generation Campaigns

Demand gen campaigns are one of Google’s latest creations using AI to better engage users and drive action. 

Like Video view campaigns, these campaigns will be available for YouTube Shorts, in-stream and in-feed ads, Google Discover, and Gmail ad placements. 

The main draw of Demand gen campaigns for advertisers will be the ability to create Lookalike audience segments based on “seed lists” using data from Google and YouTube users. 

Advertisers can then set their segments to be narrow (2.5% reach), balanced (5% reach), or broad matches (10% reach). 

Conclusion

These two campaign types offer focused approaches for video-first campaigns to accomplish specific goals. While they may not seem revolutionary, these will likely become important campaign options for advertisers looking to expand their reach and find receptive audiences. 

The rise of AI continues as Google Ads has started testing using artificial intelligence to help advertisers create the message for their ads. 

The feature seems to be a very limited test that uses AI to generate suggestions for headlines and description texts. Notably, when Google Ads Liaison Ginny Martin confirmed that the ad platform is testing AI tools, it is “unrelated to Bard”, Google’s recently released AI system. 

From user reports, the AI tool helps to create responsive search ads within Google Ads. 

Responsive search ads are a type of ad option that already uses machine learning to optimize your ad for those who see it using a premade set of headlines and descriptions. 

In this small beta test, users can instead let AI create headlines and descriptions suggestions based on information about your business. Specifically, the prompt asks you to “describe the product or service you’re advertising and what makes it unique in a few sentences.”

You can then select from the suggestions Google offers or decide to write your own.

It is unclear how soon you can expect to see this feature rolled out to more advertisers but it shows that Google is seriously working to utilize AI technology in every area of its platform, including Google Ads.

Google released its annual Ads Safety Report this week, highlighting the company’s efforts to guarantee advertising on its platforms is safe and trusted.

Along with suspending more than 6.7 million spammy ad accounts over the last year, the report details how Google is fighting fraud, preventing potentially harmful ads from running, and protecting user privacy.

Using machine learning algorithms, Google is able to identify suspicious activity and patterns faster than ever and quickly remove fraudulent or harmful ads.

This has contributed to a huge improvement in Google’s abilities to detect spam and harmful activity at scale, leading to over 2 billion more ads being blocked in 2022 compared to the previous year. 

At the same time Google released the report, the company also announced it is launching an Ads Transparency Center to help users better understand the ads they are seeing and who is paying to display them. 

Highlights From The 2022 Google Ads Safety Report

The full Ads Safety Report includes a lot of details about how Google detects and removes malicious or spammy ads, but these were the details we think are most important for you to know:

  • Google blocked over 5.2 billion ads for policy violations
  • Ad restrictions were down by over a billion annually in 2022
  • Over 6.7 million advertiser accounts were suspended for “egregious” policy violations
  • The number of ads removed from web pages stayed largely stable compared to the previous year

What Is The Ads Transparency Center?

In response to the leap in blocked ads and suspended ad accounts, Google decided to create the Ads Transparency Center – a central knowledge hub containing information about verified advertisers and ads. 

Here you’ll be able to find detailed information about the ads a specific advertiser has run, what ads are being shown in a specific area, and more about ads appearing on the platform. 

Users can also access My Ad Center here, which gives them the ability to like, block, or report potentially problematic ads. 

For more about Google’s attempts to keep the ads on its platform safe for users, check out the full 2022 Ads Safety Report here or the Ads Transparency Center announcement here.