Tag Archive for: Google Ads

Google Is Introducing Two New Goal-Based Ad Campaigns For Video Ads

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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. 

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AI Is On The Way To Google Ads According To New Test

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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.

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Google Blocked Over 5.2 Billion Ads In 2022 According To Annual Ads Safety Report

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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.

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Google Introduces Frequency Targeting For Youtube Ads

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Google is officially rolling out frequency targeting controls for video ads on YouTube according to a new blog post from the company.

With this move, advertisers can now take control and set limits for how often individuals see their ads.

In the past, the only way to do this was through connected TV campaigns in Google Display & Video 360 – more advanced advertising tools and features.

What Is Frequency Targeting For Ads?

Frequency targeting lets advertisers set a target number of times their ad will be shown to specific users.

This helps make the most of ad budgets by preventing ads from being repeatedly displayed to unreceptive audiences.

As the announcement for the feature explains:

“This will help advertisers optimize towards more precise reach and frequency, while ensuring that we continue to provide a suitable advertising experience for viewers. Target frequency allows advertisers to select a frequency goal of up to four per week and our systems will optimize towards a maximum unique reach at that desired frequency.”

Why Set a Frequency Target For Your Ads

Though there may be times when repeatedly seeing the same ad may be beneficial to motivate potential customers, there is a limit. Most studies indicate that repeatedly seeing ads is much more likely to contribute to diminishing returns and bad will with consumers.

For example, one Google-commissioned study found that TV advertisers see a decrease in ROI of 41% when the frequency of their ads was more than 6 views per week. Based on the data, more than 46% of ad impressions were above this threshold, making nearly half of ad impressions wasted.

The study says:

“Almost half of the linear TV impressions in our study were considered waste but the same study from Nielsen shows that brands can increase their average weekly frequency from one to three on YouTube with a consistent ROI.

“This is a huge opportunity for marketers to maximize their impact across the same set of people they are already reaching today.”

Final Details

Frequency targeting is now rolling out to all Google Ads users around the globe. 

Google claims that over 95% of all campaigns using frequency targeting hit their goal using the tool in testing.

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New Google Tool Turns YouTube Videos Into 6-Second Ads

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Google is officially releasing its bumper ad tool to the general public. The tool, now being called simply “trim video”, makes it easy to turn existing videos (up to 140-seconds long) into short but sweet clips that can then be used as bumper ads for video campaigns.

Though the tool has been in testing in various forms since 2019, this is the first time the general public has been given access to it for their campaigns. 

In the time the tool was in beta testing, Google says it has “helped hundreds of brands drive more reach, frequency, and efficiency by effortlessly generating 6-second bumper ads.”

The announcement of the tool describes trim video like this:

“Trim video is a video ad production tool that helps advertisers make new bumper ads from their longer video assets quickly. Trim video uses Google Machine Learning to simplify the process of bumper ad creation by identifying the most important frames in a long ad and turning them into 6-second videos. It also has simple editing features that allow advertisers to modify the final output.”

Using the tool is as simple as copying and pasting a link to one of your existing YouTube videos or your Google Ads library. From there, you’ll be given four different options you can edit further or save as a bumper ad. 

To access the trim video tool for yourself, sign into your Google Ads account and select the asset library page. Then, select the tools and settings icon and look under “Shared Library” to find “Asset Library”. Here you’ll find the trim video tool under the Video section.

For more about the trim video tool, read the full announcement or visit the Help Center article dedicated to the tool.

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Store Visits Data is Leaving Google Analytics This Month

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Google has quietly revealed it will be discontinuing store visits reports from Google Analytics at the end of October.

While historical data will still be viewable on the reporting platform for the indefinite future, however, data will stop being generated by the end of the month.

The news was revealed in an update added without fanfare to the Google Analytics help page.

The update reads:

“On 10/31/2022, Store Visits reporting will be discontinued. As of this date, new Store Visits reporting will not be generated. Historical Store Visits reporting will remain available. Please reach out to your account manager if you have any questions.”

As the name suggests, Store Visits data estimates how many people have visited your physical store or business location after visiting its website.

This is done by correlating data saved from a user when they visit the website with data from phones with location history data if that device ever comes into close proximity to your store location.

This of course means the data does not track users who have location history disabled on their account.

Brands that rely on this data will be able to access it instead in Google Ads, where new data will continue to be gathered and reported. However, brands only have access to this feature if your Google Analytics account is linked to a Google Ads account. 

Other than having to switch which platform you use to access your data, store visits reporting will be otherwise uninterrupted during this switchover.

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US Search Advertising Continues To Flourish According To New Report

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Brands across the US are increasing how much they spend on search advertising, with the overall US search ad spend predicted to reach almost $112 billion by next year. That is nearly double the amount spent in 2019, according to the new report from Insider Intelligence.

US Search Ad Spend 2019-2026 graph

This year, the data says $99 billion is being spent on search advertising. Much of this is driven by Google, which receives about 56% of the total ad spend. Google is in fact driving much of the growth in this area, outpacing all other traditional formats. 

While Microsoft remains the second-leading search ad platform, the data indicates that other platforms like Apple and Amazon may eventually overtake it. 

Data shows that Apple Search Ads will receive $5 billion dollars alone in 2022 revenue thanks to new ad and placement options which allow brands to find less competitive ad space.

Meanwhile, Amazon is gaining ground as the best platform for bottom-of-funnel customers. 

Interestingly, the report indicates that TikTok is also a growing force in search ad spending. The new data shows that up to 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds in the US already prefer to use TikTok and Instagram for their searches instead of Google. This may explain why recent studies showed that brands spent 60% more on overall advertising on the platform. 

Mobile Vs. Desktop

Unsurprisingly, mobile search advertising spend is far outpacing desktop by about two-thirds and shows no sign of slowing down. 

One indication of this is the fact that more than half of the U.S. population was reported to have used a smartphone to make an online search in 2016. By next year, that number should reach 70% by 2023. 

Privacy-Focused Platforms Lose Steam

After years of slow growth, privacy-first platforms like DuckDuckGo appear to be losing traction with US searchers. This is reflected in other recent reports, including data showing that DuckDuckGo had fallen to less than 100 million daily searches in June. 

For more findings about the current state of search advertising, download the full report from Insider Intelligence here.

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Google To End Support For Expanded Text Ads This Month

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As announced last August, Google is set to stop allowing advertisers to create, edit, or start running expanded text ads across the search engine’s ad network starting June 30, 2022.

Though expanded text ads have been a popular way to make your ads stand out and increase click-through rates, the company says it plans to replace the ad format with responsive search ads.

The goal, according to Google, is to simplify running ads while using automation to improve ad performance. 

According to the announcement, advertisers who have already made the switch from expanded text ads to responsive search ads saw an average 7% increase in their conversions.

Why Google Is Switching To Responsive Search Ads

Things are shifting all the time online, including the ways we are searching. According to Google, at least 15% of all search queries are never-before-seen searches. With responsive search ads, Google is trying to help brands keep up to date with these ever-changing trends and to always be where their audience is.

How To Prepare

For the time being, existing expanded text ads will be largely unaffected by the change. Though they cannot be edited, existing ads in this format will continue to run as normal. However, no new expanded text ads can be created.

To help you prepare for the upcoming change, Google recommends taking these steps:

  • Repurpose high-performing text ad content into responsive search ads and focus on improving ad strength.
  • Apply changes suggested in the account’s Recommendations
  • Pin headlines and other copy in specific positions to ensure they always show.
  • Use variations to test different ad versions.
  • Review assets in cross-campaign reporting based on performance to identify the most effective messaging.
  • Evaluate incremental growth in impressions, clicks and conversions at the ad group and campaign levels.

For more information, you can read the full announcement here.

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Google Shopping Ads Are Getting a “Swipeable” Makeover

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As part of its big Google Marketing Live event this week, the search engine announced a big makeover is coming to some shopping ads in the near future.

Initially limited to apparel-related shopping results, Google is revamping both online ads and organic listings to be more visually exciting and drive more engagement.

You can get a  preview of what to expect below:

Swipeable Google Shopping Ads

The revamp brings shopping ads more in-line with the more visual organic listings which have been rolling out since last year.

Google is accomplishing this using Search or Performance Max ad campaigns, though the images or graphics must be provided by advertisers.

As the company described the makeover:

“These will be clearly labeled as ads and will be eligible to appear in dedicated ad slots throughout the page. We’re also rolling out new ways to showcase multiple product images within Shopping ads in the U.S., along with information such as product descriptions, reviews, and product availability, with no further action required of advertisers.”

Though it is unclear when this revamp will be rolled out, advertisers should be excited by the more stylish and engaging presentation when it arrives.

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Google Gives Brands New Tools To Track Video Ads

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At TMO, we always prioritize being able to track marketing efforts and make actionable strategies to improve on what works. This is why we have always loved online ads like that Google provides, they offer detailed information on almost any type of ads you run. There’s just been one glaring exception – video ads.

Google Ad Manager has struggled to deliver deep or informative analytics for video ads since their launch on the platform. Thankfully, this is finally changing with the announcement of several new tools and data for video advertising.

New Tools For Measuring Video Ad Performance

Programmatic Video Health Tools

With the new Programmatic Video Health Tools feature, Google will deliver actionable opportunities for improvement immediately upon logging into your account.

This is done by assessing your video performance and measuring key metrics such as viewability, impressions, and revenue.

Additionally, Google is introducing another insights card for what it is calling Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) errors.

In this card, you’ll find broad details about the number of errors in your video inventory and what may be causing these errors.

Real-Time Reporting

Since problems with your ads can literally cost you, it is important to quickly spot issues and resolve them – especially when videos might involve live streams. 

To help with this, Google has introduced real-time video reporting to show detailed performance data in under 2 minutes. 

Additionally, the new YouTube ads delivery tool will include information on the delivery of YouTube Video Ads

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