Last month, the Google Marketing Live keynote was livestreamed from California. The company’s brightest minds got together to present the latest features and updates to their products, which will be available for online marketers.
The main themes of the day’s discussion were unifying Google’s advertising and analytics platforms, as well as automation and machine learning. The aim was reinforcing value, transparency, and trust in advertisers and online users.
These are some of the main changes that were announced:
1. Google AdWords is Becoming Google Ads.
After 18 years on the market, Google has introduced a broader, new name that more accurately aligns with the different advertising solutions it houses, including search, display, video, shopping, and in-app ads.
2. Introducing Google Marketing Platform.
Big advertising spenders now have access to an integrated solution to plan, buy, create, and measure their campaigns and user experience. DoubleClick and Analytics 360 Suite are now combined into an enterprise and agency solution, known as Google Marketing Platform (GMP).
Now, here is a full 360° solution, if we have ever seen one…
GMP will feature the following:
- Search Ads 360, which allows advertisers to plan, buy, and measure search ads.
- Display & Video 360, which allows advertisers to manage audiences and bids from one convenient location.
- More than 100 integrations with measurement solutions and exchanges, all controlled from one place.
Creatives, media buyers, and clients can now collaborate on campaigns without constantly sending emails back and forth.
3. YouTube Updates.
YouTube gets over 30 million visitors every day, and 91% of smartphone users have either bought or planned to buy something after seeing a YouTube ad. If you consider stats like these, along with the fact that YouTube showed a 150% growth in ad conversions last year, it is no wonder their team is excited about the platform’s new features, which are:
TrueView for Reach –TrueView for Reach allows you to use CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impressions) bidding to reach more potential customers. Now, you can increase ad recall for your brand amongst prospective buyers, by coupling TrueView for Reach with your 6-second, non-skippable bumper ads.
TrueView for Action – TrueView for Action allows advertisers to run ads on YouTube for potential customers who have recently searched for their products or services on Google. Companies have the chance to reach in-market audiences with rich, immersive video ads.
Maximise Lift – This is a new smart bidding feature that will help advertisers reach potential customers, who are likely to search for their product or service on Google, after watching a video. Maximise Lift adjusts bids during an auction to maximise the impact video ads have on brand perception throughout the buyer journey.
4. Page Speed is Critical.
What would a Google event be without touching on mobile? With the Mobile Speed Score available in Google Ads, advertisers can get a new score telling them how fast their ads’ resulting landing pages are.
Why is this important? Anthony Chavez, Product Management Director at Google Ads, explained that even the best ads may not perform if their landing pages are not up to standard, especially on mobile. The focus for advertisers should no longer only be optimising keywords, bids, and ad text. Improving the speed of your lading pages is one of the best ways to get better performance on mobile.
5. Search Ads are Going Responsive.
You might be familiar with Smart Display campaigns that combine images with ad text in a jiffy.
Responsive Search Ads beta has been available to advertisers for a few months already, but the keynote highlighted the fact that the ads are one step closer to more personalised ads. What’s more, is that these ads can show up to 90% more copy than Expanded Text Ads. (Enter more real estate space for advertisers!)
Responsive search ads could show up to three 30-character headlines and two 90-character description lines.
6. Major Enhancements to Google Shopping.
Not only will Google roll out Automated Feeds, which create a product feed by crawling your website, but they have amped up Google Shopping’s capabilities with Smart Shopping campaigns.
Smart Shopping gives advertisers the option to choose store visits and new customers as goals. Leave the rest to machine-learning. It makes bid adjustments, optimises ad placements, and it optimises which products are shown, based on factors like seasonal demand and pricing.
What Do These Updates Mean?
While not all the updates are technically ‘new’, what stood out is the fact that mobile was (as always) highlighted as one of the most critical factors in campaign performance. Let’s not forget video. The new age of immersive, visual storytelling is upon us, and brands have the opportunity to take customers full-circle in the buyer journey, with updated YouTube features.
The roll-out of many of these new features is quite extensive, so we expect that a lot of it will only be made available in the coming months, and initially to certain countries only.
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