Highlights You Need To Know About
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Machine Learning For Insights
One of the biggest issues every marketer has is the highlighting of insights that are actionable. Google will launch a new feature in Google Ads that brings to life insights that are valuable via machine learning. The types of insights initially promised are conversion value per audience and the optimal path to conversion.
Discovery Ads
A brand new way to reach audiences when they are open to your products or services is the new Discovery ad. It is an easy to use campaign type designed to reach users on YouTube, Gmail, and the Discovery feed. The Discovery feed can be found on the Google.com homepage, Google App, and on Google Pixel phones. These Discovery ads are a rich and relevant ad unit that can be built as swipeable carousels with multiple images.
Google Discovery Ads example shown on YouTube, Discovery feed, and Gmail (from left or right).
Gallery Ads
In 2019, users demand more than just a text ad and want an immersive experience. This is the design behind the Gallery Ad that will be introduced to advertisers for promotion of multiple images. An advertiser can have 4 to 8 images, 70 character taglines for each image, and up to 3 headlines to create a Gallery Ad. This ad unit will sit on top of the search engine results page (SERP) which you can tap to unlock further images. The headline remains visible throughout the user experience with the ad unit in the SERP and further taps in the ad unit will take a user to your site.
Deep Linking
Google’s data shows that when users go directly to an app downloaded on their phone over going to that brands mobile website, conversion rates increase by 2x. Magalu’s own data has shown a 110% increase in conversions when they have switched to driving traffic to their app over mobile website. Google is now rolling out deep linking, which drives traffic directly to an app, to search, display, and shopping campaigns to reap the benefits of this activity. Use of Google Analytics for Firebase is needed to recorded conversions on your app for this deep linking.
Smart Bidding - Maximize Conversion Value
A much needed update to the Smart Bidding world is the new Maximize Conversion Value bidding model which is coming to Google Ads. This means advertisers can now automatically take advantage of Google’s machine learning algorithm to automatically update their campaign bids to maximize the amount of conversion value received from clicks instead of using a conversion volume or cost per conversion (CPA) model that which were only been available to date.
Guide Smart Bidding
On top of the new Maximize Conversion Value Smart Bidding Model that is being launched, Google is also provided 3 new ways to guide Smart Bidding models.
Campaign Level Conversion Optimization
Advertisers now have the ability to choose which conversion action to optimize bids for at the campaign level. This means if you have a shopping campaign which needs to be optimized for conversions and a search campaign that needs to be optimized for store visits, we can now provide that insight to Google’s ad algorithm to optimize bids accordingly.
Conversion Value Rules
Based on the audience lists applied to a campaign, advertisers have the ability to apply a rule to determine conversion value. Every marketer knows not every user is worth the same and Google is looking to bring that logic into Google Ads with Conversion Value Rules. This same logic, when given to Google via Conversion Value Rules, can then be pushed back into the Smart Bidding machine learning to optimize bids. This means increased production from Google campaigns when an advertiser knows cross-selling to a previous customer the brand new widget is worth 2x more than advertising to a user who has never purchased from you before and supplies that knowledge to Google.
Seasonality Adjustments
To ensure Google’s Smart Bidding machine learning is running smoothly, Google is also allowing advertisers to enter the dates of seasonality including large sale periods. An increase in conversion volume during a sale period can skew the machine learning that can negatively impact bidding performance after a sale period. Additionally, Google wants to increase your bids appropriately during a sale period to maximize the amount of value extracted from your campaigns. But after the sale period, Google will remove that time period of data from the machine learning to ensure there is no loss in bidding performance after a sale.
Bumper Machine
Bumper ads on YouTube perform better than long form content at generating conversions. Bumper ads also have a 107% ad recall rate and 134% lift in purchase intent over long form content shown as an ad on YouTube. Google is introducing Bumper Machine to accommodate the needs of advertisers to create these bumper ads while not increasing production costs. To use Bumper Machine, simply provide a link in Google Ads to a brand’s video on YouTube that is under 90-seconds. Google will then use the power of machine learning to create multiple variations of bumper ads from that long form content. These machine learning ads will feature the brand prominently and drive action.
Google used GrubHub as an example advertiser who has tested the new Bumper Machine and seen positive results.
Custom Audiences
Google is introducing Custom Audiences to combine and replace the older Custom Intent and Custom Affinity audiences in Google Ads. The function of these new Custom Audiences are similar to Custom Intent and Custom Affinity so don’t anticipate any new features here. These audiences will be available to use in search, display, Gmail, YouTube, and Discovery campaigns.
Audience Expansion Tool
Google also announced a new audience expansion tool which gives the advertiser a slider to determine how wide they would like to expand on their audience. This tool is designed to find users who are just like users in your audience that are in-market for your products or services. Google has found that by using the audience expansion tool has led to 50% more conversions with the same investment.
New Inventory in Display & Video 360
Google is focused on not only optimizing their ad platform for the now, but also for the future with Audio and Connected TV.
Audio Inventory in Display & Video 360
There has been an 85% increase in mobile searches for podcasts on Google. To keep Google’s advertising ecosystem prepared for the future, audio inventory for Spotify and Google Play is now available in Display & Video 360 (DV360).
Connected TV in Display & Video 360
In Fall of 2019, Connected TV inventory for linear and digital television will become available in DV360. This opens up inventory with media stalwarts such as ESPN and Univision in the digital ecosystem of Google. Additionally, inventory for local tv stations and national networks will be available which will change the landscape of media buying as we know it today.
A New Google Shopping
Google announced 3 new features for Google Shopping.
Remind you of Amazon? It should. Google Shopping is launching as a personalized feed for ease of purchase.
A Brand New Experience
Helping users find what and where to buy products. Treating Google Shopping as a discovery engine for new products based on previous products viewed and search history. This new experience will allow users to purchase online via the brands website, in-store, or directly on Google. This new experience will also allow for purchases directly on Google Search, Google Images, YouTube, and Google Assistant via voice or image touch on display. Get ahead of the rollout to all advertisers by signing up for Shopping Actions (https://www.google.com/retail/solutions/shopping-actions/).
Google Shopping is becoming easier for users to purchase directly on Google from the brand or retailer of their choosing.
Showcase Ads Expansion
80% of all traffic that goes to an advertiser from Showcase Ads is from brand new users. To accommodate for this behavior, Google is expanding Showcase Ads to Google Images, YouTube, and the Discover feed in the coming months.
Google Showcase ad expansion shown on Google Search, Discovery feed, and YouTube (from left to right).
Shopping Campaigns with Partners
Co-oping for shopping campaigns just got even easier for both brands and retailers. Retailers or brands can now accept budget from brand or retail partners to advertise on the brand or retailers behalf while the brand or retailer can select which product group to promote with their supplied budget. Estee Lauder recently used this new feature with their retail partners and recorded a 70% in click share.
Local Campaigns Expansion
Local campaigns are expanding into search, display, and Google Maps. Advertisers can showcase inventory in-store to allow a user to explore products prior to visiting, show suggestions for new places to visit when a user is making a search in Google Maps, and will show promoted pins when users plan a route or while in route to a location. Advertisers can optimize the campaigns for store visits or phone calls.
