Google Marketing Live: Building for the new consumer journey

On May 14, 2019, Prabhakar Raghavan, SVP, Google Ads & Commerce, announced that Google introducing Discovery Ads which will be available to all advertisers globally later this year. This new ad feature was introduced at Google Marketing Live, will show on the search engine’s home page in mobile browsers.

What are Discovery Ads?

According to Google, “Discovery ads are a new way to reach people across Google properties in the moments when they’re open to discovering your products and services. They will also appear on YouTube’s home feed and in the Gmail promotions tab.”

Google Discovery Ads Features:

In a recent study, Google found that 85% of consumers like to see unexpected discoveries, take action within 24 hours like reading reviews, comparing prices or purchase the product — sometimes all at once when shopping. Following are the Google Discovery Ads Features:

Relevant:

Display your products in a swipe-able image carousel with an open canvas to inspire consumers, rendered natively across each Google property.

Results:

By combining this incredible reach and creative canvas with Google’s understanding of intent, you can be confident you’re anticipating what your customers want and delivering the results you care about.

Reach:

Reach hundreds of millions of people across the YouTube home feed, the Gmail Promotions and Social tabs, and the feed in Discover using a single campaign.

At Google Marketing Live, Daniel Pahl said that “on average, ad groups including one or more gallery ad have up to 25 percent more interactions — paid clicks or swipes — at the absolute top of the mobile Search results page.”

It is good to know that Google was started testing ads in the Discover feedback back in October 2018. At that time, Google didn’t confirmed about the test, but it will be available to everyone soon. For more big announcements, consumer insights and in-depth looks – join Google Marketing Live today at 9am PT (12pm ET).

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Google Introducing a New Performance Planner for Google Ads

Drive 43% More Conversions By Using Performance Planner for Google Ads

Ahmad Ismail, Google Ads Product Manager, announced a new tool called Performance Planner that will help advertisers to increase conversions up to 43% on an average. This new upcoming Performance Planner can identifies the best spend amounts for your campaigns to drive more conversions.

Moreover, He explained:

“For example, let’s say you have a $92,000 monthly budget across 100 Search campaigns. The planner will recommend how to distribute that $92,000 across those Search campaigns to maximize conversions and project results from these changes in your forecast.”

With the help of Google Ads Planner, you can make other projection based adjustments, such as different spend levels and CPAs. Just click on different spend points to see the resulting changes in conversions. So you can see how conversions would differ at a $12 CPA compared to a $20 CPA.

What is Performance Planner?

Performance Planner is a new tool that helps you to create plans for your advertising spend, and see how changes to campaigns might affect key metrics and overall performance.

Why Using Performance Planner?

• Create a plan to see forecasts for your campaigns.
• Explore your forecast by adjusting different campaign settings.
• You can quickly and easily implement changes prescribed by your plan.

What are the benefits of Performance Planner?

• See your campaigns’ projected monthly and quarterly performance.
• Get suggestions that can help your campaigns perform better for the same spend.
• Find out how performance goals are affected if you change your campaign settings.

How It Works?

The Planner gives you the most accurate forecasts possible because is consistently updated every 24 hours. This new tool will takes into account billions of search queries, than find relevant ad auctions in aggregate, including variables like seasonality, competitor activity, landing page, etc. Google Ads Planner Tool will forecast the conversions which is based on the conversion types in the “Conversions” column of your Google Ads performance reports.

Requirements:

• Have been running for at least 72 hours
• Campaign have received at least 3 clicks in the last 7 days
• Should received at least one conversion in the last 7 days (if the campaigns focus on conversions)
• Are Search campaigns that use a manual cost-per-click (CPC), enhanced CPC, target cost-per-action (CPA), maximize clicks, or maximize conversions bidding strategy.

Final Words

Finally, this new tool is a game changer for advertisers because changes made within the performance planner are not automatically implemented. If you want to make changes in this new tool, you will have to download a file by using the Google Ads Editor.

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Google Launching New Speed Report in Search Console

Facebook New Tools: Automated Ads Builder, Appointment Manager and Video Editor

Facebook Ads has become the most powerful tool for online marketers. As we’re currently in the middle of National Small Business Week, Facebook is going to launch a new tools to help small businesses that can run automated ad campaigns, book appointments, and edit videos. These Facebook New Tools made it easy for you to manage and promote your business online through platforms. Nikila Srinivasan, Director of Product Management said that these Facebook new tools are specially built for small businesses that are one- to two-person businesses with very little marketing expertise.

Automated Ads on Facebook

With Automated Ads, Facebook is able to create a customized marketing plan after asking a few simple questions about your business and your goals. Automated Ads are the best way to create effective ads that can run on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network.

Automated Ads Features

• Create up to six different versions of your ad automatically.
• Audience options or recommendations based on information from your Page.
• A recommended budget most likely to generate results based on your goal.
• Notifications to keep you informed about how your ads are performing.

Manage Appointments on Facebook

This new appointment booking feature will allow businesses to take appointments and manage bookings through Facebook and Instagram. You can use appointments to enable new and existing customers to book services with your business.

Manage Appointments Features

• Accept Appointments Online
• Send reminders to customers through Messenger or text message
• Customize business’ menu of services
• Add hours of availability (open or close hours)
• Sync appointments with your personal calendar or another appointment management tool

Video Editing on Facebook

Facebook introducing new ways to easily edit existing video with three new video editing tools:

• Automatic Cropping
• Video Trimming
• Image and Text Overlays

These Facebook New Tools are available in Ads Manager, can help reduce the resources needed to create compelling video content for your business. Facebook committed to developing new tools that will save your time and also facilitate you to focus on your business. Visit Facebook Ads Help Center to learn more about automated ads, manage appointments and video editing features.

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Why Your Online Business Need Effective Social Media Marketing

A Sneak Preview of Google Search Console New Speed Report Beta

At Google I/O 2019, they demonstrated a new report in the Google Search Console named as ‘Speed Report’. It is currently in beta or experimental mode but they showed some screen shots of it in action. Here are few screenshots from some folks on Twitter:

Google tested a new report in the Search Console, called Speed Report which is currently in beta or experimental mode. But Google presented some screen shots of this upcoming feature. Few of them have shared on twitter. Kenichi Suzuki, Product Expert at Google, shared that Speed Report on mobile:

If you want to sign up this new Search Console Speed Report click here. This new report is powered by CrUX data, that gives you combined overview  of your website’s field metrics where you can dig down into specific issues and see specific examples. Dominik Schwarz also shared on Twitter some more screenshots and slides from the presentation at Google I/O 2019:

Ilya Grigorik, is a web performance engineer at Google, said in his tweet:

• Firebase launches (free) real user performance monitoring for the web.
• Search Console announced new Speed Report, powered by CrUX data.
• Performance budget (Light Wallet) support coming to Lighthouse.

See more details at at Twitter.

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What SEOs & Webmasters Should Watch At Google I/O 2019

GMB listing’s insight reports are delaying due to bug!

There are many users in the Local Search Forums are complaining about Google My Business Insight Bug due to reporting issues. They are seeing weird reporting glitches in the GMB Insights section. This is not very common to see these horrific drops or data glitches in the reporting tool, I think after Search Console Indexing Bug this is happening with all Google products like delays  in Google Ads & AdSense reporting.

Google My Business Reporting Bus Complaints:

I am checking monthly insights for clients. I am seeing what visually looks like an insight reporting bug for views, and wondered if anyone is seeing this as well. I am seeing it across several clients/accounts and across locations for my multi-location clients. There is a trough that begins around 4/5-7 and recovers around 4/12-14. They all look similar to this screenshot. Anyone else seeing this?

Ok, after saw these complaints, I login to my GMB account and try to get the insight report which is missing. Google My Business Page showing me data may be delayed. The insights data may be missing or delayed due to reporting issues. There is no impact on the appearance of your business on Google. Here is the screenshot of SEOBizWorld: 

 

So I called to GMB support and got connected with CSR. They informed me that they are working on the insights section to make is more responsive. CSR also said that the GMB insight report will be back and available soon. Not all the users are seeing this issue but many have their concerns about Google My Business Reporting Bug. Like I said in the above that it should be related to Search Console Indexing Bug or maybe delays in Google Ads reporting. So if you are noticing these issues so please share your experience here. Find more details at Local Search Forums.

How Google Search Console Lost Data Affect Your Website Performance

What SEOs & Webmasters Should Watch At Google I/O 2019

Google I/O 2019 is starting from May 06 and will finish after 3 days, May 09, Thursday. Google I/O is the yearly festival for developers, SEOs and webmaster, where they announced new products, APIs and introduced frameworks. They published an agenda for SEOs and webmasters if they are not able to physically attend that event.  

This event held once-in-a-year, but you can also see and watch the live streamed on YouTube including conferences talks, and cross questioning. Google shared all the links that will bring to specific pages that are most relevant for SEOs and Webmasters. You can watch each session of Google I/O 2019 event – as per Pacific Central time (California time). According to Martin Splitt, it is well worth watching if you are an SEO. 

List of Google I/O 2019 Sessions which is useful to SEOs and Webmasters

• Tuesday, May 7th4pm – Building Successful Websites: Case Studies for Mature and Emerging Markets, with Aancha Bahadur, Charlie Croom, Matt Doyle, Rudra Kasturi, and Jesar Shah

• Wednesday, May 8th10.30am – Enhance Your Search and Assistant Presence with Structured Data, with Aylin Altiok and Will Leszczuk 11.30am – Create App-like Experiences on Google Search and the Google Assistant, with Allen Harvey 11.30am – Rapidly Building Better Web Experiences with AMP, with Adam Greenberg and Naina Raisinghani 6.30pm – Unlocking New Capabilities for the Web, with Pete LePage and Thomas Steiner

• Thursday, May 9th10.30am – Google Search: State of the Union, with John Mueller and Martin Splitt 1.30pm – Google Search and JavaScript Sites, with Zoe Clifford and Martin Splitt

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Google Search Console Monitoring Overall Structured Data Performance

Google Search Console Monitoring Overall Structured Data Performance

Google announced at Webmaster Central Blog, that they have added three new reports in search console. They added unparsable structured data report and two enhancement reports including sitelinks searchbox and logo. Google introduced these new features in search console that will help webmasters and developers to  implement and diagnose structured data.

Unparsable Structured Data Report

Unparsable structured data is a new report that aggregates structured data syntax errors that prevented Google from identifying the feature type. Google said “that is the reason these issues are aggregated here instead of the intended specific feature report.” You can use this report to see if Google was unable to parse any of the structured data you tried to add to your site.

The report helps you with the following actions:

• Review the trends of errors, warnings and valid items: To view each status issue separately, click the colored boxes above the bar chart.
• Review warnings and errors per page: To see examples of pages which are currently affected by the issues, click a specific row below the bar chart.

Here is a screen shot:

You can check this report to see if Google was unable to parse any of the structured data you tried to add to your site. Below is a screenshot showing how the Unparsable Structured Data report looks like.

Logo & Sitelinks Searchbox Enhancements Report

This report is available under the enhancements section in Search Console, if you use the Logo markup or Sitelinks Searchbox. Here is the screenshot where you can find it:

You can read more about the reports in the Search Console Help Center.

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Google Introducing Auto-Delete Controls for Location History and Activity Data

Maybe you should know or maybe not, but it is true that Google is controlling and monitoring your search behaviour. But now you may be supervised that you can restrict Google to stop tracking you. David Monsees, Product Manager Search, announced that Google is introducing auto-delete controls for Location History and activity data.

So when you turn on settings in Google Account, the search engine can track your location history, Web & App data, which makes them to helpful for users. Google want to keep your data private and secure, but after received user’s feedback – they are rolling out new auto-delete controls feature for Location History and activity data to manage or delete it.

How To Use Google Auto-Delete Controls Feature?

Google explained that how you can use Auto-Delete Feature and turn on/off controls for Location History and Web & App Activity. If you want to delete all or some part of data manually, Google make it easy for you to manage or remove that data.

After this new feature complete rolled out, you can set auto-delete controls and set a time limit for how long you want your activity data to be saved, like for 3 or 18 months. The older Data will be automatically delete from your account on an ongoing basis. These controls are coming first to Location History and Web & App Activity and will roll out in the coming weeks.

Google said “You should always be able to manage your data in a way that works best for you–and we’re committed to giving you the best controls to make that happen.”

It’s sound really good but keep in mind, Google’s mobile apps tracking location data even when your mobile devices are off – no matter you’ve opted into Location History. According to survey New York Times, the US law enforcement agencies officially use ‘data mining‘ for criminal investigations.

Soon you will be able to setup auto-delete feature for Location History, and later on set for Web & App activity. But if you don’t like that Google track your every movement, you can turn off location history entirely.

How To Enable Google Auto-Delete Controls Feature:

• If you want to enable it, sign into your Google account
• Click on your profile picture and the Google account button.
• Click On Manage Data Personalization At Left Side Bar
• Click Web & App Activity
• Turn OFF (Pause) and un-check the Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices that use Google services.
• Click on Manage Web & App Activity
• Delete Previous History

If you want to turn off Location history and other services, you have to do the same for video & audio activity, YouTube video search and watch history in the same way.

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Google Search Console Lost Data Effect Your Website Performance 

Due to lost data from April 9 to April 25^th, Google has confirmed reporting delays in Ads (formerly known as AdWords) and AdSense platforms. Plenty of publishers has received emails about upcoming changes in AdSense, many advertisers noticed and see that Google Ads reporting for April 30 and May 1 (Pacific Time) is incorrect.

Here is the current update about reporting delays in Google Ads & AdSense, “Reporting Issue – Google Ads reporting for April 30 and May 1 (Pacific Time) is incorrect. We will update this message when the issue is resolved and the data is corrected.”

I like to share the screenshot of Google Ads Reporting Delay Notice when advertisers can expand, after they login to their account.

I am also seeing tons of complaints from AdSense publishers regarding Google Ads & AdSense reporting delays. It is possibly related but there is not confirmation from Google on the AdSense reporting delay issues yet. See some of the complaints:

Google Ads Reporting Delay Notice:

I think after the release of v1.1 of Google Ads API, this is happening because publishers got notifications from Google AdSense. This is a well-known issue and probably related, but it should be sort out very soon. See forum details at Google Ads Help and Google AdSense Help.

Also Read:

What New Changes Are Coming in Google AdSense Platform

Is Google Search Console Lost Data Affect Your Website Indexing?

Previously I mentioned about Google Search Console Indexing Bug, which was confirmed in a tweet by Google and said that de-indexing issue should be resolved very soon. It means that the data was completely lost from April 9 to April 25^th, accept the performance report.

Here I like to share screenshot of data coverage report to visualize it:

You might be seen a huge up and down due to Google Search Console Lost Data, which could affect your indexing report. For example, if the data aggregation methods is change or there is a logging error, you might see a drop or bump in your chart. This page records known issues that might affect your data.

Google Search Console Lost Data:

April 9-25, 2019

Search Console experienced a data outage that ceased on April 26. The outage affected all reports except the Performance report. All missing data from April 9-25 was replaced with the data from April 26, when data began to be available again.

April 5, 2019

Because of internal management of our Search index, some pages of your websites might have been dropped from our index for a period of a few days without any action on your part. The matter has been resolved, no further action from your side is needed.

April 3, 2019

For most enhancement reports, data is now being collected from more pages than previously reported. Because of this, you might see an increase in issues and affected items/pages on these reports.

According to Google Webmaster:

The issue with missing fresh data in the indexing reports in Search Console has been resolved. The only report that still needs some time to update is the backlinks report. Thanks for your patience!

So it means that 16 days of data is completely gone for all report except Performance report. Now it is not possible to see how Google Search Console Lost Data can badly effect your website due to indexing bug from April 5 to April 25, 2019.

I want to say that keep mind do not add the stats from April 5 to 25, when making or preparing reports for your clients. This is newly added bug come with manual actions in the Google Search Console which was recently started yesterday in the afternoon.  See more details at Twitter.

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Google Search Console Indexing Bug