Increase Conversions By Using Responsive Search Ads

Today, Google officially announced that Responsive Search Ads (RSA) will become the default ad type for Search campaigns in Google Ads, but the expanded text ads can also be created. Google said that due to COVID-19, search queries like “takeout restaurants” have grown over 5000%, and meanwhile searches for “online learning” have grown over 400%2 in the last year.

What Are Responsive Search Ads?

Responsive Search Ads are Google’s newest, largest, and most flexible search ad format. Unlike traditional search ads, where you write your headlines and descriptions together to create 1 static ad text, when writing a Responsive Search Ad you can write up to 15 different headlines and up to 4 different descriptions. Collectively, those headlines and descriptions can be arranged in 43,680 different permutations, which means the ad testing possibilities are nearly endless!

RSAs allow advertisers to input multiple headlines and ad copy variations, and Google Ads uses machine learning to determine which variations to use based on what queries people are searching for. The variations are tested to determine which combinations perform best. The Ad strength score lets search marketers understand how to improve their RSAs for better performance.

Google recommends that advertisers not using RSAs currently consider the following best practices:

• Use Ad strength when writing your headlines and descriptions to understand the effectiveness of your ads.
  Take advantage of location insertion and countdown customizers to show ads that are relevant and meaningful to your customers.
• Use Smart Bidding and broad match keywords with responsive search ads to help optimize the performance of your ads while maximizing your reach.
• Review cross-campaign asset reporting to understand which creative assets resonate most with your customers.

How Responsive Search Ads Works?

The more headlines and descriptions you enter, the more opportunities Google has to serve ads that more closely match your potential customers’ search queries, which can improve your ad performance. After you enter headlines and descriptions, the RSAs assembles the text into multiple ad combinations in a way that avoids redundancy, different from expanded text ads.

Next, in any given ad, a maximum of 3 headlines and 2 descriptions will be selected to show in different combinations and orders. Over time, Google Ads will test the most promising ad combinations, and learn which combinations are the most relevant for different queries.

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Important News For Google Ads Partners Program

New requirements for agencies to achieve and maintain Google Partner status take effect starting in June 2020. Many Google Advertisers has received an email on Thursday about substantial changes coming to Google Ads Partners Program – the badge and certification program for agencies that meet certain criteria.

As far as I have read the news and understood the most important news are:

• Performance criteria for maintaining Partner’s badge will be more transparent and will directly refer to the optimization score highlighted in the “Recommendations” tab of each account (excluding ignored suggestions).
• It will no longer be enough to have 1 certified administrator/standard user to be able to display the Google Partner badge (2 for Premier Partners), but at least half of the administrator/standard users connected to your company’s account manager will have to pass the Skillshop certifications (the accounts on this platform must be connected to the company’s one).
• Growth of invested budgets and new accounts managed will no longer be a requirement to obtain the badge, but you only need to spend more than 20,000$ (it was 10,000$) in your managed accounts in the last 3 months. These requirements will stay still for Premier Partners, who will be chosen among the 3% of the best partners in terms of expenditure, growth of invested budgets and customer retention.

Below is Google’s comparison chart look at what’s changing, which you can find on this help page.

The first consideration I have to make about these new Google Ads Partner Program is starting to get serious about the recommendations tab. All of us PPC Professionals had long noticed that the quality of suggestions has been definitely improving. Now ignoring that section may also have important consequences on the Partner badge (as well as on the performance of the campaigns). So, do it at your own risk.

For now, Google is still not so sure of all its automatic optimization suggestions to consider also the wrong / ignored ones among those used to evaluate the account, but I could bet that there is where we are going.

They have finally understood that more transparency was needed in the evaluation criteria of the managed accounts to obtain the Partner badge and that this has nothing to do with increasing budgets and new customers. This is one of the main reasons why I left the program in 2017, given that in my opinion the added value of a PPC Expert lies in the the fact that he/she has to be independent from the platforms used. The very reason for us being on the market is that we are free to suggest the best solution for each customer, without necessarily having to “push” one or the other for reasons different from expected performance.

Unfortunately, this underlying opacity remains for Premier Partners, but Google has already taken a step in the right direction by withdrawing this criterion for the bulk of Partners, I hope that sooner or later they will also drop it for top spenders.

Note:

Google Ads Partner Program will select based on a number of factors, including but not limited to: annual Ads spend across managed accounts, client growth, client retention, and other information. Evaluation is done on an annual basis and status may not be available in all markets.

A New Layout To Drive More High-Quality Calls To Your Business

Google is going to update the layout of call-only ads which will help to drive more quality leads. Now your business’s phone number will display at the top with a larger phone icon, while the name of your business and headline will show directly below your phone number.

See the comparison of new versus previous layout:

What Are Call-Only Ads?

According to Google “Call-only ads make it easy for customers to call your business directly from mobile search results. To improve the user experience and drive more high-quality calls to your business”

As you can see in the above screenshot, the phone icon is more prominent, so it is now conformed that these ad units are call-only ads. This new look helps call-only ads stand out from other text ads, reducing accidental clicks from users who didn’t intend to make a call.

Google says that, in testing, the new design has had a positive impact on phone calls and conversions while keeping costs down for advertisers:

“On average, advertisers with the new design have seen a 14% increase in phone calls, a 16% increase in call conversions and better cost efficiencies with an 8% decrease in overall paid clicks. The new look helps call-only ads stand out from other text ads, reducing accidental clicks from users who didn’t intend to make a call.”

Call-only ads that are already in place will be automatically switched over to the new design this week. There is no additional action needed on the part of advertisers.

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Google Introducing Swirl Display Ads Format With 3D Objects

Efficiently Manage Multiple Accounts with Google Ads Account Map

Do you want to manage multiple accounts and sub-accounts in Google Ads manager account? Google Ads introduced a new account map tool that helps you to visualize account structure, view each account’s performance and easily navigate to those accounts. Here is the screenshot of Google Ads Account Map.

The account map allows you to view your manager account and all sub-accounts in one place. You can quickly understand how your account is structured and see performance metrics for each account, such as impressions, clicks and cost.

This new account map tool allows you to see all manager account and sub-accounts details at one place. You can view that how your account is structured and see the performance metrics such as clicks, impressions and cost.

The Google Ad account map also help to analyze which of your sub-accounts share common attributes such as shared labels, conversion tracking, remarketing lists and external managers on the accounts

.

This new account map tool is now available for all manager accounts. You can see the aggregated performance metrics at the left side navigation. You can find account map under “Tools and settings” menu or to your Accounts page in Google Ads. Check out your account map today and see who has access to each account.

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Google Introducing Swirl Display Ads Format With 3D Objects

Showcase Your products with Immersive Display With Google Swirl Display Ads

Google is launching a new display ad format, called Swirl, which allows users to interact with 3D objects. Advertisers can take advantage of using 3D assets to produce ads that engage users by allow them to rotate the object including zoom in and out. Google shared the example from a leading perfume and cosmetics brand who created a 3D Ad for one of its fragrances.

Google Swirl 3D Banner Ad

What is Swirl?

Swirl is a new immersive display format designed for mobile web and available on Display and Video 360. People can explore every angle of your product by rotating the 3D object in all directions and zooming in and out, interacting from their device as if the product was in front of them. Marketers can deliver better ad experiences that draw people’s attention and let them interact with directly and discover more about the product.

How To Create 3D Ads?

Advertisers that already have 3D assets can easily create a Swirl ad unit by using the 3D component in Google Web Designer. Google also introduced a new editor on its 3D platform Poly that will allow marketers to edit, configure, and publish high-quality, photo realistic models to use in immersive display ads.

Here’s an example of Swirl Display Ads on a mobile device:

View post on imgur.com

If you’re interested in exploring Swirl Ads but need help building 3D assets, Google have certified 3D production partners to help for create engaging, interactive ads and motion graphics that can run on any device. The new Swirl display ad format will be roll out after this summer.

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

On May 14, 2019, Surojit Chattarjee, Vice President of Product Management at Google Shopping, announced that Google making it easier for users to shop directly from Search, Images, and YouTube. This significant announcement was made at Google Marketing Live on Tuesday, after the replacements of Google Express to the new Google Shopping.

The New Google Shopping Experience

Google is creating a new shopping experience, which help users to add items to a universal shopping cart from several of its platforms like Images, Search, and YouTube.

According to Google:

“This year we’re unveiling a redesigned Google Shopping experience with new, immersive ways for shoppers to discover and compare millions of products from thousands of stores. When they’re ready to buy, they can choose to purchase online, in a nearby store and now directly on Google.”

Buyers will have a personalized homepage on the Shopping tab where they can use filters based on features, read reviews and also watch videos. For example, if you’re using Google Search to buy a headphone, you can use filter for wireless, and the brand you’re looking for.

When viewing a product page in search results there could be a blue “Add to cart” button which would allow you to buy the item on the spot. The “Add to cart” button could also appear when viewing a YouTube video about a product, or when viewing photos of a product in Google Images.

When you seeing a product page in the search results, the blue ‘Add to Cart’ button allow users to buy that product on the spot with confidence because the product is backed by a Google guarantee. Shoppers will be confident by knowing that Google is behind the scene, if the order is delayed, didn’t get received which they were looking or the issue for refund.  The “Add to cart” button will also appear when watching a video about that product on YouTube, or when viewing that product photos in Google Images.

If you’re a Merchant, so your products will be automatically add to this new shopping experience on Google Shopping, Google Search and Google Assistant.

Get Discovered on Google Shopping

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.”

So, now shoppers can view swipeable and visual ads on Google Images, means that you are able to highlight multiple products within the same sponsored ad. Google also introducing Showcase Shopping Ads – a new visual ad format that integrates with rich lifestyle imagery. According to survey, more than 80% of traffic come on retailer websites from new visitors just to discover new ideas and brands.

If you want to join New Google Shopping Experience and start campaigns, then fill out this form.

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Google Marketing Live: Discovery Ads for Mobile Browsers

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

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.

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What New Changes Are Coming in Google AdSense Platform

Google published new guide for linking Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts that can get you deeper insights, smarter campaigns, and enable you to earn better business outcomes. In this new guide you can learn how to link both Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts and see the full customer cycle, from how they interact with your marketing ads and complete the goals that you’ve set for them on your site.

Why Link Google Ads and Analytics Accounts?

When you link Google Ads and Analytics, you can:

• See ad and site performance data in the Google Ads reports in Analytics.
• Import Analytics goals and Ecommerce transactions into your Google Ads account.
• Import cross-device conversions into your Google Ads account when you activate Google signals.
• Import Analytics metrics like Bounce Rate, Avg. Session Duration, and Pages/Session into your Google Ads account.
• Enhance your Google Ads remarketing with Analytics Remarketing and Dynamic Remarketing.
• Get richer data in the Analytics Multi-Channel Funnels reports.

Google published new guide because the rise of mobile devices and new digital technologies has resulted in customer journeys that are more varied than ever. With the help of this guide you can use your Analytics data to make your ad more specific, reach target audience and maximizing ad response based on location, device, browser and page depth insights, among other data points.

According to Google, in this new guide you will find a clear, step-by-step playbook to unlock deeper insights and create smarter campaigns. You can see that how the advanced measurement capabilities in Analytics can offer a clear and specific understanding of campaign performance.

It included that how you can select audiences in Analytics and share with Google Ads, also Import your Google Analytics data into your ads flow, along with improved reporting options based on increased data insights.

There are some other interesting features  if you’re thinking of using Google Ads, it’s definitely worth checking out the guide and considering your options for improved data tracking. The more data the better, and with so many actions can be track, makes sense to dig into them and improve your ad performance.

You can download the full “Linking Analytics and Ads: The Solution to Today’s Marketing Challenges” guide here.

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