Last Tuesday, six Google executives got on stage and dished out some important (and exciting) information on some near-future Google innovations and product updates. We got together and livestreamed the Google Ads and Analytics Innovations Keynote at WebTek and wanted to share what we’re most excited about and the ones that pertain most to our line of work. We went ahead and listed out the most exciting announcements for you, but we also encourage you to go check out the Keynote video to see what else is new.
Here’s our top 8!
1. Bid Adjustments for Tablets: For successful Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, it is necessary to analyze and take note of how your online ads are performing across different devices. With this new Google update, you can optimize your ad campaign’s performance across different devices, including mobile phones, tablets and computers, when before you could only analyze each one’s performance. Now you can target and adjust bids to each device type, allowing another level of market segmentation with tablet customization, when before bid adjustments only applied to smartphones. This is a super important innovation for businesses because people behave differently on different devices, thus it’s important to customize the customer’s experience on each device.
2. Demographic Data for Search Campaigns: Your company can now report, target, and adjust bids on demographic metrics for Search Ads. Segmenting your ads based on certain demographics, such as income level, age, race, and gender, is a central feature of Google AdWords and it’s an integral part of targeting the right audience for your ad campaigns.
3. Similar Audience for Search: Head keynote speaker, Sridhar Ramaswamy, asserted that the user’s search query (who is searching and what keywords are being used in the search) is the most important aspect of the advertising marketplace because it determines the user’s intent. This is important to notice, for a marketer’s objective is to match a consumer’s intent with the proper context and precise targeting. Google has refined the Similar Audiences feature in AdWords, allowing businesses to expand their reach to ideal customer segments and more readily engage prospective buyers.
4. Mobile Optimized Search Ads: Google found, after a series of testing, that longer descriptions and longer titles for search results on mobile devices were more useful to users because more information was provided. Thus, Google is making two changes to text ads on search: (1) a two-line header (or title) and (2) an 80 character description. This is an add on of 50% more text and, according to Google’s studies, a 20% increase in engagement.
5. Google Maps’ Promoted Pins: So, 1 out of 4 people are concerned to shop in-store because they’re afraid that what they’re looking to purchase won’t be in stock. It is also known that an increasing number of people look to their smartphone to find exactly what they’re looking for in the area. Google developed Promoted Pins in the Google Maps app. Certain keywords allow advertisers to show up first in Google Maps results. The new Maps advertisements feature: (1) a branded pin on the visual Google map, (2) a text ad in the ‘list’ result (including a title and description), and (3) a customizable, detailed business page for users who click on the ad. This is huge because it bridges the gap between online advertising and offline action for the user, and takes advantage of the fact that users generally use mobile for local search. It brings much more powerful location-based advertising!
6. Real-time Collaborative Reporting (Data Studio 360): Google is adding on to the Analytics 360 toolbox. Two really cool features were emphasized. Those were: (1) Optimize 360, the new paid analytics tool for enterprises, and (2) Data Studio 360, which allows marketers to access data, create reports, and collaborate in real-time. This means you can whip out reports on the run in collaboration with your teammates.
7. The New Analytics Data Assistant: Google’s data assistant has evolved and is even handier than it was before. It delivers user-specific insight on demand, fielding your questions about various business metrics and surfacing the relevant data in your accounts.
8. AdWords Interface Redesign: The new platform was introduced with 3 core principles: (1) Identify Opportunities, (2) Focus on Your Business, and (3) Accomplish More. From the presentation, we know that a new interface is coming, but it’s not fully developed yet. This was a disappointment to some, for this was a key promotional item for the Summit in the last few months, however it’s yet another exciting innovation to look forward to!
After exploring the next generation of technology with Google’s keynote, we were left with a lot to look forward to as marketers. In summary, Google’s ad platform features are adapting to a trending mobile-first world, which leaves us with a lot of new possibilities to consider! Check out the video to see what else is new – here’s the link:
