Really? Is this even interesting, do I hear you cry? Well, yes. We pay great attention to every, single Google update so their Marketing Live 2022 event was always going to be a key date in our schedule. We know how tight budgets are right now, so keeping on top of best practice is vital.
Still, I can understand you might not want to attend or watch it on YouTube. So, here’s an edit of what we think will matter most to our clients. It’s still a bit of a marathon read, so get a drink and a snack, and settle down:
Google’s latest developments and tools
We’ve identified the following developments and tools that – if they are actually implemented – we’ll be maximising where ever possible:
Performance Max (PMax)
PMax (link to blog) allows you to advertise across all of Google’s channels with a single campaign. Already some new features are in the pipeline:
Store sales reporting and bidding
If you’re running PMax for store goals, you will soon be able to optimise for sales as well as footfall.
Burst campaigns
Burst campaigns are designed to help you achieve the same reach in a shorter space of time (eg two weeks). So, for example, it could be particularly useful in driving visits and calls during seasonal spikes, such as holidays.
Experiments
We’re encouraging some of our clients to use Performance Max alongside their existing campaigns so Google’s new experiment tools will allow you to measure incremental improvements in performance using A/B testing.
Explanations
Rather than having to cross-reference data with different reporting tools, this feature will help to identify reasons for performance changes within the Google Ads interface. This gives much-needed transparency in how Google’s automation is working in your campaigns.
Google Ads recommendations and optimisation score
Google will be suggesting optimisation improvements to your targeting, budgets and asset groups. These suggestions are based on your campaign settings and goals, together with external factors like search volume and trends.
Search Ads 360 (SA360)
This feature is really for higher spending advanced accounts. It’s a platform for managing large campaigns across multiple search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc). We’ll be able to view, create, manage, and report on Performance Max campaigns just as we can with Google Ads.
Insights page
The Google Ads insights page gathers data (updated daily) based on your account performance and current trends. The idea is to help you improve your results as well as understand the ‘thinking’ behind the decisions taken by the automation function.
Attribution insights
This gives you information behind the conversion paths your customers take across your various Google Ads campaigns, thereby helping you pinpoint the direct value of your campaigns.
Budget insights
The idea of this feature is to monitor how your campaign budget is performing, enabling you to act quickly when necessary by topping up or re-allocating any leftover at the end of the month.
First-party audience insights
These insights will use your audience behaviour-based data to help you (and Google’s machine learning) to see which segments are performing best.
Google shopping
Features include:
Checkout on Merchant
Shoppers will be able to checkout from a listing, taking them directly to your site. Starting with Shopify and Walmart, the feature will embrace other partners and retailers in the future.
Immersive shopping experience
Just in time for the holiday season, Google is planning a “powerful, swipeable, visual feed” for clothing retailers. Organic results and Shopping ads, using rich images and descriptions, will be blended into the SERP so users can swipe up for more product detail. 3D models of products are also planned.
Product feeds and ads (YouTube Shorts and Search)
According to Google, YouTube Shorts are now averaging over 30 billion daily views, four times as many as a year ago. Apparently, customers believe that YouTube enhances their shopping journey. So, product feeds will soon be available on YouTube Shorts and Search as a way of turning your video action campaigns into “actual digital storefronts”.
In addition, Google is introducing scrollable ads and videos based on your product feed.
Product improvement recommendations
This will be a tab within Google Ads to allow retailers to optimise both their campaigns and individual products. It will also detect issues with your products, such as missing information or insufficient bidding.
Reporting
These are automation and machine learning updates:
Search and conversion lift tests
Search lift tests will randomly select and compare people who have seen vs not seen your YouTube ads. This will allow you to detect any ‘lifts’ in organic searches driven by your YouTube campaigns.
Simplified tagging
A single Google tag will replace the global site tag for all Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts. This will allow you to manage tags centrally without any additional code.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google is replacing Universal Analytics with GA4. A new dashboard will show insights and predictions based on where your customers are in their journey.
New reporting
Google is planning to make other data available, such as on-device conversion measurement, and a lead funnel report so you can gauge how your qualified and converted leads are performing.
Asset library
Google’s asset library is a “one-stop shop” for advertisers to import, collaborate on and share assets for all campaigns in one place. The idea is you’ll be able to create an ad with just five images, a logo, and some text. You’ll also be able to put together a video and publish it to YouTube directly in the asset library in less than 60 seconds.
Messages in ads
A bit like a chat bot, Google Business Messages will allow consumers to message you directly within your search ads.
Mobile-first responsive display ads
New mobile-first layouts will allow you to showcase your brand on full-screen with a vertical ad inventory.
Google audiences for connected TV
Google Audiences will soon be available for connected TV campaigns. Connected TV ads are a form of OTT (over the top) advertising. Basically, any device (eg a smartphone) that displays video and connects to the internet is an OTT device.
Improvements to Responsive Search Ads (RSAs)
Google is rolling out automatically created assets to RSAs (link to blog) later this year. This is a feature designed to improve ad relevance so it generates assets automatically based on content from landing pages and existing ad units.
Phew!
That’s a long – but by no means exhaustive – list of features emerging from Google Marketing Live 2022. As you’d imagine, some are useful, some are puzzling. The final one I’d like to mention is that in My Ad Center, Google is going to allow users to select the types of ads they want to see more of or less. We’re working hard with our clients to ensure they opt for the first category.
