Every now and then, Google rolls out updates to its algorithms or introduces new features that potentially have an impact on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategies. This time around, Google has made changes to features that will affect advertisers.
We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about this new roll-out, and how you can leverage it to better your marketing strategies.
What are Google Ads?
Google Ads are a form of Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising. This is a marketing strategy designed to attract potential customers while using a search engine and directing them straight to your website. They are a great way to reach and attract customers because you can place an ad that will show up in Google searches relevant to your business or product. For example, if you’re selling watermelons, your ad can make an appearance when someone searches Google for “the best summer fruit”. Ok, that could be debatable, depending on what Google likes to E-A-T these days. But you get the point?
There are different types of ads that you can choose from based on the strategy that works best for your business.
Types of Google Ads and their features
- Standard text ads
For example, Nike uses a standard text ad to create hype for their 50th anniversary
- Image Ads
An Ad for no ads. YouTube uses a banner image ad for marketing its Premium services.
- Video Ads
MoneySuperMarket utilises a video to market their car insurance packages.
- App promotions
For example, TikTok encourages YouTube users to download their app.
- Demographic targeting
If you searched for nursery rhymes, Google Ads shows would likely show you an ad that is related to a similar demographic.
- Shopping campaigns
Calvin Klein uses the shopping feature to display their products as well as shops where customers can buy them from and their prices
- Location-specific
Google Ads can detect where a user is searching from and automatically show them results based on their location. For example, this search is detected to come from Toronto, Canada so the prices and shop locations are listed accordingly.
- User-interest targeting
Because this user is interested in gaming, Google knows to show them ads that are related to their interests.
How Can You Benefit from Google Ads?
PPC can do a lot for your business. According to statistics from SmallBizGenius, Google Ads can give your business an 80% boost in brand awareness. This is because you can target your audience based on their preferences and interests to show them relevant ads. You can base these according to age, location, language, devices, and specific times.
The biggest benefit of Google Ads is that they’re cost-effective. You can adjust your bids at any time and you don’t need a huge budget to run them.
What changes has Google made to their Ad Features?
1. Machine Learning
The use of machine learning has been on the rise in recent years and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. It has given brands the capability to speed up their processes of learning what their customers like and dislike. Statistics have shown that business productivity has increased by 54% thanks to machine learning. Google has included machine learning in their advertising technology to help drive more effective results.
In a blog post about the Future of Marketing, Google’s VP and General Manager of Ads, Jerry Dischler, says that with the new technology, ad placement becomes more intuitive. Before, your ads needed to fit a specific type of format, but now there are thousands of formats. With machine learning technology, Google Ads will now display your ad in the format that best suits your business needs. To do this, they have also made changes so that ad layouts have responsive designs.
2. Responsive Design
Designing for mobile should never be an afterthought, especially since 84% of the world’s population accesses the internet from their mobile devices. Google Ads now has a responsive design layout so that your ads can be accommodated well on any device. Google will automatically change the size of your ad so that it fits in any available space. So now, your ads won’t get cut off, whether they’re images, videos, or text and you don’t have to design separate ads for each device size.
3. Image Uncropping
Because of the new responsive design, ad images won’t get cropped. This means that ads will be able to fill any space with no issues. Before, if an ad’s image was smaller than the space it was displayed in, you would likely see a white border but that’s no longer the case, making the design look more seamless. These design changes will happen automatically so you don’t have to stress about making any changes yourself.
4. Asset Hub
There is now a hub that hosts all of your ads in groups so that you can build them around themes. This means that you’ll be able to generate more relatable and relevant content for your consumers, which will get them to take action. A survey showed that 64% of consumers took an action after seeing an ad that was diverse or inclusive. You can also access the most creative assets from across Google Ads. They’ve created a showcase of creative and effective projects so you can find inspiration for your own and take them further.
Google’s creative inspiration hub, where you can see some of the successful marketing campaigns across the different Google platforms like YouTube and Google Apps.
Final thoughts
Google has connected automation and creativity to make storytelling easier for you. The new changes to their Ads features are a sure win to get the best out of your marketing strategies. Google Ads now offers you more customisation and personalisation so that you can reach your target audience at the right time, and with the right message.
Here at Lilo, we offer PPC marketing strategies that are cost-effective and attract instant web traffic. We’ll help you analyse your campaigns so that you can monitor and improve your business’s performance. And, as with all our services, it’s completely customisable to your specific needs and preferences. Get in touch with our PPC experts today so we can harness the power of Google AdWords to benefit your brand.
