12 Google AdWords Features Launched in Q3 2016 & Why You Should Be Using Them
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you, AdWords has been on a tear in Q3, launching AdWords updates and features with abandon. In case you haven’t been keeping up, Anvil is here to give you the rundown on 12 new features available and why you want to make use of them.
1. Click to message ads
What is it?: New ad format for Google Search that allows users to text advertisers directly from an ad
Why you should use it: Give users an easy way to text you to start a conversation and continue whenever it is most convenient for them. Cut out on call-time/phone trees and connect with consumers faster to increase conversion rates.
2. Google Shopping Increases Partner Integrations
What is it?: Google Shopping increased its partnerships to include BigCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento.
Why you should use it: Advertisers using those ecommerce platforms and those looking to partner with a new vendor now have a streamlined integration to get started on Google Shopping. Advertisers utilizing these vendors can now easily submit product information and quickly reach millions of new customers searching for what they sell.
3. RLSA improvements
What is it?: Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) allows advertisers to connect with users who are already familiar with your brand. Now Google has allowed advertisers to keep site visitors on their list for longer – 540 days.
Why you should use it: Longer remarketing audience duration time helps advertisers with higher-consideration products better segment and target users. You can now extend the duration for how long a user is targeted with specific ads, based on longer decision processes.
4. Demographics for Search Ads
What is it?: Adjust bids for ages and genders, and even exclude them, to help you reach specific groups of customers, and report on how they impact your campaigns.
Why you should use it: Applying demographics to your search ads helps provide the most relevant ad experience possible. Based on age and gender specifics, advertisers can cater messaging to skew more formal/colloquial/young/esteemed/and any other combination to achieve the best engagement.
5. Brand Lift Measurements for TV & Youtube
What is it?: AdWords’ Brand Lift measurement tool, which measures the direct impact Youtube ads have on perceptions and behaviors throughout the customer journey, now has the capability to compare effectiveness between Youtube and TV.
Why you should use it: For major cross-platform TV and video campaigns, this tool presents a way to prove digital effectiveness among larger media buys.
6. TrueView for Action
What is it?: A new video ad format that encourages users to take any online action that’s meaningful for your business. It displays a tailored call-to-action during and after your video specific to your use case.
Why you should use it: Too often video ad content is catered to branding, with no available area on the video to drive action. Brands with high-consideration products and services especially have difficult times moving users through the path to purchase using video. TrueView for Action helps brands tap into an increasingly significant medium (video) and drive action.
7. Expanded Text Ads
What is it?: The biggest update to AdWord’s ad creative in more than 15 years, ETAs optimize ads for mobile screen sizes, expanding headlines and descriptions to add 50% more text on ads
Why you should use it: More copy real estate allows advertisers to balance search query relevancy with stronger branding, value propositions, and calls-to-action within ad copy on search. AdWords has extended the deadline for when all users will need to convert ads to the new type to January 31, 2017, giving advertisers ample time to test, iterate, and generate best practices.
8. Device Bidding Modifiers Update
What is it?: The ability to adjust bids based on all device types: desktop, mobile, and tablet.
Why you should use it: Users behave differently based on device, and advertisers should cater ad length, messaging, and bids to capture users on these different devices to guide them along the path to purchase.
9. TrueView Discovery Ads
What is it?: TrueView’s former product (TrueView in-display) now re-named and with new featureds including full inventory coverage on mobile as well.
Why you should use it: While the in-stream product is Youtube’s most-used ad type, Discovery ads will drive higher engagement. When users click on the video, as opposed to having it served to them before the content they want to watch, it indicates strong interest in your brand. The format is built for guiding your audience to the additional content you own.
10. Price Extensions
What is it?: Additional information that can show with your mobile text ads that show your products and services and their cost.
Why you should use it: This ad extension is a structured way of highlighting information relevant to the user, taking them directly to the information they seek. It facilitates the decision making process, potentially cutting out the need to visit a more generalized landing page in favor of more specific content. Used in place of site links and in combination with other extensions, this functionality will help drive increased ad engagement and conversions.
11. Showcase Shopping Ads
What is it?: Shopping ad type that appears for general, non-brand product queries and features three product images and a promotional message or the retailer’s distance from the user. The ads link to a catalog-style landing page hosted by Google that features a retailer’s promotional copy and related products from their shopping feed.
Why you should use it: Over 40% of shopping related searches on Google are for broad terms (“men’s jorts”). Rather than limit ad delivery to a single, possibly unrelated product listing ad, these Showcase Ads help users explore and discover what to buy in a seamless and useful way.
12. TrueView for Shopping Expanded Features
What is it?: TrueView for Shopping has updated its features to include a companion banner and product picker to drive increased engagement and conversions on these ads. The companion banner is an interactive banner that appears next to the video and lets viewers scroll through products while the video is playing next to it. The product picker lets advertisers prioritize which products are featured as cards in their video ads.
Why you should use it: These two features give the advertiser more ways to customize the ad experience, and focus user attention on specific products and messages. They give advertisers more control over branding on their video ads, while at the same time driving increased engagement on the new ad type.
While the breadth of new features launched in Q3 2016 may leave advertisers floating in a tin can far above the moon, Anvil is here to let you know planet earth is blue and there’s something you can do: partner with us to see how you can best take advantage of these updates and get the edge on your competition.
