Microsoft Ads Makes Copilot Advancements via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Microsoft Ads made some significant enhancements for ads in Copilot last week.

Not only have they made updates to the Copilot user experience, they’ve integrated more AI features for advertisers within Microsoft Ads.

These updates continue to shape how users interact with Copilot and how advertisers interact with the Microsoft Ads platform.

Let’s take a look at the new updates rolling out.

New Streamlined Experience for Ads in Copilot

Part of the evolution of Microsoft Copilot is aiming to simplify, yet personalize, the user’s digital experience.

The update will now better depict the difference between an organic listing and a sponsored conversation within Copilot.

They’re making that happen by featuring ads in Copilot below the Copilot organic response.

To make the experience more relevant to users, there will be fewer annotations and extensions shown.

Additionally, ads will now be triggered based on the whole conversation within Copilot, not just the last prompt a user gives.

Copilot has released a feature called “ad voice” which will introduce how the ads are relevant and connected to their Copilot conversation. This is shown before an ad blocker to give the user a chance to experience the ads within the conversation.

The updated experience will roll out later this month, starting on copilot.microsoft.com, and then will expand to both iOS and Android apps, along with the experiences in Bing and Microsoft Edge.

New Generative AI Tools in Microsoft Ads Platform

On the other side of Copilot updates, there’s a few new features using Copilot’s AI technologies to help advertisers boost productivity and insights.

Diagnostics Tool

The new Diagnostics feature in Copilot for Microsoft Ads will help lend a hand to advertisers to review items like:

• Campaign setup
• Assess overall account health
• Diagnose where to shift attention or focus to
• Provide next steps on a diagnosis

This takes place within the Copilot conversation experience and is set to start piloting later this month.

It’s goal is to save advertisers time on day-to-day campaign management so they can spend more time analyzing and optimizing their accounts.

Performance Snapshot

Another new feature within Copilot for Microsoft Ads is the performance snapshot.

Similar to the diagnostics tool, advertisers will use the conversational experience to ask Copilot how their accounts are doing.

They can get insights on items like:

• Summary of key insights
• Account or campaign key insights
• Trends
• Any anomalies
• And more.

The performance snapshot will also start piloting later this month, and will gradually roll out to all eligible regions when available.

Summary

Microsoft continues to develop and evolve its solutions from direct feedback from users and advertisers, which is a welcome experience for advertisers alike.

For advertisers already using Microsoft Ads, look for these key features in the upcoming weeks or months.

If you’re not currently using Microsoft Ads, it may be worth testing out a portion of your PPC budget this season to compare how its performance measures up against your Google Ads campaigns.

Google Officially Launches Ads In AI Overviews via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

The much anticipated launch of ads in AI Overviews is officially live.

Originally announced in May’s Google Marketing Live event, it’s now available for mobile users in the United States.

Through several months of testing, early findings show ads in AI Overviews have been helpful to quickly connect users to brands at the exact right moment.

How It Works

When a user searches for something in Google, a new ad format is shown in the AI Overview section along with other helpful content that is relevant to the query.

If a user asks a question, their AI Overviews results may include helpful solutions, articles related to their search, or a new Shopping ad format.

For ads shown in AI Overviews, they’ll still have the standard “Sponsored” label to denote an ad.

What This Means For Advertisers

For those already running Shopping, Performance Max, or AI-powered Search ads, your ads are now eligible to serve in those placements.

No other action is needed on your part to show ads in AI Overviews.

Considering AI Overviews is the first experience a user sees when searching on Google, this can be a great way to get in front of your audience sooner.

As other ad types are now being pushed further down the fold, capturing as many relevant ad placements as you can will be crucial, especially during key research moments.

Google also mentioned in their announcement that having different types of information in AI Overviews can help alleviate the need for additional searches.

If that’s the case, we could see search trends or volume decrease over time, but it’s still too early to tell.

Serving ads in the AI Overviews section is an opportunity to introduce your brand and products earlier on during the customer journey, such as when they’re asking a question.

This can lead to better brand recall, keeping you top of mind in their decision making process.

Looking Ahead

It’s not clear yet how advertisers will be able to segment campaign performance by these new placements.

Since campaign types like Search, Shopping and Performance Max are automatically eligible to show ads in AI Overviews, it’s also unclear if they will be able to opt out of showing in certain places, like they can for the Search Partner Network, for example.

We have reached out to the Google Ads Liaison for more information and will update this story as more becomes available.

Google Shopping Ads Now Available In Google Lens Results via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Google is rolling out new Google Lens features to make visual shopping easier for users.

Starting this week, users will now start to see detailed product information when using Google Lens to search.

This update gives advertisers a new opportunity to showcase their products in a new way that engages users in real time.

A New Results Page For Google Lens Searches

Rolling out today, Google Lens will show more prominent product information when the product is identified.

Users will now be able to see information for products like:

• Price comparisons across retailers
• Current deals on the product
• Product reviews
• Where to buy

This update is fueled by the Google Shopping Graph, and that’s where Google Shopping Ads come into play.

New Shopping Ads Placement In Time For The Holidays

With the new Google Lens results experience, Shopping ads will now be eligible to show in this placement.

While it’s rolling out today for both Android and iOS, it’s only available in select countries as of now.

Additionally, Google is prioritizing Shopping ad placements for top holiday categories including:

• Toys
• Electronics
• Beauty.

How Will This New Shopping Ads Placement Work?

Your Google Shopping ads will show up in the same format as it currently does for keyword or query searches.

The benefit of this is that users are already familiar with that format, and are more likely to engage with the well-known format.

As visual search continues to become more prominent, it’s more important than ever to keep an up-to-date product feed with relevant titles, product descriptions, and accurate details in order to show for Google Lens searches.

If you’re an advertiser, no additional action is required to show up for the new Google Lens shopping ads experience.

Looking Ahead

Since the announcement is new and the experience is rolling out today, it’s not available to all countries or product categories yet.

Google will continue to roll out this experience to other product categories throughout Q4 and into 2025 as it evolves.

There’s no word yet on the type of reporting advertisers will have access to with this new placement. We’ll continue to update as more information becomes available.