Feb 26 2025
How To Navigate Performance Fluctuations In Google Shopping Campaigns via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Managing Google Shopping campaigns is both an art and a science.

Even with the most refined strategies and detailed data, performance fluctuations can happen – and when they do, they often leave marketers scrambling for answers.

Understanding why these fluctuations occur, knowing how to respond, and effectively communicating with clients are essential skills for anyone managing these campaigns.

This article will explore:

  • Factors behind expected and unexpected performance changes.
  • How to create actionable strategies for troubleshooting.
  • Advice on communicating effectively with clients when things don’t go as planned.

Expected Fluctuations In Google Shopping Campaigns

Expected fluctuations are those that follow predictable patterns, often driven by external factors like time of year or consumer behavior trends

While they can still be challenging to manage, they’re usually easier to anticipate and explain.

Seasonality Fluctuations

Seasonality is one of the most common drivers of performance fluctuations in Google Shopping campaigns.

Consumers behave differently depending on the time of year, and these patterns often align with major holidays or specific shopping periods.

For instance, campaigns tend to see increased traffic and conversions during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as in the lead-up to Christmas. Conversely, industries like outdoor recreation may see a downturn in the winter months.

If your campaigns cater to niche markets, other seasonal trends might also come into play – such as back-to-school shopping in August or summer sales for outdoor equipment.

Leveraging historical data can help identify and pinpoint these trends.

Proper preparation is key to managing these seasonal shifts. This can include:

  • Increasing budgets and bids ahead of high-traffic periods.
  • Aligning your creative assets with seasonal themes.
  • Leveraging historical data to predict performance patterns.

By staying proactive, you can turn expected fluctuations into opportunities for growth.

Market Trends Fluctuations

Broader market trends also play a role in campaign performance.

For example, rising interest in eco-friendly products or the emergence of new tech gadgets can influence consumer buying behavior. These trends are often gradual, making them easier to spot and account for in your campaigns.

Monitoring industry reports and using tools like Google Trends can help you stay ahead of market shifts. Adjusting your product feeds to emphasize trending items or updating your bidding strategy can ensure your campaigns remain competitive.

Competitor Activity

Competitor behavior can lead to sudden Google Shopping performance changes.

For example, a new competitor entering the market may bid aggressively on your top-performing products, driving up cost-per-click (CPC).

Alternatively, an established competitor might launch a promotional campaign, temporarily capturing a larger share of clicks.

To address competitor-driven fluctuations, conduct a competitive analysis using tools like Auction Insights.

If you notice increased competition, consider differentiating your offerings by highlighting unique selling points or adjusting bids to focus on less competitive segments.

Unexpected Fluctuations And Their Challenges

While expected fluctuations can often be forecasted, unexpected changes in performance are trickier to diagnose.

These shifts might not have an obvious external cause, leaving PPC managers to dig into the depths of the Google Shopping campaigns to uncover underlying issues.

Below are some common unexpected fluctuations and what to investigate.

1. Seeing A Sharp Decline In Impressions

When impressions suddenly drop, it’s a red flag that your ads are no longer reaching as many people as possible. Several factors could be at play:

  • Budget Constraints: A limited daily budget can throttle impressions, especially if you’re running out of budget early in the day. Review your budget pacing to ensure you’re not capping performance.
  • Changes In Search Demand: While seasonality can explain some shifts, there are instances where search demand for specific products dips unexpectedly. Use the “Search Terms” report to spot if a few users are searching for your targeted keywords.
  • Bid Strategy Changes: If bid changes were recently made, they might have inadvertently lowered your competitive edge. Analyze auction insights to determine whether competitors have increased their bids, pushing your ads lower in the rankings.
  • Policy Violations: Account suspensions or disapprovals due to policy changes or errors in the product feed can lead to a sudden halt in ad delivery. Check the “Diagnostics” tab in the Merchant Center for any alerts.

2. A Sudden Decline In Conversions

A sudden drop in conversions is unsettling, especially when impressions and clicks remain steady. Here’s a quick look at where to investigate:

  • Landing Page Issues: A broken link, slow page load times, or changes to the landing page experience can derail conversions. Use tools like Google’s Page Speed Insights to test performance.
  • Inventory Problems: Out-of-stock or incorrect availability data in the product feed can negatively impact conversion rates. Make sure the Merchant Center feed is syncing properly.
  • Pricing Discrepancies: If competitors undercut your pricing, customers may click but not convert. Monitor competitor pricing to ensure your client remains competitive.
  • Shifts In Audience Behavior: Use the “Audience Insights” report to check if your targeting still aligns with customer intent.

It’s important to note that your product data feed is the backbone of your Google Shopping campaigns, and even minor errors can lead to unexpected drops in performance.

Regularly auditing your data feed is crucial to avoiding these issues. Ensuring your feed is accurate, up-to-date, and optimized can help prevent performance dips caused by feed-related problems.

3. Other Unexpected Shifts

Sometimes the fluctuations in Google Shopping campaigns are more subtle, but still indicative of deeper issues:

  • Click-Through Rate (CTR) Drops: A sudden decline in CTR might indicate that your ad creatives are losing relevance. Test new product images, titles, or promotional messaging. Additionally, review what products are being triggered by search terms to determine if a more granular product structure is needed to maintain relevance.
  • ROAS Changes: If your return on ad spend suddenly dips, assess whether you’re overbidding on low-value clicks or if your campaign bid strategies need adjustment.

4. Algorithm Updates

Now you’re probably thinking – don’t algorithm updates only affect SEO rankings?

Think again.

Google’s algorithm changes can be one of the most common culprits of unexpected fluctuations. These updates can impact how products are displayed, how ads are served, and even which search queries trigger your Shopping ads.

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t always announce these changes right away, which means marketers often find out the hard way – through dips in performance.

When faced with algorithm-related fluctuations, your best course of action is to monitor key metrics closely and investigate any significant changes.

Look for shifts in impression share, CTR, or CPC that might signal an update.

Do some search and discovery testing “in the wild” to trigger your products, and identify if the user experience has changed, and adapt your strategy based on the outcomes.

How To Communicate Performance Fluctuations To Clients

Handling performance fluctuations isn’t just about solving the problem; it’s also about maintaining client confidence.

Clients may not understand the nuances of Google Shopping campaigns, so it’s your job to explain the situation in a way that builds trust and sets realistic expectations.

Be Proactive

Don’t wait for clients to notice a performance dip before addressing it. As soon as you identify a fluctuation, reach out with an explanation of what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what steps you’re taking to resolve it.

For example, if a seasonal lull is causing lower conversion rates, provide historical data to show that this pattern is normal and temporary.

Use Data To Support Your Points

Data is your best friend when communicating with clients.

Use visualizations like graphs or charts to illustrate trends, compare performance to previous periods, and highlight your optimization efforts.

This helps clients see the bigger picture and understand that fluctuations are part of a broader strategy.

Offer A Plan Of Action & Manage Expectations

End every client conversation with clear next steps.

Rather than focusing solely on the issue, highlight the steps you’re taking to address the problem(s). For example:

  • Short-Term Solutions: “We’re adjusting the bid strategy and budgets to stabilize performance while we investigate further.”
  • Long-Term Strategies: “We’re monitoring search demand weekly to ensure we’re not missing out on new opportunities.”

This reassures them that their campaigns are in capable hands.

Set realistic timelines for recovery and provide regular updates.

Avoid overpromising quick fixes. Instead, frame your efforts as part of a comprehensive strategy.

Turning Fluctuations Into Opportunities

Performance fluctuations in Google Shopping campaigns are inevitable, but they don’t have to derail your strategy.

By understanding the difference between expected and unexpected fluctuations, preparing for seasonal changes, staying vigilant about potential issues, and communicating effectively with clients, you can navigate these challenges with confidence.

Remember, fluctuations are not failures – they’re opportunities to refine your approach and drive even better results for your campaigns.

More Resources:

Featured Image: CrizzyStudio/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 24 2025
Beyond Tools: A Google Ads Guide To Detecting And Preventing Click Fraud In Lead Generation

Click fraud in lead generation can drain your marketing budget and corrupt your data, leading to misguided strategic decisions.

While automated detection tools serve as a first line of defense, relying solely on them is not enough.

This guide presents practical, hands-on approaches to identify and combat click fraud in your lead generation campaigns in Google Ads.

Understanding Modern Click Fraud Patterns

Click fraud isn’t just about basic bots anymore. The people running these scams have gotten much smarter, and they’re using tricks that your regular fraud tools might miss.

It’s a big business, and if you think you are not affected, you are wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening to your ad budget: Real people in click farms are getting paid to click on ads all day long.

They use VPNs to hide where they’re really coming from, making them look just like normal customers. And they’re good at it.

The bots have gotten better, too. They now copy exactly how real people use websites: They move the mouse naturally, fill out forms like humans, and even make typing mistakes on purpose.

When these smart bots team up with real people, they become really hard to spot.

The scammers are also messing with your tracking in clever ways. They can trick your website into thinking they’re new visitors every time.

They can make their phones seem like they’re in your target city when they’re actually on the other side of the world.

If you’re counting on basic click fraud protection to catch all this, you’re in trouble. These aren’t the obvious fake clicks from years ago – they’re smart attacks that need smart solutions.

That being said, the good old competitor trying to click 50 times on your ad is also still existent and not going away anytime soon.

Luckily, it is safe to say that Google can spot and detect those obvious fraud clicks in many cases.

Google’s Click Fraud Dilemma: Walking The Revenue Tightrope

Google faces a tricky problem with click fraud.

Every fake click puts money in Google’s pocket right now, but too many fake clicks will drive advertisers away. This creates a conflict of interest.

Google needs to show that it’s fighting click fraud to keep advertisers happy and the ad platform and all of its networks healthy, but it can’t afford to catch every single fake click.

If it did, its ad revenue would drop sharply in the short term because it also runs the risk of blocking valid clicks if it goes in too aggressively.

But if it doesn’t catch enough fraud, advertisers will lose trust and move their budgets elsewhere.

Some advertisers say this explains why Google’s fraud detection isn’t as strict as it could be.

They argue Google has found a sweet spot where it catches just enough fraud to keep advertisers from leaving, but not so much that it seriously hurts its revenue.

This balance gets even harder as fraudsters get better at making fake clicks look real.

This is also why many advertisers don’t fully trust Google’s own click fraud detection and prefer to use third-party tools.

These tools tend to flag more clicks as fraudulent than Google does, suggesting Google might be more conservative in what it considers fraud.

The Over-Blocking Problem Of Third-Party Tools

Third-party click fraud tools have their own business problem: They need to prove they’re worth paying for every month.

This creates pressure to show lots of “blocked fraud” to justify their subscription costs. The result? Many of these tools are too aggressive and often block real customers by mistake.

Other tactics are to show lots of suspicious traffic or activities.

Think about it. If a click fraud tool shows zero fraud for a few weeks, clients might think they don’t need it anymore and cancel.

So, these tools tend to set their detection rules very strict, marking anything slightly suspicious as fraud. This means they might block a real person who:

  • Uses a VPN for privacy.
  • Shares an IP address with others (like in an office).
  • Browses with privacy tools.
  • Has unusual but legitimate clicking patterns.

This over-blocking can actually hurt businesses more than the fraud these tools claim to stop.

It’s like a store security guard who’s so worried about shoplifters that they start turning away honest customers, too.

Why Click Fraud Tools Are Still Valuable

Despite these issues, click fraud tools are still really useful as a first line of defense.

They’re like security cameras for your ad traffic. They might not catch everything perfectly, but they give you a good picture of what’s happening.

Here’s what makes them worth using:

  • They quickly show you patterns in your traffic that humans would take weeks to spot.
  • Even if they’re sometimes wrong about individual clicks, they’re good at finding unusual patterns, like lots of clicks from the same place or at odd hours.
  • They give you data you can use to make your own decisions – you don’t have to block everything they flag as suspicious.

The key is to use these tools as a starting point, not a final answer. Look at their reports, but think about them carefully.

Are the “suspicious” clicks actually hurting your business? Do blocked users fit your customer profile?

Use the tool’s data along with your own knowledge about your customers to make smarter decisions about what’s really fraud and what’s not.

In terms of functionality, most third-party click fraud detection tools are somewhat similar to each other.

A simple Google search on “click fraud tool” shows the market leaders; the only bigger difference is usually pricing and contract duration.

Tackling Click Fraud With Custom Solutions

After getting a first impression with third-party click fraud tools, it’s best to build a collection of custom solutions to tackle your individual scenario.

Every business has a different situation with different software environments, website systems, and monitoring.

For custom solutions, it’s recommended to work closely with your IT department or developer, as many solutions require some modification on your website.

The Basics: Selecting An Identifier

There are a handful of solutions to cover 80% of the basics.

The first way to do something against click fraud is to find a unique identifier to work with.

In most cases, this will be the IP address since you can exclude certain IP addresses from Google Ads, thus making it a good identifier to work with.

Other identifiers like Fingerprints are also possible options. Once an identifier is found, you need to make sure your server logs or internal tracking can monitor users and their identifiers for further analysis.

The Basics: CAPTCHAs

Another basic tool, which is often forgotten, is CAPTCHAs.

CAPTCHAs can detect bots or fraudulent traffic. Google offers a free and simple-to-implement solution with reCAPTCHA.

CAPTCHAs might seem like an easy answer to bot traffic, but they come with serious downsides.

Every time you add a CAPTCHA, you’re basically telling your real users, “Prove you’re human before I trust you.” This creates friction, and friction kills conversions.

Most websites see a drop in form completions after adding CAPTCHAs if they are set too aggressively.

Smart CAPTCHAs can limit the frequency, but not all CAPTCHA providers allow that option, so choose your provider or solution wisely.

The Basics: Honeypot Fields

Honeypot fields are hidden form fields that act as traps for bots.

The trick is simple but effective: Add extra fields to your form that real people can’t see, but bots will try to fill out.

Only bots reading the raw HTML will find these fields; regular users won’t even know they’re there. The key is to make these fields look real to bots.

Use names that bots love to fill in, like “url,” “website,” or “email2.” If any of these hidden fields get filled out, you know it’s probably a bot. Real people won’t see them, so they can’t fill them out.

Pro tip: Don’t just add “honeypot” or “trap” to your field names. Bots are getting smarter and often check for obvious trap names. Instead, use names that look like regular-form fields.

Advanced Validation Methods

Smart Form Validation: Email

Most businesses only check if an email address has an “@” symbol and looks roughly correct.

This basic approach leaves the door wide open for fake leads and spam submissions.

Modern email validation needs to go much deeper. Start by examining the email’s basic structure, but don’t stop there.

Look at the domain itself: Is it real? How long has it existed? Does it have proper mail server records?

These checks can happen in real time while your user fills out the form. It should be noted, however, that smart form validation usually requires some sort of third-party provider to check the details, which means you need to rely on external services.

A common mistake is blocking all free email providers like Gmail or Yahoo. This might seem logical, but it’s a costly error.

Many legitimate business users rely on Gmail for their day-to-day operations, especially small business owners.

Instead of blanket blocks, look for unusual patterns within these email addresses. A Gmail address with a normal name pattern is probably fine; one with a random string of characters should raise red flags.

For enterprise B2B sales, you expect bigger companies to sign up with their company domain email address, so blocking free mail providers might work.

Smart Form Validation: Phone

Phone validation goes far beyond just counting digits. Think about the logic of location first.

When someone enters a phone number with a New York area code but lists their address in California, that’s worth investigating.

But be careful with this approach – people move, they travel, and they keep their old numbers. The key is to use these mismatches as flags for further verification, not as automatic rejections.

The Art Of Smart Data Formatting

Data formatting isn’t just about making your database look neat. It’s about catching mistakes and fraud while making the form easy to complete for legitimate users.

Name fields are a perfect example.

While you want to catch obviously fake names like “asdfgh” or repeated characters, remember that real names come in an incredible variety of formats and styles.

Some cultures use single names, others have very long names, and some include characters that might look unusual to your system.

Modify Your Google Ads Campaign Settings To Tackle Click Fraud

Google offers multiple campaign options to increase reach, on the downside most of those options come along with an increase of click fraud activities.

App Placements

Performance Max campaigns can place your ads across Google’s entire network, including in apps. While this broad reach can be powerful, it also opens the door to potential fraud.

The challenge is that you have limited control over where your ads appear, and some of these automatic placements can lead to wasted ad spend.

Kids’ games are often a major source of accidental and fraudulent clicks. These apps frequently have buttons placed near ad spaces, and children playing games can accidentally tap ads while trying to play.

What looks like engagement in your analytics is actually just frustrated kids trying to hit the “play” button.

Another issue comes from apps that use deceptive design to generate clicks. They might place clickable elements right where ads appear, or design their interface so users naturally tap where ads are located.

This isn’t always intentional fraud. Sometimes, it’s just poor app design, but it costs you money either way.

Unlike traditional campaigns, where you can easily exclude specific placements, Performance Max’s automation makes this more challenging.

The system optimizes for conversions, but it might not recognize that clicks from certain apps never lead to quality leads. By the time you spot the pattern, you’ve already spent money on these low-quality clicks.

Excluding app placements is for almost all advertisers a must have. Very few advertisers benefit from app placements at all.

Partner And Display Network

Lead generation businesses face a unique challenge with Performance Max campaigns that ecommerce stores can largely avoid.

While ecommerce businesses can simply run Shopping-only campaigns and tap into high-intent product searches, lead gen businesses are stuck dealing with the full Performance Max package, including the often problematic Display Network.

The Display Network opens up your ads to a mass of websites, many of which might not be the quality placements you’d want for your business.

While Google tries to filter out bad actors, the display network still includes sites that exist primarily to generate ad clicks.

These sites might look legitimate at first glance, but they’re designed to encourage accidental clicks or attract bot traffic.

Some are specifically designed for server bot farms, as they run on expired domains and have no content besides ads.

Lead generation businesses don’t have this luxury. Their Performance Max campaigns typically run on all networks except shopping. This creates several problems:

  • The quality of clicks varies wildly. Someone might click your medical practice ad while trying to close a pop-up on a gaming site. They’ll never become a patient, but you still pay for that click.
  • Display placements can appear on sites that don’t match your brand’s professional image. Imagine a law firm’s ad showing up on a site full of questionable content – not ideal for building trust with potential clients.
  • Bot traffic and click farms often target display ads because they’re easier to interact with than shopping ads. You might see high click-through rates that look great until you realize none of these clicks are turning into leads.

All those are reasons to question PMax campaigns for lead gen, but that’s a decision every marketer has to make.

Advanced Google Ads Settings To Tackle Click Fraud

If the basics are implemented but there is still a higher amount of suspected click fraud, advanced solutions need to be implemented.

Besides excluding suspicious IP addresses, you can also build negative audiences.

The idea is to have a second success page for your lead generation form and only forward potential bots or fake sign-ups to this page.

To achieve that, your website needs to evaluate potential bots live during the sign-up process.

You can then setup a dedicated “bot pixel” on the second success page in order to send data of this audience to Google.

Once enough data is retrieved, you can exclude this audience from your campaigns. This approach is a little trickier to implement but is worth the effort as those audience signals are of high quality if enough data is supplied.

Make sure to only fire the “bot pixel” on the special success page and only there, otherwise you run the risk of mixing your audiences which would render the system useless.

Filtering Fake Leads With Conditional Triggers

Another tracking-based strategy is to set up condition-based conversion tracking. Combined with hidden form fields, you can modify the conversion trigger not to send data if the hidden field was filled.

In that scenario, you would filter out bots from conversion tracking, sending back only real conversion to your campaign, and therefore, also training the Google algorithm and bidding strategy only on real data.

You eliminate a majority of fake leads and traffic with this setup.

Making Sign-Ups More Challenging To Improve Lead Quality

Another advanced strategy is to make the sign-up process a lot harder.

Tests have shown that much longer forms are not finished by bots because they are usually trained on simpler and shorter forms, which require only mail, name, phone, and address.

Asking specific questions and working with dropdowns can dramatically increase the lead quality. It should be noted, however, that longer forms can also hurt the valid signup rate, which is a risk you want to take if you have to deal with bot and fraud traffic.

A fitting case was a car dealer I worked with. They had a form where people could offer their cars for sale and retrieve a price estimate.

A short form had almost three times the signup rate than before, but it turned out later that a lot of them were spam signups or even very low-qualified leads.

A shorter form leads to more spam because it’s easy to sign up. After switching to a longer form, the signups dropped, but quality increased drastically.

Almost 20 fields long, and potential clients had to upload pictures of their car.

It took a few minutes to finish the signup, but those who did were committed to doing business and open to discussing the sale, which also made it easier for the salespeople to follow up properly.

A Hard Truth About Lead Fraud

Let’s be honest: You can’t completely stop lead fraud. It’s like shoplifting in retail – you can reduce it, you can catch it faster, but you can’t eliminate it entirely.

The fraudsters are always getting smarter, and for every security measure we create, they’ll eventually find a way around it.

But here’s the good news: You don’t need perfect protection. What you need is a balanced approach that catches most of the bad leads while letting good ones through easily.

Think of it like running a store: You want security, but not so much that it scares away real customers.

The key is to layer your defenses. Use click fraud tools as your first line of defense, add smart form validation as your second, and keep a human eye on patterns as your final check.

Will some fake leads still get through? Yes. But if you can stop 90% of the fraud, you’re winning the battle.

Remember: Perfect is the enemy of good. Focus on making fraud expensive and difficult for the bad actors, while keeping your lead generation process smooth and simple for real prospects. That’s how you win in the long run.

More Resources:

Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 21 2025
How To Drive Google Shopping Growth With Only One Of Each Product

Google Shopping is a Google Ads product that allows advertisers to serve feed-based ads on the search engine results page (SERPs).

The auction for Shopping Ads works in a similar way to Google Text Ads, in the sense that the auction is query-based.

However, Google Shopping does not target keywords and uses the feed (and a few other factors) to determine when and where to serve ads.

Here’s an example of the Google Shopping results on a SERP:

Screenshot of the Google Shopping results when a search is made for 'Tiago Lemos 1010 New Balance' Screenshot from search for [tiago lemos 1010 new balance], Google, January 2025

Advertisers are set to ramp up their spending on U.S. retail media search ads, with a projected 23.4% year-over-year growth in 2028, pushing the total spend to $76.83 billion.

Google Shopping offers advertisers the freedom to serve:

  • Product images.
  • Clear product titles.
  • Content-rich descriptions.
  • Upfront pricing.
  • Promotions.
  • Shipping costs.

Google Shopping allows advertisers to inform searchers about their products prior to clicking through – and when compared to standard text ads – has the potential to drive better-qualified traffic.

From multinational retailers to local bakeries, hundreds of thousands of brands use Google Shopping to get their products in front of searchers every day.

How To Find Success With Google Shopping Ads?

Many factors determine how online advertising performs, from key performance indicators (KPIs) to pricing, payment options, imagery, site speed, the social responsibility of a company, and more.

However, looking solely from an ad platform perspective at Google Shopping, the one factor that will determine success is data.

  • Product Feed: The data within your feed should be high quality, accurate, and well-planned. This is the heart of Google Shopping and is a huge factor in determining the search queries your shopping ads will enter the auction for. Where possible, ingest additional data that will help feed bidding strategies, reports, and more with valuable insights about your products.
  • Segmentation: There are many ways to segment Google Shopping campaigns: by margin, product categories, search query length, best sellers, and more. Segmentation and structure are important because this is where advertisers can control their budgets, set targets, and lay the foundations for scaling spend.
  • Budgets and Bidding: If your structure and segmentation lend themselves to your KPIs, you’ll be able to set budgets with confidence and build a portfolio of bidding targets that will work towards the correct goal.
  • Refinement: There aren’t any keywords, but there are negative keywords. Use these to refine your campaigns and ad groups to enter auctions for search queries that align with your KPIs. It may be that for upper funnel generic queries, you want to serve a certain category but not another; this is a perfect use case for negating queries and funneling traffic.
  • Performance Max: I couldn’t talk about shopping without mentioning PMax. All of the above applies; the only difference is that segmentation works slightly differently with asset groups and one single target, which is set at the campaign level vs. ad group level for Google Shopping.

With these basics in place, from the moment you activate your campaigns, you’ll be gathering data and learning.

This learning is the backbone of shopping campaigns, providing Google (and the bidding algorithm) crucial data all the way down to an SKU level.

Over time, you’ll start to uncover a wealth of insights, such as:

  • Which products have the highest conversion rate?
  • How does engagement look for category A when served for upper funnel search queries?
  • What happens to the conversion rate when products A, B, and C drop out of stock?

This data feeds machine learning as Google understands how your products perform across hundreds of thousands of touchpoints.

This model fits most ecommerce brands with multiple stocks of each item to gather learnings overtime on what works and what doesn’t.

But if you’ve only got one of every product, how can you drive success on Google Shopping when once a product’s gone, it’s gone?

What Business Models Have One Of Each Product?

  • Auctions, e.g., eBay.
  • Marketplaces, e.g., Etsy.
  • Second-hand/pre-loved, e.g., Vinted.
  • A mix of the above. Typical retailers who have adopted a marketplace feature or a pre-loved arm of their business, such as Farfetch.

The scale of the business, vertical, market, etc., all play a role in determining the stock of each SKU.

Take a brand like eBay, a global online marketplace with both auction and “buy it now” functionality. They have thousands of items where the stock level is above one, and thousands where it is one of one.

There are thousands of auction houses, second-hand retailers, marketplaces, and more that have a similar setup, but on a smaller scale.

But for this post, we are focussing solely on one of one product.

How Does This Business Model Impact Google Shopping?

This campaign type thrives on data, and this flows through every layer, from the bidding strategy down to individual SKU performance.

The feed is the heart of Google Shopping, and with the SKUs changing frequently (depending on the business), accruing data on which SKU performs the best/worst works differently as SKUs sell through and may not be in the feed again for weeks, months, or in some cases, ever again.

There are a number of considerations that need to be taken into account:

  • Learning: With only one of each SKU, items may sell out quickly, whereas some items may be in the feed for longer. Bidding algorithms will struggle to gather data to optimize toward your KPIs, and a lack of historical data will be limiting for machine learning, especially at a product level.
  • Feed: The data within your product feed should be rich, up-to-date, and aligned with your paid media goals. This is even more important when SKUs are being added/removed frequently, as this will cause instability with learning, crawls, and more.
  • Reporting: With one-of-a-kind SKUs, the interpretation of the data within the ad platform is critical; it’s not like you can filter by sales > 0 over a date range and decide how to structure your campaigns, as many SKUs will have been and gone.
  • Automation: Bid strategies can certainly be used, but unlike traditional retailers who may have in-platform ROAS/CPA targets that remain fairly stable, the intricacies of category performance and knowing exactly what products have sold is critical as this is ever-changing and will impact how you feed data into machine learning.
  • Budget Allocation: When building for the long term, fluctuations in performance make it difficult to set budgets to get the most out of your media spend. Watertight reporting is essential, and communication between teams is key to helping spot trends, plan inventory ahead of time, and stay as efficient as possible.
  • Dynamic Retargeting (and PMax): Dynamic retargeting uses the feed to serve product ads to audiences (e.g., website visitors who have added an item to a cart and not purchased) and can be run in isolation or as part of PMax. Having one of every product creates a disconnect as multiple users could be interested in one item, and when it’s sold, it’s gone from the feed.

These are just a snapshot of the limitations, and there are more.

But that certainly doesn’t mean it’s a non-starter.

A different approach is needed, compared to Google Shopping, for a traditional e-commerce model. Above all, communication and planning will be the backbone for success as these campaigns most certainly don’t fall into “set and forget” paid search management.

Can You Scale Google Shopping For This Business Model?

Absolutely.

This will require a fresh perspective on how you report, optimize, and plan your media budget, but it’s certainly achievable.

Look at eBay. It spends >$150 million each year on Google Ads, with the majority being through Product Listing Ads (PLAs).

Here are a few approaches that are tried and tested:

Reporting

Product-level reports are going to be useful for any ecommerce business. However, with products dropping in and out of stock frequently, a focus on categories (or bespoke groupings) is essential.

Say you’re a home furniture auction house with a large inventory. In the mass of data, you’ll need to find trends, and these trends sit within various categories, which are formed from aggregated product data over time.

This could be:

  • Top-searched designers or brands.
  • Most purchased colors of category A.
  • Share of search by category across AOV brackets.

This data will feed into almost all strategies and tactics adopted in the account, from structuring to forecasting and setting bidding targets.

This reporting can be automated and then queried to provide each stakeholder with a different view of performance that all leads back to driving growth through Google Shopping:

  • Buyers may want to see which categories or designers are indexing highly by search volume to feed into planning, which, in turn, helps Google Shopping as the products/categories that are performing the best are then stocked moving forward.
  • Paid search teams will want a view of how ROAS/CAC has trended over time by category to know how to set realistic targets at the campaign, ad group, and product group levels.
  • Analytics teams need a view of the time lag between the first session date by campaign and the purchase date to provide feedback to marketing teams on how to accurately report on Google Ads performance.

Optimization

Google is going to struggle to gain enough data to optimize at a product level.

Mirroring your reporting, you will need a view of performance at the category (or another grouping) level, as individual product performance isn’t going to feed into your campaigns as it would for a typical ecommerce store sat on the stock.

You’ll need to do the work analysing performance across multiple segments to build a picture of how each category performs to then set budgets and bidding targets and maintain the day-to-day tasks required to manage Google Shopping campaigns.

Product Feed

It is critical that your feed is optimized and you are ingesting as much supplemental data as possible (within reason).

This data will feed into your Google Shopping campaigns, and the time invested will pay for itself down the line.

Take the furniture store example. It can supplement its data with era, designer, etc. When new items are added, this additional data can help group products into segments with realistic targets and budgets vs. being dropped into a top-level category and leaning on product performance to determine what SKUs to serve.

Above all, there has to be ownership and a process for adding SKUs to the feed.

Although products will be moving in and out of your feed frequently, there will likely be cohorts of SKUs that will remain in the feed for a while, which you should keep an eye on as these may need removing/scaling back in line with efficiency.

Summary: Advertisers Will Need To Think On Their Feet

A great deal of the work involved in navigating this business model and scaling Google Shopping happens outside of the ad accounts.

Advertisers need to interpret and share data across the wider business, and this process works both ways.

What are buyers in the company looking at bringing in and where would this sit with the Google Shopping strategy? Are there categories trending upwards that can be shared with the wider team to capitalize on?

Without stable product data, advertisers will need to think on their feet and get fully ingrained within the business, which in 2025 is essential – whatever the business model.

More Resources:

Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 21 2025
Google Responsive Search Ads Just Got More Flexible via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Google Ads just rolled out an update to Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), and while it may not seem groundbreaking at first glance, it could have a noticeable impact on how advertisers optimize their campaigns.

This update focuses on how Google assembles ad assets, giving marketers more control over messaging while still leveraging AI-driven automation. If you’ve ever been frustrated with how Google randomly mixes and matches your headlines and descriptions, this change is worth paying attention to.

Here’s what’s changing, why it matters, and how it could impact PPC performance.

What’s Changing With Responsive Search Ads?

In the announcement from Google, there’s one main component of how RSAs are changing.

Before diving into the update, it’s important to note the change that Google implemented last year. In February 2024, Google updated Responsive Search Ads to be able to show only one headline if it was predicted to improve performance.

Now, they’re building off that update with these key aspects.

New Ways To Use Headline Assets 

Previously, Google’s approach to Responsive Search Ads was all about maximum automation—headlines and descriptions were combined dynamically, sometimes in ways that didn’t make complete sense.

With this update, Google is adjusting its system to create more cohesive and logical ad combinations.

Starting now, up to two (2) headlines are eligible to serve in previously reserved spaces for sitelinks – if they’re predicted to improve performance.

Below is an example Google provided on what this change could look like:

Image credit: Google, February 2025

If a user clicks on any of those allocated headlines, they’ll be directed to the ad’s final URL.

While the specifics of Google’s algorithm tweaks aren’t spelled out, the general goal is clear: ads should make more sense contextually.

Advertisers won’t have to worry as much about disjointed messaging or assets being strung together in ways that feel unnatural to users.

Asset Pinning and Reporting Expectations

Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin took to LinkedIn to provide a clear, thought-out update regarding how asset pinning and combination reporting would be affected.

Per Marvin’s post, existing asset pinning will be respected. If headlines are pinned in positions 1 or 2, and if descriptions are pinned in position 1, those will still serve in those dedicated positions.

As for combination reporting, advertisers will still be able to see the most commonly served combination of headlines and descriptions. In this update, it will also show which headlines served as a sitelink.

The stats will be reported at the headline and not the sitelink level, per user feedback in initial testing.

How Does This Impact Advertisers?

This update isn’t just a behind-the-scenes tweak—it has real implications for how advertisers structure their ads and optimize ad performance. Here’s why:

  • More Consistent Messaging = Better Engagement. Disjointed or awkward ad combinations have long been an issue with RSAs. By improving how assets are paired, Google is helping advertisers deliver messages that feel more natural and cohesive, which could lead to higher click-through rates (CTR).

  • Stronger Brand Control. While RSAs are still dynamic, this update reduces the likelihood of brand messaging getting lost in automation. Advertisers can have more confidence that key value propositions and calls to action will appear in logical combinations.

  • Improved Performance Insights. With better visibility into how Google structures ad assets, advertisers can make more informed decisions about which headlines and descriptions to test, adjust, or remove. This leads to more efficient A/B testing and better data-driven optimizations over time.

  • Potential for Higher Quality Scores. If Google’s adjustments result in more relevant ad combinations, it could improve expected CTR, which is a major factor in Quality Score. Higher Quality Scores can lead to lower cost-per-click (CPC) and better ad placements.

Wrapping Up

Google’s update to Responsive Search Ads is a step toward more intelligent automation, helping advertisers maintain better messaging consistency while still benefiting from AI-driven optimizations.

While this won’t eliminate the need for careful asset planning, it does make RSAs a more reliable tool for brands that want to scale their search campaigns efficiently.

If RSAs have frustrated you in the past, now might be the time to revisit them.

With better asset pairing and improved visibility into ad assembly, this update could give advertisers a bit more control—without taking away the automation that makes RSAs so powerful.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 13 2025
Why Google’s 4th Quarter Results Raise Questions for SEO & PPC via @sejournal, @martinibuster

Few professions can match a digital marketer’s perspective on what Google’s fourth-quarter results mean for SEO and online advertising. I asked six search marketers, each with over 20 years of experience in all areas of search for insights into what those results mean. What they shared indicates what SEO and advertising professionals should be paying attention to in 2025.

The six digital marketers who were separately interviewed all suggested that four general trends may be impacting Google search and advertising performance:

  1. Shifting User Behavior
  2. Changes To Google Search
  3. Google’s Not Immune To Competition
  4. Wider Economic & Market Conditions

Shifting User Behavior & Rising Competition

Although I interviewed each search marketer individually, they all agreed that user search habits were trending away from traditional search and migrating to AI and social platforms, indicating that Google is no longer immune to competitive pressure in both search and advertising.

Benu Aggarwal of Silicon Valley-based Milestone, Inc. (LinkedIn Profile) referenced the staggering investments in AI infrastructure as tangible proof of an ongoing shift in how people access information across consumer and business use cases.

“A lot of traffic is moving to LLMs such as ChatGPT, Perplexity (and Google’s Gemini). This is evidenced by Alphabet’s investments in AI, particularly in making compute inexpensive. They’re not alone, Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia, AWS, others are all investing in AI compute to support the surging demand.”

Michael Bonfils, of Digital International Group, (LinkedIn profile) shared that OpenAI was the leading disruptor to Google’s search platform, followed by a generational shift away from search toward visual social media platforms.

Michael said:

“I’ve been saying this since November 30, 2022 that this thing that OpenAI has just released has the potential to disrupt the intent of search users on Google, making it faster and more responsive with no ad disruptions and filtering out forum comments And the timing couldn’t be worse when you have an entire generation (Z/Alpha) who have moved to TikTok/IG for their search results.”

Chuck Price of Measurable SEO (LinkedIn profile) contributing additional nuance to the observation of user platform shift:

“Platform migration pressures play a role. Behavioral shifts toward visual/search hybrids (TikTok, Instagram) and answer-engine interfaces (Perplexity) suggest Google’s monopoly on search touchpoints is eroding, particularly among Gen Z and technical audiences.”

Duane Forrester, SVP, Search INDEXR.ai and formerly of Bing and Yext (LinkedIn profile) noted that the consumer journey is increasingly beginning somewhere other than Google Search:

“Search starts are down as consumers move to social platforms. Revenue is being impacted.

This is going to be our new normal in the search industry. With younger generations now aging and their habits being different, it’s natural to see them shift behavior from traditional search into new directions.

If you thought search engines were a forever thing, you were wrong. Reliance without diversification was always a recipe for disaster. This formula remains consistent. Change is also consistent and as people shift behavior, you better, too.”

Changes To Google Search

The fact that people are using other platforms for shopping ideas, inspiration and information gathering may be signs that Google’s search dominance is increasingly vulnerable to competition. That’s something that was unthinkable as recently as five years ago.

There were multiple changes to how search results are presented in Google Search, with the most notable being that AI Overviews and other search features reduced the need to click through to an answer. This trend to show answers and not links, often referred to as “zero-click” search results, is an ongoing trend that was previously limited to informational search queries.

The complaints from some SEOs about zero-click search results that initially greeted the introduction of Featured Snippets were arguably overstated. Informational searches that require one-dimensional answers (spelling, name of a person, etc.) don’t lead to meaningful traffic (for the website or the user). The traffic from Featured Snippets becomes very meaningful when people have a reason to dig deeper to learn more about a product, movie, a celebrity or a topic.

But Google AI Overviews (AIO) completely destroyed that useful tradeoff with the Internet ecosystem. The comprehensiveness of AIOs reduce the need to click to a website because they show the answer to the current question and enable users to view summaries to answers Google anticipated follow-up questions (read about Google’s Information Gain Patent).

While the complaints about zero-click search results for featured snippets were overstated, Google’s AIO and expanded layouts virtually eliminate the need to click through to websites. This not only disrupts the web ecosystem but may also introduce unanticipated shifts in search advertising trends.

Everett Sizemore, of eSizemore search marketing consultancy (LinkedIn Profile) offered his opinion on how changes to Google Search and external pressures are affecting Google’s earnings:

“The slowdown in Google’s growth doesn’t surprise me for several reasons.

First, what used to be a rumor of competition has grown into a measurable threat. According to Statcounter Global Statistics, Google’s global search market share dipped below 90% for the last three months of 2024. That hasn’t happened since 2015.

And those numbers likely don’t even account for the rising wave of AI-driven search alternatives like Perplexity and GPTSearch, the latter of which is conservatively projected to capture at least 1% of the search market by year’s end. Among younger users, the shift will likely be even more dramatic.

Second, Google’s search results pages (SERPs) are an absolute mess. Too many cluttered, disparate features have turned the once-streamlined UX into a Frankenstein-like disaster.

Remember those bloated Yahoo Search pages from the late ’90s? The ones Google originally disrupted with its clean, white background and ten blue links? Well, we’ve come full circle—back to the chaotic, overstuffed experience we were trying to escape in the first place. Frankly, it looks like someone puked up a bunch of widgets onto the page.

Google isn’t disappearing anytime soon, but its hold on search is weakening—one earnings quarter at a time.”

Google Is No Longer Immune To Competition

Chuck Price, founder of search consultancy Measurable SEO (LinkedIn profile), called attention to how multiple trends may be contributing to an erosion of search dominance and its concomitant effect on search advertising, putting some of the blame on the zero-click paradigm:

“The main takeaway, as I see it, is that the 0.2% YoY deficit doesn’t tell the full story.

What’s surprising for me in the Alphabet earnings report is the relative stability of search revenue, 12.5% growth versus 12.7% YoY. This seems counterintuitive, when considering how the SERPs have evolved over the past year with expanded answer boxes, AI-generated summaries and entity-driven knowledge panels. All of these features reduce the need to click on an ad or click through to a website.

Did Google’s advertising algorithms manipulate pricing to get that close? If one were to look at the YoY click data, I strongly suspect the deficit is far worse.”

Google is under pressure from ChatGPT Search, Perplexity AI and other AI search engines which introduce entirely new platforms that replace the 25+ year old Search Engine Paradigm. Google is competing platform to platform with AIO and their Gemini search assistant. Michael Bonfils suggested that those events have forced Google into a difficult position with limited options:

“They have reached a damned if I do damned if I don’t situation. They are either going to make the experience better for the user, worse for the publisher/advertiser or vice versa.”

Wider Economic And Advertising Pressure

Gabriella Sannino, founder of international marketing and SEO company Level343 (LinkedIn profile) shared a wider perspective of trends to interpret what Google’s fourth quarter results means for the search marketing community. Her answer, reflecting 20 years experience in all areas of digital marketing, included search advertiser sentiment and the worldwide economic situation.

Gabriella answered:

“When you look at the big picture and then the results, I don’t think the slower growth is entirely because of major SERP changes. I think it’s a mix of factors causing buyer behavior shifts:

First, ad and marketing budgets often get cut first when times get uncomfortable. So, slower growth may just be reflecting the sign of the times rather than anything Google’s done.

Second, ongoing privacy changes can affect ads in ways that have nothing to do with Google. Browser privacy settings can make ads less targeted or reduce how well they can be measured. Consequently, advertisers get less data for conversion improvements, retargeting, and ad optimization.

Third, you can’t review the advertising situation in isolation. The competition for ad dollars from TikTok, Amazon ads, Microsoft Advertising (especially with the AI-driven Bing hype), and so on must also be considered. A multi-channel mix means some of Google’s revenue goes bye-bye to other platforms.

Many businesses have tighter budgets, so ad ROI is under more scrutiny. And, there are many disillusioned business owners realizing that Google is changing too frequently to put their entire budget on it. AIOs were a real sign that things were changing, again. I wouldn’t be surprised if Google starts playing with ad space there fairly soon.”

Google’s Not In A Downward Spiral

Our panelist of search marketers interpret the fourth quarter results as signaling that Google is no longer immune from competition and is vulnerable to losing traffic to AI and social platforms as consumers increasingly begin their shopping and informational journeys outside of traditional search.

Google’s search results are perceived as cluttered and unstable because of constant changes to SERP layouts triggered by an increasing amount of keyword phrases. This may contribute to a sense of uncertainty. Nobody observed that Google is in a downward spiral. But the combination of the instability, changes in user behavior, and gains by other platforms are trends to look out for in 2025.

Stepping back for an overall view shows that continuing global economic issues and the attractiveness of advertising across multiple channels may be contributing to a shift in marketing spend. The search marketers I interviewed, who collectively have over 120 years of experience, hinted at concerns about deeper challenges in Google’s core businesses, with one search marketer questioning if there’s more paid search instability than is apparent in the most recent quarterly results.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Feb 4 2025
Maximizing Foot Traffic With Hyper-Targeted Local PPC Strategies

As someone who knows a lot of local business owners, I know how important it is to get customers through your doors.

While traditional marketing methods like flyers and newspaper ads still have their place, the digital era has opened up incredible new ways to reach local audiences and drive foot traffic, thanks to PPC advertising.

PPC platforms like Google Ads offer fairly granular geographic targeting options, allowing you to show ads only to people in the area(s) you serve. However, effective local PPC goes beyond setting a radius around your store location.

You can drastically improve your campaigns by leveraging advanced strategies and features to bring more local customers to your business.

Get Granular With Location Targeting

The foundation of any local PPC campaign is location targeting. Most marketers know the basics, like targeting by country, state, city, or ZIP code. But did you know you can get even more granular than that?

With Google Ads, you can target (or exclude) specific neighborhoods, universities, airports, and more.

Consider targeting popular shopping areas or entertainment districts near you for retail stores and restaurants.

B2B brands can focus on commercial zones or even specific office buildings (if large enough). The key is to consider where your ideal customers spend time and tailor your targeting accordingly.

You can even set different bid adjustments for different locations.

For example, if your base bid is $1.00 and you set a +20% bid adjustment for a high-performing neighborhood, Google will multiply your base bid by 1.2 (the 20% bid adjustment), allowing you to bid up to $1.20 for clicks from that area.

This tells Google you’re willing to pay more for clicks from locations that consistently drive better results.

Alternatively, you can use negative bid adjustments to scale back spend in lower-performing areas.

Hyperlocal Search Ads With Location Extensions

Google Ads location extensions allow your address and even directions to appear alongside your search ads.

When a user searches for a relevant local query, like [plumber near me], your ad can show your address, hours, phone number, and star rating.

Searchers can click your ad to get directions on Google Maps, drastically increasing the odds they visit you in person.

For location extensions to work, you must connect your Google Ads account with your Google Business Profile listing. Make sure your GBP info is complete and up-to-date.

Adding photos can make your listing stand out even more.

Google Local Service Ads: A Game-Changer For Service Businesses

Local Service Ads (LSAs) are available for over 100 service-based businesses in select countries worldwide, including Canada and all U.S. markets.

LSAs have now become crucial for local marketing success. These ads appear at the very top of Google search results – a position that even regular PPC ads can’t guarantee anymore.

Two Types Of LSA Verification:

1. Google Guaranteed

  • Primarily for home services.
  • Features a green checkmark with a circle.
  • Includes up to $2,000 in job guarantees for customers.
  • Higher requirements for insurance and licensure.

2. Google Screened

  • For professional services (lawyers, real estate agents, medical professionals).
  • Builds trust through verification.
  • No job guarantee.
  • Available for diverse businesses, including law firms, funeral homes, schools, and veterinary services.

Both types of verification involve a thorough process that businesses must undergo to prove their credibility and establish a trustworthy service for customers.

It begins with background checks that look into the history of the business and its owners. Businesses are also required to have at least $250,000 in general liability insurance for financial protection.

License verification is another crucial step, confirming that the business complies with local regulations and holds the necessary credentials to operate.

Finally, businesses are subject to regular reviews and compliance checks to guarantee they consistently meet industry standards and remain reputable over time.

Where LSAs Appear:

  • Top of search results (typically in two to three packs, expandable to eight, then 20).
  • Inside Google Maps (iOS app currently, likely expanding to Android).
  • Mobile search results.
  • During peak conversion times.
  • Within the local business finder map.

Key Performance Factors:

  • Smart bid and budget management.
  • The 3 R’s: Radius, Responsiveness, and Reviews.
  • Quick adoption of new features.
  • High-quality photo uploads.
  • Proper job booking management within the platform.

When asked what his number one tip would be, LSA expert Anthony Higman said, “Make sure you set up a profile if you’re in an eligible LSA category because it is becoming a necessity for local-based marketing strategies.”

We spoke together about Direct Business Search and I found it interesting when Higman said this, “Direct Business Search (DBS) is LSA’s branded search ad. So, you will show up for a branded search and that green checkmark will appear next to your ad.”

He went on to say, “This feature is new (so many are not fully utilizing it yet), and it’s completely within policy to double serve on your branded search campaign.

This means you can have a DBS with the green checkmark on top of your regular paid search ad. The caveat is that Google determines Direct Business Search leads by asking the customer to press 1 on their phone.

If they don’t press one before the call disconnects, you can be charged the full price of the lead. So tread carefully.”

Incorporate First-Party Data

Do you have a list of previous customer addresses, emails, or phone numbers?

With Customer Match Lists, you can upload this first-party data to Google Ads and create targeted campaigns for people who have already engaged with your business.

Since these folks are familiar with your brand, they’re more likely to visit you again, especially with the right offer.

This works particularly well for local businesses running seasonal promotions or trying to re-engage past customers who haven’t visited in a while.

Just be sure to follow Google’s policies regarding customer data usage and privacy.

Measuring Offline Conversions

Marketers have long struggled to connect digital ads to physical store visits. However, Google offers pretty good offline conversion tracking.

If you collect customer info at the point of sale, like an email or loyalty card number, you can import that data back into Google Ads.

Google then cross-references it with users who saw or clicked one of your search ads. This allows you to track things like in-store purchases or appointment bookings back to the PPC keywords and ads that drove them.

For larger retailers, Google also offers store visit conversions, which uses anonymized location history data to estimate how many users visited your location after engaging with an ad.

While it may not be perfect, these metrics provide valuable insight into how your local PPC efforts translate to real-world results.

Bringing It All Together

Driving foot traffic with paid ads requires a multifaceted approach.

You can create a local search presence that gets more customers through the door by combining precise location targeting, Google Business Profile optimizations, Local Services Ads, first-party data, and offline conversion tracking.

It’s important to remember to continually test, measure, and optimize based on what’s working.

Like any initiative, local campaigns succeed through a commitment to iterative improvement.

Even the smallest local businesses can become local search superstars with some savvy and elbow grease.

More Resources:

Featured Image: spoialabrothers/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 30 2025
Google Demand Gen Campaigns Just Got A Major Update via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Google is making big moves with its Demand Gen campaigns, thanks to the feedback of advertisers.

If you’re not familiar with Demand Gen campaigns, they originally launched in 2023. Shortly after, Google phased out Discovery Ads to transition them to this new campaign type.

Now, Demand Gen campaigns are getting a facelift as Google doubles down on this campaign type.

In this major announcement, Google is bringing expanded controls, enhanced creative capabilities, and new retail-focused features to advertisers.

Whether you’re already using Demand Gen or considering the switch, these updates provide more flexibility and powerful AI-driven tools to maximize campaign effectiveness.

Here’s everything you need to know.

More Control Over Where Your Ads Appear

One of the biggest changes is the introduction of expanded channel controls.

This allows advertisers to be more precise with where their Demand Gen ads appear.

Starting out in March 2025 as a full beta to everyone, advertisers can:

  • Choose specific placements across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail
  • Serve ads exclusively on YouTube Shorts for a vertical-first experience
  • Leverage Google Display Network (GDN) to extend reach across 3 million+ sites and apps.

Once rolled out, advertisers will be able to take advantage of the full available inventory for Demand Gen campaigns, which means this campaign type has the ability to reach 90% of the global internet population.

As with any new change to placement targeting options, it’s always a smart idea to double check campaign settings as these roll out. It’s unclear if new placements will automatically be eligible for inventory of if advertisers need to manually add them at the campaign level.

We will update more once Google provides clarification.

Stronger Creative Enhancements for Higher Engagement

Compelling ad creatives are at the heart of strong performance, which usually means multiple asset forms at scale.

To help advertisers scale their creative output, Google is rolling out several enhancements.

  • Vertical 9:16 image ads for YouTube Shorts: This update is coming late February 2025, allowing for a full-screen experience for users.
  • Automated video shortening: This update is rolling out in the next few weeks, allowing you to create shorter versions of your videos to optimize content on differing placements.
  • Improved ad creation workflow: Better video enhancement controls and external preview sharing for easier creative approvals.

These features allow marketers to refine their ads for different screen formats while maintaining the necessary creative flexibility.

Retail-Focused Features for More Seamless Shopping Experiences

Retailers who use Google Merchant Center can now take advantage of product feeds within Demand Gen campaigns, rolling out in the coming weeks.

This integration between Merchant Center and Demand Gen campaigns help enable:

  • Deeper product discovery. Consumers can now see full product details directly within the ads, and can toggle between product detail pages.
  • Local product availability. Showing real-time availability and product offers helps connect online shoppers to nearby store locations.
  • Omnichannel bidding. Optimize your campaigns for both online sales and in-store visits.

Google is also launching a beta for advertisers to integrate product feeds with local offers, making it easier to drive foot traffic and online conversions simultaneously.

New Reporting to Compare Demand Gen vs. Paid Social

A long-requested feature for cross-platform advertisers is here: new reporting columns in Google Ads!

These new columns will help marketers compare and analyze Demand Gen campaign performance directly with paid social efforts.

The new columns include:

  • View-through conversions to help align with social ad measurement.
  • Isolated Demand Gen impact reporting to differentiate from other Google campaigns.

The new reporting columns have already started to roll out globally, so be sure to keep an eye out if you’re already running Demand Gen campaigns.

The goal with new reporting measurement is to help provide better clarity on where budget allocations should go if you’re running cross-platform campaigns.

The Final Transition from Video Action Campaigns

While it’s not a new announcement that Google is phasing out Video Action campaigns, they did provide an updated timeline and how to transition those campaign types to Demand Gen campaigns.

  • March 2025: Google will launch an upgrade tool to transfer settings and historical learnings from Video Action campaigns to Demand Gen.
  • April 2025: Advertisers will no longer be able to create new Video Action campaigns.
  • July 2025: Google will begin automatically upgrading any remaining Video Action campaigns.

Advertisers who migrate early will retain full control over their settings and can take advantage of new Demand Gen features immediately.

What This Means for Advertisers

Google is doubling down on Demand Gen, giving advertisers more tools to optimize performance across YouTube, Display, and beyond.

These updates make Demand Gen more competitive with paid social platforms by offering precise placement controls, AI-powered creative enhancements, and robust shopping integrations.

It will be interesting to see how advertisers adapt to these changes and if platform budgets shift, especially amidst all the controversy around numerous paid social platforms.

If you haven’t experimented with Demand Gen yet, now might be the perfect time—especially before Video Action Campaigns disappear for good. The sooner you adapt, the more control you’ll have over your campaigns and performance outcomes in 2025.

You can read the full announcement from Google here.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jan 29 2025
Layering Success: How To Target High-Intent Users In Google Ads via @sejournal, @LisaRocksSEM

In an increasingly data-driven advertising world, getting your ads in front of the right people can make all the difference.

One powerful way to achieve that is through audience layering in Google Ads.

By stacking multiple audience signals like remarketing lists, in-market segments, and more, you can deliver highly relevant ads and zero in on high-intent users.

Audience layering can be complicated. Let’s dive into what audience layering is, the key components, and an example demonstrating how you can start using it effectively in your campaigns.

What Is Audience Layering?

Layering audiences in Google Ads means combining different audience targeting methods within a single campaign or ad group.

Instead of targeting just one broad group, you stack multiple criteria to create increasingly specific segments of users.

By filtering out less-qualified traffic, layering helps you focus on the people most likely to be interested in your products or services.

This approach allows you to refine your ad spend by reaching more qualified groups and speaking directly to their interests or behaviors.

As a result, you can reduce wasted spend and improve overall ad performance.

What Are The Benefits Of Layering Audiences?

  • Targeting Efficiency & Relevance: By layering audiences, you’re showing ads to people most likely to be interested with messaging more relevant to each group’s specific needs. This reduces wasted ad spend, leading to higher conversion rates.
  • Better Control Over Bidding: Layering allows you to bid differently for different audience combinations. You might be willing to bid higher for users who are your ideal customers and also okay with branching out a bit on other targeting.
  • Enhanced Insights: By analyzing the performance of different layered segments, you gain valuable insights into which audience combinations work best. This helps you optimize your campaigns and allocate your budget more effectively.

Which Types Of Audiences Can Be Layered In Google Ads?

Let’s look at the types of audiences we can choose from that are eligible for using together for advanced targeting. You can layer the following audience types (with exceptions noted below):

  • Remarketing Lists: Target people who previously visited your site, used your app, or engaged with your YouTube channel.
  • In-Market Audiences: Reach users actively researching or comparing products/services in your category, ideal for capturing high-intent shoppers.
  • Affinity Audiences: Group users by broad interests or lifestyles, such as “Pop Music Fans” or “Outdoor Enthusiasts.”
  • Customer Match: Use your own customer relationship management (CRM) data (e.g., email lists) to re-engage known customers or leads who have already shown interest in your brand.
  • Audience Segments: Formerly called “custom affinity” or “custom intent,” these let you define audiences based on URLs, apps, or keywords relevant to your niche.
  • Detailed Demographics: Refine your targeting based on age, gender, parental status, household income, and other demographic factors.
  • Combined Audiences: Combined Audiences (for Display, Video, and Discovery campaigns) allow you to create more complex targeting by combining different audience segments. This primarily uses “AND” logic, meaning you target the intersection of the combined audiences. For example, you can target users who are both on your remarketing list and in a specific in-market audience. While there isn’t direct “OR” logic within Combined Audiences, similar results can be achieved by creating separate ad groups for each audience or using bid adjustments with Observation.
  • Life Events: Target users in display and video campaigns based on significant life moments, such as graduating college, getting married, or moving.
  • Location Targeting: While not an audience, is also a crucial component and often serves as a foundational layer upon which other audience targeting is applied. For example, you might target people interested in “movies” (an Interest) who are also located within a specific city or region to advertise your theater.

By strategically layering these audience segments – and considering location targeting as a base layer – you can significantly improve the relevance of your ads, reaching the most qualified potential customers.

What Is Targeting And Observation?

The concepts of Targeting and Observation are directly related to audience layering strategies in Google Ads.

They determine how your layered audiences interact with your broader targeting settings and influence who sees your ads and how much you bid for those impressions.

Here’s how they relate:

Targeting Only And Layering

When you use Targeting with multiple audiences, you create a restrictive layering effect. Think of it as an “AND” relationship between the layers. A user must belong to all targeted audiences to see your ad.

  • Example: You target people who are “travel buffs” AND people located in Oregon. Your ad will only be shown to users who meet both criteria. Someone interested in travel but located in California would not be served ads. Someone in Oregon who isn’t interested in travel would also not be served ads.

This approach is excellent for focusing on highly qualified audiences but can significantly limit your reach.

Observation And Layering

By adding audiences in Observation, you are not directly targeting the observed audiences. The primary purposes of adding an audience to Observation are:

  • Gathering Statistics/Insights: Observation allows you to see how different audience segments perform within your existing targeting. You can analyze metrics like conversion rate, cost per action (CPA), and return on ad spend (ROAS) for each observed audience to understand which segments are most valuable.
  • Making Bid Adjustments: Based on the performance data, you can adjust your bids for observed audiences. Increase bids for high-performing segments and decrease bids for lower-performing ones. This allows you to optimize your bidding strategy without restricting your reach.
  • Example: Your base targeting is the keyword “Outdoor Gear.” You then add “travel buffs” and people located in Oregon as observed audiences. Your ads can be shown to anyone searching for “Outdoor Gear.” However, you might bid higher for users who are also interested in travel (showing stronger purchase intent) and even higher for those travel buffs who are also located in Oregon (your primary target market).

This approach allows for a broader reach while still prioritizing high-value segments through bid adjustments.

Layering Strategies And Targeting/Observation

Effective audience layering strategies often involve a combination of Targeting and Observation. Here are a few common approaches:

  • Start With Observation: Begin by observing multiple audiences to gather performance data and identify high-performing segments.
  • Transition To Targeting: Once you identify a high-performing observed audience, you might switch it to Targeting to focus your budget exclusively on that segment.
  • Combine Targeting And Observation: You might target a broad audience (e.g., “Outdoor Enthusiasts”) and then use Observation to layer in more specific interests (e.g., “Hiking”) for bid adjustments.
  • Hierarchical Layering: Use Targeting to define your core audience (e.g., location and demographics) and then layer on observed audiences for interests and purchase intent to refine bidding.

By understanding the interplay between Targeting and Observation, you can create sophisticated audience layering strategies that maximize reach and improve data gathering for optimal targeting.

screenshot of google ads audience observation and targeting settingsScreenshot of Google Ads (settings by author), January 2025

Which Campaign Types Support Audience Layering?

Audience layering, using both Targeting and Observation, is available across several Google Ads campaign types, but with some differences in functionality and availability of audience types.

The campaign types below are all supported, but have slightly different use cases by campaign:

  • Search Campaigns: Refining targeting based on user intent and demographics, particularly for reaching users who have previously interacted with your website (remarketing) or are actively researching relevant products/services (In-Market).
  • Display Campaigns: Reaching users based on interests, demographics, and browsing behavior across the Google Display Network. Layering is a key strategy for narrowing your audience and improving the relevance of your display ads.
  • Video Campaigns (YouTube): Reaching users based on their YouTube activity, interests, and demographics. Layering allows you to target specific viewer segments and optimize your video ad campaigns for better engagement and conversions.
  • Demand Gen Campaigns: Demand Gen campaigns are designed to drive conversions and generate leads. Audience layering allows you to refine your targeting to reach users who are most likely to convert and cater your sales messaging to those segments.
  • Performance Max Campaigns (Special Case):
    • Targeting (Limited): While Performance Max campaigns use audience signals, you don’t directly set Targeting or Observation in the same way as other campaign types. You provide Google Ads with “audience signals” (including your website, customer lists, and other audience segments) to help the system understand your ideal customer. Google’s automation then uses these signals to optimize targeting and reach the most relevant users across various channels. Google notes: “However, this isn’t a guarantee that ads will be served to only users within these audiences. If it’s determined that other segments of users are converting well, ads will be served outside of users specified in the audience signals.”
    • Audience Signals: You can provide a wide range of audience signals, including website visitors, customer lists, custom segments, and interests. These signals act as a form of layering, informing the system about the characteristics of your target audience.

Key Considerations:

  • Campaign Goals: Your campaign goals should inform your audience layering strategy. For example, a campaign focused on brand awareness might use broader targeting with Observation for bid adjustments, while a campaign focused on conversions might use more restrictive Targeting to reach highly qualified leads.

By understanding how audience layering works across different campaign types, you can adapt your targeting strategies to achieve your specific marketing objectives.

How Do I Set Up Audience Layering In Google Ads?

It can be a bit confusing knowing how to set up audiences and layer them in Google Ads. The following steps will get you there:

  1. Campaign > Select the campaign for which you want to apply audience layering.
  2. In the side menu > Audiences, keywords, and content > Audiences.
  3. Look to the right > Audience segments > Add Audience segments.
  4. Pick a campaign or ad group from the pop-up menu.
  5. Select the “Targeting” or “Observation” radio button – you can only choose one.
  6. Search or browse audience categories.
  7. Add Audiences > Select the audiences you want to layer.
  8. Save.
  9. Set Bid Adjustments (for Observation): After saving, you’ll be kicked back to step 3. Here, choose “show table,” where you will see the list of targeting you selected. There is a field to edit/add bid adjustments.

Audience Layering Example

Let’s look at an example of how we can layer audiences for a fictitious company selling kayaks in-store in the state of Oregon, USA.

Targeting Recommendation

  1. Location Targeting: Focus on geo-targeting cities/towns near popular kayaking spots in Oregon.
  2. In-Market Audience Targeting: Layer “Water Activities Equipment & Accessories” and “Outdoor Recreational Equipment” in-market audiences.
  3. Affinity Audience Targeting: Layer “Outdoor Enthusiasts,” and “Water Sports Enthusiasts” to reach users who have a general affinity for these lifestyles.

Explanation And Justification Of Layering:

Layer 1: Location Targeting (Cities Near Kayaking)

This layer focuses on users physically located near popular kayaking destinations in Oregon who are geographically more likely to be interested in kayaking activities in Oregon.

This recommendation is standard for a business offering location-specific services or targeting local customers.

It ensures your ads are shown to people who are geographically relevant and more likely to visit your physical store or participate in kayaking activities in the area.

Layer 2: In-Market Audiences (Water Activities Equipment/Outdoor Recreation)

This layer targets users actively researching and considering purchases related to water sports gear and outdoor recreation.

This signals a higher purchase intent compared to users who simply have a general interest in these categories.

By layering this audience with the location targeting, you’re reaching people near kayaking spots who are also actively looking to buy relevant products or services, making them highly qualified leads.

Layer 3: Affinity Audiences (Outdoor/Water Sports)

This layer broadens your reach beyond those actively researching purchases. It targets users with a general affinity for outdoor activities, travel, and adventure.

While these users might not be immediately ready to purchase, they represent a larger pool of potential customers who could be interested in kayaking.

This layer helps increase brand awareness and introduce your kayak company to a wider audience who share relevant lifestyle interests.

By layering these audiences, the kayak store can reach a highly targeted audience (those interested in outdoor activities, located near kayaking spots, and actively researching related purchases) while also reaching a broader audience of potential kayakers through affinity targeting.

The diagram below further illustrates how this targeting plays together.

Segment “A”: Represents the audience reached where the location and the in-market audience overlap and both are targeted.

Segment “B”: It is likely, but not guaranteed, that a small sample of people will be in all audiences – the in-market, affinity, and in the location targeted. This would be an ideal audience.

Segment “C”: Represents the audience reached when both in the location and in the affinity audience list.

audience layering venn diagram example for google adsDiagram created by author, January 2025

How Do I  Measure Success?

Now that we’ve explored an example layering plan, let’s get ready to evaluate the success of layered audiences.

Like most campaigns in Google Ads, focus on these key metrics:

  • Conversion Rate: Which audience combinations lead to the most conversions (sales, leads, etc.)? A higher conversion rate indicates a more qualified audience.
  • Cost Per Conversion (CPA): How much does it cost to get a conversion from each layered audience? A lower CPA means you’re getting conversions more efficiently.
  • Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): For every dollar you spend, how much revenue are you generating from each layered audience? A higher ROAS indicates a more profitable audience.
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR) (Secondary Metric): While not a direct measure of success, a higher CTR can suggest that your ads are resonating with a particular audience segment.
  • Impression Share (For Targeting): If using Targeting, monitor the impression share to see if you’re reaching all available users within your targeted audience. A low impression share could suggest that your bids are too low or your targeting is too specific.

By analyzing these metrics for each layered audience, you can identify valuable segments, optimize your bids, and refine your targeting.

Final Thoughts

Audience layering stands as a cornerstone strategy for PPC professionals looking to maximize their advertising impact in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.

By strategically combining audience signals, you create targeting precision that directly impacts your bottom line.

Successful audience layering isn’t set-and-forget. Your commitment to understanding and applying these strategies will directly impact your campaign’s success.

The power lies not just in the layering itself, but in your approach to selecting, measuring, and optimizing these combinations over time.

More Resources:

Featured Image: U-STUDIOGRAPHY DD59/Shutterstock

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Jan 27 2025
Smart Bidding In Google Ads: In-Depth Guide via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Imagine running campaigns that adjust bids perfectly for every auction, targeting the right user at the right moment.

That’s the promise of Smart Bidding in Google Ads.

For PPC marketers, especially for beginners, Smart Bidding can feel like an enticing but sometimes overwhelming tool.

Between algorithm updates, new automation options, and ever-changing PPC best practices, it’s easy to lose sight of how to maximize its potential.

In this guide, we’ll explore what Smart Bidding is, how it works today, and the actionable strategies you can use to get the best results. Whether you’re new to automation or looking to fine-tune your approach, this article is here to help.

What Is Smart Bidding?

Per Google’s definition:

“Smart Bidding refers to bid strategies that use Google AI to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each and every auction.”

Unlike manual or rules-based bidding, Smart Bidding uses data signals – like device type, time of day, location, and even user intent – to determine the optimal bid for each auction.

Some of the key Smart Bidding strategies include:

  • Target Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Sets bids to help you get as many conversions as possible at your target cost per acquisition.
  • Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Focuses on maximizing conversion value at your desired return.
  • Maximize Conversions: Aims to get the highest number of conversions within your budget.
  • Maximize Conversion Value: Optimizes for the highest total conversion value, perfect for campaigns with varied transaction amounts.

These strategies are invaluable for streamlining campaign management, saving time, and improving results.

However, they work best when paired with a clear strategy and enough data points to make sound decisions.

When Should You Use Smart Bidding?

Smart Bidding isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Choosing the right strategy depends on your campaign goals, audience, and available data.

Here’s when each strategy shines, along with real-world examples to help you decide:

Target CPA

Target CPA is perfect for campaigns where controlling the cost per lead or conversion is crucial, such as lead generation.

For example, a SaaS company running a campaign to drive free trial signups wants to maintain a $50 CPA.

By setting this target, Smart Bidding adjusts bids to focus on leads that are more likely to convert within that range, while ignoring auctions where conversion costs might exceed that goal.

Target ROAS

This Smart Bidding strategy is ideal for campaigns where profitability matters more than the number of conversions. Typically, most ecommerce businesses would opt for a ROAS strategy.

For example, say an online retailer selling high-end electronics has a goal to maintain a 400% ROAS (four times return on every dollar spent).

Using Target ROAS, the algorithm prioritizes auctions for users likely to generate higher-value purchases, such as customers buying laptops, while de-emphasizing bids for lower-margin items like accessories.

Maximize Conversions

Try using this Smart Bidding strategy when you have a set budget and want to maximize the total number of conversions, regardless of cost per conversion.

It’s especially effective for brand awareness or expanding into new markets.

For example, say, a non-profit organization aims to maximize email signups for a new awareness campaign.

Since the focus is on volume rather than cost efficiency, Maximize Conversions helps them get the most signups possible within their budget.

Maximize Conversion Value

This strategy is best for campaigns with varied transaction values, where the goal is to optimize for total revenue or high-value actions.

For example, a luxury travel agency advertises vacation packages ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.

By using Maximize Conversion Value, the campaign prioritizes auctions for customers likely to book premium packages, even if they cost more to acquire, rather than focusing on smaller bookings.

Common Pitfalls Of Smart Bidding

Smart Bidding is a powerful tool, but it’s not immune to challenges. Understanding potential pitfalls can help you avoid costly mistakes.

1. Insufficient Or Incorrect Data

Smart Bidding relies heavily on historical data to optimize bids. Campaigns with low conversion volume or incomplete tracking often confuse the algorithm, leading to poor performance.

For example, if you have a campaign that only gets 10 conversions in the past 30 days, it may not be best to go all in on Target ROAS or Target CPA strategies until it gathers more data.

With only a handful of conversions every month, the algorithm lacks enough data to predict future outcomes, resulting in missed opportunities or over-aggressive bidding.

For new campaigns, consider using Maximize Clicks first to gather enough traffic to your website, allowing the algorithm to learn faster and gain more historical data.

2. Misaligned Goals

Using the wrong bidding strategy for your campaign objectives is the easiest way to derail your campaign.

For instance, Target CPA may not be suitable if profitability (ROAS) is your primary goal.

In this hypothetical example, say a retailer mistakenly applies Target CPA to a holiday campaign, aiming for a $20 CPA, even though their products have a $200 average transaction value.

That strategy drives volume, but at the expense of profitability.

Make sure to clearly define your campaign’s primary objective (lead generation, revenue maximization, etc.) and choose a Smart Bidding strategy that aligns with it.

3. Overlooking The Learning Phase

Every Smart Bidding strategy has a learning phase where performance may fluctuate as the algorithm adjusts.

Making changes too soon can reset the process and waste budget.

Say you just launched a campaign with a Target CPA strategy, only to switch it to Maximize Conversions just one week later due to inconsistent results.

This prevents the algorithm from stabilizing and optimizing for long-term success.

Allow one to two weeks (or longer for low-volume campaigns) for the learning phase to complete. Monitor performance, but avoid major changes during this period.

4. Ignoring External Factors

While Smart Bidding is highly adaptive, it can’t predict seasonal trends, promotions, or external market shifts without proper input.

Make sure to use Google’s seasonality adjustment tool to account for temporary shifts in user behavior during sales or promotions, or even national events that could change a user’s online behavior.

5. Underutilizing Advanced Features

Many advertisers set up Smart Bidding, but fail to use advanced options like bid simulators, audience layering, or custom conversion values.

This limits their ability to optimize performance.

Try testing out some of these additional campaign or ad group layers to understand the potential outcomes, and use audience insights to refine targeting.

Best Practices For Smart Bidding Success

Smart Bidding can be a game-changer in the results of your campaigns, but it’s not a magic wand.

To get the most out of this powerful tool, you need to pair automation with thoughtful planning and regular oversight.

By following these tried-and-true best practices, you’ll not only improve campaign performance but also avoid the common pitfalls that trip up many advertisers.

1. Feed The Algorithm With Clean, Accurate Data

Conversion tracking is the backbone of Smart Bidding. Errors in tracking or unverified conversions can lead to misguided optimizations.

When fed with clean and accurate data, the algorithm has the best chance to produce fruitful results.

But when fed with inaccurate data points, your Smart Bidding strategy will wreak havoc on your performance.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Be sure to regularly audit your conversion tracking setup. Ensure every key action (purchases, form submissions, calls, etc.) is tracked accurately and attributed correctly.

For ecommerce campaigns, make sure to include transaction values to correctly use Maximize Conversion Value or Target ROAS strategies.

2. Set Realistic Goals

Unrealistic CPA or ROAS targets can choke the algorithm, resulting in limited impressions or poor bid adjustments.

If you’re not sure what to set your campaign targets at, review historical campaign datasets to set achievable targets.

For example, if your average CPA is $50, don’t set a Target CPA of $20 right away. Start closer to your historical average and adjust gradually.

This also pertains to your daily budget. If your daily budget is only $50 but your average CPA target is $50, this will severely limit ad serving because it’s holding back finding the user most likely to convert.

3. Layer Audiences And Signals

While Smart Bidding works on its own, adding audience segments or demographic layers can give the algorithm more context.

Try using remarketing lists, in-market audiences, and customer match data to guide Smart Bidding towards higher-value users.

You can add audience segments as “Observation Only” to start with if you don’t want to narrow on those users specifically yet.

Depending on their performance, you can always adjust your bids up or down, or even exclude them altogether.

4. Leverage Seasonality Adjustments

Google’s seasonality adjustment feature lets you signal to the algorithm about anticipated spikes or dips in demand.

Before a major sale or holiday, input a seasonality adjustment to help the algorithm prepare for the surge in conversions.

Additionally, make sure to increase your daily budgets to account for those holiday surges.

5. Monitor Performance With The Right Metrics

Don’t rely solely on Google Ads’ automated suggestions and insights.

Do your due diligence and analyze auction insights, search impression share, and audience performance to identify trends and areas for improvement.

6. Run Experiments To Validate Strategies

Testing is critical to understanding what works.

Google Ads Experiments allows you to split test Smart Bidding strategies without risking your entire budget.

For example, say you’ve been running a campaign on Maximize Conversions, but are looking to narrow in on a specific CPA target.

You can set up an experiment to test a Target CPA strategy against the Maximize Conversions to see what performs better for your goals.

That way, you’re not dramatically shifting the behavior of the account overnight and introducing a lot of volatility into performance.

The Bottom Line On Smart Bidding

Smart Bidding in Google Ads has evolved to become an indispensable tool for PPC marketers.

Its ability to leverage machine learning and real-time data is unmatched, but like any tool, its success depends on how you use it.

By aligning your strategy with your goals, feeding the algorithm accurate data, and monitoring performance regularly, you can unlock its full potential.

Remember, automation doesn’t mean you’re off the hook – it means you have more time to focus on strategy, creativity, and scaling your campaigns.

With the right approach, Smart Bidding isn’t just smart – it’s transformational.

More Resources:

Featured Image: dee karen/Shutterstock

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