Jun 4 2024
Google Ads: A Quick Guide To Every AI-Powered Ad Creative Feature (And What’s Coming Soon) via @sejournal, @adsliaison

I know, we can’t go two minutes without hearing “AI” – much like in the early days (years) of “mobile” and “social media.”

In these early days of the generative AI era, creatives is an area where we’re seeing rapid development for advertisers.

We saw this at Google Marketing Live this year, too, with new AI creative capabilities announced for Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and YouTube ads.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I get it. With so many changes and new applications of AI in ad creatives, it can be hard to keep up with what’s available, how these features are designed to work – and how they’re evolving.

Want to maintain control of your ad creatives? I get that, too.

In this primer, we’ll look at the ways these features can support your unique creative strategy.

It’s important to remember the overarching goals of all of these features are to:

  • Help generate ideas and scale relevant ad creatives to reach more customers.
  • Save you time and resources.

What they are not designed to be are:

  • Set-it-and-forget-it campaign tools.
  • Replacements for your own creative inputs and insights.

Marketers need to bring their expertise to ensure the creatives that are generated are accurate and represent their brand.

This is also why these features are grounded in your own inputs, such as landing pages, manual assets, and keywords.

Here, we’ll break down each of the creatives features that use AI in Google Ads today, look at what’s coming soon, and provide an overview of how these tools can play a role in your creative efforts to drive performance.

Automatically Created Assets

First up, automatically created assets. When the automatically created assets (ACA) setting is enabled, it will create headlines and descriptions for your responsive search ads (RSAs) and Performance Max asset groups.

The aim is to augment your manual assets to provide incremental conversion opportunities by creating more relevant ads for more queries.

When enabled, RSAs assemble ad combinations that are predicted to perform best using both the assets you’ve provided and ACAs.

As of February, automatically created assets can use generative AI for advertisers with English language assets. We plan to expand to more languages.

Applicable campaign types: Search, Performance Max.

What it generates: Text assets for responsive search ads and Performance Max asset groups.

Setting location: Campaign level settings.

When it generates assets: After the campaign is live.

What it sources from: Automatically created assets are generated based on your ad’s unique context, which includes your landing page, existing ads, and keywords in your ad group.

Reporting: In the ad level asset report, these assets are labeled “Automatically created” in the “Asset source” column. Combination reports also include automatically created assets.

Controls:

  • Opt in or out at the campaign level.
  • Review and remove assets you no longer want to serve from the asset details report. The system removes any automatically created assets with low performance or if the asset source changes, well, automatically.

What else you need to know:

  • Website content is used to generate ACA, so you need to be sure your website content is accurate, up-to-date, not misleading and in compliance with Google Ads policies and any applicable laws when automatically created assets are enabled in your campaigns.
  • Automatically created assets should augment – not replace – your own headlines and descriptions. They can show alongside your manual headlines and descriptions and also don’t count toward asset limits.
  • Draft and Experiments are compatible with ACA in Search campaigns. You will see automatically created assets on both the test and control arm. However, the control side will serve zero automatically created assets impressions.
  • Ad Strength ratings also now reflect automatically created assets in responsive search ads and in Performance Max campaigns.
  • Learn more about automatically created assets for RSAs here and Performance Max here.

Dynamic Assets

There are a number of automated assets (formerly known as extensions) options offered at the account level, such as seller ratings, automated locations, and longer headlines.

Here, we’re going to focus on the five dynamic asset types available:

  • Dynamic Image assets.
  • Dynamic Sitelinks.
  • Dynamic Structured snippets.
  • Dynamic Callouts.

Applicable campaign types: Most are eligible to show with all ad types across multiple campaigns.

Setting location: Campaigns > Assets > three-dot menu icon > Account level automated assets settings tab.

When it generates assets: When an asset is predicted to improve your ad’s performance, Google Ads automatically creates and displays it below your ad.

What it sources from: Dynamic assets are sourced from content and images on your landing page. Dynamic assets don’t currently use generative AI.

Reporting: Available from the Assets tab.

Controls: You may remove individual dynamic assets you no longer want to show from the Assets tab. Specific dynamic assets can be turned off entirely at the account level (see settings location above).

What else you need to know:

  • Dynamic assets should be used in addition to, not as replacements for, your manual assets.
  • As of March, dynamic assets can show alongside your manual assets. For example, if you only have two eligible manual sitelinks, your ad can show two additional dynamic sitelinks for four sitelinks in total.
  • Review account-level automated assets, including dynamic assets, and their performance from the Assets tab.
  • Learn more about account-level automated assets here.

Asset Generation In Performance Max

This feature is available when creating or editing your Performance Max campaigns. You can generate custom assets using text-to-text and text-to-image prompts.

Applicable campaign types: Performance Max. This was launched globally in May for customers whose Google Ads language is set to English.

What it generates: Text and image assets.

Setting location: Optional during campaign creation and asset group editing workflows.

When it generates assets: This option is available when creating new campaigns and asset groups and when editing existing asset groups.

Start by entering your final URL (a webpage or a social media page) in the “Asset generation panel,” and it will generate a summary of the business, including products or services being advertised in the asset group and unique selling points.

You then choose to “generate assets” for review and editing before publishing.

What it sources from: Gemini models are used to generate text assets based on your website.

For images, it will show assets curated from your website and social channels, our stock image inventory, and those generated via AI. You can also generate unique images using text prompts.

Autogenerated videos are created from the other assets in the asset group.

With image references announced at GML this year, soon you’ll be able to input the type of image you want in a text-to-prompt form and then upload a reference image. It will generate original images that match the original theme, style, and context. (English only to start.)

Reporting: The assets you approve and publish will be reflected in your asset reports.

Controls: During campaign and asset group construction, you can review, edit, and remove any assets prior to launching your campaign.

What else you need to know:

  • Asset generation may not be available if your site is related to a sensitive category, is not in English, and/or recently launched online.
  • There are also some content restrictions when generating images. For example, the tools will avoid generating content with individual people or products with brand names and logos. Often, this means you’ll receive no results for requests like this, but sometimes, you might see an irrelevant response for a prompt that requests people or brands. More on generated images here.
  • Assets created by generative AI go through an Ads Policy review and may not be approved.
  • You should review all assets for accuracy and compliance with Google advertising policies or applicable laws before publishing them.
  • Learn more about building asset groups with generative AI here.

Conversational Experience For Search Ads

Introduced in November, this is the chat-based feature powered by large language models to help when creating new Search campaigns. It’s somewhat similar to asset generation in PMax.

Applicable campaign types: Eligible Search campaigns where the language is set to English.

What it generates: Keywords, headlines and descriptions, images, sitelinks.

Setting location: You’ll see the option when you reach the “Keywords and ad” step during Search campaign construction, if eligible.

When it generates assets: During campaign construction.

What it sources from: Your text prompts and landing page. Image suggestions are either sourced from your landing page or generated by Google AI.

Reporting: The keywords and assets you approve will be reflected in their respective reports.

Controls: You’re able to review and revise suggested assets created in the conversational experience for accuracy and to ensure they are accurate and reflect your brand voice. You can also enter new prompts.

What else you need to know:

  • Not available for domains in sensitive verticals or sub-verticals (for example, sexual content and gambling).
  • Chat in natural language and rephrase your prompt if you aren’t satisfied with the response.
  • The more unique details you use to guide and inform the AI, the more likely the generated ad assets will be unique and set your ads apart.
  • It won’t always get it right. Be sure to carefully review all suggestions for accuracy before publishing.
  • Learn more about using the conversational experience here.

Coming Soon … AI Creatives News From Google Marketing Live

Brand Guidelines For Performance Max

With brand guidelines for PMax creative assets, you’ll soon be able to set your brand colors, either by providing them directly or confirming the colors we detect from your website.

We’ll also aim to closely match the brand font detected on your website.

These guidelines will then be applied to auto-generated videos and responsive display ads, which are also getting a much-needed, modern facelift.

You will be able to review and edit your brand guidelines at any time. Brand guidelines is now in beta, and will be rolling out generally in the coming months.

AI Image Editor In The Asset Library And In Performance Max

Retailers will soon be able to integrate products from their Google Merchant Feed into the image editor in Google Ads (in the U.S. to start).

Editing tools now include cropping, background removal, adjusting color, and removing or restoring aspect ratio. You’ll also be able to create more variations of your assets.

You’ll find the image editor when you create a new image from the Asset library in your Shared library under Tools.

Animated Image Ads For Shorts

Animated image ads in Shorts will be built automatically from the images in your account for a more Shorts-native feel.

For example, when you add your feed to Demand Gen, it will be able to pull product images together and animate them into one ad.

Shopping Ads: 3D Spin & Try on

With 3D Spin, you’ll be able to show 360-degree views of your products in Shopping ads. Shoes will be our first product available with 3D Spin.

You’ll need to have high-resolution images from at least five angles for the 3D view to be assembled. These can show in both Shopping ads and free listings. More details here.

Already available for apparel in free listings, try-on ads are launching with tops. Users can choose to see apparel in this category on models of all different sizes right from the ad.

You’ll need high-resolution images that are at least 512 x 512 pixels, but ideally 1024 pixels or higher. The image should feature one garment on one front-facing model or mannequin in a simple pose. More details here.

Ok, But Are “AI Ads” All Going To Look The Same?

If everyone uses AI, will ads all look the same? It’s a good question.

As we’ve covered, most of these tools use your own unique assets as their primary source to help steer Google AI.

That means, the more unique your landing pages, existing assets, and prompts are, the more that generated assets will uniquely reflect your business.

Hopefully, this primer will give you a clearer picture of what’s available, where these tools appear in your account – and where we’re headed with ad creatives capabilities – to help spark your creativity and ultimately improve campaign performance.

More resources: 

Featured Image: BestForBest/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 3 2024
Google Provides Guidance To Advertisers On Upcoming Data Privacy Compliance Laws via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

Last week, Google Ads emailed advertisers in the United States who use Google Ads or Google Analytics with upcoming compliance changes.

Many are asking, “why now”?

As user privacy concerns are at an all-time high, many individual states enacted their privacy law provisions, which will be implemented later this year.

Read on to learn how Google is preparing its products for compliance, what this means for advertisers, and whether you need to take action.

What’s Changing In Privacy?

Two major updates are coming to the privacy landscape for the United States this year.

  1. Five states have privacy law provisions going into effect. These states include Florida, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and Colorado.
  2. Colorado Privacy Act (CPA) enforcements. The state of Colorado will begin enforcement of its Universal Opt-Out Mechanism (UOOM) provisions.

This means that individual states are cracking down on user privacy and how data processing occurs to those users.

This is also known as “Restricted Data Processing” (RDP), a compliance tool Google developed in 2019 to help advertisers comply with various country and state laws.

What is Google Doing To Help Advertisers Comply?

Due to these upcoming state changes, Google is making several changes to protect data and ensure advertisers are compliant.

Google Ads sent an email to U.S. advertisers on updates to restricted data processing.

For new U.S. State Laws going into effect

In the email sent to advertisers, Google is updating the language to these existing terms:

  • Google Ads Data Processing Terms
  • Google Ads Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms
  • Google Measurement Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms
  • U.S. State Privacy Laws Addendum

If you’ve already agreed to the online data protection terms in your Google Ads account, you need not take any further action on this update.

Additionally, Google states it will act as your service provider or processor while Restricted Data Processing (RDP) is enabled for the states above. What’s nice about this at a product control level in Google Ads is that if it’s turned on, the RDP functionality will expand as other states enact their own privacy laws.

For partners who operate in Colorado

This change is more specific to advertisers who operate in the state of Colorado.

In the upcoming Colorado Privacy Act, the Universal Opt-Out Mechanism requires that Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals opt the user out of Ad Targeting.

When users or potential customers create or receive a Global Privacy Control, they can send that signal to Google as a Privacy Parameter (like RDP mentioned above) to turn off things like:

  • Ad Targeting
  • Sale data
  • Share of data

To comply with this law, Google can receive GPC signals directly from users and will engage in RDP mode on their behalf.

What Does This Mean For Advertisers?

While the legal language above is extensive, let’s examine how these state law changes and Google’s response to them may affect advertisers.

#1: Less Personalized Ads inventory

One of the first apparent updates will be less personalized ad inventory.

Because of the restricted data processing updates and opt-out mechanisms, it’s easier for users not to be targeted.

If users decide not to enable ad targeting, that directly affects advertisers’ ability to personally target those users, affecting the ad inventory.

This can affect the inventory, targeting efficiency, and bidding strategies they use in campaigns.

#2: Customer Match will be impacted

Similar to the above, the match rate on Customer Match lists and other Remarketing lists will likely decline. This is mainly due to the Global Privacy Controls update.

Users must have given consent to receive marketing updates from a brand. Additionally, they won’t be tracked if they’re not logged into their Google account—or if they decline to be tracked while logged in.

If you use Customer Match lists, watch those match rates when reviewing performance volatility.

#3: Performance reporting will likely be impacted

According to Navah Hopkin’s LinkedIn post about this update, advertisers are in for a “wild summer.”

If advertisers’ ability to serve personalized ads or fully utilize Customer Match or other remarketing capabilities, performance will undoubtedly be impacted.

This could mean volatility or fluctuations in reporting regarding conversions, attributions back to campaigns, ROAS, or CPA metrics.

Navah makes a great point in the comments of her post on this matter, stating that advertisers should “get away from hard numbers” when it comes to reporting.

Simply put, there will be further limitations on what advertisers can and cannot report on, and the performance reports shouldn’t be the “end all be all” when making strategic campaign decisions.

In Summary

This isn’t Google’s first rodeo regarding user privacy laws and compliance.

What started in 2018 with compliance tools for GDPR updates in the EEA and U.K. is undoubtedly making its way to the United States.

In the ever-changing world of user privacy and data regulations, advertisers can breathe a small sigh of relief in these welcome updates from Google. They show that they’re being proactive about individual state law compliance policies and giving advertisers a heads-up before any action is needed.

Ultimately, advertisers must remember that they are responsible for ensuring compliance for their company and on behalf of the companies they advertise for.

Featured Image: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
Jun 3 2024
Google Marketing Live 2024: The Ultimate Recap For Advertisers via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

After ten years of watching Google Marketing Live virtually from my computer, I had the opportunity to attend the event in person this year.

If you’re not familiar with it, Google Marketing Live is an annual event put on by Google that showcases its major product announcements for Google advertisers.

This year, Google unveiled 30 product updates for Google Ads! While not all of them were mentioned during the keynote, there was one core theme of the updates:

AI.

The majority of product updates can be categorized under these main components of Google Ads:

  • Creatives.
  • Media.
  • Measurement.

Now that the event is over, I’ve had time to digest these platform announcements and really think about how to use them as an advertiser—or at the very least, what these updates can mean in the broader scope of marketing.

Below are my top product updates I’m most looking forward to in 2024.

AI Creative Announcements

As expected, Google announced multiple updates specifically around ad creatives and functionality for advertisers. These include:

  • AI-powered image editing. Advertisers can edit images (including product feed). AI-generated images will appear in recommendations for Performance Max campaigns. Add and remove objects, extend backgrounds, and adjust image sizes to meet many sizes, orientations, and ratios.
  • New brand standard guidelines. Advertisers can provide Google AI with brand guidelines, colors, and fonts. The option to upload example images as a reference point for the generative AI will also be available.
  • Animated image ads for Demand Gen campaigns. If you have a Merchant Center account, you can serve animated image ads on YouTube Shorts and video ads. The animated images will be automatically generated from your product feed images.
  • Integrations with creative platforms. Google now has partnerships with Canva, Smartly, and Pencil Pro to integrate into the Google Ads asset library. This means you can create assets on those platforms and export them to Google Ads.

As far as timing goes, not everything announced is available right away.

According to Google, the new brand standard guidelines will be rolled out in the later months.

AI Media Announcements

During the live keynote, one of the most livening parts was Philipp Schindler’s demo with its generative AI technology.

It sparked imagination around non-traditional ways to search and interact to find new information.

Google Marketing Live trend: Search Beyond Words.Photo taken by author, May 2024

With that comes some new ad space available for advertisers.

Some of the key media announcements within Google Ads include:

  • Shopping ads to appear in Google Lens and Circle to Search. This is a new ad space and experience in the visual search results. Your shopping ad will showcase products when they’re relevant to the photos and screenshots users search with.
  • Search and Shopping ads to appear in AI Overviews. Another new placement is unlocked – in the United States for now. Ads from existing AI-powered Search and Performance Max campaigns may be able to show in the AI Overview “Sponsored” section when they’re relevant to both the user search and the output from AI Overview.
  • Conversational campaign creation. While this was announced last year, Google published more data showing that SMBs who use the conversational tool are 63% more likely to publish search campaigns with ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ ad strength.
  • New loyalty promotions. Advertisers running Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns will have a way to tailor promotions like special pricing or member-only exclusive offers.

Similar to the creative announcements, not all these are live immediately.

Shopping ads and loyalty promotions will roll out over the next few months in visual search results.

By now, we’ve all likely heard some shocking outputs from AI Overviews. Google is starting this ad placement rollout as a small experiment in the United States and will take its learnings from all inputs to provide a better experience as it matures.

AI Measurement Announcements

While I thought there would be more hype around measurement improvements, there was only one brief callout about more in-depth reporting on Performance Max campaigns.

A more robust outline of measurement announcements included:

  • Asset-level reporting in Performance Max. In the next few months, you’ll be able to see conversion metrics for each creative asset. This is a huge win for advertisers after years of being unable to report at this level of detail.
  • Performance Insights in Merchant Center Next. More tailored recommendations and generated insights are coming to Merchant Center Next, along with conversational reporting requests, with more visual insights quicker.
  • New audience signals in App campaigns. Another huge win for app advertisers! Advertisers can now link a wide range of audience lists, including first-party data audiences. Google AI will learn from the audience inputs to show ads to users more likely to convert.
  • New Measurement Diagnostics hub. Advertisers can validate and troubleshoot any measurement setup within Google Ads. You’ll also see your measurement durability and readiness in this hub to build and activate first-party data audiences.
  • Marketing Mix Models attribution. Google announced its newest open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM), Meridian. It will help you measure the impact of your entire marketing strategy and make informed campaign decisions.
  • Better iOS measurement with SKAdNetwork enhancements. New reporting updates are available across the Google Ads API and third-party app attribution partners, and a new beta is available to integrate your SKAdNetwork conversion value schema into Google Ads. This will help enhance any iOS app campaigns using tCPA or tROAS bidding strategies.

Summary: What This Means For Advertisers

In the short hour and 15-minute keynote, we were presented with a wide variety of new updates. As you can see below, these updates affect many different campaign types and are either available today or will be coming in the next few months.

A visual recap of the products announced at Google Marketing Live 2024.Photo taken by author, May 2024

So, with these updates, is there a larger theme at play?

In the grand scheme of the Google Marketing Live updates, a few major themes stood out to me.

1. Video content is key.

A lot of updates from Google Marketing Live revolved around content creation, automation, and animation.

Essentially, Google seems “all-in” on video content—specifically YouTube Shorts.

If you don’t incorporate video content into your marketing strategy, you may fall behind your competitors and see lower engagement.

Some advertisers shy away from video content because it seems tedious, too complicated, or insufficient resources.

With Google’s updates, anyone can start with video content from their phone. Google’s tools can turn images into video content.

Incorporating video into your Google Ads strategy can help you connect better with your target audience.

2. AI strategies are a must-have.

During the keynote, Google said, “AI is not a marketer.”

Google Marketing Live AI is not a marketer.Photo taken by author, May 2024.

Basically, your jobs are safe right now, advertisers.

So, while AI is not a marketer, we marketers must have an AI strategy to keep up with these changes.

Trying to outsmart the Google Ads system or retaining too much control will prevent your campaigns from growing and scaling as they need to.

To have a successful AI strategy, think of a few of these main points:

  • Always ensure the goal and measurement setup is correct.
  • Set realistic bidding strategies so Google can learn from these inputs.
  • Send appropriate signals to Google within your campaign setup.

AI outputs are typically only as good as the inputs it gets. That’s where you, the marketer, come in.

When used correctly and strategically, these new AI tools can help scale your workload, learn faster, and make more real-time decisions to optimize your campaigns.

You can find the full recap of Google Ads product announcements in the official article from Google.

Featured Image: Veroniksha/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
May 29 2024
How To Use The Google Ads Search Terms Report via @sejournal, @brookeosmundson

One of the most essential aspects of a profitable Google Ads strategy is reaching the right people, with the right message, while they’re searching.

To do this correctly, you need to know exactly how your ads are doing and what words potential customers are using to search.

This is where the Google Ads search terms report comes in handy.

This report is a goldmine and an invaluable asset to every Google Ads account.

With insights into exact phrases being used to trigger your ads, the search terms report can help:

  • Significantly refine your keyword strategy.
  • Enhance your targeting.
  • Boost your return on investment (ROI).

Let’s get into why the Google Ads search terms report is not only helpful but essential for maximizing Google Ads profitability.

What Is The Google Ads Search Terms Report?

The search terms report is a performance tool that shows how your ad performed when triggered by actual searches on the Google Search Network.

The report shows specific terms and phrases that triggered your ad to show, which helps determine if you’re bidding on the right keywords or using the right match types.

If you find search terms that aren’t relevant for your business, you can easily add them to your negative keyword list repository.

This helps you spend your budget more effectively by ensuring your ads are only triggered for relevant, useful searches by potential customers.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between a search term and a keyword:

  • Search term: Shows the exact word or phrase a customer enters on the Google Search Network to trigger an ad.
  • Keyword: The word or phrase that Google Ads advertisers target and bid on to show their ads to customers.

How To Create A Search Terms Report

Creating a search terms report in your Google Ads account is simple, and better yet – it can be automated!

To view your search terms report, you’ll need to:

  • Log into your Google Ads account.
  • Navigate to “Campaigns” >> “Insights & reports” >> “Search terms”

Below is an example of where to navigate in your Google Ads account to find the search terms report.

Screenshot of a Google Ads interface showing the Screenshot taken by author, April 2024

After running this report, there are multiple actions you can take as a marketer:

  • Add top-performing searches to corresponding ad groups as keywords.
  • Select the desired match type (e.g. broad, phrase, exact) if adding new keywords.
  • Add irrelevant search terms to a negative keyword list.

3 Ways To Use Search Terms Report Data

As mentioned above, there are numerous ways you can use the search terms report data to optimize campaign performance.

Let’s take a look at three examples of how to use this report to get the best bang for your buck.

1. Refine Existing Keyword Lists

The first area the search terms report can help with is refining existing keyword lists.

By combing through the search terms report, you can find areas of opportunities, including:

  • What searches are leading to conversions.
  • What searches are irrelevant to the product or service.
  • What searches have high impressions but low clicks.
  • How searches are being mapped to existing keywords and ad groups.

For searches leading to conversions, it likely makes sense to add those as keywords to an existing ad group or create a new ad group.

If you’re finding some searches to be irrelevant to what you’re selling, it’s best to add them as negative keywords. That prevents your ad from showing up for that search moving forward.

If some searches have a high volume of impressions, but very few clicks, these will take further consideration. If it’s a keyword worth bidding on, it may indicate that the bid strategy isn’t competitive enough – meaning you’ll have to take action on your bid strategy.

If a search term is being triggered by multiple keywords and ad groups, this is a case of cross-pollution of keywords. This can lead to lower ROI because it’s essentially having multiple keywords bid on that search term, which can drive up the cost. If this happens, you have a few options:

  • Review and update existing keyword match types as necessary.
  • Add negative keywords where appropriate at the ad group or campaign level to avoid cross-pollution.

Ultimately, using the search terms report in this way allows you to determine what is performing well and eliminate poor performers.

2. Understand How Your Audience Is Actually Searching For Your Product

Something I often see is a mismatch of how a company talks about its product or service vs. how a customer is actually searching for it in the real world.

If you’re bidding on keywords you think describe your product or service but are not getting any traction, you could be misaligning expectations.

Oftentimes, searches that lead to conversions are from terms you wouldn’t have thought to bid on without looking at the search terms report.

One of this report’s most underutilized use cases is finding lesser-known ways customers are searching for and finding your product.

Finding these types of keywords may result in the creation of a new campaign, especially if the search terms don’t fit existing ad group structures.

Building out campaigns by different search themes allows for appropriate bidding strategies for each because not all keyword values are created equal!

Understanding how a customer is describing their need for a product or service not only helps your keyword strategy but can lead to better-aligned product positioning.

This leads us to a third way the search term report can help your campaigns.

3. Optimize Ad Copy and Landing Pages

As discussed in #2, customers’ language and phrases can provide valuable insights into their needs and preferences.

Marketers can use the search terms report to better tailor ad copy, making it more relevant and appealing to prospective customers.

And let’s not forget about the corresponding landing page!

Once a user clicks on an ad, they expect to see an alignment of what they searched for and what is presented on a website.

Make sure that landing page content is updated regularly to better match the searcher’s intent.

This can result in a better user experience and an improvement in conversion rates.

How Using The Search Terms Report Can Help ROI

All three examples above are ways that the search terms report can improve campaign ROI.

How so?

Let’s take a look at each example further.

How Refining Keywords Helps ROI

Part of refining existing keywords is negating any irrelevant search terms that trigger an ad.

Having a solid negative keyword strategy gets rid of “unwanted” spending on keywords that don’t make sense.

That previously “wasted” spend then gets redirected to campaigns that regularly drive higher ROI.

Additionally, adding top-performing search terms gives you better control from a bid strategy perspective.

Being able to pull the appropriate levers and setting proper bid strategies by search theme ultimately leads to better ROI.

How Understanding Audience Intent Helps ROI

By understanding the exact language and search terms that potential customers use, marketers can update ad copy and landing pages to better match those searches.

This can increase ad relevance and Ad Rank within Google Ads.

These items help with keyword Quality Score, which can help reduce CPCs as your Quality Score increases.

More relevant ads likely lead to higher click-through rates, which leads to a higher likelihood of converting those users!

How Updating Ad Copy And Landing Pages Helps ROI

This example goes hand-in-hand with the above recommendation.

As you start to better understand the audience’s search intent, updating ad copy and landing pages to reflect their search indicates better ad relevance.

Once a user clicks on that relevant ad, they find the content of the landing page matches better to what they’re looking for.

This enhanced relevance can significantly increase the likelihood of conversion, which ultimately boosts ROI.

Use This Report To Make Data-Driven Decisions

Google Ads is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy, often accounting for a large portion of your marketing budget.

By regularly reviewing the search terms report, you can refine your marketing budget to make your Google Ads campaigns more effective.

Using this report to make data-driven decisions that fine-tune multiple facets of campaign management leads to more effective ad spending, higher conversions, and ultimately higher ROI.

More resources: 

Featured Image: FGC/Shutterstock

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
May 21 2024
7 Ways AI Took My Job [To The Next Level] via @sejournal, @CallRail

With AI-powered call attribution, you can gain valuable insights into which channels are driving the most conversions.

How Call Attribution Works

  • Step 1: Assign – Select unique call tracking numbers to assign to each campaign or listing.
  • Step 2: Track – Potential customers see your ad or listing and call the associated phone number.
  • Step 3: Forward –The calls ring directly into your main business phone, regardless of which number they use.
  • Step 4: Analyze – Because they used one of your tracking numbers, you instantly know which ad or campaign inspired them to call.

With AI-powered call tracking, gone are the days of wondering how your digital marketing efforts are tied to high-value inbound calls.

For agencies, this helps prove the real value of your services and extend the life of your client relationships.

2. AI Can Help You Save Time On Manually Reviewing Calls

Listening to and analyzing phone calls manually can be time-consuming and inefficient for agencies.

However, it’s an important part of understanding the customer experience and sales team performance.

With AI-powered call analysis tools, you get quality, keyword-tagged transcriptions with near-human-level accuracy.

Not only can this technology help you save over 50% of the time spent listening to phone calls, but it can also help you deliver actionable recommendations to clients and drive better results.

Conversation Intelligence, for instance, is trained on over 1.1M hours of voice data and enables real-time analysis for instantaneous results.

This advanced tool provides opportunities for you to improve your strategy through the following granular insights:

  • Spotting disparities in the industry-specific lingo your sales team uses, compared to the lingo your prospects are using to describe their business challenges and goals.
  • Identifying trends or gaps in your service offerings based on what your prospects are asking for.
  • Identifying frequently asked questions and other important topics to address through content marketing.
  • Setting goals for lead qualification — not just the quantity of leads generated for your business.

Conversational AI is perfectly suited to summarize the content of long conversations – however, the call summaries still require a human to read them and determine the main takeaways.

But if you work in a bustling small business, it’s unlikely you’d have the bandwidth for tasks such as call transcription, summaries, keyword spotting, or trend analysis.

Rather than displacing human labor, conversational AI is assisting businesses in taking on tasks that may have been overlooked and leveraging data that would otherwise remain untapped.

3. AI Can Help You Lower Cost Per Lead / Save Money On Tools & Ad Spend

Ever wonder why certain campaigns take off while others fall flat? It’s all in the data!

Even failed campaigns can offer invaluable insights into your client’s audience and messaging.

But if you can’t spot the underperformers quickly enough, you risk wasting your ad budget on ineffective tactics.

The quicker you can identify what’s working and what’s not, the quicker you can pivot and adjust your marketing strategy.

With AI-powered tools, agencies can access instant insights that enable them to reduce wasteful spending and improve overall campaign efficiency.

How To Deliver More Value With AI

  • Make a bigger impact in less time: AI-powered technology creates a force multiplier within your agency, allowing you to make more of an impact with the same level of inputs you’re already using.
  • Unlock actionable insights from call data: AI is revolutionizing the way companies leverage call data by enabling them to gain insights at scale. As a result, businesses can increase their ROI and deliver greater value to their clients by analyzing hundreds of calls efficiently.
  • Foster alignment with data-driven strategies: By analyzing customer conversations with AI, businesses can align their marketing strategy with data-driven recommendations, enhancing overall coherence. Additionally, the ability to create triggers based on specific phrases enables automated analysis and reporting, further streamlining the alignment process.
  • Drive effectiveness with rapid insights: Leveraging Conversation Intelligence enables agencies to deliver better insights faster, increase conversion rates, refine keyword strategies, and develop robust reporting capabilities.

With the right AI-powered tools, you can access the insights you need to ensure maximum ROI for your clients.

4. AI Can Help You Improve Overall Agency Efficiency

Are you spending too much valuable time on tasks that produce minimal results?

Many agencies find themselves bogged down by routine, administrative tasks that don’t contribute much to their bottom line.

But with AI automation, agencies can streamline their operations and redirect their energy towards more strategic endeavors.

From email scheduling and social media posting to data entry and report generation, AI can handle a wide array of tasks with precision and efficiency – giving you time to focus on high-impact activities that drive growth and deliver tangible results.

Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Automation

  1. Automatically transcribe your calls to boost close rates: See how your team is handling difficult objections and ensure that they’re delivering your businessʼ value proposition in an effective manner.
  2. Score calls based on quality and opportunity: Take the time-consuming work out of scoring your calls and determine which campaigns drive the best calls to your business.
  3. Classify calls by your set criteria: Qualify, score, tag, or assign a value to the leads that meet your criteria, automatically.
  4. Automatically redact sensitive information: Protect your customers by removing billing or personal information. Keep your data safe and secure through complete HIPAA compliance.
  5. Monitor your teamsʼ performance: Use Conversation Intelligence as a valuable sales training tool to ensure your team doesn’t miss any key messaging marks.
  6. Know your customersʼ needs: Identify conversation trends in your phone calls and stay privy to evolving customer needs.
  7. Improve your digital marketing strategy: Use AI-powered insights to inform your digital marketing strategy and boost your online presence.

By automating mundane tasks, agencies can optimize workflows, increase productivity, and improve efficiency across the board.

Looking for 5 – 7? Download The Full Guide

Rather than fearing AI, the future belongs to those who embrace it.

By strategically combining human creativity with artificial intelligence, you can unlock capabilities that transcend what either could achieve alone.

Want to discover even more ways to level up your agency with AI?

Get the full guide here.

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May 16 2024
SEM Vs. SEO: What’s The Difference? via @sejournal, @searchmastergen

CSS. HTTP. URL. HTML.

It’s possible the only field that uses more acronyms and initializations than web marketing is the military.

The military uses them to save time.

Sometimes, it seems like our industry only uses them to confuse newcomers.

And it’s not uncommon for even experienced professionals to mix them up.

Some of the most common mistakes happen when it comes to the similar and related, but distinctly different concepts of search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).

Once upon a time, in the halcyon days of the early internet (that is, circa 2001), SEO referred to a part of SEM.

But, as the language and nuance of web marketing shifted, search engine marketing came to refer to a specific type of digital marketing. So, what’s the difference?

Sometimes also referred to as organic (SEO) and inorganic (SEM) search, both are focused on using Google (and to a lesser extent other search engines) to drive traffic to a specific website.

From a high-level view (and don’t worry, we’ll dive into the details a bit later), SEO is the process of improving your website to generate traffic, while SEM is using paid methods to show up in searches.

Don’t feel bad if you’ve mixed these terms up. It happens all the time.

To help you avoid any embarrassing mishaps when speaking with other digital marketers, we’ve compiled this handy guide to give you an overview of these concepts.

Confused? Don’t be, all will be made clear in the end. Now let’s get started.

PPC, Another Variable In The Mix

As we get started, just to make everything even more confusing, let’s add one more initialization into the mix: PPC or pay-per-click.

Okay, that one isn’t really fair because PPC is just another term for SEM – or at least, a part of it.

PPC is most likely a term that evolved through the Wild West days of early search engine strategies when different people used different terms to refer to the same thing.

Eventually, pay-per-click and search engine marketing came to mean the same thing: paid digital marketing advertisements on search platforms.

Pay-per-click, regardless if it’s called PPC, CPC (that is cost-per-click), paid search, or search ads are referring to paid search marketing, typically through search engines like Google and Bing.

Other terms and tactics used in digital marketing initiatives – especially those tied to search marketing tactics (both paid and organic) – may not be so simple and clearly defined, though.

What’s The Difference Between SEO & SEM/PPC?

We know SEO is search engine optimization.

Marketers aren’t optimizing search engines, however. We’re optimizing content and websites for search engines (and humans, too), so they can better understand, access, and direct searchers to our website.

Again, initialism doesn’t always make sense. So, naturally, this is a bit illogical.

Just like other things in life that don’t always add up, there are some acronyms that will never make sense either.

Like Humvee, which doesn’t stand for any words that start with U or E in them. (It actually stands for High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, and was spawned from the original acronym, HMMWV.)

We’ve also determined that PPC marketing is (at least now) the same as or a very large part of SEM. Here’s where they overlap:

  • Both are paid initiatives.
  • Both need a budget.
  • Both make search engines like Google and other advertising platforms a lot of money.

But, while Wikipedia defines SEM as “a form of internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising,” it’s not so quick to call them the same exact thing.

In fact, pay-per-click marketing has its own Wikipedia page separate from search engine marketing (despite there being plenty of discrepancies and confusion throughout the page).

The bottom line is this:

SEO is not a component of SEM.

And, while PPC is typically the largest and most demanding component of SEM, both PPC and SEM are paid initiatives that offer real-time data, ROI, and protected data that can only be accessed by advertisers on certain platforms.

Why It Matters

Consistency is the main reason it’s important to clarify these terms.

Too many novice marketers, or marketers who aren’t specialists in maximizing value through search, have adopted these industry definitions and crossed them, combined them, confused them, or used them in a way that only further diluted their true meaning.

And even well-seasoned marketers who simply didn’t agree with or possibly even completely understand the terms themselves help contribute to the turning tide, as well.

Conferences have set up entire segments of their educational offering around the SEM naming convention when referring to strictly paid marketing efforts, but those efforts aren’t strictly done through search engines.

SEM, at least from this perspective, includes PPC ads on search engines but also on third-party platforms like Amazon and YouTube, as well as industry-focused platforms like Houzz, Thumbtack, or Yelp. It also includes display ads and remarketing efforts.

And, as the opportunity to advertise on social media continues to grow, it is usually used to refer to paid advertising on those networks, too.

Here at Search Engine Journal, we’re doing our part. Keeping the definitions and their usage consistent is going to be the best way to keep the information organized in a way that makes sense for marketers.

It also helps us, as marketers, convey our thoughts and ideas to clients and stakeholders, peers, or a friend who is curious about just what exactly it is we do for a living.

But, you should never assume someone else knows what you’re referring to when you use these terms.

Be concise and explain exactly what you’re talking about and make sure everyone agrees on term definitions.

Before we move on, let’s recap:

  • SEO is the organic effort that goes into marketing through search engines.
  • SEM and PPC are paid initiatives through search and other platforms.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s move on.

Should I Use SEO Or SEM?

Now that you hopefully have a grasp on the differences between SEO and SEM, you’re undoubtedly asking yourself a question: Which one should I be using?

Ideally, both.

But if you don’t have the bandwidth and can only choose one, here are some things to consider:

What Are Your Goals?

If you want to drive traffic quickly, whether to promote a sale, try out a new offer or just give your website more exposure, SEM is the choice for you.

SEO, on the other hand, is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes more time to show results but is good for long-term growth and compounding value.

What Is Your Budget?

Obviously, SEM campaigns are going to cost you money. After all, there’s a reason it’s called pay-per-click.

If your budgets are tight or you have low product margins, it may not make sense to run SEM.

SEO, on the other hand, is more of a time investment than a financial one. And, you can probably enlist people already on your payroll like writers, IT personnel, and marketers to help.

How Is Your Site Currently Performing?

If your website already ranks highly for your keywords, your SEO needs will be primarily driven by changes to the Google algorithm and competition.

In this situation, SEM is a great augmentation. Conversely, if you’re not getting a lot of organic traffic, you probably need to get your SEO in order before you start spending money on paid ads.

How Much Data Do You Have Or Need About Visitors?

SEM lets you capture a lot more visitor data than organic search.

You can run your PPC campaigns through dashboards like Google Analytics, where you can see clicks, impressions, CTR, sessions, conversions, etc.

You can then use this data to track trends and attract new customers.

How Is Your Online Reputation?

SEO is a great way to control the narrative around your brand.

Using the same techniques you use to climb to the top of search rankings, you can control the way your organization is seen online.

In one famous (albeit unsuccessful) example, UC-Davis paid a consulting firm $175,000 to scrub the internet of negative postings.

Of course, if you can swing it, you should combine SEO and SEM as complementary search strategies.

This way, you can use the data you gather from your PPC campaigns to refine your SEO campaigns. This will give you a better idea of exactly what your audience is looking for when they click your links, so you can customize your content to it.

Combining both practices also lets you create remarketing campaigns.

If your SEO work is driving visitors, but you’re not seeing the conversions you want, you can use SEM to actively reach out to those targets and bring them back to your website.

Pairing SEO and SEM can also allow you to completely dominate search engine results pages (SERPs).

If you have the top ranking on the first page of results, plus paid listings on the same page, you’ve just claimed a lot of real estate.

The downside of this, however, is that your paid listings may cannibalize your organic traffic, which costs you unnecessary money.

Conclusion

Hopefully, by this point, we’ve successfully impressed on you the difference between SEO and SEM. But just in case it wasn’t clear, here it is once more for the people in the back:

SEO is using non-paid tactics to drive traffic to your website organically. It’s a slower process (usually three to six months) but can pay long-term dividends.

SEM, including PPC, is the use of paid search platforms to drive targeted traffic to your website. It requires a budget but can drive results very quickly.

Too many people either see these as the same thing or as completely separate initiatives and miss out on the benefits of using them together.

To get the best results, both should be a part of your digital marketing strategy.

They each have different strengths and weaknesses, but when properly united, can give you a real competitive advantage.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock

FAQ

When should a business prioritize SEM over SEO?

Businesses should prioritize SEM when they need quick results, such as promoting a sale or testing a new offer. SEM is also ideal if the business has a product with a limited-time offer or requires rapid visibility for critical events. Essentially, if the objective is immediate traffic and short-term goals, SEM, including PPC campaigns, should be considered the primary strategy, provided there is an appropriate budget in place.

How do SEO and SEM complement each other?

SEO and SEM complement each other by addressing both short-term and long-term marketing goals. SEO helps build a foundation for sustained organic traffic over time, while SEM provides immediate visibility and traffic through paid ads. Combine data from SEM campaigns to refine your SEO efforts, ensuring that content aligns with what your audience seeks. When used together, these strategies can occupy more search engine real estate, increasing both paid and organic reach.

What factors should influence the choice between SEO and SEM?

Your choice between SEO and SEM should consider several factors:

  • Goals: If you aim for quick visibility, opt for SEM. For long-term growth, focus on SEO.
  • Budget: SEM involves ongoing costs for ad placements, while SEO requires time investment, with potential internal resources.
  • Current website performance: If your site already ranks well organically, SEM can augment your traffic further. Conversely, if organic traffic is low, prioritize SEO.
  • Data needs: SEM provides detailed insights through platforms like Google Analytics, which can be advantageous for in-depth analysis and strategy adjustments.

Ultimately, assess these factors to determine the best approach for your marketing strategy.

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May 16 2024
Google Ads Restricts Brand Names & Logos From AI Image Generation via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has provided details about the capabilities and limitations of its AI image generation tools for Google Ads.

The clarification came after search marketer Darcy Burk expressed excitement about the potential for AI to create product images.

This prompted Google’s Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin, to outline some key restrictions.

Branded Content Off-Limits

Marvin confirmed that while Google’s AI tools can generate generic product images, they are designed to avoid creating visuals that depict branded items or logos.

Marvin stated:

“The tool will generate product images, but it won’t generate product images that include brand names or logos.”

She provided an illustrative example:

“So, for example, you could ask it to generate images of ‘a dog in a pet stroller in a park,’ but if you asked it to generate images of ‘a dog in a pet stroller in a park with a Doggo logo,’ you’ll get an error notification to remove mentions of brands and branded items from your description.”

Guidelines Outlined

Marvin points to Google’s support documentation for more details on using the AI image generation and editing capabilities.

When attempting to generate branded product images, users will likely receive an error message instructing them to remove any branded terms from their prompts.

Google’s support page notes:

“Generative AI tools in Google Ads are designed to automatically limit the creation of certain content.”

It lists “Faces, children, or specific individuals” and “Branded items and logos” as examples of restricted subject matter.

Restricted Verticals

Google’s documentation also addresses concerns around safety and responsible AI development.

Generated images include digital watermarking to identify their AI-generated nature and deter misuse.

Sensitive advertising verticals like politics and pharmaceuticals are also restricted from automatically receiving AI-generated image suggestions.

“As this technology evolves, we’re continuously evaluating and improving our approach to safety,” Google states.

Why SEJ Cares

As generative AI capabilities expand across the advertising ecosystem, clear guidelines from Google help provide guardrails to mitigate potential risks while allowing advertisers to experiment.

Understanding current limitations, such as restrictions around branded visuals, is critical for marketers looking to incorporate AI image generation into their workflows.

How This Can Help You

For advertisers, Google’s AI image generation tools can produce large volumes of high-quality generic product and lifestyle images at scale.

By following the outlined guidelines around avoiding branded references, you can generate a variety of visual assets suited for ecommerce product listings, display ads, social media marketing and more.

This can streamline traditionally time-consuming processes like product photoshoots while maintaining brand safety.

FAQ

How does Google Ads’ AI image generation tool handle branded content?

Google’s AI image generation tool can create generic product images but is designed to exclude any branded items or logos.

If a user tries to generate an image with specific brands or logos, the system will trigger an error notification directing them to remove those references before proceeding.

  • The tool generates generic product images
  • It excludes brand names and logos
  • Users receive error notifications guiding them to correct prompts

What kind of content is restricted when using Google Ads’ AI image generation tools?

Several types of content are restricted when using the AI image generation tools in Google Ads.

Restrictions include creating images featuring faces, children, specific individuals, branded items, and logos.

Sensitive verticals like politics and pharmaceuticals are also barred from receiving AI-generated image suggestions.

How does the restriction on branded content benefit marketers using Google’s AI tools?

By focusing on generating only generic product images, advertisers can utilize the tool for a variety of applications, such as ecommerce product listings, display ads, and social media marketing, without risking any legal issues related to brand misuse.

Featured Image: DANIEL CONSTANTE/Shutterstock

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May 13 2024
Google: Proximity Not A Factor For Local Service Ads Rankings via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has clarified that a business’s proximity to a searcher isn’t a primary factor in how Local Services Ads are ranked.

This change reflects Google’s evolving understanding of what’s relevant to users searching for local service providers.

Chris Barnard, a Local SEO Analyst at Sterling Sky, started the discussion by pointing out an update to a Google Help Center article.

In a screenshot, he highlights that Google removed the section stating proximity is a factor in local search ad rankings.

Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Liaison, responded to clarify the change.

In a statement, Marvin said:

“LSA ranking has evolved over time as we have learned what works best for consumers and advertisers. We’ve seen that proximity of a business’ location is often not a key indicator of relevancy.

For example, the physical location of a home cleaning business matters less to potential customers than whether their home is located within the business’ service area.”

Marvin confirmed this wasn’t a sudden change but an update to “more accurately reflect these ranking considerations” based on Google’s learnings.

The updated article now states that location relevance factors include:

“…the context of a customer’s search… the service or job a customer is searching for, time of the search, location, and other characteristics.”

Proximity Still A Factor For Service Areas

Google maintains policies requiring service providers to limit their ad targeting to areas they can service from their business locations.

As Marvin cites, Google’s Local Services platform policies state:

“Local Services strives to connect consumers with local service providers. Targeting your ads to areas that are far from your business location and/or that you can’t reasonably serve creates a negative and potentially confusing experience for consumers.”

Why SEJ Cares

By de-emphasizing proximity, Google is giving its ad-serving algorithms the flexibility to surface the most relevant and capable providers.

This allows the results to match user intent better and connect searchers with companies that can realistically service their location.

FAQ

What should businesses do in response to the change in Local Services Ads ranking factors?

With the recent changes to how Google ranks Local Services Ads, businesses should update the service areas listed for their ads to reflect the regions they can realistically provide services. You’ll want to match the service areas to what’s listed on your Google Business Profile.

Companies should also ensure their service offerings and availability information are up-to-date, as these are other key factors that will impact how well their Local service ads rank and show up for relevant local searches.

Why is it important for marketers to understand changes to Local Services Ads ranking?

These changes affect how businesses get matched with potential customers. Google no longer heavily prioritizes closeness when ranking local service ads. Instead, it focuses more on other relevant factors.

Understanding this shift allows businesses to update their local service ad strategies. By optimizing for Google’s new priorities, companies can get their ads in front of the right audience.

Can a business still target areas far from their location with Local Services Ads?

No, Google doesn’t allow businesses to target areas they can’t realistically service.

This is to prevent customers from being matched with providers who are too far away to help them. Businesses can only advertise in areas close to their location or service areas.

Featured Image: Mamun sheikh K/Shutterstock

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May 7 2024
Do More with Less: Navigating Customer Acquisition Challenges for Today’s Enterprises via @sejournal, @lorenbaker

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses face unique challenges in acquiring customers and expanding their digital footprint. From limited resources and intense competition to lack of insights, navigating this terrain requires innovative acquisition strategies.

Watch on-demand as we delve into a two-pronged strategy of driving campaign efficiencies while laying the foundation for long-term success.

You’ll learn expert tips for:

  • Driving efficiency in paid media campaigns.
  • Working towards long-term success.
  • Leveraging cross-channel strategies.
  • Integrating CRO with Paid channels to deliver optimum results.

With Tim Murphy and Susovan Ray, we explored a scalable and sustainable acquisition framework to support long-term growth objectives.

Whether you’re a marketing leader seeking practical strategies or a performance marketer looking to enhance your company’s digital presence, check out these insights to break through barriers and achieve success in digital acquisition.

View the slides below or check out the full webinar for more details.

Ecommerce MGMT 0 Comments
May 2 2024
Google Performance Max For Marketplaces: Advertise Without A Website via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern

Google has launched a new advertising program called Performance Max for Marketplaces, making it easier for sellers on major e-commerce platforms to promote their products across Google’s advertising channels.

The key draw? Sellers no longer need a website or a Google Merchant Center account to start.

The official Google Ads Help documentation states:

“Performance Max for Marketplaces helps you reach more customers and drive more sales of your products using a marketplace. After you connect your Google Ads account to the marketplace, you can create Performance Max campaigns that send shoppers to your products there.”

The move acknowledges the growing importance of online marketplaces like Amazon in product discovery.

For sellers already listing products on marketplaces, Google is providing a way to tap into its advertising ecosystem, including Search, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, and more.

As ecommerce marketer Mike Ryan pointed out on LinkedIn:

“Polls vary, but a recent single-choice survey showed that 50% of consumers start product searches on Amazon, while a multiple-choice survey showed that 66% of consumers start on Amazon.”

The source for his data is a 2023 report by PowerReviews.

Getting Started

To use Performance Max for Marketplaces, sellers need an active account on a participating marketplace platform and a Google Ads account.

Google has yet to disclose which marketplaces are included. We contacted Google to request a list and will update this article when we receive it.

Once the accounts are linked, sellers can launch Performance Max campaigns, drawing product data directly from the marketplace’s catalog.

Google’s documentation states:

“You don’t need to have your own website or Google Merchant Center account. You can use your existing marketplace product data to create ads with product information, prices, and images.”

Conversion tracking for sales is handled by the marketplace, with sales of the advertiser’s products being attributed to their Google campaigns.

While details on Performance Max For Marketplaces are still emerging, Google is providing information when asked directly.

Navah Hopkins states on LinkedIn she received these additional details:

“I finally got a straight answer from Google that we DO need a Merchant Center for this, we just don’t need one to start with.”

Differences From Standard Performance Max

These are the key differences from regular Performance Max campaigns:

  • No URL expansion, automatically-created assets, or video assets
  • No cross-account conversion tracking or new customer acquisition modeling
  • No audience segmentation reporting

Why SEJ Cares

Performance Max for Marketplaces represents a new way to use Google advertising while operating on third-party platforms.

Getting products displayed across Google’s ecosystem without the overhead of a standalone ecommerce presence is a significant opportunity.

How This Can Help You

Through Google’s ecosystem, merchants have new ways to connect with customers.

Performance Max for Marketplaces is a potential difference maker for smaller retailers that have struggled to gain traction through Google’s standard shopping campaigns.

Established merchants invested in Google Ads may find the program opens new merchandising opportunities. By making an entire marketplace catalog available for ad serving, sellers could uncover previously undiscovered pockets of demand.

The success of Performance Max for Marketplaces will depend on its execution and adoption by major players like Amazon and Walmart.

Featured Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock

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