Earlier this year, Google introduced new AI features into its Google Ads platform to help streamline work for many advertisers.
One of those new features comes in the form of AI video enhancements.
This is no surprise since video makes up over 65% of all internet traffic.
Read on to learn more about the AI video enhancements tutorial and how they can help streamline your PPC campaign optimization.
How do AI Video Enhancements Work?
In Google Ads, the AI video enhancement tool uses smart automation features to enhance your videos in a variety of ways.
It’s important to note that video enhancements are turned on by default but can easily be turned off at any time.
The feature can be found within your Google Ads campaign settings.
If you’re creating a new Google Ads campaign, this setting will only be available if you choose “Sales” as the goal and “Video” as the campaign type.
From there, go down to “Additional settings” to find the AI video enhancements settings:
Types of Enhancements Available
Google’s new AI video enhancements provide marketers with two areas to optimize current video assets.
#1: Additional video sizes and ratios
The first enhancement type can take existing horizontal videos and create additional versions for vertical and square ratios for optimal viewing.
The new ratio sizes that Google can create include:
1:1
4:5
9:16
This feature can help the new video sizes feel more native to users viewing on mobile devices and create a better user experience.
#2: Get shorter versions of video ads
Say you’ve got a stellar video asset, but it may be too long to keep a user’s attention.
This new video enhancement uses Google AI to select key moments in the existing video to create shorter versions while keeping the original video message and appearance.
Per Google, these shorter video versions will automatically start running if they pass a quality review.
What are the benefits of using AI Video Enhancements?
As we come into Q4, time is of the essence for every marketer.
Resources are trying to do more with less, all while producing optimal PPC campaign results.
If you or your team are strapped for time or have a heavy workload, testing the Google AI video enhancements could be a key helper for your creative assets.
Some key benefits of testing out video enhancements include:
Reducing workload and budget
Takes the heavy lifting out of manually optimizing creatives
Can help boost campaign effectiveness
May help improve conversions
In Summary
With the ability to automatically generate different video sizes and ratios and create shorter versions of longer video ads, these tools are designed to save time and reduce the manual effort of video editing.
As marketers head into Q4 and face increasing demands, utilizing Google’s AI video enhancements can help lighten workloads, improve campaign effectiveness, and potentially increase conversions while keeping within budget constraints.
Whether you’re an in-house marketer or working at an agency, effective bid management is crucial for scaling success.
However, understanding how to optimize and adjust bids effectively in Google Shopping ads can be challenging, especially with all the different settings and levers that can be pulled!
Google Shopping has come a long way since its original inception in 2022 – and up until 2012, Google Shopping was free!
It seems that every year, more is needed to win the bidding war against rising costs in the Google Ads platform and keep brands’ profitability in check.
In this article, we’ll explore the strategies, tools, and best practices that can help you win the bidding war and maximize ROI on your Google Shopping campaigns.
1. Understanding The Google Shopping Auction Model And Its Impact On Bidding
Before we jump into bid management strategies, it’s essential to understand how Google Shopping works behind the scenes. Unlike Search campaigns, Google Shopping doesn’t rely on keywords to trigger ads.
Instead, product listing ads (PLAs) appear based on a combination of your product feed data and the user’s search intent. Google uses a unique auction system, and your bids interact with factors like relevance, user behavior, and other competitors in the space.
The Role Of Quality Score In Google Shopping
Quality Score plays a role in Google Shopping bid management, but a bit differently from Search campaigns.
Factors such as the product feed quality, landing page relevance, and historical campaign performance can influence how often your ads appear and at what cost. Here’s how to ensure you’re optimizing for Quality Score in Shopping:
Product Feed Optimization: Ensure that your product titles, descriptions, and attributes are clear and relevant.
Accurate Categorization: Place your products in the most appropriate categories for better relevance.
Optimized Landing Page: Make sure the page that users land on after clicking the ad is optimized for a better user experience, and don’t forget about mobile!
How Bid Amount Affects Visibility
Higher bids don’t always guarantee visibility, and low bids don’t always exclude you from auctions.
It’s a balance of ensuring your product feed is optimized while bidding strategically based on the product’s potential to convert.
Bidding strategies should reflect the actual performance of your products and overall business goals related to those campaigns.
2. Craft A Strategic Bidding Approach
One of the first decisions you need to make when managing Google Shopping bids is whether to rely on manual or automated bidding.
Both approaches have advantages depending on your business objectives, campaign budget, and the scale of your operations.
Manual Bidding: This gives you more control, allowing you to adjust bids based on performance. For example, if you notice that certain products are underperforming, you can reduce their bids to allocate budget to higher-performing products.
Automated Bidding: Automated strategies like Maximize Conversion Value or Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) use machine learning to adjust your bids dynamically based on real-time auction signals. These can be ideal for large product catalogs or when performance data is inconsistent across different products.
Google has added more automated bidding strategies over the years, making it easier to effectively bid based on your business goals.
However, the added complexity of choosing Standard Shopping campaigns versus the newer Performance Max campaign type allows for different bid strategies.
If choosing Standard Shopping campaigns, you have the option of these two automated bid strategies:
Maximize Clicks: Helps you get as many clicks as possible within your target daily budget.
Target ROAS: Helps you maximize conversion value while reaching an average return on ad spend that you choose.
Screenshot from author, August 2024
If you choose to set up a Performance Max campaign with your product feed linked, you have the option of more bid strategies:
Maximize Conversions: Helps generate the most amount of conversions within your daily budget, regardless of conversion value.
Maximize Conversion Value: Helps generate the highest conversion value within your daily budget.
Additionally, Performance Max campaigns have the optional “Target ROAS” input to yield a little bit more control over your campaign bid strategy.
Lastly, you now have the option to choose how to bid for acquiring new customers – a very welcome addition to further maximize those ad dollars!
In Google Ads, you can choose to either bid higher for new customers than existing customers. Or, you can bid for new customers only.
Screenshot from author, August 2024
For Google Shopping campaigns specifically, you may want to choose to bid higher for new customers instead of excluding them altogether, especially if your brand is used to having repeat customers.
This essentially means you’re willing to pay more to get a new customer, knowing they will likely purchase again in the future, leading to incremental revenue.
For higher-ticket items that users may only purchase once every few years, it may be worthwhile to choose ‘bid for new customers only’.
At the end of the day, make sure to choose the customer acquisition strategy that aligns with your business goals.
Segmentation And Granularity In Bidding
A key component to effective bid management is to segment your campaigns and ad groups properly. This allows for more granular control over bids and enables better performance optimization.
Product-Level Bidding: Rather than bidding at the campaign or ad group level, product-level bidding allows you to adjust bids based on each product’s unique performance metrics. Products that generate more conversions or revenue should receive higher bids, while underperforming products can have bids scaled back.
Segment by Profit Margin or Price Point: Grouping products based on their profit margins or price points can help you adjust bids based on the product’s value to your business. High-margin products may justify higher bids since they offer better ROI.
Seasonality and Time Sensitivity: Adjust bids based on trends in user behavior throughout the year. For instance, products may perform better during certain seasons or promotional events, requiring temporary bid increases.
3. Use Your Own Data & KPIs To Inform Your Bid Management
Knowing which metrics to monitor is critical for making informed bidding decisions. Below are the core KPIs to watch closely:
Cost Per Conversion (or CPA) and Return On Ad Spend (ROAS): These two metrics provide insights into your campaign’s efficiency. You want to identify which products or campaigns have the highest ROAS and optimize bidding for those.
Impression Share and Click-Through Rate (CTR): These metrics can give you a sense of how your bids are affecting visibility. If you’re seeing low impression shares on profitable products, it may be time to increase your bids.
Conversion Rate: Analyze conversion rates to identify which products are most likely to turn clicks into sales, then adjust your bids accordingly.
Lifetime Value (LTV) and Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC): If your business has repeat purchases, focusing on lifetime value can give you an advantage when bidding on products that may have lower immediate returns but higher long-term value.
Knowing these KPIs for your business can help shape your bid management strategy and make strategic changes based on your Google Shopping performance in comparison to your business’s set KPIs.
For example, if you have an average conversion rate of 4% as a whole, but your Google Shopping campaigns are only providing a 2% conversion rate, that may tell you something needs to be optimized.
You may need to take a look at the keywords your products are showing up for and do some negative keyword management. Additionally, maybe your ads aren’t reaching the right users and you need to further refine audience targeting within your campaigns.
Another example of using your own data is knowing your profit margin for products. If you have a subset of products that have a high-profit margin, you can add a custom label into your product feed that denotes those products.
From there, you can segment your campaigns to have a higher priority on those particular products or choose to bid higher on them because they’re worth more to you and your business.
Leveraging Bid Simulators And Other Tools
Google also provides several tools that can help inform your bid decisions:
Bid Simulators: These help you understand how different bid levels would impact your impression share, clicks, and conversions. You can use this data to adjust your bids in a way that maximizes your return without overspending.
Custom Labels: By using custom labels in your product feed, you can segment your products by performance, seasonality, or promotion. This way, you can quickly adjust bids based on these factors.
Scripts and Third-Party Tools: Tools like Optmyzr or custom Google Ads scripts can automate bid adjustments based on performance data, allowing you to focus on strategy rather than manual labor.
4. Optimize Your Bid Management For Long-Term Success
Bid management is not a “set it and forget it” exercise. Continual testing, analyzing, and adjusting are necessary to maintain and improve campaign performance over time.
Bid management should also not be used for daily volatile changes at the campaign level.
If you’re micromanaging performance each day and changing bid strategies too often, you may end up with sub-optimal performance because you’re not giving Google enough time to learn and optimize based on performance.
It’s about finding a healthy balance between “set and forget” and “over-optimizing”. Going back to point #3, knowing the values of your core business metrics and goals makes it easier to react to performance swings and know when to take action.
Some ways to optimize for long-term success include:
A/B Testing on Bids: Running A/B tests on bid adjustments allows you to assess the impact of bid changes without risking your entire budget. Test different bidding strategies on subsets of your campaigns or products to see what delivers the best performance.
Seasonal Adjustments: Stay ahead of trends by adjusting your bids before key periods like Black Friday or holiday shopping spikes. Predictive adjustments can help you capture market share before your competitors ramp up.
Monitor Competitor Behavior: Keep an eye on your competition. If you notice that competitors are aggressively bidding on certain products, you may need to adjust your strategy to compete, either by raising bids or adjusting product listings.
Prepare For Future Changes In Google Ads
Google Shopping is constantly evolving, and as machine learning models become more sophisticated, the way bids are managed will continue to change.
Staying informed about new features, tools, and best practices will help you maintain a competitive edge. Subscribe to updates, attend industry events, and engage with the community to keep your knowledge fresh.
Summary
Google Shopping bid management requires a balance between data-driven strategies, an understanding of the auction system, and a willingness to experiment and adapt.
By leveraging the tips and strategies discussed in this article, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the complexities of Google Shopping and drive profitable growth for your brand or clients.
Keep refining your approach, test new strategies, and stay on top of Google Shopping developments to stay competitive and ahead of the bid war.
Since its launch in 2021, Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns have revolutionized how we approach cross-channel advertising.
But while this AI-powered campaign has been a game-changer for many, particularly in ecommerce, its application for lead generation comes with unique challenges and opportunities.
I thought this would be a good time to share advanced strategies for leveraging PMax in lead generation campaigns. We’ll also identify common pitfalls and reveal how to maximize your results.
The Lead Gen Challenge: Quality Over Quantity
Unlike ecommerce, where a purchase marks a clear end to the customer journey, lead generation is just the beginning.
This fundamental difference creates a significant hurdle for PMax campaigns, presenting unique challenges that require advanced strategies.
Menachem Ani, founder of JXT Group, explains the core issue:
“Unlike e-commerce, where a purchase signifies the ‘end’ of the transaction, lead creation is the beginning of the sales process—and just because someone fills out a form doesn’t make them a quality lead.”
The challenge lies in teaching Google’s algorithm to distinguish between high-quality and low-quality leads.
Without this crucial information, PMax campaigns can fall into what some marketers call the “feedback loop of doom” – optimizing for quantity over quality and potentially flooding your pipeline with unqualified leads.
Image from author, September 2024
Another critical factor in determining whether PMax suits your lead generation efforts is Google’s understanding of your business and website.
PMax heavily relies on your website content when targeting users. If Google misinterprets your service offerings, your campaigns are likely to underperform.
To assess Google’s comprehension of your business, try this simple test: Input your website URL into the Search Terms section of Google’s Keyword Planner.
Review the generated keywords and evaluate their relevance to your services. This exercise can provide valuable insights into how well Google understands your business, which is crucial for PMax’s success in lead generation campaigns.
Cracking The Code: Strategies For Success
1. Harness The Power Of Offline Conversion Tracking (OCT)
The key to success with PMax for lead generation lies in feeding Google’s algorithm with quality data. This means implementing robust OCT.
“To make Performance Max for lead generation work, it is vital to instruct Google on the outcome. If you don’t, it will seek to bring in as many submissions as possible – regardless of the quality.”
Import offline conversion data, either manually or automatically.
Define what a qualified lead is for your business and make the form difficult to complete.*
Set qualified leads as your primary conversion point.
* You can do this by adding several qualifying questions, setting up confirmation pages for qualified leads versus unqualified leads, and only counting the qualified leads.
2. Leverage Cross-Campaign Optimization
Use data from successful campaigns across other channels to inform your PMax strategy. This is especially useful when dealing with limited data in new PMax campaigns.
Practical tips:
Incorporate broader themes and topics related to your products or services as asset signals rather than specific keywords. For example, if you sell home renovation products, use signals like “home improvement,” “interior design,” or “home renovations” instead of specific product keywords.
Note: It’s important to understand that PMax uses these signals differently than traditional keyword targeting. The goal is to help Google understand your potential customers’ broader context and interests, not to target specific search terms.
Collaborate with your sales and marketing teams to incorporate insights from persona studies and campaign success stories
3. Rethink Your Campaign Structure
It’s vital to understand PMax’s strengths and limitations. Performance Max excels at capturing existing demand but struggles with generating new demand.
To leverage this characteristic effectively, consider implementing an advanced tactic:
Run a PMax campaign alongside a separate Search campaign that targets high-quality, intent-driven search keywords. This approach allows you to:
Use traditional Search campaigns to capture high-intent traffic based on specific keywords.
Let PMax excel at what it does best: Remarketing to this high-quality traffic and working on converting them.
Action steps:
Identify your highest-performing, intent-driven keywords from historical data.
Create a focused Search campaign using these keywords.
Set up a complementary PMax campaign.
Ensure your audience settings allow PMax to remarket to users interacting with your Search ads.
Monitor both campaigns closely, adjusting budget allocation based on performance.
This strategy lets you maintain control over your highest-value search terms while leveraging PMax’s optimization and remarketing capabilities. It creates precise targeting of traditional Search and the broad reach and AI-driven optimization of PMax.
Remember, viewing these campaigns as complementary rather than competitive is key. Doing so can create a more comprehensive and effective lead generation strategy that captures high-intent traffic and then nurtures it effectively toward conversion.
4. Harness The Power Of First-Party Data
Your first-party data is gold for PMax campaigns. It provides Google with clear signals about who is genuinely interested in your products or services.
Steps to implement:
Add high-value customer lists from your CRM.
Utilize existing remarketing lists.
If compliant with privacy regulations, import contacts who have engaged with your email campaigns.
5. Strategic Exclusions
While PMax limits our control compared to traditional search campaigns, we can still guide the algorithm by telling it where not to show our ads.
Tactics to consider:
Exclude poor-performing keywords and placements at the account level.
Use Google’s Insights reports to identify and exclude irrelevant search terms and placements.
Pitfalls To Avoid
1. Neglecting Lead Scoring
Not all leads are created equal. Implement a lead scoring system in your CRM and feed this data back to Google. This allows the algorithm to optimize for lead quality, not just quantity.
2. Ignoring The Full Funnel
Remember that lead generation is just the start. Track and optimize for downstream metrics like qualified leads, meetings set, and eventual sales.
3. Over-Reliance On Automation
While PMax is highly automated, it still requires human oversight and strategic input. Review performance regularly, adjust audience signals, and refine your creative assets.
4. Neglecting Creative Assets
PMax relies heavily on your creative input. Ensure you provide a diverse range of high-quality assets, including compelling ad copy, eye-catching images, and engaging videos.
5. Leverage Negative Keywords And URL Controls
While Performance Max limits traditional keyword targeting, Google now allows advertisers to use negative keyword lists in these campaigns.
This feature is crucial for lead generation efforts, serving two essential purposes:
Brand Protection: Create a list of your branded keywords and exclude them in PMax. As Brooke Osmundson explains, “At the very minimum, create a list of targeted brand keywords and exclude them in PMax. This allows your tried-and-true search campaign to run and optimize per usual, without PMax cannibalizing any existing efforts”.
Competitor Exclusion: You can also exclude competitor brand terms if you believe Google might show your ads for these searches inappropriately.
Additionally, pay close attention to URL settings. Consider disabling URL Expansion in your PMax settings, as this will help you retain control over what landing pages are used. For lead generation, sending users to the right landing page is crucial for lead quality.
If you choose to keep URL Expansion enabled, be sure to exclude irrelevant pages like blogs, recruitment pages, or ‘About’ sections to maintain control over the user journey.
These controls allow you to shape your PMax campaign more precisely, ensuring it complements your existing strategies and maintains the quality of your lead generation efforts.
6. Overlooking Placement And Asset Control
Reviewing the display placements and excluding irrelevant websites from showing your ads is essential. Typically, gaming sites and kids’ apps are the first things you want to exclude.
Also, be wary of Google’s automatically created assets. At my PPC agency, Hop Skip Media, we’ve seen instances where Google automatically creates YouTube videos of inferior quality. Make sure you turn those off and review assets regularly.
7. Misunderstanding Google’s Comprehension Of Your Business
Before fully committing to PMax for lead generation, assess whether Google accurately understands your business and website content.
You can do this by inputting your website URL into the Search Terms section of the Keyword Planner and evaluating the relevance of the generated keywords.
If there’s a significant mismatch, PMax may need help to target the right audience for your lead generation efforts.
8. Neglecting To Define And Track Quality Leads
Make your lead generation forms more discriminating by including qualifying questions.
Set up separate confirmation pages for qualified and unqualified leads, and only count qualified leads when firing your conversion pixel. This approach helps ensure that PMax optimizes for quality leads rather than just quantity.
By avoiding these pitfalls and implementing the strategies we’ve discussed, you can significantly improve the effectiveness of your Performance Max campaigns for lead generation.
Remember, the key is continually providing Google’s algorithm with high-quality data and maintaining strategic oversight of your campaigns.
The Future Of PMax For Lead Gen
Like anything in Google Ads, Performance Max for lead generation is not a set-it-and-forget-it solution. It requires a strategic approach, continuous optimization, and a deep understanding of your lead qualification process.
By implementing offline conversion tracking, leveraging first-party data, structuring campaigns thoughtfully, and avoiding common pitfalls, you can harness the power of Google’s AI to generate more leads and better leads.
As Google continues to refine and improve Performance Max, we can expect even more sophisticated targeting and optimization capabilities.
The marketers who will succeed are those who stay ahead of the curve, continuously testing, learning, and adapting their strategies.
Remember, the goal isn’t just to fill your funnel – it’s to fill it with suitable leads. With these advanced strategies, you’re well-equipped to make Performance Max a powerful tool in your lead generation arsenal.
Google has announced a new technology called “confidential matching” to enhance data privacy for advertisers.
Confidential matching, which uses confidential computing technology, allows businesses to use their first-party data for advertising while maintaining stricter privacy controls.
The system employs Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), a combination of hardware and software that isolates data during processing.
According to Google, this technology prevents external access to the processed data, including by Google itself.
The announcement comes as the tech industry faces increasing scrutiny over data handling and privacy concerns.
Key Features
The new system offers several features that Google claims will enhance data security:
Default security protections for customer information
Increased transparency into product code
Attestation mechanisms to verify data processing
Implementation & Availability
Confidential matching is now the default for Customer Match data connections, including those made through Google Ads Data Manager.
Google plans to expand this technology to other advertising solutions in the coming months.
This technology is available at no additional cost to advertisers. This move could give Google a competitive edge in digital advertising, where privacy concerns have become increasingly important.
Industry Reactions & Concerns
While Google frames this as a positive step towards better data protection, there is potential for Google to consolidate its dominance in the digital advertising space further.
Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab, expressed support for the initiative, stating that it shows “continued momentum in adopting PET-powered solutions.”
However, it would help to have more transparency regarding how the technology works and its effectiveness in protecting user data.
Broader Privacy Landscape
This development comes amid a shifting landscape in digital privacy, with increasing regulatory scrutiny and growing consumer awareness of data protection issues.
Other major tech companies have introduced privacy-focused initiatives, reflecting a broader industry trend.
The long-term impact of technologies like confidential matching on user privacy and advertising effectiveness is unknown.
Industry folks will be closely monitoring how this technology is implemented and its effects on the digital advertising landscape.
Google has announced plans to discontinue its Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (eCPC) bidding strategy for search and display ad campaigns.
This change, set to roll out in stages over the coming months, marks the end of an era for one of Google’s earliest smart bidding options.
Dates & Changes
Starting October 2024, new search and display ad campaigns will no longer be able to select Enhanced CPC as a bidding strategy.
However, existing eCPC campaigns will continue to function normally until March 2025.
From March 2025, all remaining search and display ad campaigns using Enhanced CPC will be automatically migrated to manual CPC bidding.
Advertisers who prefer not to change their campaigns before this date will see their bidding strategy default to manual CPC.
Impact On Display Campaigns
No immediate action is required for advertisers running display campaigns with the Maximize Clicks strategy and Enhanced CPC enabled.
These campaigns will automatically transition to the Maximize Clicks bidding strategy in March 2025.
Rationale Behind The Change
Google introduced Enhanced CPC over a decade ago as its first Smart Bidding strategy. The company has since developed more advanced machine learning-driven bidding options, such as Maximize Conversions with an optional target CPA and Maximize Conversion Value with an optional target ROAS.
In an email to affected advertisers, Google stated:
“These strategies have the potential to deliver comparable or superior outcomes. As we transition to these improved strategies, search and display ads campaigns will phase out Enhanced CPC.”
What This Means for Advertisers
This update signals Google’s continued push towards more sophisticated, AI-driven bidding strategies.
In the coming months, advertisers currently relying on Enhanced CPC will need to evaluate their options and potentially adapt their campaign management approaches.
While the change may require some initial adjustments, it also allows advertisers to explore and leverage Google’s more advanced bidding strategies, potentially improving campaign performance and efficiency.
FAQ
What change is Google implementing for Enhanced CPC bidding?
Google will discontinue the Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (eCPC) bidding strategy for search and display ad campaigns.
New search and display ad campaigns can’t select eCPC starting October 2024.
Existing campaigns will function with eCPC until March 2025.
From March 2025, remaining eCPC campaigns will switch to manual CPC bidding.
How will this update impact existing campaigns using Enhanced CPC?
Campaigns using Enhanced CPC will continue as usual until March 2025. After that:
Search and display ad campaigns employing eCPC will automatically migrate to manual CPC bidding.
Display campaigns with Maximize Clicks and eCPC enabled will transition to the Maximize Clicks strategy in March 2025.
What are the recommended alternatives to Enhanced CPC?
Google suggests using its more advanced, AI-driven bidding strategies:
Maximize Conversions – Can include an optional target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition).
Maximize Conversion Value – Can include an optional target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).
These strategies are expected to deliver comparable or superior outcomes compared to Enhanced CPC.
What should advertisers do in preparation for this change?
Advertisers need to evaluate their current reliance on Enhanced CPC and explore alternatives:
Assess how newer AI-driven bidding strategies can be integrated into their campaigns.
Consider transitioning some campaigns earlier to adapt to the new strategies gradually.
Leverage tools and resources provided by Google to maximize performance and efficiency.
This proactive approach will help manage changes smoothly and explore potential performance improvements.
Cybersecurity researchers are warning people over a troubling rise in “malvertising”—the use of online ads to deploy malware, phishing scams, and other attacks.
A report from Malwarebytes found that malvertising incidents in the U.S. surged 42% last fall.
The prime target? Unsuspecting users conducting searches on Google.
Jérôme Segura, senior director of research at Malwarebytes, warns:
“What I’m seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. Hackers are getting smarter and the ads are often so realistic that it’s easy to be duped.”
Poisoned Paid Promotions
The schemes frequently involve cybercriminals purchasing legitimate-looking sponsored ad listings that appear at the top of Google search results.
Clicking these can lead to drive-by malware downloads or credential phishing pages spoofing major brands like Lowe’s and Slack.
Segura explained of one recent Lowe’s employee portal phishing attack:
“You see the brand, even the official logo, and for you it’s enough to think it’s real.”
Undermining User Trust
Part of what makes these malvertising attacks so volatile is they hijack and undermine user trust in Google as an authoritative search source.
Stuart Madnick, an information technology professor at MIT, notes:
“You see something appearing on a Google search, you kind of assume it is something valid.”
The threats don’t end with poisoned promotions, either. Malicious ads can also sneak through on trusted websites.
Protecting Against Malvertising: For Users
Experts advise several precautions to reduce malvertising risk, including:
Carefully vet search ads before taking any actions
Keeping device operating systems and browsers updated
Using ad-blocking browser extensions
Reporting suspicious ads to Google for investigation
Madnick cautioned:
“You should assume that this could happen to you no matter how careful you are.”
Staying vigilant against malvertising exploits will become more critical as cyber attackers evolve their deceptive tactics.
Protecting Against Malvertising: For Websites
While individual users must stay vigilant, websites are also responsible for implementing safeguards to prevent malicious ads from being displayed on their platforms.
Some best practices include:
Ad Verification Services
Many websites rely on third-party ad verification services and malware scanning tools to monitor the ads being served and block those identified as malicious before reaching end users.
Whitelisting Ad Sources
Rather than accepting ads through open real-time bidding advertising exchanges, websites can whitelist only thoroughly vetted and trusted ad networks and sources.
Review Process
For an added layer of protection, websites can implement a human review process on top of automated malware scanning to manually analyze ads before serving them to visitors.
Continuous Monitoring
Malvertisers constantly update their techniques, so websites must monitor their ad traffic data for anomalies or suspicious patterns that could indicate a malicious campaign.
By implementing multi-layered ad security measures, websites can avoid unknowingly participating in malvertising schemes that put their visitors at risk while protecting their brand reputation.
This morning, The Outlook Study: August Update has been released by the IAB as an update to their initial November 2023 study and provides a snapshot of projected ad spend, opportunities, and challenges for the remainder of 2024.
The study outlines the shifts that have occurred throughout the year, capturing current perspectives from buy-side ad investment decision-makers at brands and agencies.
Here are some of the key takeaways for digital marketers:
Buyers increased their 2024 ad spend projections from +9.5% projected at the end of 2023 to +11.8% today.
Nearly all channels are expected to post higher growth rates year-over-year (YoY), with even Linear TV rebounding.
Retail media’s ascent continues, with buyers revising YoY projections from +21.8% to +25.1%.
Buyers continue to focus on cross-funnel KPIs while shifting efforts towards reach optimization as interest in new KPIs wanes.
Measurement challenges persist for the industry, while economic concerns subside.
In other words, it’s time to spring forward, not fall back, in the media and marketing industries.
Buyers’ Ad Spending Forecasts For 2024 Have Been Revised Upward
The increase in projections is not what many digital marketers were expecting, so what is happening in the changing industry landscape?
Increased ad spending in the second half of 2024 is being driven by increased political spending around the presidential election and other cyclical events, such as the Summer Olympic games.
Based on IAB’s recent email survey of 200 buy-side ad investment decision-makers, primarily at brands and agencies, nearly all channels are expected to post higher growth rates YoY.
Yes, even linear TV is now expected to grow 4.3%, but nine other channels are expected to grow at even faster rates:
Connected TV (CTV) by 18.4%.
Social media by 16.3%.
Paid search by 13.1%.
Podcasts by 12.6%.
Digital video excluding CTV by 12.5%.
Digital out-of-home (OOH) by 8.9%.
Digital audio, excluding podcasts, by 8.3%.
Digital display by 7.4%.
Gaming by 5.1%.
Why Is Retail Media Expected To Continue Growing?
Buyers – particularly in the consumer-packed goods (CPG) and the beauty categories – are set to surge in the U.S. this year, pushing overall retail media ad spending to reach one-fifth of the total 2024 ad spend.
Okay, these are the reasons to spring forward, even if we’re on the verge of fall. But there are a couple of challenges that digital marketers still face.
For example, there’s been a decline in focus on new ad KPIs (e.g., attention metrics, weighted CAC, etc.), which suggests there’s been a renewed interest in refining and leveraging established metrics to achieve cross-funnel goals.
So, figuring out how to use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to measure business outcomes instead of marketing outputs remains “the road less traveled.”
Understanding Evolving Consumer Habits Is A Growing Concern
While economic worries have faded, the concern over executing cross-channel media measurement has risen.
The resilient economy, marked by a 2.3% rise in consumer spending in Q2 2024, has eased buyers’ concerns.
But, as media convergence gains traction, cross-channel measurement remains a top priority, especially for large advertisers that spend over $50 million annually.
Other concerns, like managing reach and frequency across screens and channels, as well as media inflation, have remained flat.
Understanding evolving consumer habits is a growing concern – and is keeping significantly more buyers up at night than it did last year.
It does seem like it’s time to spring forward in the media and marketing industries, although this has traditionally been the season when digital marketers prepare to fall back.
