Google’s annual Performance Summit on May 24th revealed major changes to Google AdWords to be rolled out in 2016. These changes are not only geared towards a mobile-first world, they will change the look of SERPs and provide advertisers with more paid search opportunities. Let’s take a look at the latest changes, and what they mean for paid search, organic search and your marketing budget…
Local search ads for Google Maps
In SEO 2016: Trends and Techniques You Need to Know, we talked about how local search was one of the key trends to look out for this year, and we were right! Local search ads will soon appear within the Google Maps app, on both desktop and mobile versions. Over a billion people currently use Google Maps, and a recent Google study showed that four out of five consumers want ads customised to their city or immediate area. Coffee shops, boutiques, restaurants, etc., have more opportunity to advertise to local consumers. For example, if a person uses Google Maps to search for nearby coffee shops, a featured ad will display on the Google Map above organic results. However, before you direct your entire PPC budget to local search ads, take note– only a single ad will feature on the Google Maps app and a maximum of two ads will feature for searches within Google Maps so you might pay a premium. Google will also introduce promoted location pins to display company logos, special offers or ad messages to further highlight business locations to locals.
Bigger text ads
Stress over cramming descriptions into your Google ads no more! Google’s new expanded text ads offer two 30-character headlines and 80-character descriptions lines, which is expected to increase and improve the quality of click-through-rates (CTRs). These twice-the-size ads will make for easier viewing on smartphones and, another bonus, the domain will automatically be extracted from the final URL. Adjust your ad copy accordingly for this change, and incorporate more information and relevant keywords in order to increase CTRs. The bigger ads may offer more visibility over top organic positions but, as Google killed right hand side ads, expanded ads will take up limited real estate, which means fewer ads and higher premiums to be paid.
Responsive display ads
Responsive display ads will make the creation of ads much simpler. Submit a URL, headline, description and image, and let Google create a responsive display ad that automatically adapts to content on a website or app in the Google display network. There’s no longer any need to create ads for different text, image, media, or video ad formats as Google will choose the best format according to where the ad’s being served. While this news may be welcome to some, advertisers that are rather specific about their ad design and branding may not be comfortable with Google’s auto-design.
In-store conversion measurement
Local search leads 50% of mobile users to actually visit stores, says Google, and now we’ll finally be able to tie ads with physical purchases! The in-store conversion function will give brick-and-mortar businesses a more accurate view as to how many walk-in customers came from paid search ads. Phone location history informs Google whether a person who searched and clicked on an ad visited that specific store. Now, you’ll know which ads attracted customers to your store!
Device bidding
Good news – mobile and desktop bids will now be separated (previously both bids were linked). So, if you find that ads on mobile aren’t performing well, simply adjust the bid to a lower figure. Your other device bids won’t be affected, and this can all be done within a single AdWords Campaign! This is great for paid search flexibility, and your marketing budget!
Need help with an AdWords campaign?
Easy2Access provides a range of digital marketing services which includes Google AdWords campaigns. We keep abreast of the latest digital marketing developments to you don’t have to! Get in touch with us today…
The post Google AdWords: More Big Changes! appeared first on Easy2Access.