Beginning this month, Google Ads will combine standard Display campaigns and Smart Display campaigns into a single option, the company announced on Wednesday. In addition, Google Ads will also be introducing optimized targeting to Display campaigns.
The new Display campaign type. “In this new Display campaign experience, you’ll have all of the reach and performance you’re used to, with the ability to choose the level of automation you prefer in bidding, creatives and audiences,” Bonnie Pericolosi, director of product management, Google Display ads, wrote. During the campaign setup process, advertisers can choose what to automate or control manually, and they can change their automation choices at any time without having to create a new campaign.
“No action is needed: Existing Smart & Standard Display campaigns aren’t affected by this change at this time. Once this update is rolled out in your account, you’ll see the new Display campaign type option and workflow when you create a new campaign,” Ginny Marvin, Google’s ads product liaison, said on Twitter.
Optimized targeting will be available for Display campaigns. Along with this change, Google Ads will also introduce optimized targeting, which treats audience settings as signals to find audience segments that may improve campaign performance, to Display campaigns. Previously, this option was only available on Smart Display campaigns. Note: Optimized targeting is automatically enabled for all campaigns.
Why we care. Soon, there will be just one option to create Display campaigns. The new Display campaign type will have the same controls for bidding, ads and audiences that standard Display campaigns currently offer. And, as Marvin stated, existing Smart and standard Display campaigns aren’t affected by this change at this time.
“It’s hard to tell from the announcement, but hopefully there won’t be a major near-term impact,” Greg Finn, partner at Cypress North, told Search Engine Land, “Additionally, some advertisers will be able to test the power of Smart Display automation without having to create a one-off ‘Smart’ campaign.”
Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.
Good morning, Marketers, and do you remember office life?
By now you probably know I work from a coworking space. They’ve recently started construction to expand it, which is great because there will be more room! But it’s also awful because the construction noise is atrocious. To remedy this and to save the ears of the poor people I spend all day on calls with, I booked a conference room for the afternoon.
Just like at the office (remember those?), I arrived at the room for my booked time, and it was occupied. I waited until exactly noon (my reservation hour) and then politely knocked and waved. The squatters acted surprised but still took their sweet time to gather their things and leave.
I rushed in, late for my first call, and got settled. But once I got a chance to take a breath between calls I remembered that this is how it used to be all. the. time. when we actually went places to work around other people at our jobs. We did the conference room dance and awkward wave all the time!
Many businesses are saying they will stay remote or at least introduce hybrid options. I’m interested to see what new customs we come up with in these remote or partial in-office environments. I, personally, am a big fan of the “goodbye Zoom wave” myself.
Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content
Google search terms report adds historical query data for impressions without clicks
As of yesterday, Google Ads will show advertisers historical data for queries that received impressions but no clicks in the search terms report for Search and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns, the company announced.
“Historically, the report only ever showed queries that resulted in a click,” Pallavi Naresh, senior product manager at Google, told Search Engine Land. “We knew that advertisers wanted more data and we had to make investments in our tech stack to show this magnitude of data in Google Ads.”
And, on February 1, 2022, the company will remove historical query data collected before September 1, 2020 (the day before the company initially limited search terms reporting) that doesn’t meet its privacy thresholds.
Why we care. Advertisers are gaining access to some new data, but this update is not a reversal of the September 2020 change that initially limited search terms reporting. The additional data is for queries that received impressions but no clicks and the data is still only for “terms that were searched by a significant number of users.”
Nevertheless, this new information could be quite useful for many advertisers. The additional query data could reveal what’s failing to attract the right audience. Advertisers can use this information to build out their negative keyword lists to improve their campaign efficiency.
Why you shouldn’t overlook site search optimization
We all know that listening to the wants and needs of our customers is essential to delivering satisfying experiences that drive conversions.
Steve Zakur, CEO at SoloSegment, will explore the process of improving your onsite search, which in turn will help improve your business results, next week at MarTech.
ICYMI: Missed the news this week? Don’t worry. We gotchu, fam.
Video and vertical-based product ads pilots arrive on Microsoft Audience Network. Disclaimers in ads, third-party integrations with Universal Event Tracking, flexible insertion orders and inline appeals for rejected product offers were also among Microsoft Advertising’s September announcements.
Google News app will display non-AMP content and send readers to publisher pages. Tracking and performance reports in Google Search Console won’t be affected.
Microsoft Ads announces optimization score. The availability of Optimization Score in Microsoft Ads now means advertisers have the option to ensure they understand all of the recommendations and consider options they may not have before.
Bing content submission API now available to all. Now you can push your content and HTML directly to Bing Search without the need for crawling.
Search Shorts: Movin’ on up (while in-house), ranking in Google Discover, prepping your holiday PPC strategy, and site manager role leaves GMB
Career progression within in-house SEO – the conundrum. Land of Rugs SEO expert, Billie Geena, runs through the top three issues in-house SEOs see in their day-to-day work.
What does it take to rank in Google Discover? With Google Discover, the user does not need to search for anything. The product is a form of queryless search: the feed of content is displayed based on the user’s interests alone and without any query being entered. So how do you show up?
Yep, it’s already that time. Prepping your holiday paid media strategy. This post breaks down the steps your B2B business needs to refine your paid media strategy, stay competitive, and drive results during a holiday season typically dominated by B2C retailers.
It’s official. Google My Business is getting rid of the site manager role. That’s what Joy Hawkins tweeted yesterday along with a screenshot of the email from GMB.
Quote of the Day: Keep asking questions (even if they’re obvious to everyone else)
“I’m the most annoying person on the call. Every. Single. Time. Why? Because I can’t write about what I don’t understand,” explains Cain Lewis, Freelance Copywriter and Founder at Kraken. “I can’t be an expert in everything, so I’m always asking questions. They’re mostly stupid questions to everyone else on the call, but they’re necessary for me to do my job to the best of my ability – so I’ll never shy away from asking them.”
Search marketing has a diversity problem. Older data from the American Marketing Association shows that most marketing leadership is still majority white, hetero, and male. Meanwhile, the audiences we’re marketing to are more diverse and inclusive than ever. It’s a topic we’ve covered multiple times at Search Engine Land:
We’re elated to announce that this year’s awards will include a guest judge, last year’s winner Areej AbuAli, a pillar in the SEO community and the founder of Women in Tech SEO.
You may nominate as many organizations or individuals as you feel deserve the recognition. We ask that you highlight specific initiatives conducted by the nominee and that in the nomination form you include the contact of someone who can “second” that nomination.
Beginning today, Google Ads will show advertisers historical data for queries that received impressions but no clicks in the search terms report for Search and Dynamic Search Ads campaigns, the company announced Thursday. “Historically, the report only ever showed queries that resulted in a click,” Pallavi Naresh, senior product manager at Google, told Search Engine Land, “We knew that advertisers wanted more data and we had to make investments in our tech stack to show this magnitude of data in Google Ads.”
And, on February 1, 2022, the company will remove historical query data collected before September 1, 2020 (the day before the company initially limited search terms reporting) that doesn’t meet its privacy thresholds.
“Still only providing reporting for terms that a significant number of users have searched.” Last year, Google used the following message to notify advertisers that it would limit search terms reporting: “We are updating the search terms report to only include terms that were searched by a significant number of users. As a result you may see fewer terms in your report going forward.” The new query data still only includes “terms that were searched by a significant number of users.”
“It’s important to note there have been no changes to policy definitions or privacy thresholds that have contributed to making this change possible,” Naresh said, “We are still only providing reporting for terms that a significant number of users have searched for across all Google searches.”
Additional data from February 1, 2021. The additional data shown in reports will be for queries advertisers received starting on February 1, 2021.
“We started saving queries that received impressions but no clicks starting on February 1 while we were simultaneously upgrading our tech stack,” Naresh said when asked why the data starts on that particular date.
Reporting for historical query data will be limited after February 1, 2022. After February 1, 2022, historical query data collected prior to September 1, 2020, and that doesn’t meet Google’s “current privacy threshold,” will be removed from search terms reports.
“Most advertisers will continue to see most of their queries prior to Sept 1, 2020,” Naresh said, reiterating, “We are only removing historical queries that did not meet the new thresholds for search query reporting that we established in September 2020. We are removing this data as part of our ongoing effort to make our privacy thresholds consistent across Google.”
Why we care. Advertisers are gaining access to some new data, but this update is not a reversal of the September 2020 change that initially limited search terms reporting. The additional data is for queries that received impressions but no clicks and the data is still only for “terms that were searched by a significant number of users.”
Nevertheless, this new information could be quite useful for many advertisers. The additional query data could reveal what’s failing to attract the right audience. Advertisers can use this information to build out their negative keyword lists to improve their campaign efficiency.
With regards to historical query data, the company is giving us nearly five months to export all data collected before September 1, 2020. Advertisers should grab this data while they still can so they can continue to reference it — after the February 1 cutoff date, Google will be removing the portion of that data that doesn’t meet its privacy thresholds.
And, Google is saying these changes are a result of feedback from the community. While it’s certainly not a return to the level of data transparency that paid search marketers had prior to September 2020, it is an improvement. For the foreseeable future, it looks like Google is not backing down on reporting only for “terms that were searched by a significant number of users.”
Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.
Good morning, Marketers, and welcome back.
I hope my US friends had a good holiday yesterday. Labor Day was created as a tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. Essentially: y’all do great work; here’s a day off.
In that vein, a Labor Day break feels especially needed after the past year and a half of lockdown, at-home school, and constant vigilance. Plus, as search marketers, this past summer was relentless in terms of algorithm updates, big SERP changes, and automation announcements. Now we’re in the final stretch before the holiday season ramps up.
Take what’s left in September to take stock, count your wins, make your lists, and gird your loins for the final push before we can chill. (I hope I didn’t just jinx 2022).
Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content
Bing’s content submission API is now available to everyone
Microsoft has opened up its Bing content submission API after over two and half years of it being in a private beta. The content submission API is different from the Bing URL submission API, in that the content submission API lets you submit not just your URLs but also your content, images, HTML and more directly to Bing’s index. “The API provides the ability for webmasters to notify Bing directly about the changes in their site content in real-time,” Microsoft said.
Why we care. This solution not only helps expedite indexing for your new or updated URLs like the Content Submission API offered, but it also bypasses the crawling of that content and lets you submit content directly to the search engine. This solution might be something you want to test out on your sites or client sites and see if it makes a big difference on indexing and your server resources.
Last week in our newsletter we included Twitter conversations about pinning in RSAs to mimic ETAs after Google Ads sunsets the latter. On Friday, Brad Geddes continued the conversation by asking Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin, “Since Google recommends 2 ETAs & 1 RSA and has never recommended more than 1 RSA per ad group. Will the number of ads per ad group become restricted with this change? Will we be allowed to run 2-3 RSAs in an ad group?”
“It’s recommended to have at least one responsive search ad in every ad group in your Search campaigns by June 30, 2022. There’s a limit of 3 enabled responsive search ads per ad group,” Marvin replied. She added that there won’t be plans to restrict the number of RSAs to only one per ad group upon clarification by Geddes.
Later Geddes tweeted screenshots of reporting showing why advertisers want more control with RSAs (a callback to the pinning tweets last week). “This is an RSA with ‘excellent’ ad strength. When it was paused, this ad group’s conversions almost doubled due to G serving the highest CTR ad the most and not the one that converts the best. I have 1000s of these examples,” he wrote.
“Sooo important. I open quite a few accounts these days where the only ad that’s in there is a single Responsive Search Ad. There are so many holes in that approach. Just because Google is ‘testing’ your ad assets for you, it doesn’t mean you should only run one ad,” added Andrew Lolk, founder of Savvy Revenue.
Why we care. The conversations that Ads experts are continuing to have present thoughtful questions (and answers) to how advertisers will have to change and adjust. We’ll have to think outside the box in some aspects of the shift away from ETAs, and these are all things PPC marketers can test in the coming months to prepare their clients for the major change that’s headed our way.
Search Shorts: Skip the ads on Bing, turn off personalized ads on iOS
Bing Search tests a “Skip To Web Results” button. Microsoft Bing is testing a feature to let searchers skip down to the web results, past the ads, past the knowledge panels and direct answers and people also ask boxes and just see those web results.
Apple has launched a new pop-up in iOS 15 to allow users to turn on or off personalized ads within the App Store and other Apple apps. “Personalized ads in Apple apps such as the App Store and Apple News help you discover apps, products, and services that are relevant to you,” says the pop up. “We protect your privacy by using device-generated identifiers and not linking advertising information to your Apple ID.”
MarTech Replacement Survey finds marketing transformation is accelerating
This year’s edition of the MarTech Replacement Survey is free to download and requires no registration.
The first MarTech Replacement Survey in 2019 showed just how frequently marketing organizations replaced technology. The survey found homegrown platforms were often displaced by commercial, out-of-the-box applications. This had a direct effect on hiring, as most respondents said they had recruited new teams to run the platforms they were installing.
Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has gripped the world, forcing us more closely to embrace digital operations. We know that many digital-first businesses thrived during the pandemic, but questions remained about how the disruption of the past year-and-a-half affected marketing technology decisions.
This year’s report, the result of a survey fielded through April and May of 2021, answers several of those questions.
Of the 374 marketers who answered our survey, 252 told us they replaced a marketing technology application in the past year, representing 67% of respondents. For the most part, organizations were upgrading from one commercial solution to another — and the upgraded solutions were exactly the kinds of technologies you’d expect given how digital transformation picked up during the pandemic.
What We’re Reading: When your biggest clients don’t heed your warnings
Banksy’s web administrators were warned about a security issue in the site — and then a few days later hackers scammed a buyer out of $336,000.
“On Tuesday a piece of art was advertised on Banksy’s official website as the world-renowned graffiti artist’s first NFT (non-fungible token). A British collector won the auction to buy it, before realising it was a fake. A cyber-security expert warned Banksy that the website could be hacked, but was ignored,” said Joe Tidy for the BBC.
This seems to be an age-old issue with development and marketing. Marketers make critical recommendations to our clients and stakeholders. We tell them what could happen if they do nothing. Only some (or none!) of the recommendations are implemented. And what we said would happen… happens.
The hope is that they take heed before something bad happens, but if not, that we can get them on board and help them fix it afterward, at a minimum. But if you’re feeling frustrated, just know that even Banksy doesn’t take every recommendation.
Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.
Good morning, Marketers, and what is “next?”
The semantics have been on my mind as the SMX team has been programming SMX Next, but also as I’m seeing lots of career shifting in the search marketing community. Companies are hiring a ton. Marketers are quitting their jobs, starting new ones, or founding their own businesses. People are saying, “Thank U, next” to in-office work, low salaries, and inflexible schedules.
At the same time, automation is a big “what’s next” for our industry (as well as what’s now). NLP is an existing technology that will take our industry to the “next” level. All of us are learning to do more with less data (a trend that will likely only continue).
And these all play into the career aspect too. We have to learn how to navigate our excelling careers with all these next-level technologies. It’s a lot, but search marketers are pros at coping with (and conquering) what’s next.
Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content
Google page experience update is now rolled out
Google confirmed that it completed the page experience update rollout yesterday. This includes the updates to the Top Stories carousel on mobile search but the Google News app changes won’t be done for a week.
Google began rolling out the page experience update on June 15th and told us it would be completed by the end of August. It technically was not finished before the end of August and has about a week more to go, but it is essentially done rolling out, say Google reps.
Eli Schwartz, author of Product-Led SEO, tweeted about some contacts looking for new in-house SEO jobs. Mark Preston, Head of Digital at The Hakim Group, asked in response, “Why are so many great in-house SEOs looking for a new job?” Here are some of the top reasons Schwartz listed:
In WAY too many companies there are limited vertical opportunities for growth within SEO. For someone that loves SEO the only way to keep doing SEO is to move on.
There is not enough value placed on SEO so therefore salaries are arbitrarily capped. The SEO manager that knows they are contributing significantly to the bottom line will eventually get frustrated at not getting great raises and will move on to a company that is willing to pay $$$ precisely b/c they have to pay to hire.
Companies are making employees go back to the office after a year or more of remote work. Those companies are going to end up losing their highly skilled SEOs and won’t know how hard they will be to replace until it’s too late.
Why we care. It’s food for thought for in-house marketing departments on how to keep their SEOs feeling heard, fulfilled, and like they’re growing in their roles. Even if your SEO manager doesn’t want to move into a management position, there should be practitioner options for growth within your organization. No one wants to stay stagnant, especially with all the great job opportunities out there in today’s fiery market.
What to do now that ETAs are going away
What happens when ETAs sunset and those in regulated industries still have to get ad coy and variations approved? “ETAs might be going away, but your ability to control ads is not. All you need to do is use ‘pinning’ at scale and you still have full control over your ad messaging. This is going to be essential for regulated industries and those who see poor RSA performance (*many* people),” tweeted Brad Geddes, Co-Founder of Adalysis.
Data from our own contributors has found that pinning ad components can hurt performance: “In our analysis, we looked at ads with at least one pinned component and compared them to ads with no pinned components. Ads without pinning did better on CTR, conversion rate, CPC and CPA. But the opposite was true for ROAS where ads with a pinned component did better,” said Frederick Vallaeys, CEO at Optmyzr.
So what happens if you have to pin? “My opinion is that pinning headlines will be necessary for many ad groups. Yes, it hobbles the algorithm somewhat, but so be it. I doubt Ad Strength measurement has any predictive value for low volume ad groups,” predicted Matt Van Wagner, President of Find Me Faster.
Why we care. While the PPC community knew it was coming, the phase-out of ETAs is making many start brainstorming new strategy ideas. With the advanced notice (ETAs won’t disappear until late June 2022), now’s the time to start testing, adjusting, and migrating your ad strategy to accommodate the changes. Those tests should probably include pinning, just to see how it goes.
Jobs: On the hunt for something new in 2021? Here are the latest career opportunities in search
Audit client and prospect digital portfolios to identify improvement opportunities, and deliver these findings both verbally and in writing in such a way that supports new business acquisition.
Track and report on relevant KPIs for organic search, teaching and guiding clients on what metrics are relevant and applicable. Use this performance data to drive strategic updates and iterative tests aimed at increasing overall search performance.
Create content that drives traffic to our soon-to-be released website
Work within the member value team in close coordination with teams focused on direct member outreach, advocacy and digital engagement to refine our overall tone and offerings
Lead, design, and execute demand generation strategy and campaigns
Own the development of a content strategy and creation of content (white papers, case studies, e-books, webinars, videos, etc) that will drive demand and is aligned to the stages of the buyer’s journey.
Search Shorts: Google Ads location targeting, Sept. 1 algo update, and post-cookie measurement
Understanding & optimizing Google location targeting settings. If you choose to have your ads showing in the US, why do you see people from Germany, France, and Japan clicking on your ads? If you are only targeting Chicago, why do you have clicks from San Francisco? The real question is: Are those clicks converting, and if not, how can I stop them?
Was there another algo update on September 1? Barry dives into the chatter on SERoundtable: “There are not a huge number of complaints, but the tools are picking up on the fluctuations in the Google search results.”
Google analytics chief addresses critics and plans for measurement in post-cookie world. “With paradigm shifts you end up having a phase of ambiguity, where there’s a lot of education that has to go around before the industry as a whole can coalesce to a solution,” said Vidhya Srinivasan in the interview with AdAge.
Upcoming Events: MarTech is just 11 days away
We’re featuring keynotes by Chief Martec himself Scott Brinker, author and email guru Kath Pay, rising marketing ops star Darrell Alfonso and our own Kim Davis. Those are included in over 70 sessions packed with actionable information to hone your stack and your strategy. It’s all yours. And it’s all free. Secure your pass now.
Don’t miss this opportunity to join thousands of senior-level marketers to learn how to make data-driven decisions that power organizational success. Psst… Hungry for more? Expand your training with a live, deep-dive workshop on agile marketing, buying technology, customer experiences, CDPs, and attribution analysis — just $149 each. (Buy more than one to unlock 15% off registration!) The agenda and registration link are here.
Search Engine Land’s daily brief features daily insights, news, tips, and essential bits of wisdom for today’s search marketer. If you would like to read this before the rest of the internet does, sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox daily.
Good morning, Marketers, and we knew it was coming but that doesn’t mean we like it.
That’s the gist of what I’m seeing from PPC advertisers in response to Google’s announcement that they’re eliminating ETAs in 2022. The tone is a sad acceptance that their jobs might be getting a little harder in a few years:
“RSAs underperform ETAs almost universally in my experience,” said Collin Slattery, Founder Taikun Digital. “RSAs almost always under-perform ETAs, across millions in spend and over a year of testing. It’s not close, either,” agreed Sam Tomlinson of EVP Warschawski.
Is anyone hopeful or optimistic? “Hoping we’ll get cool customization features, assuming we’ll get cool reporting features,” tweeted Tinuiti’s Head of Paid Search Aaron Levy in response. “I don’t mind losing ETAs as much as I wish there was better reporting on the different events of an RSA,” added Menachem Ani, Founder at JXTGroup.
The good (?) news is that advertisers have a decent amount of time to test and prepare. And Google has time to hear the feedback and improve their tools for PPC professionals.
Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content
How to write ad copy that actually converts (plus 3 major mistakes to avoid)
When it comes to creating ads that convert searchers into customers, many advertisers dive into structure, testing, and more, and gloss over one of the most important elements of any campaign: copy. Your ad copy is the very basic building block of your advertising. Getting it right can be the difference between a milquetoast conversion rate and driving huge value for your clients and stakeholders. In her session at SMX Convert, Alyssa Altman did a deep dive into writing ad copy that actually converts including understanding search engines, funnels, intent and more. Here are the high points:
Search engines are now answer engines. Your ads have to compete with Google’s own in-SERP features.
Funnels are not linear and intent isn’t clear. Awareness and consideration searches happen throughout the funnel. Plus, conversion searches might happen on queries that we may not normally consider “bottom-of-the-funnel” type of searches.
Test ad copy for both ambiguous and obvious intent. Testing intent vs. the winning messaging are two very different paths to go down. Clearly identifying what your end goal is will help to drive your upfront testing strategy.
Search Engines: Decentralized search comes to Android in Europe
Starting yesterday, private, decentralized search engine Presearch will be listed by Google as a default search engine option on all new and factory-reset Android devices across the U.K. and Europe.
One of the latest Google competitors vying for market share, “Presearch is a 2017-founded, pro-privacy blockchain-based startup that’s using cryptocurrency tokens as an incentive to decentralize search — and thereby (it hopes) loosen Google’s grip on what Internet users find and experience,” wrote Natasha Lomas for TechCrunch.
In 2018, the European Commission fined Google 4.24 billion euro for unfairly using Android to solidify its search engine dominance. Google agreed to make changes to its default settings, and earlier this year announced it would increase the number of search providers on its default settings page. It also stopped requiring competing search engines to pay to be included. Presearch is now one of those options, but the only search choice that’s powered by the cryptocurrency market.
Why we care. We’ve coveredGoogle’s troubles with the search choicedebatemany timesbefore, and a new player on the market probably doesn’t even shake them enough to notice. But Presearch’s advertising model is something completely different than we’re used to.
Called keyword staking, “Presearch token holders can ‘stake,’ or commit, tokens to specific words and phrases. The advertiser that stakes the most tokens to a term then has their advertisement displayed whenever someone searches for that term. As a result, they receive the traffic when users click on that ad link,” wrote Kyt Dotson for Silicon Angle.
“Keyword Staking is just one more way Presearch is transforming the current online search paradigm. We are using blockchain to align the interests of advertisers and users while pioneering an entirely new compensation model for advertising,” said Colin Pape, founder and chief executive of Presearch.
Search Shorts: Local keyword research, title rewrites, and new Google Ads annotations
How to conquer local keyword research. Even if you’re familiar with keyword research for standard SEO, there are a lot of things specific to local businesses and local SEO that you might not be aware of, but that can take your localized organic performance to new heights. Check out the latest course from Claire Carlile and BrightLocal.
Want to check quickly if Google has rewritten the titles of a list of pages? But don’t have access to paid tools? Jason M at SEOwl made one for you that’s free.
Google Ads is introducing new annotations to highlight fast shipping, easy returns, and new business identity attributes for the holidays. 58% of U.S. holiday shoppers said they will shop online more this season than in previous years and 59% said they will shop earlier to avoid an item being out of stock. Get ahead of the game now with these new Google annotations.
What We’re Reading: Ask the expert – Your top FLoC questions answered
In his highly-rated SMX Advanced session, “FLoC and the future of audiences,” Frederick Vallaeys, Co-Founder & CEO at Optmyzr, dug in to the technology behind Google’s privacy initiatives FLoC, FLEDGE, and TURTLEDOVE. After the sessions, Vallaeys took questions from attendees who wanted to know more about how FLoC will work for B2B advertisers, how Google is testing FLoC cohorts, and how advertisers can have their voices heard by big tech in these privacy initiatives.
What does FLoC mean for B2B advertisers? The problem is that a cohort by nature is less precise than an individual. The unfortunate answer is, no, we’re not going to be able to do some of these things. We’re at this juncture here where I think we still have the old ways and, as imperfect as they may be, how much can we pull out of it and make that third party relationship, the first party relationship, because then we can actually do something meaningful with it.
How does Google test cohorts? Google said, we’re going to put people in these cohort buckets. In one part of the split test, they used third-party cookie data. So where we know you, as an individual, unique, one user who’s done all these things. In the other, we only know every browser is part of exactly one cohort. But then there are many cohorts that Google could say they were targeting. In that test, they saw that there was actually a very close performance in terms of cost per conversion.
How can advertisers have their voices heard in these proposals? Visit privacysandbox.com. Google is involved in all the W3C standards and goes to meetings related to ads. We as advertisers can give feedback in the forums related to that. So, understand what’s happening. Put your point of view in because a lot of the people attending these meetings are big players with big vested interests. So the small people amongst them, the small players, we have to put our voice out there too. And we can’t really do that unless we understand kind of what’s happening.
When it comes to creating ads that convert searchers into customers, many advertisers dive in to structure, testing, and more, and gloss over one of the most important elements of any campaign: copy. Your ad copy is the very basic building block of your advertising. Getting it right can be the difference between a milquetoast conversion rate and driving huge value for your clients and stakeholders.
In her session at SMX Convert, Alyssa Altman did a deep dive into writing ad copy that actually converts including understanding search engines, funnels, intent and more. Check out our recap of her popular session below:
The evolution of search engines
“Google, Microsoft, and other search engines have reversed engineered their search algorithms over time (and re-engineered them) to make sure that they are giving someone the best answer to their ‘question’ as humanly possible,” started Altman. Many pieces of information that used to exist solely on websites are being pulled directly into the search engine results (things like weather, mortgage rates, math problem answers, etc.). That means there’s a lot of competition for clicks in SERPs as a result.
The key to effective ad copy, said Altman, is to understand what your PPC copy is answering in the first place:
Questions to ask yourself about any given topic include the following: “Is someone looking for general company information? Are they doing company comparisons? Are they doing some window shopping?” said Altman. For micro-moments, “people are telling us exactly what they want, so our copy should match that request.” And, of course, some people are just ready to convert, so the ad’s copy should reflect that intent.
This is all easier said than done, right? This is why she focuses on how marketing funnels actually work and figuring out how to align intent.
The reality of funnels and intent
Ad copy that converts starts with narrowing down the funnel, instructed Altman. The traditional notion of the marketing funnel assumes the user does a search to gain awareness of solutions to a problem. From there they consider a company/solution, and then they convert.
But most paid search marketers know it’s not that simple. The conversion process is not as linear for most customers, especially given how cross-channel marketing works. “Our searches don’t actually connote what we are looking for,” said Altman. “There’s this assumption that Google or Microsoft knows what we’re thinking before we think it… but someone could type in a company name and they could be thinking two completely different things.” One person could be looking for a website while another might be looking for a contact form, for example.
The key to remember is that there are awareness and consideration searches that happen throughout the funnel. Plus, conversion searches might happen on queries that we may not normally consider “bottom-of-the-funnel” type of searches.
”When we’re looking at the reality [of the funnel] it presents the case as to why testing needs to happen or we need to take a deep dive into why a search is happening. Not every search is created equal!” shared Altman in her session. You can have two searchers using the exact same query with completely different intent. That’s where writing PPC copy gets tricky. To determine what people actually mean when they search for something, advertisers have to test.
Testing in action
How to test ambiguous intent. When you’re not sure if your searcher is ready to purchase or just looking, you can test ad copy in a single campaign with dual ad groups and matching keyword terms. Altman also recommends using the same audience for this test. “Starting with a question or a concern that someone may have has the potential to convert at a higher rate,” recommended Altman.
The measure of which ad is doing best for this intent test is click-through rate and conversion rate. “If you’re running this test and noticing that you’re getting more downloads than form submissions than you can estimate that this query might be in the form of more general research,” she instructs. “If you’re getting way more form submissions in this split test, you can shift your messaging to be more primarily geared toward sales.”
How to test obvious intent. When you can tell that the intent is obvious, you can hone in even more and change one variable in an ad. “This testing works well when a user is explicitly telling you what that want to do. ‘I want to purchase this vehicle near me,’” said Altman. The test setup is the same except you’re doing ad variation testing within Google Ads with a 50% split.
This can give us information about a potential customer. In this example, our lead forms can tell us, “if they’re trying to haggle another deal or they don’t understand a pricing” which we can then use as data to inform our copy, said Altman. “Understanding the content of a submission or a lead is just as important as writing the copy itself.”
Copy mistakes to avoid
If you’ve done your research, created tests to determine intent and then narrow down the messaging when you do know the intent — there still may be some hiccups in your ad copy. Here’s how to avoid them:
Mistake 1: Forgetting the power of your headlines
Your headlines are prime real estate! Use them for unique identifiers, not duplicate information. For example, this ad from a university duplicates the URL in the headline. This is a waste of potential ad copy that could catch a searcher’s eye or convince them to click through on your ad versus a competitor.
Mistake 2: Obvious keyword stuffing
It can be tempting to repeat your main keyword(s) multiple times in your headlines, descriptions and extensions. Altman recommends only doing this if it makes sense in the context of the ad. Quality Score takes your keywords into account as a diagnostic tool for recommendations for improvement. Its three main components are:
Expected CTR
Ad Relevance
Landing Page Experience
A headline like this doesn’t make sense for this query and likely won’t lead to a conversion — just a wasted click.
Mistake 3: Inconsistency from search > ad > landing page
Ensure that not only the search term is included in your ad and landing page content, but it addresses the larger picture. If you’re paying for a search term, make sure your process is setup for success. In Altman’s example below, we can see that when people search for “primary care doctor near me” a relevant headline is key, but so is a customized landing page experience.
Taking this searcher to a page that highlights services related to that query will be more likely to lead to a conversion than just taking them to the home page and letting them figure it out on their own.
Next steps
Altman recommended understanding what you are specifically testing before looking to set up an experiment. Testing intent vs. the winning messaging are two very different paths to go down. Clearly identifying what your end goal is will help to drive your upfront testing strategy.
When testing copy, make it worth testing. Use power words like “free, special offer, now available, in stock, etc.” or emotional calls-to-action such as “explore with us, speak to a person, etc.” to really analyze what messaging has a stronger appeal and why.
Finally, Altman said that advertisers should make sure they have enough data to run a proper test when it comes to copy. Timeframes for testing mean nothing if an activity doesn’t occur during that predetermined frame. For example, if a 50% split test is occurring, aim for 100-200 clicks before starting to analyze your data.
Beginning in July 2022, advertisers will no longer be able to create new ETAs or edit existing ETAs in Google Ads according to an announcement by Sylvanus Bent, Product Manager, Google Ads . “Your existing expanded text ads will continue to serve alongside responsive search ads, and you’ll still see reports on their performance going forward. Additionally, you’ll be able to pause and resume your expanded text ads or remove them if needed. You’ll also still be able to create and edit call ads and Dynamic Search Ads,” said Bent.
We’re continuing to expand this story as we learn more.
Use ETA info for RSAs in the transition. “To prepare for this change, we recommend that you have at least one responsive search ad in every ad group in your Search campaigns by June 30, 2022,” Bent suggested. Google’s announcement also includes ways advertisers can repurpose their ETA content for RSAs. Recommendations include the following:
Repurpose high-performing content from your expanded text ads and focus on Ad strength
Pin headlines or descriptions to specific positions in your responsive search ads
Evaluate the success of your ads based on incremental impressions, clicks, and conversions your ad groups and campaigns receive
Though take that last recommendation with a grain of salt. “If you’re in an industry where your ad must contain certain pieces of text in very specific locations, pin away! But if it’s not required, we found that attempting to control the machine by telling it what text to pin to certain ad positions was usually detrimental to results,” wrote Frederick Vallaeys, Cofounder of Optmyzr, for Search Engine Land.
This “stinks for anyone in highly regulated fields. Would be nice if the RSA data was usable or scientific instead of a generic ‘Best’ or ‘Good’ & knowing combos that work together would help,” wrote Gregg Finn, Partner & Digital Marketer at Cypress North, in a tweet.
“Don’t love this, but as long as they don’t take away the option to pin headlines/descriptions in RSAs we can at least approximate the control we have had with ETAs,” added Tim Jensen, PPC Campaign Manager at Clix Marketing.
Why we care. This is the latest move that Google is making to push automation through their ad products. The announcement says that, “15% of search queries every day are new searches we’ve never seen before” and therefore “Automation is key to keeping pace with these trends.” Many advertisers do use RSAs, but they also like having the control and capabilities that ETAs offer. The future phase-out of ETAs means advertisers are moving further away from direct control over their accounts and having to work with the Google Ads machine learning and AI.
Before the sunset is complete, we recommend testing your ETA ad pieces in RSAs and figure out what works best so you’re not cut off completely from new ad creation when Google Ads stops allowing new ETAs. “If you’re evaluating RSAs on incrementality, their conversion rates might be lower than ETAs but the efficiency of those conversions might be better — lower cost per conversion, higher margin and/or lifetime value — and come from impressions your ETAs weren’t eligible for. But measuring this is far from straightforward because the reporting on RSAs is limited and there’s no way to easily tie a query to an ad much less an RSA combination,” wrote Ginny Marvin for Search Engine Land around this same time last year.
“You can adjust conversion values based on characteristics like location, device, and audience. By applying a rule to these characteristics, you can adjust conversion values to align more closely with your business outcomes,” said Stephen Chang, Product Manager, Google Ads in an announcement.
This added feature means that businesses can use their inherent knowledge of what’s working in their industry to improve their conversion rates in Google Ads. For example, if advertisers know certain audiences or people in certain locations are most likely to convert, they can set a rule to multiply the conversion value for the chosen group by two.
“These rules will also be used by Maximize conversion value and Target ROAS to optimize your bids in real time. Conversion value rules will be available for Smart Bidding across Search, Shopping, and Display over the next few weeks,” wrote Chang.
Source: Google
Why we care. “This is a great feature addition. Love it because it allows businesses to get their intuitive/institutional knowledge into the machine learning to optimize more accurately,” tweeted Robert Brady, PPC expert at Righteous Marketing. Having this available in smart bidding also allows advertisers to tweak campaigns for their individual business goals and adjust as campaigns happen in real-time (like for sales, events, or the like).
