Step Inside AdWords - New Products Announced

Ever since Google announced in March that it would be releasing information on new AdWords features and products, the PPC world was abuzz with speculation and theories as to what would occur. The overall sentiment was that there wouldn’t be anything like the introduction of enhanced campaigns, but there would be something ground breaking.

What happened however, was rather underwhelming and anti-climactic.

Jerry Dischler, Vice President of Product Management for AdWords, said that, “It is no longer about devices. It’s about connecting people to the content that they care about. Whether they are online, on mobile sites or in apps.”

So what did we get?

App Advertising

If an advertiser has an app, there are new ad formats designed to drive app downloads as well as engagement with apps. Astonishingly, over 80% of apps are used once and then deleted. Google is looking to encourage re-engagement across Search and Display networks by utilising deep linking.

App deep linking allows the user to go straight to the page they require. e.g. a search for “hotels in San Francisco” for a travel app will land the user directly onto that part of the App.

Estimated Total Conversions

This was something I was anticipating an announcement around. After Google introduced “Estimated Total Conversions”, there was always going to be a focus on “reaching the right people at the right time” and attributing conversions to those that used multiple devices for example. However, other than express.com reporting an impressive 102% increase in ROAS after accounting for estimated in-store traffic, it is still an estimated value.

New AdWords UI Tools

Google is looking to incorporate more external tools into the AdWords user interface. Back in November 2012 we got bulk editing features to make large scale changes faster and easier.

Recently there was the inclusion of Attribution Modelling inside the UI, allowing advertisers to better understand the path to purchase.

The new tools are:

• Bulk Edit Actions: Using the bulk action/spreadsheet functionality, you’ll now be able to bulk edit campaign settings and ad extensions with ease. This will be beneficial to campaigns that have seasonal offers, or wish to focus on a particular product line.

• Automated Bidding: In addition to automated bidding by CPA, advertisers will have the ability to bid for maximum conversion volume or the total value of conversions.

• Advanced Reporting: This is something that will be of benefit to all users. Creating pivot tables in Excel is time consuming and can get tedious. However, advertisers will be able to create custom pivot tables - or “multi-dimensional analysis tools” - directly in the AdWords interface. These are designed to take the tedium out of rinse-and-repeat Excel work. In addition to pivot tables, you’ll also be able to generate custom tables, graphs and charts. This will allow for more time to gain insights.

• Your own Lab: Users will be able to create draft campaigns and experiments in AdWords. Whether it be bid changes, new keywords, different campaign settings, special bids for times and locations or different kinds of ad formats. Users can see what they look like and then run tests using live traffic. While we have had AdWords Campaign Experiments for some time now, this will ideally provide a more friendly user interface and further insights.

So, What Next?

As mentioned previously, the announcements were not as ground breaking as was anticipated. I was expecting news on different Ad Extensions such as Communication Ad Extensions, Site Search Extensions, or even one that is currently being rolled out, Consumer Ratings Annotations.

+Post Ads and the new updates to shopping campaigns were also something that I assumed would be discussed.

With the new tools and features, only time will tell if they will have an impact. There were no details as to when we can expect the changes to be incorporate, so stay tuned for more information.