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28 May 2019

Google’s 4 Smarter Bidding Strategies are all about Conversions

By Dian Wright-Pena

With more than 70% of advertisers opting for automated bidding over manual bidding, Google is unveiling new smart bidding strategies by placing more emphasis on improving the automated bidding algorithm. In the coming months, these enhancements will give advertisers more options and control over their paid search bidding strategies.

 1.  Campaign-level conversion settings. Currently, marketers are only limited to setting conversion goals at the account level. This new feature will allow advertisers to set conversion goals at the campaign level. Having this flexibility means that advertisers will be able to set up, analyze and optimize conversions based on specific individual campaign goals and calls-to-action. This will also provide even more control over budget, spend caps and bid adjustments based on conversion-based smart bidding strategies.

2.  Seasonality adjustments. With a lot of buzz around customer journey, Google now makes it easier for brands to promote their products and services to consumers when they need it the most.  Advertisers will have the capability to schedule these seasonal bid adjustments as they set up their campaigns. Using seasonality adjustments as a bid strategy could make a big difference in sales and revenue for a lot of brands. The ability to schedule or automate these specific seasonal adjustments around promotional events or peak seasons takes the work out of manual adjustments for most advertisers.

3.  Maximize conversion value. After rolling out maximize conversions a few years ago, Google is making additional adjustments in the coming months by adding maximize conversion value.  Marketers will have the ability to optimize campaigns for the most conversion value within a specific budget. Until now, bidding strategies have been focused on efficiency.

4.  Conversion value rules. This new smart bidding feature will provide advertisers the flexibility to assign value to their calls-to-action or conversion goals. This can also be based on different conversion values such as location, device and audience type. With this rule, advertisers can customize conversion values so they align more closely with their business goals.

 

How we use automated bidding

Automation is quickly becoming the way of the future and by utilizing smart bidding we reap the benefits of better performance while saving time on manually adjusting bids.  But before you automate, you should test the waters. At mediate.ly, part of our optimization strategy for under-performing tactics is to test the waters before making any major shifts. Looking at information such as keyword performance, quality score, competition, impression share are all ways to glean insight before jumping into any automated bid strategy.  Testing is an easy way to gather data to make an informed decision prior to making any major adjustments to the campaign. Using automated bid strategies allows our team to gather useful insights that we can then use to improve the campaign, inform expansion or optimize on other channels.

Google said these smart bidding strategies will roll out in the next few weeks for Paid Search and Display, and in the coming months for other channels.

Prior to implementing these smart bidding strategies, you may need to adjust your current campaign bid settings or structure to accommodate these strategies.

 

If your brand is not taking advantage of the latest trends in paid search, we would love to help.  Send us an email at hello@mediate.ly, call 561.868.9080 or contact us.

 

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21 May 2019

Google Announced Discovery Campaigns at Marketing Live 2019

By Veronica Young

Last week Google hosted Marketing Live 2019, a big focus during the 2 day event was on creative. Google introduced a series of new features and tools in ad innovation. These new features include Discovery ads, app deep linking and the new Google shopping experience.

Here at mediate.ly we are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to increase campaign performance and become more efficient in providing our clients the best possible ROI. We research data trends that will allow us to switch gears quickly with the least amount of disruption to overall campaign performance.

One of the new announcements last week at Google Marketing Live 2019 can do just that. Discovery ads have the ability to be effective across YouTube, Gmail and Discover (the Google feed). The new audience expansion tool and smart bidding technology makes Discovery ads a new feature all Paid Search marketers will want to try.

 

Discovery ads

Today’s consumers have more interactions and touchpoints before settling and committing to that final purchase. Google is using these learnings providing consumers with the best possible experience during this journey using machine learning to serve consumers the right ad with the right content at the right time. By using a simple performance flow to reach consumers, YouTube, Gmail and Discover, Google is creating an experience that solely relies on the user journey without challenging the intent of that journey. Discovery ads are natively integrated within the user journey or what Google is calling “experience” but look and feel natural to the user. They are built with target audiences and not keywords.

These few design principles will drive the success of discovery ads:

  • The ads should be visually consistent and should feel like it’s a part of the product that the user is researching.
  • All discovery ads should be high quality. Google’s review process will ensure assets match the standard of quality that will fit with the user journey and experience.
  • The ad should be relevant and focus on adding value. If an ad is not relevant and doesn’t provide value to the user then it just becomes noise.
  • Offering control over their ads, Google provides customization on headline, description and imagery. Customization that will make the relevance factor much stronger.

Discovery Ad Image

Source: Google

 

Once marketers follow these guiding principles, Google will find your target audience in a myriad of content across YouTube, Gmail and Discover.

With Discovery ads, Google is relying heavily on machine learning to power the best possible experience and outcome for consumers and advertisers alike. By using audience expansion and the power of smart bidding, Google will fine tune your campaign performance. This will drive more consumers that will most likely convert, which will provide more leads and better results at the lowest cost.

Google is giving marketers the creativity tools to achieve their business goals. And the exciting news for advertisers is that Google pairs your brand in the user journey showcasing their message in the most natural way. It moves advertising out of the realm of just being an ad and becomes part of the overall user experience.

 

Gallery ads

Google also unveiled their new Gallery ads which lets you show off more content in just one ad. The ads can be used to improve brand awareness or to showcase a new product line. Similar to Facebook Carousel ads, Gallery ads let you feature between four to eight photos, three different headlines and a 70 character description that is currently only available for mobile devices. This ad format takes up much more real estate and is only available on the top ad position in Google search results.  Its also competes alongside other text ads in the same auction. Google claims, on average, ad groups with one or more gallery ads have up to 25% more interactions.

Gallery Ad Image

Source: Google

 

Both Discovery campaigns and Gallery Ads will help Google shift to a better interactive visual format and will roll out globally later this year.

If your brand is not taking advantage of the latest trends in paid search, we would love to help.  Send us an email at hello@mediate.ly, call 561.868.9080 or contact us.

 

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