Google

Google Ads Editor 2.8

Google Ads Editor has updated the app this November, which is exciting in the PPC world. Google continues to combine AI with transforming its advertising tools. The new features help to optimise campaigns;

• Enhanced video control: A tool to create Demand Gen campaigns based on existing video action campaigns – increases reach by including video partners.
• Create images from text descriptions: Advertisers can now generate images directly within Google Ads Editor using text prompts.
• Account level negatives: Instead of having to apply negatives to each campaign, this will be a time saver.
• Google Sheets support: Simplifying reporting and data sharing with Google Sheets exporting support.
• Resizable error pane: Easier navigation and troubleshooting during campaign setup and optimisation.

Only Google Ads Editor 2.8 and above is now supported, meaning advertisers have no choice but to transition.

Google Shopping Gets Smarter

In the aim to make online shopping easier and more personalised, rollout has begun for a Google Shopping interface refresh. AI is at the forefront of this transformation, Google aims to ensure the user experience is sped up and simplified. The change involves Google pairing 45 billion product listings in Google’s Shopping Graph with Gemini models.

When searching for ecom-specific products, as well as the usual Google Shopping results, below the shopping carousel and above the product listings will be an AI summary of the top recommended considerations for your search.

The example Google has provided to display the update is the search for a “men’s winter jacket for Seattle”. It is likely that beyond wanting a winter jacket, based on the location, the user will want one which is dry and warm. The new update presents an AI brief of the most important things that should be considered when purchasing a new winter jacket for living in Seattle. Beyond this, Google will ensure products shown are climate-appropriate. Coats from brands which align with the user’s criteria, for example, North Face are a known leader in outdoor clothing therefore Google would include them in the shopping results. As well as an AI overview and specific shopping results, the Google Shopping page will also include relevant article links to assist the user in their purchase consideration process.

Dynamic filters are also added to the results page, allowing users to go granular into their preferences, for example, a winter jacket nearby which has a hood. Other filters on the Google Shopping page result for “men’s winter jacket for Seattle” include fastener type, colour, and performance style. The search result page also includes the virtual try-on feature, which was launched back in June, aiming to provide users with the confidence to shop for clothes online.

The update also accounts for the time frame in which purchase decisions are made. Research is likely to take place over a few days, therefore Google Shopping retains all the selections you’ve made making it really easy to jump back into the purchase journey.

Not everyone wants such a personalised feed and may want to have broader results based on preference. Google has made it simple to turn off personalisation by simply going to the Google Shopping menu and editing ‘shopping preferences’.

As well as the usual price comparison, price insights and price tracking features which already exist within Google Shopping, the new update provides a specific page which holds all the deal information within it. Making it simple for users to analyse all the price information they need to make an informed purchasing decision.

Google’s aim appears to be improving user experience through placing focus on personalisation and ease of shopping is clear in this update. As advertisers, there is little required in relation to the interface transformation. To see benefits it could be suggested that ensuring product feeds are optimised so Google can best match your listing to the user’s search.

This new update is only being rolled out in the U.S. at the moment, but we look forward to exploring it once it comes over to the UK.

November 2024 Core Update

On November 11th, Google announced that their latest algorithm update rollout had commenced. This has come as no surprise as there’s been a lot of chatter in the industry, throughout October as SERPs have been extremely volatile.

We expect this rollout to take up to 2 weeks and we will provide further insight once confirmed this has been completed.

More info on the update can be found here.

Changes to ad auction dynamics

As of October, Google is introducing changes to the way Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns operate.

Historically, when running both Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns for the same products (generally) the Performance Max would take priority in the bidding to win a position in the auction. Putting Standard Shopping campaigns at a disadvantage.

However, this update will place all auction position authority on ad rank. Where you have the same product, Performance Max will only take priority if its bid delivers a higher ad rank than the Standard Shopping campaign.

This risks an increase in CPCs for Shopping Ads as it is likely to lead to higher auction entry costs. As more ads aim for visibility, there will be more competition for positioning.

Strategies of advertisers are going to have to ensure budgets and targets are accordingly adjusted, especially as we approach a period of high-performance opportunities. Specifically with Performance Max, advertisers should ensure campaigns encompass strong asset groups, high-quality creatives and video and also URL expansion.

Google claims this update will have a “neutral or positive impact on performance at the account level” so we are looking forward to watching this play out.

Google tests expandable product ads carousel

In an aim to make ads more interactive and relevant to users, Google is experimenting with expandable product ads. When in an expanded view, the user can see a carousel of the relevant search ads however they can easily collapse this view to hide the ads.

Unfortunately for advertisers, sometimes the new update initially hides the carousel, which then requires users to expand the search result to view the ads. The clear risk of this is the lack of visibility for ads which are being hidden, however there is a chance for increased ad engagement as users have more control over which ads they are seeing.

It will be key to ensure ads are being optimised whilst remaining relevant to the user to encourage this engagement. Users are being given more control over their ad exposure which is great for user experience but advertisers are likely to have to ensure their ads are those that users want to interact with.

With ease of use and accessibility being a key aspect of digital advertising, the success of this experiment raises the question; will it enhance user experience, or could it complicate engagement?

The Launch Of Google AI Overview Ads

Announced at Google Marketing Live back in May 2024, the new AI Overview ad format has begun rolling out across mobile devices in the US.

Where now upon searching a question on Google an AI curated answer sits at the top of the results page, in the US ads which relate to the search are now included in these search overviews.

An example given by Google to reporters at a demonstration was searching “how do I get a grass stain out of jeans?”. Subsequently the AI Overview result gave the user instructions on how to remove the stain followed by ads for Tide & OxiClean laundry products, displayed like a shopping ad carousel.

This update has the opportunity to improve performance as seemingly intent is behind the search. Although, Google has informed that there won’t be any separate reporting tools for ads appearing in the AI Overview.

As an advertiser, there is no action required. Existing AI-powered Search ads, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns will automatically auction for a position, and there is no option to back out.

The implementation of Google AI Overview Ads has the potential for ads to be placed at the top of the page, providing the best visibility. However, ads not shown in the search overview may be pushed lower down the page, reducing visibility and potentially limiting return on investment.

The challenge of this update lies in ensuring that ads appear in the most valuable space for optimal results.

4 New Performance Max Updates

Designed to leverage machine learning and automation in Google ads, Performance Max Campaigns are coming up to their third anniversary and Google have just announced some new updates with the aim to boost creative optimisation and campaign performance.

• Creative Reporting. Soon advertisers will be able to enhance creative asset performance through specific conversion metrics. Ad copy and assets quality are key in maximising Performance Max effectiveness, therefore gaining these insights will be crucial in improving campaign performance & testing.

• Streamlined Performance Insights. Where insights, recommendations and explanations were previously scattered across various sections this update creates one dashboard to view them all. Seemingly increasing efficiency in finding the information by centralising everything in one place.

• Target Pacing Insights. With the potential to be a great time saving update, this new insight provides advertisers the ability to track where campaigns are pacing at meeting target ROAS & CPA. Allowing advertisers to see where accounts are underperforming, helping optimise performance with greater efficiency.

• Impression Share Reporting. Providing visibility into how your competitors’ ads are showing will be invaluable in search & shopping campaigns performance through this update.

With some updates already live and others rolling out by the end of the month, these new Performance Max tools are extremely valuable to advertisers in improving ad potential through optimisation opportunities.

Google Ads Removes the Audience Insights Tab

The Google Ads Insights tab which provides automation of audience recommendations has been removed. Where previously Google would assist advertisers with targeting, this update requires users to manually identify and select audience segments. This will likely impact the general day-to-day for many advertisers, as it will necessitate a bit more effort into finding value within a Google Ads account.

Although Google hasn’t given any insight into why the update has happened, we can make two assumptions.

They may be announcing a new version of the feature in the coming weeks or months. Historically, removals have been made of popular features and then relaunched in future updates.

Alternatively an explanation could be a common business decision driver; to increase profits. Increasing manual effort in audience insights will require advertisers to use other tools and data sources to accurately identify audiences. This then also means that advertisers can’t rely on automation and may need to expand their knowledge and understanding to ensure accurate decisions are made. Therefore providing Google with more money making opportunities as advertisers learn how to target accurately. In the meantime, users are likely to make less accurate decisions in targeting thus meaning more users are targeted and larger budgets are required subsequently leading Google to profit.

To protect yourself from this update ensure to dedicate some time to familiarising yourself with who you want to identify in your audience segments and how to select these manually.

This is an interesting update in the world of machine learning where generally developments are making a shift towards automation and the use of big data. Is this a step backwards or is Google helping advertisers in their targeting effectiveness?

Ongoing Issue With Rankings in Google Search

On 15th August 2024, Google announced that they were experiencing ongoing issues with their rankings in Google Search, which is currently affecting a large number of websites.

The root cause was determined quickly and we were informed that an update will be released within 12 hours to address the issue.

It’s rare form for Google to be so forthcoming with issues in their Search Results, and we’re keen to hear the outcome and what caused the issue in the first place.

August 2024 Core Update

On the 15th of August 2024, Google finally released the latest core update, which was expected by many in the SEO community after numerous reports of high volatility in the SERPs across multiple industries.

This update is expected to take around a month to fully roll out.

But what makes this update different? This core update will be taking into account all the feedback that Google has received since the September 2023 helpful content update which has had a negative impact on performance for those smaller websites across Google’s index.

This latest algorithm update has been specifically designed to improve the quality of the SERP, ensuring more relevant content is shown to people which has actually been designed and curated to be helpful for the user rather than based on content that has just been created to perform well in the rankings.

Google Ads Rolls Out a Useful AI Update for Brand Keyword Matching

Keyword Match Types and the logic that goes into matching them to Search Terms has been evolving and changing for years. The saying goes “Exact Match is no longer Exact”, with Google continuously trending toward less precise targeting, instead leaning on machine learning to widen the scope of keyword targeting to include longtail and new search terms that can’t be predicted.

The latest announcement from Google includes 4 key changes that will have PPC advertisers changing the way they work with their brand and the unique search terms in that sphere.

1. Mispelled search terms are becoming easier to manage! If you’ve ever struggled to add negatives of all the potential mispells of a brand term, this AI-driven update means advertisers need only add the core brand term. AI will ensure that mispells are included.
2. Brand Exclusions across ALL keywords and DSA campaigns are rolling out, expanding the Performance Max feature to core campaign types.
3. Additional suggestions for Brand keywords and search terms, which turns a Broad Match keyword into a wider brand “sphere” targeting-signal, allowing for “Brand Generic” keywords to filter through more often.
4. Previously un-trackable “Other” search terms will now start showing, giving advertisers more direct control over targeting and exclusions – this last one allows PPCers to “rein in” the expanded targeting that the expansion caters to.

All of this trends towards more consolidation in Google Ads campaign structure, encouraging less fragmentation between Brand and Non-Brand campaigns, joining them up to act as a “Messy Middle Search Campaign”.

Google Drops Continuous Scroll in Search Results

In October 2021, Google launched “Continuous Scroll” on mobile search. This introduced a SERP that revealed more listings as the user “scrolled” down the page. In December 2022, Continuous Scroll was rolled out on Desktop search results.

As of 25th June 2024, Google removed this feature for Desktop, bringing back the pagination system that was in place before, which includes a “Next” button at the bottom of the page.

Mobile SERPs will have the Continuous Scroll function removed in the coming months.

So, what does this mean? Click-through rates from the SERP will likely be more contained to page 1 results, as users now have to take an extra “step” to visit page 2. Also, SEOs can now say “we got that keyword on to page 1!” again, instead of “we got that keyword in to positions 1-10!”

It’s the small wins.

June 2024 Spam Update

On 20th June 2024, after originally teasing that it would happen in May 2024, Google announced that they are rolling out the June 2024 Spam Update.

This is the “Core” element of the Spam update that had been previously announced in March 2024.

The update is focused on rewarding websites with good quality backlink profiles, and actively penalising websites that use spammy practices.

Google’s New “Web” Filter

On Tuesday 14th May 2024, Google announced a new “Web” filter that shows only text-based links in the Search Results.

This filter appears at the top of the results page, alongside other filters as part of the “More” option that already exists.

We think this will bring some interesting insights on how people prefer to interact with the SERP. Will there be a demographic shift? Will certain industries opt for the “Simple” results over the “Rich” results? Only time will tell.

AI Summaries Rolling Out Across The US

Google has revealed at its I/O developer conference on Tuesday 14th May a significant shift in the way the search engine will look and feel, centred around AI integration.

The update includes the introduction of “AI Overviews”, formerly known as Search Generative Experience (SGE). This new feature, which is powered by Google’s own AI tool, Gemini, will generate summaries at the top of the search results based on understanding queries and content found from various relevant topics across Google’s index.

The rollout will initially be for the US only, with the possibility of being rolled out to billions more users in other countries by the end of the year.

AI overviews are expected to generate a higher click through rate than the standard organic search listings that we have grown familiar with over the years, but interestingly, Google will not yet present the breakdown of data for clicks and impressions in Google Search Console for AI overview links.

Google Adds “Conversion Annotations” to Shopping Placements

In a world of GA4s, Consent Modes and Enhanced Conversions, we’re always grateful to see a simple, sensical update from Google, and happy days – a new one has just rolled out.

“Conversion Annotations” allow advertisers to give Social Proofing labels to products based on the specific product popularity.

For example, in PLAs you’ll start seeing things like

• “best selling”
• “1k shopped here recently”
• “100+ shopped in the past month”

The good news is this is a simple setup (IF you already have conversion tracking setup in your Google Merchant Center settings) – check out Google’s instructions in our link below.

This update is bound to increase CTR and Conversion Rate for advertisers. We’re keen on seeing what it’ll do for our own clients.

The March 2024 Core Update Concludes – 45 Days Later…

On March 5th 2024, Google announced that it was rolling out the March 2024 Core Update, which had a focus on poor quality content and websites that abuse content scaling. Google said this would likely take 4-6 weeks to conclude rolling out.

50 days passed by and the SEO community believed this update was still rolling out and set to be one of the longest roll-outs in history (the longest being the Page Experience update in June 2021 which took 79 days!)

However, on April 26th 2024, Google confirmed that the update had concluding rolling out on April 19th – 7 days prior to this announcement.

It’s unclear why Google had decided to delay the announcement, but we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing it’s over… For now!

GA4 “Key Event” Update Initially Perplexes Advertisers – March 2024

Google announced a push for “greater consistency” with Google Ads, with an impending GA4 update that replaces ‘conversions’ with ‘key events’.

Most advertisers and GA4 users are used to using the same terminology as Google Ads (“conversion”), making the insistence from Kamal Janardhan, Google’s Senior Director of Product Management, that this is an “improved, more unified experience” a bit confusing.

How this will impact advertisers predominantly using GA4 goal tracking remains to be seen, but in the meantime, this could be a key step in differentiating Analytics and Ad platforms more definitively for the industry: Google Ads is a platform for performance and optimisation (conversion), whereas Analytics is arguably for reporting and measuring user behaviour (key events).

A minor difference, but an important one to keep in mind.

Google Adds Social Media Posts to Business Listings

It has been announced that after adding social media profile icon links to Google My Business listings, Google will be introducing a new social media posts section within business listings in Search!

Google Business profiles will now have a subsection for social media updates that will be automatically populated with the latest social posts once the accounts are linked up. You can link up your Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn and TikTok accounts.

Image Source: Search Engine Journal

Although most accounts will need to connect up the social profiles with the GMB, Google has said that they may automatically link social accounts in some cases.

This is a really interesting update as it adds more importance to the need for up-to-date social media accounts. If a business has poor social media, it’ll look bad pulling through in the SERP. If a business doesn’t link up its social media or any channels, it’ll look poor vs. competitors who do.

Let’s keep an eye on how the integration of social media and search progresses as this update rolls out!

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) Replaces First Input Delay (FID) as a Core Web Vital

On 12th March 2024, Google officially replaced First Input Delay (FID) with Interaction to Next Paint (INP) as a Core Web Vital metric and will be used moving forward to assess the Page Experience on your website.

The key difference between FID and INP is that INP measures interactions beyond the user’s first input. This gives us a much more accurate representation of User Experience, as we’re now able to measure how quickly a user can navigate from page to page.

This won’t be a groundbreaking update that will shake up rankings significantly – but if you’re not scoring “Good” across your Core Web Vital metrics, we’d recommend that you consider it as part of your strategy.