Did You Know #6
It’s August and there’s nothing more important to a Chicagoan than pretending there’s still plenty of summer left. Winter is a far off idea that we can deal with once we get sick of jumping in Lake Michigan. To commemorate this endless summer, we put together a round-up of our summer-themed “Did You Know” posts. These quick snapshots should help you understand some of the new changes going on in the marketing world and how we think they might affect you. It’s a quick read, it’s a helpful read, and it’s mobile-friendly enough to read on your phone in the Uber to the beach.
There are a lot of ways to structure a Google Ads account, but some are a lot better than others. Google has increasingly pressured advertisers to hand over the reins to them through new campaign types like Performance Max, automated bidding, and changes to how close variants of keywords can trigger ads to show. Some advertisers are finding success with the tried and true method of single keywords per ad group to maximize ad and landing page relevance. Google says don't, experts are saying do. We're A/B testing both so we can find out for sure! Don't just listen to us, though. Check out this great article that got us thinking more about all of this: https://searchengineland.com/why-single-keyword-ad-groups-still-matter-in-2024-444260
Google has been discussing 3rd-party cookie deprecation for years, a move aimed to increase user privacy at the expense of Google Ads conversion tracking as we know it. Now, it's changing directions, announcing a new Chrome experience that's being developed to increase user privacy while supporting advertisers and their tracking needs. It's unclear exactly what this shift will mean for the future of advertising which is why we're going to be staying on top of it. For now, advertisers can take a small sigh of relief (or set up Enhanced Conversion Tracking just to be safe).
Google's AI Overviews have been taking over the top of the search engine results page (SERP), resulting in a few funny misses, but a general track record of helpful responses since launch. That makes this section of their SERP an attractive space for advertising which is exactly what Google intends to do. Ads will soon"...appear within the AI Overview in a section clearly labeled as sponsored when they’re relevant to both the query and the information in the AI Overview" (https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overviews-ads-444366). If Google sticks with recent trends, it's likely these ads will begin surfacing in automated campaigns such as Performance Max using existing assets rather than giving advertisers direct control over if and how their ads appear in AI overviews. We recommend a variety of manual search campaigns and more automated Pmax campaigns to help you capture this new traffic if its valuable or safeguard against it if it isn't.
Google Merchant Center allows advertisers to manage their product feeds and use them for advertising products on Google. Its latest rollout "Merchant Center Next" is currently optional, but may not be forever. It's been met with some criticism for removing key features such as "Supplemental Feeds" and "Feed Labels" that many current advertisers actively rely on. It does offer AI image editing, automatic product additions, and enhanced performance data, though. Will this new offering make everything better or is it another attempt by Google to wrestle back control during the era of AI hype? It's unclear, but we will be preparing for it either way. Follow our page for more updates!
Reddit's IPO earlier this year signaled the start of a more aggressive ads push on the forum-based community platform that garners more than 73 million active users per day. The platform is getting harder for advertisers to ignore, and as new features such as Lead Generation Ads get rolled out, momentum should only increase. Lead Gen Ads allow advertisers to host forms directly on Reddit so they can capture prospective customer information without leaving Reddit. Advertisers who learn the ins and outs of Reddit now can expect to see stronger returns and cheaper CPCs than later on when the platform becomes saturated. Want help getting ads on Reddit? Reach out or follow our page for more helpful updates.
That’s it for this edition of Marketing, SEO, and Analytics “Did You Know” content. I’d write a longer outro, but the sun is currently shining. To catch these tips as they’re posted, follow our LinkedIn page. Our brand-new theme will be coming out any day now!
