Automation, video, privacy & commerce were the main themes at Google Marketing Live 2022
Google’s annual showcase of their latest products across Ads and Commerce was live earlier this week. A number of exciting new features were announced, giving marketeers new ways to engage and enthral customers. To view details on the key updates mentioned here, click the button below.
Video
- Videos ads will start showing on YouTube Shorts. Video action campaigns and App campaigns are gradually rolling out on YouTube Shorts, and later this year, product feeds connected to campaigns will also be advertised on on YouTube Shorts.
- Short video ads will start appearing in Google Discover, the personalised newsfeed on the Google app and Chrome browser.
- Google’s programmatic platform, DV 360 (Display & Video 360) will enable advertisers to target affinity, in-market, and demographic audiences across YouTube and most other ad-supported connected TV apps. DV 360 now reaches 93% of ad-supported CTV households in the USA.
- Audio ads will be available for a wide range of inventory on DV 360, and podcast targeting will soon be launched on YouTube and other partner inventory.
Automation
- Performance Max campaigns can be A/B tested from later this year, to see how the relatively new campaign type performs, and whether it drives incremental conversions. Additionally, burst campaigns for a set time period will enable advertisers to drive footfall in store during seasonal events.
- Store sales goals optimisation will be supported later this year, for retailers who wish to optimise Performance Max campaigns to drive in-store sales, in addition to store visits and local actions.
- Responsive search ads will include automatically created assets in English, followed by other languages. Google Ads will automatically create assets for opted in advertisers based on content from landing pages and existing ads.
- Responsive display ads will include new mobile-first layouts to showcase brands on full-screen portrait ad inventory. Google’s also introducing scrollable ads and videos based on product feeds.
Privacy
- Search and Conversion lift tests will be introduced directly in Google Ads and DV 360 later this year. Conversion Lift tests will measure incremental conversions based on users and geography, and Search Lift tests will measure the impact of YouTube campaigns on driving organic searches on Google and YouTube.
- Privacy safe interest-based advertising will be tested worldwide from the latter half of this year. This will be based on Topics, the new interest-based advertising and remarketing solution, which will incorporate Google’s Privacy Sandbox proposals.
- My Ad Center was announced last week. It will empower people to pick the types of ads they want to see more or less of, and control how their data informs ads they see across YouTube, Search and Discover.
Commerce
- The new Shopping ads layout in search is possibly the biggest update in Google’s search user interface since the introduction of Universal Search. To be launched later this year, the new interface will show more visual Shopping ads to U.S. customers in dedicated ad slots throughout the page. These will be clearly labelled as ads, but will nevertheless show up in between the organic search results, unlike current ad units that are restricted only to the top and bottom of the page.
- Augmented Reality with shopping ads will enable merchants to include 3D models of their products directly on Google Search.
- Multisearch was introduced last month. Shoppers can search by taking a photo and asking a question at the same time in the Google app, so it’s easier to find items. This is already available as a beta feature in English in the USA, and works especially well for shopping searches.
- Business Messages will enable users to message businesses directly from search ads. This is currently in testing and should be in open beta by the end of the year. The feature will work on Search and Maps, with a simple chat interface.
Google’s machine learning processing speed has increased by more than 10x in just the past year. That means the deep learning models used in Ads automation features can learn much faster. Without a doubt, their intention is to move advertisers towards more automation and less control over specific targeting, ad placement, and even ad contents.
About the Author
AccuraCast is a data & tech-led B2B digital marketing agency focused on international growth. Over 20 years of expertise in paid search & display advertising (PPC), search engine optimisation (SEO), and social media marketing for ambitious B2B and B2B2C brands. Offices in London, New York and Madrid.
