With all the publicity and marketing surrounding this weeks’ July 22nd deadline for automatic ‘switchover’ from Legacy to Enhanced Campaigns in Google Adwords, you may have missed these other new features and innovations from Google’s Pay per Click platform.
From improved sitelinks, auction insights and dynamic re-marketing to Google Catalogs – we are seeing changes in quick succession as the platform evolves into even more of an online advertising machine with more extensions than many users know what to do with!
Here is our pick of new features from the last few weeks.
Google Catalogs in Lightbox
Google Catalogs is not new, and neither is viewing Ads in lightbox format, but putting them together so that the user does not need to leave the page they were browsing to view your shiny PDF catalogue that you have added to your merchant centre is new.
The pricing model is cost per engagement (CPE) which means that advertisers pay when a catalogue is read, and according to Google, many partners have ‘seen their CPM’s as much as double‘.
The example below shows how Brand USA is using Google Catalogs in lightbox to promote international tourism
If you haven’t seen Google Catalogs yet – see it in action here: http://www.google.com/catalogs
Adwords Review Extensions
Or as Google put it “The new ‘Don’t take our word for it’ tool for your search ads“. Currently available in English language campaigns, review extensions allow Adwords Advertisers to add testimonials directly to their Ads.
This is different to seller ratings associated with Google Shopping which are automatically drawn in from reviews submitted by customers. Awords Review Extensions are submitted by you from within your Adwords account.
As with all Google formats, there are rules of engagement including:
- You must have permission to publish the review and you must link to the site endorsing you
- Reviews must come from reputable 3rd party source and be of a high quality – so no making them up!
What do they look like? A little like this:
For further details visit the Adwords Blog
Dynamic Remarketing
Remarketing lets you deliver relevant ads to specific segments of your audience. Dynamic remarketing lets you automatically create beautiful customized ads that connect with shoppers by reminding them of items they’ve seen or bought in the past on your site and suggesting other products they might like – Google Think Insights
Every customer is unique, and if you use Google Merchant Centre, you can construct remarketing Ads on the fly based on past actions of previous visits using ‘granular segmentation’. Getting more Amazon like by the minute – it’s no wonder that there are reports that Google Product Listing Ads are putting a ‘roadblock’ in front of Amazon Ads by pushing their listings down
There are plenty of templates to use for Ads and default sets of audiences for you to choose from so that you can get started straight away and refine once you have found your way around the system.
With reports of up to 450% improvement in engagement – has to be worth a go right?
Examples of dynamic remarketing creative:
Read more on the Adwords Blog or for more info on creative for Dynamic retargeting ads visit Think Insights
Show and Tell with Google Image Extensions
Not PLA’s, not just for showing on the ‘Display’ network, but image extensions directly related to your standard Adwords Ad in the search results. YAY!
Available in beta from early June of this year, image extensions will certainly help to enhance your Ads. Simply choose which images you want to be displayed with your Ad text and send it for review. Goes without saying that you need permission to use images that you choose for your extension.
Example of the new image extensions:
Image extensions are in beta but if you want to have a play request use of the service by filling in this form. For more information on Google Image Extensions – visit the Adwords.
That’s our top 4 but there are plenty of other enhancements to existing features from the last 4 weeks alone, if they continue at this pace, our Adwords update may become a regular feature!