By Elliot Smith
Google made 3,200 changes to its search system in 2018! Stay ahead of the curve with our top 5 PPC changes you should know about for the remainder of 2019:
1. New ad formats
The first rule of betas is there are no betas! Just be aware that we’re testing lots of new ad formats in Google Ads – some of which are super exciting and getting great results, but we can’t talk about them yet!
Helpfully, Search Engine Land has reported on one of the formats. One of the big benefits of choosing a Google Premier Partner agency is that we’re able to get access to these new features first and test them. That way, when they are released to all accounts, our clients can be ahead of the competition.
Not all our clients qualify for betas, so don’t be disheartened – you’ll benefit from the testing we are doing and you can be first out trap when they come out of beta.
2. No more Avg Pos
You will no longer be able to see average position as a metric in Google Ads. Instead, new metrics have been added:
- Impression (Absolute Top) %
- Impression (Top) %
- Search absolute top impression share
- Search (Top) IS
All of which will give advertisers a better indication on whether they are getting the visibility they want on the search results page. For a more in depth analysis, read Frederick Vallaeys’ article on Search Engine Land.
3. Bings Ads is now Microsoft Ads
The name change isn’t the most groundbreaking change in our industry, but if you want to sound like you know what you are talking about then make sure you use “Microsoft Ads” now!
As an aside, we find Bing Ads – sorry, Microsoft Ads! – give a good return on investment across most verticals and are a great way to increase sales using campaigns already set up in Google Ads. They are also keeping Avg Pos metric… for now anyway!
4. Ad Customisers
Google Ads for a long time has had the ability to use Ad Customisers, allowing us to serve countdown ads or variations of ads based on a user’s location or the time of day.
For example, on Black Friday we use countdown ads to say ‘Mega Sale Ends in xxx Days’. Microsoft Ads has just announced that they now support ad customisers and, even better, they can be imported easily from Google Ads.
5. The biggest threat to Google is Amazon
As a retailer, you might be nailing your PPC campaigns – but are you advertising on Amazon yet? An increasing number of users go straight to Amazon to search for products, so don’t miss out on these potential customers.
We’re getting great results for one of our retailers with low budgets and huge ROAS (return on ad spend), so if you sell through Amazon, then let us help you drive more sales.
Want to work with a Partner agency and stay ahead of your competitors? Get in touch with us today.
