Latest Changes in Google Adwords: Expanded Text Ads, New Local Search Ads and More
Google has recently announced several enhancements to Adwords that are likely to take effect later this year. Since the announcement of this news, there are several speculations on its applicability and how these changes will affect the businesses who use them as a major platform for their marketing and advertising. The announcements were made at the Google Performance Summit in May.
The impact of these changes is likely to be huge as in the US alone Google supports around 1 million businesses. Google, while implementing these changes has taken into account the fact that almost 50% of Google searches now take place through smartphones. And, 33% of these searches are associated with finding local places and other locations.
I have analysed the main changes announced by Google and how they would affect the way advertisements are displayed. Also, to what extent Google would be successful in making the most of the above mentioned facts and delivering more value to its customers are also considered.
But first, let’s see what the main changes are that Google has announced.
Google has announced a complete revamp of its Adwords’ design, style and the way the ads are displayed. Google has also taken a leap towards a more mobile friendly design for its Adwords. Although until now Google Adwords supported mobile devices, they were designed primarily for computers and optimised to fit on a mobile device’s screen. The recent changes to the design would mean that the Adwords will be design specifically for being displayed on mobile devices.
So, let’s take a look at the changes to Adsense which Google claims would make Adsense near perfect!
Expansion of the Text Ads
There are three main changes here. Earlier, Google allowed an advertiser to publish a single 25 character headline. The new change will allow publishing two 30 character headlines. The other major change is to the longer description line. From a pair of 35 character lines, Adsense will now constitute a single 80 character line for a longer description. Both these changes give more space to the advertisers to display text and communicate more effectively. The third change relates to the display of the relevant URL. Unlike the current process where the marketers have to manually enter the URL, the new function will allow automatic extraction of the domain from the final URL and also allows customising the URL path.
The online marketers who use Adsense extensively will be able to see more value in these changes. They will be able to display more content in the same cost. The incremental benefits are tremendous and also the fact that the design of the new Adwords will be mobile friendly will make it a powerful tool to advertise on mobile devices.
In fact, Google has released the data of its initial tests which has shown a 20% increase in the click through rates (CTR) of these ads.
New Local Search
Google has taken the cognisance of the fact that local searches form a major part of its mobile searches. People travelling are more likely to search for the local places in their vicinity on their mobile devices as compared to their laptops or desktops. It’s something that Google has made better by incorporating various changes that involves inclusion of information on specific products and services in the areas being searched on Google Maps and Google.com.
Now it’s something that is likely to benefit the local businesses who can display their ads on the mobile screens of the people in the particular location. The search will also allow the people searching information to browse the products and services and their availability at the local businesses whose ads would be displayed by Adsense.
Making ads more responsive
It’s the third major change that Google has introduced for Adsense. Ads would now be more responsive and would adapt their appearances based on the pages on which they will be displayed. It gives the ads a feel of being a part of the content rather than a banner which is displayed on top of the content.
Flexibility to adjust bids according to the device type
This, I believe, is something that the advertisers are going to love. Advertisers can specify the bid amount they are willing to pay according to the particular devices. Hence, an advertiser, who believes that advertising on a mobile device wouldn’t be of much value, can opt for a lower bid amount for the mobile devices. The opposite is also true. Also, there’s an increase in the advertisement range when it comes to their displays. It has now been increased by 9 times allowing the advertisers more flexibility.
These changes, as Google predicts, would change the game for the marketers and make Adwords more mobile friendly. Although there’s still a bit of time before these changes actually take place (sometime before the end of this year), it is an excellent idea that the advertisers take a note of these changes.
These are going to impact the way advertisers currently use Adwords and those who wouldn’t adjust will find it really tough to compete with those who would adopt then as soon as they are launched.
There is however, one clarity yet to be received. So far what is known is that the changes related to long titles and descriptions have been announced for mobile devices. Whether they will be applicable to Adwords display on computers is yet to be known.
These changes seem exciting and those advertisers who are early to adopt them will be the ones most likely to benefit. They will definitely have the early mover advantage. I would like to know the opinion of the other forum members on this topic and would request them to share more information.
I have tried to cover most of the points that I could get my hands onto. What I am looking for is learning from other members of the forum. So, what are your opinions and is there anything I have missed out?
The impact of these changes is likely to be huge as in the US alone Google supports around 1 million businesses. Google, while implementing these changes has taken into account the fact that almost 50% of Google searches now take place through smartphones. And, 33% of these searches are associated with finding local places and other locations.
I have analysed the main changes announced by Google and how they would affect the way advertisements are displayed. Also, to what extent Google would be successful in making the most of the above mentioned facts and delivering more value to its customers are also considered.
But first, let’s see what the main changes are that Google has announced.
Google has announced a complete revamp of its Adwords’ design, style and the way the ads are displayed. Google has also taken a leap towards a more mobile friendly design for its Adwords. Although until now Google Adwords supported mobile devices, they were designed primarily for computers and optimised to fit on a mobile device’s screen. The recent changes to the design would mean that the Adwords will be design specifically for being displayed on mobile devices.
So, let’s take a look at the changes to Adsense which Google claims would make Adsense near perfect!
Expansion of the Text Ads
There are three main changes here. Earlier, Google allowed an advertiser to publish a single 25 character headline. The new change will allow publishing two 30 character headlines. The other major change is to the longer description line. From a pair of 35 character lines, Adsense will now constitute a single 80 character line for a longer description. Both these changes give more space to the advertisers to display text and communicate more effectively. The third change relates to the display of the relevant URL. Unlike the current process where the marketers have to manually enter the URL, the new function will allow automatic extraction of the domain from the final URL and also allows customising the URL path.
The online marketers who use Adsense extensively will be able to see more value in these changes. They will be able to display more content in the same cost. The incremental benefits are tremendous and also the fact that the design of the new Adwords will be mobile friendly will make it a powerful tool to advertise on mobile devices.
In fact, Google has released the data of its initial tests which has shown a 20% increase in the click through rates (CTR) of these ads.
New Local Search
Google has taken the cognisance of the fact that local searches form a major part of its mobile searches. People travelling are more likely to search for the local places in their vicinity on their mobile devices as compared to their laptops or desktops. It’s something that Google has made better by incorporating various changes that involves inclusion of information on specific products and services in the areas being searched on Google Maps and Google.com.
Now it’s something that is likely to benefit the local businesses who can display their ads on the mobile screens of the people in the particular location. The search will also allow the people searching information to browse the products and services and their availability at the local businesses whose ads would be displayed by Adsense.
Making ads more responsive
It’s the third major change that Google has introduced for Adsense. Ads would now be more responsive and would adapt their appearances based on the pages on which they will be displayed. It gives the ads a feel of being a part of the content rather than a banner which is displayed on top of the content.
Flexibility to adjust bids according to the device type
This, I believe, is something that the advertisers are going to love. Advertisers can specify the bid amount they are willing to pay according to the particular devices. Hence, an advertiser, who believes that advertising on a mobile device wouldn’t be of much value, can opt for a lower bid amount for the mobile devices. The opposite is also true. Also, there’s an increase in the advertisement range when it comes to their displays. It has now been increased by 9 times allowing the advertisers more flexibility.
These changes, as Google predicts, would change the game for the marketers and make Adwords more mobile friendly. Although there’s still a bit of time before these changes actually take place (sometime before the end of this year), it is an excellent idea that the advertisers take a note of these changes.
These are going to impact the way advertisers currently use Adwords and those who wouldn’t adjust will find it really tough to compete with those who would adopt then as soon as they are launched.
There is however, one clarity yet to be received. So far what is known is that the changes related to long titles and descriptions have been announced for mobile devices. Whether they will be applicable to Adwords display on computers is yet to be known.
These changes seem exciting and those advertisers who are early to adopt them will be the ones most likely to benefit. They will definitely have the early mover advantage. I would like to know the opinion of the other forum members on this topic and would request them to share more information.
I have tried to cover most of the points that I could get my hands onto. What I am looking for is learning from other members of the forum. So, what are your opinions and is there anything I have missed out?