July was a month of many technical advancements including improvements in targeting capabilities. With the phenomenal uptake of tablet devices, Google have now delivered on their promise of sophisticated tablet targeting. The Google content network campaign settings have also been tweaked to facilitate keyword targeting outside of placements, audiences, or topics.
Research has consistently shown that #1 position ads appearing above the search results generate the best click through rates. Now Google has introduced the“Top vs. side” report segment to help advertisers better understand the impact of positioning and how to optimize their campaign in pursuit of these sought-after slots. In final news this month, Google have introduced Google Adwords Express, a quick start tool for local advertisers that aims to get them up and running in just 5 minutes. Happy Googling!
The Zero moment of truth: A New Marketing strategy
Most marketers will be familiar with terms such as tipping point and FMOT (First Moment of Truth), however there is a new catchphrase in the marketing world; the Zero Moment of Truth. So what does it mean? The Zero Moment of Truth or ZMOT is the moment when a shopper, having seen an ad, goes online to research a product and decides whether to make a purchase. Visible growth in everything from coupon redemption to mobile usage seems to support the theory. But what does this discovery actually mean for marketers? Google have published a new free e-book ‘Winning the Zero Moment of Truth’ which aims to enlighten advertisers on the topic.
New: Tablet targeting options now available
On July 12th, tablet targeting was made available to all advertisers. In the past you were able to target Apple iPad devices under Mobile devices, however now the tablet has its own device category meaning you can target specific tablet operating systems.For example, it is possible to display your ads on only the Apple iPad. To do so you would select Tablets with full browsers as your device targeting setting and iOS as your operating system setting. With more than 165 million tablets expected to ship over the next two years, this is obviously an important market to focus on.
Google Content Network : Announcing changes to campaign settings
Google have now amended the settings for some campaigns opted into the Google Display Network. Previously campaigns that targeting only keywords in at least one ad group and set to “Relevant pages only on placements, audiences, and topics I manage” would receive no impressions at all. Google have now remedied this ‘glitch’ and ads with this setting conflict will start appearing on relevant pages across the entire Google Network based on selected keywords.
Top v Side Ad performance Segmentation
Back in April, Google’s Chief Economist, Hal Varian blogged about the average position metric. As Hal outlined, there is a big difference between ads appearing in position #1, above the search results and in #1 on the side. Research has shown that ads appearing above the search results tend to receive a far higher volume of clicks. Well the good news is that now Google have introduced the “Top vs. side” report segment to see how your ad performance compares above and to the side of the search results. Furthermore advertisers can get greater insight into when and where their terms are triggering ads above search results.
Non-ASCII characters now supported in display and destination URLs
Frustrated that your display URL isn’t consistent with the rest of your foreign language ad? On July 18th, Google announced that they now support non-ASCII characters, including non-Latin characters and Latin characters with accents and diacritics, in display and destination URLs.
Making local online advertising easy with Google AdWords Express
On July 25th, Saw the launch of Google Adwords Express, a quick and easy for businesses to start advertising online. Adwords Express is designed to help local businesses that aren’t already Adwords advertisers to create effective campaigns in under 5 minutes.Adwords Express helps potential customers find an advertiser’s Place page or website. Advertisers simply need to provide some basic information and create their ad before their campaign is ready. Following sign up, the campaign will automatically be managed and optimized by the system to make the most out of the campaign and budget.Visit www.google.com/awexpress to sign up or learn more about how it works.