So what has been going on in the World of Google Adwords over the last month? Well, with the introduction of the +1 button and Media Ads, Google has been busy, however something tells this has been done before. Has Google been looking at Facebook’s practices a bit too much?! Google have however enhanced some of their user features with enhanced features in call metrics, location targeting and contextually adding ads. See below for details of what has been going on in March with Google Adwords.
Call metrics
Call Metrics have been generating and measuring phone calls directly from ads since November. This month Adwords have enabled further metrics to be monitored such as call start time, call end time, call duration, call status and caller area code.
Google Partner Search
Adwords this month released new functionality in Google Partner Search allowing advertisers looking for account management support to directly contact certified partners by filling out a lead form rather than previous methods of having to contact the company site directly.
In-Ads Notice Label and Icon
The online advertising industry’s Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioural Advertising is now providing users notice and choice in the ads they see across the web. The main change that you will see is that instead of the “i” icon and “Ads by Google” the ads will now display “AdChoices”.
Location Targeting on Adwords
This month has seen the addition of more advanced control in this sector including the ability to choose to target or exclude your ads based upon the user’s physical location or the location of interest, rather than the area of search that the user is searching for.
Adwords Campaign Experiments (ACE)
For those who use ACE to run experiments on keywords, bids, placements, ad groups, ad creatives and more, you are now able to run an Adword report to evaluate your experiment performance.
Media Ads
Google has this month introduced Media Ads which is a new way to target, pay for and experience video ads on Google.com. Media Ads comes in a standalone format designed to put videos in front and centre of the screen (see image), which is different to Video Extensions which simply attaches a video player to your existing Adwords ads. Media Ads are charged at a flat rate offering a much simpler pricing model for your Media Ad campaign.
