Google announced the launch of new tools and functionalities in the Marketing Next Conference that took place in San Francisco on 23rd May 2017. Some of them will be accessible right now and worldwide while some others will only be available in beta for a few lucky marketers. Here’s a quick overview of these new fancy tools.
Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google Senior Vice President of Ads & Commerce, at Google Marketing Next 2017
Faster websites for a better experience
We all know that a slow website increases your bounce rate and therefore lowers your potential conversions. As more and more customers are going mobile, Google take website load time very seriously. They found out that the sweet spot is around 3 seconds, after that, most people will leave your website without even having seen it.
AMP landing pages for your search ads
You can now use Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) as landing pages for your search ads. This means that when people click on your ad, they’ll land on a fast page which should improve your paid traffic metrics.
Faster display ads on AMP
All display ads will be converted into a fast loading format. Your image ads will load 5 seconds faster when on AMP pages, increasing their chance of actually being seen. This will give you more accurate data when looking at impressions, as chances are most people will have seen your ads.
You can sign up to get access to the beta version if you’re a publisher, creative agency or ad network. Here’s some more information about AMP landing pages for AdWords.
Reaching the right customer at the right time
Google is all about understanding your intent and the context of your search to provide you with the best possible answer. They use artificial intelligence and machine learning to figure this all out and help you show your customers the right message at the right time.
Life events targeting for YouTube & Gmail
You can now target consumer patterns and life events for YouTube and Gmail ads. This means that you’ll be showing your ads about wedding photography to someone who’s about to get married. Now that’s a powerful tool!
In-market audience targeting for search ads
In-market audience targeting is now available for search ads as well as display. In-market audiences correspond to people actively researching and comparing specific products or services so they are “in-market” and closer to converting. This means that you’ll be able to increase your reach by showing your ads on the search network to people who are looking for your product or service.
Location extensions on YouTube videos
You can now add a location extension to your video ads on YouTube. When potential customers watch your video, they can now get directions to your store or your address and go straight to buy your product or service. Handy!
Unique reach in AdWords
Aren’t you annoyed when you see the same ad for the tenth time in a day? On average, people now own 5 devices and use them seamlessly to search. Therefore, it’s quite difficult to actually cap the number of times the same person will see your ad if they use different devices. Google is connecting data across devices and bringing in “unique reach” to AdWords. This will allow you to make sure that your capped reach is more accurate and recognises the same person on different devices.
Optimising and analysing your data seamlessly
Today, we collect more data than ever with hundreds of tools to analyse it. Finding what’s important and getting insights from it is getting more and more complex. On top of that, customers use different browsers and devices making their journey a nightmare to analyse unless you’re a talented data scientist. Marketers keep repeating it everywhere on the internet and at conferences. So, Google created some new tools to make our life easier. Thanks guys!
Google Attribution
Google Attribution is a new free tool (still in beta) that allows you to view all your conversion paths in one place and compare the attribution models to find out which channel deserves your investment. You’ll see AdWords, Google Analytics and DoubleClick data on one screen. Plus, it’s multi-channel and device so you can better understand your customer journey.
Google Optimize
Google Optimize was launched back in 2016 to allow you to test your landing pages without the help of a developer. That’s every marketer’s dream! You can now integrate this with AdWords to design and test your landing pages straight into the software. The tool even allows you to connect your keywords with different landing page versions. I say yes please!
New AdWords experience
Until now, only a few people had access to the new AdWords interface. This is going to be rolled out to all accounts and should be all done by December 2017. The new user interface has been modernised, loads faster and is more user friendly. When creating a campaign, the system can recommend audiences to reach according to your goals. You’ll be able to review all your audiences in one place. There’s even a landing page tab where you can review your landing pages’ performance in one place and improve them all in one place.
I’m quite excited about these new tools and can’t wait to try them. It’s always nice to feel appreciated as someone is trying to make your life easier. Unfortunately, the speakers at Marketing Next were a bit quiet on exactly when and where they’ll be available. I guess it’ll have to be wait and see. Nevertheless, Google is going all out with machine learning and trying to make data analysis more actionable. As always, they’re focusing on understanding the customer and showing them what they want, and I think they’re getting really good at it.
