How You Can Benefit From The Latest Google Adwords Updates

Business success with SEO, and especially paid search engine marketing like Google Ads, requires keeping up with all of the latest changes. Google has been tweaking its Ads platform to give users a better experience, and some of the tweaks are great for businesses as well.

Earlier this year, Google announced a number of changes that it was making, including updates and new products. Here are some of the most important details to know about the state of Google Ads updates.

Mobile-first Design

Mobile computing is growing at a rapid clip, so Google realized that designing for mobile-first is actually more important than treating it as an afterthought. This resulted in their new mobile-first philosophy, completely changing the Google Ads platform and use by businesses. One of the initial tests of this new platform was universal app campaigns which helped app developers market across search, display, YouTube, and AdMob.

Extended AdWords

The growth of mobile computing cannot be ignored, and Google decided to address that need with their extended Ads program.

Today’s standard Google Ad is a single headline and room for an expanded description. The new program will give advertisers room for increased headline space as well as description areas. This may sound like a minor change, but there is potential to stand out in your niche by being an early adopter. This increase in space is similar to having additional space on a brick-and-mortar store shelf. More exposure nearly always results in more sales.

Additionally, the redesigned ads will give users the same experience on both mobile and desktop, which is the result of Google removing the right sidebar ads from desktop searches. Without that size constraint, Google has lots more real estate for ad sizing.

With the additional size allowances, you can provide direct click-through experiences to very specific content, perhaps a well-designed and captivating landing page.  

Responsive Display Ads

One of the most exciting changes are the new responsive display ads, which promise to make it far easier for advertisers to display advertising to users that are browsing content in their niche.

Designed for unobtrusiveness, these ads “will match the look and feel of the content they’re browsing” according to Google. Even better, advertisers need only to provide the details they want to be displayed - headline, image, URL, and description - and Google will handle the design and placement of the ads on appropriate sites.  

Bids for Different Device Types

Another interesting Google change is the ability to set individual bid adjustments based on device type, to make it easier to control how much you pay for ads, and where they appear. No longer will the bid prices for desktop and mobile automatically be coupled; you can set mobile bids, tablet bids, and desktop bids all separately if you want.

Local Search Ads and Google Maps  

A large percentage of mobile searches are for local businesses, Google has changed their local search ads to allow advertisers to include local extensions. This will help local businesses gain more space on Google Maps and get found more easily by users searching for their products or services in the local area.

Another key change is that users will now be served up special offers right from the Google Maps advertisement, and they will be able to browse inventory from that same ad as well, making it easier for consumers to find exactly what they need before traveling there.

AdWords Interface Redesign

In addition to the changes for consumers, AdWords is redoing the interface that businesses use to set up their AdWords campaigns to make it more user-friendly. The newer interfaces will be easy to navigate and have more simple visual cues as well.

Remember that every advertiser will be moving to these enhanced programs at the same time, so businesses that are nimble and quick to adapt to them will be the most successful. Learn as much as possible and implement it appropriately, and you can definitely expect to see a solid click-through spike. If you'd like some help making that happen, please contact us today!