Google News – June 2022

Farewell, Smart Shopping Campaigns

We know, we totally feel you, but the time we all feared has come. Google has been warning us for some time.

Starting from July, Smart Shopping Campaigns (SSC) will be gradually switched to Performance Max Campaigns (PMax). SSCs will be deleted, thus fuelling all the historical data into the new PMax campaigns.

Although the switch will be automatic, we highly recommend to pay more attention to these campaigns. With the automatic switch, the creatives will be converted as well, which consist of one image, one short headline, one long headline, one description.

On the other hand, PMax offers up to 20 images, 5 logos, 5 videos, 5 headlines, 5 long headlines, 1 short description and 4 long descriptions. Moreover, you cannot forget about Audience Signal, which help PMax to better understand your target audience and find people likely to convert.

Without these edits, the performance of your PMax campaigns will be limited.

Find out more about Performance Max campaigns here.

Source: Google Ads Help

New Places on Google Through Reviews

Google is testing a new feature in local Search, which is available to some people and only in English. Searching for terms with “near me” phrase in it gives you a list of local businesses with reviews. So, for example, you search for “restaurants near me” and you get a list of restaurants reviewed by past customers. This way you can choose a restaurant that is approved by the community based on positive feedback or avoid the one with bad experience.

This features further stresses the importance of good reviews.

What do you think?

Find out more here.

Source: SEO Roundtable

Google: Modifying Product Title Based on Query

Seem like Google is testing yet another feature, now for Shopping ads. This new feature can dynamically change your product title specified in feed and insert words from the user’s query. For example, your product title is “minimalistic ring”, but the search query is “gold minimalistic ring”, it can insert “gold” to the existing title. We assume, that these features should be probably specified in your feed with attributes like colour, material and so on.

It is an interesting feature that can increase your CTR. Although, we are not sure how and when it works. There has been no statement from Google.

Find out more here.

Source: SEO Roundtable

PMax Comes With 4 New Features

Performance Max campaigns are getting 4 new features, which are available now or will be in the near future.

We are talking about:

• Seasonality adjustments – adjust bid strategy based on upcoming events affecting your CTR. Smart Bidding already accounts for seasonal events, this should be used mainly for promos, typically lasting up to 7 days.
• Data exclusions – inform Smart Bidding about a period of time, when it should ignore data. For example, you can use this when you have tracking issues.
• Explanations - identify performance fluctuations and diagnose issues. They also provide recommendations to improve performance.
• Optimization score – we all know this from other campaigns. It provides tips for improving the campaign’s performance. Let’s be honest, mainly it’s raising the budget.

Other than these, also an advanced location targeting feature was added.

Find out more here.

Source: Search Engine Land

 

Google Ads Creative Studio

Google is introducing a new way of creating ads. Google Ads Creative Studio is now available globally.

This new tool helps to create different versions of display and video ads. The different versions of ads can be adjusted based on audience, language, location or context. You can tailor your ads based on rules. This feature is available only for video ads, for now.

Ads Creative Studio and Google Ads assets are now interconnected, which creates a seamless workflow.

Try out Google Ads Creative Studio.

Find out more about Google Ads Creative Studio.

Source: Google Ads & Commerce Blog

Google Was Experiencing Some Bugs

On 15th of July Google has confirmed a bug affecting Ads and Analytics reports. For a lot users, these reports weren’t showing any data. Although, they claim, that the ads were running without a problem. This means, there’s no need to exclude data from Smart Bidding.

In the future, if your experience any problems, you can check here if Google is experiencing any issues.

Were you affected by this bug?

Source: Twitter @adsliaison

Google Automatically Switch to Data-driven Attribution

Google introduces data-driven attribution back in September, 2021. Back then, you had to have at least 300 conversions and 3,000 interactions with your ads during a 30-day period to be eligible for this attribution. The rules has changed a bit and now some conversion events without any prior data can be eligible for data-driven attribution.

This makes sense, why Google has been sending out emails to advertisers, informing them that starting from 24th of August, some conversion events will be automatically switched from last-click attribution to data-driven. Google claims, that data-driven attribution is much more reliable, better understands the overall customer journey and works best with Smart Bidding.

Find out more here.

Did you receive this type of email from Google?

Source: Google Ads Help

 

Facebook & Instagram News – June 2022

Instagram Introducing a New Design

Instagram is testing a brand-new design, which is now available for more and more users. The biggest change is the orientation of posts, which is now vertical. When you open your feed, you can see the Stories panel above, but when you scroll down, you get a full-screen version of each post. This combined with black design, really brings out post. 

The main focus is, of course, on videos. Is this new design a little familiar? Yes, just like TikTok.

Find out more here.

Source: theverge.com

Instagram Launching Maps

Instagram is introducing a new way of finding local businesses. Instagram Maps will make finding new businesses much easier, through tagging in posts and Stories. There will be also a filter based on categories, like restaurants, cafes, salons etc.

This new feature should increase visits for businesses. It will be interesting to see how businesses will react to this, encouraging people to take pictures and make videos on the premises. The more “instagramable” the place, the better. This type of UGC (user-generated content) makes the business more trustworthy. 

Source: Social Media Today