Source: Official Google Webmasters Blog Video consumption has gone from primetime to ‘all-the-time.’ From teens to adults, people spend as much time watching online videos as they do watching TV. 1
There have never been more opportunities for brands to connect with consumers through the power of video and YouTube. We’ve published a new guide, Press Play on TrueView Video Ads, to help you understand how to optimize TrueView ads to support your performance goals. It touches on topics such as:
Understanding TrueView ads and how to measure success
Amongst the many announcements made at the recent Google Performance Summit were a few about AdWords and updates that will change the way we all ‘do’ Google PPC. Make way for new ad formats, device-specific bidding options and more; here are three of the announcements that we found most intriguing.
AdWords is breaking up tablet and desktop ads, and enabling mobile base bids.
Soon, changes will occur which will alter the way search happens on mobile. This new way of setting bids will allow marketers to target ads by device type, untethering desktop and tablet bids and allowing advertisers to make mobile the focal point of campaigns.
Soon, we’ll be able to set separate bid adjustments for mobiles, desktop computers and tablets, tying keywords to whatever device is best suited for our businesses’ target audience. Then, we can simply adjust for other devices.
This update affords greater control over device-level bidding and is desperately needed considering over half of all Google searches are now done by mobile device. No longer will bids be awkwardly tied to a limited desktop multiplier.
Expanded text ads are being rolled out for all devices.
Later this year, all advertisers will be able to maximize their ad space with more text. Coinciding with the removal of right side ads, text ads with more characters will have a uniform appearance regardless of the device you’re using. They’ll also be specifically optimized for smartphones.
Marketers will then be able to make the most of ads, capturing the attention of a growing number of consumers who are keen to know exactly what we have to offer them before they click over to our websites. Attention spans are getting shorter as information becomes more readily available, so it’s up to advertisers to garner attention as quickly as possible.
The new ads will feature two longer headlines, at up to 30 characters each, and longer descriptions at up to 80 characters. The accompanying display URL can also have two directory paths used to describe the landing page content, neither of which has to match the landing page URL.
With such significant changes occurring, it’s time we all begin updating our marketing and advertising strategies!
Mobile searches will soon feature promoted pins.
Google has calculated that local search is growing at a rate that’s 50% faster than overall mobile search, and this statistic has lead them to place more emphasis on advertising through Google Maps.
Soon, marketers will be able to develop customized experiences targeted at consumers on Google Maps. Instead of just seeing the pin marking where a new restaurant or hard to find boutique is, we’ll see branded pins for all nearby locations. These can even include a range of content and customization options, from local product inventory to promotions, all designed to drive traffic to businesses.
Marketers who want to take part will need location extensions in order to appear in promoted pins, and as this feature is still being tested and experimented on, it’s expected to evolve further in the near future.
With these and several more changes on the horizon, what do you make of the future of Google AdWords? Do you see these as exciting new opportunities for marketers?
Whether it’s for entertainment, indulging a passion, or discovering something new, more people are turning to YouTube to watch videos. In fact, growth in watch time on YouTube is up at least 50% year-over-year.1 Now, more than ever, businesses can connect with their customers through video advertising on YouTube.
But we know that creating a video ad can be challenging. To make it easier for every business— from a dog walker to a barber shop owner—to get started with advertising on YouTube, we’re launching the YouTube Director suite of products. Three products that make video ads more accessible to businesses.
Make a video ad right from your phone
With the free YouTube Director for business app(available for iPhone today in the U.S. and Canada) anyone can create a video ad for their business quickly and easily—right from their phone. No editing experience required. People like Woody Lovell Jr., owner of the The Barber Shop Club in Los Angeles, are already seeing positive results with YouTube Director.
Woody shot and edited a video ad by himself, uploaded it to YouTube, and worked with an AdWords expert to run a campaign. As a result, Woody’s business saw a significant increase in potential customers being able to remember and recognize his ad.2
We challenged five business owners—including Woody—to create a video ad in twenty minutes or less. Watch what happened and download the app to give it a try.
Get a professional to make your video ad
In select U.S. cities, we’re also offering YouTube Director onsite, a service that sends a professional filmmaker to shoot and edit a video ad for free whenever a business spends at least $150 to advertise on YouTube. YouTube Director onsite is available in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C.—and coming to more cities soon.
Is your business an app? We can create a video ad for you too
YouTube Director automated video creates a video ad automatically from existing assets like logos and app screenshots in the App Store or Google Play Store, and is available globally. Reach out to a Google expert (1-855-500-2756) for more information.
No matter what kind of business you’re in, getting started with advertising on YouTube just became a whole lot easier. We can’t wait to see what you make. Happy filming.
The shift to mobile is no longer a change on the horizon. It’s here.
Every year, there are trillions of searches on Google and over half of those searches happen on mobile. And across the millions of websites using Google Analytics today, we’re seeing more than half of all web traffic now coming from smartphones and tablets.
When we asked people to describe the role smartphones play in their lives, they used phrases like “attached to my hip”, “butler” and “lifeline.” Smartphones have become the companion that people turn to in I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do and I want-to-buy moments throughout the day.
To help marketers succeed in this mobile-first world, we have redesigned AdWords — from the ground-up — and re-thought everything from creatives and bidding, to workflow and measurement.
We’re also making it easier for marketers to bridge the digital and physical worlds. With location-related mobile searches growing 50% faster than all mobile searches, it’s clear that consumers are moving seamlessly between online and offline experiences. So it’s important to help marketers think this way too.
It was incredibly exciting to share new innovations with advertisers this morning at the Google Performance Summit. Below are highlights from today’s announcements. You can watch a replay of the full program here.
AdWords re-imagined for the mobile-first world
Over the last several years, we’ve discovered that accounting for mobile and designing for mobile-first are two very different things. That’s why we’ve completely transformed how we think about and build AdWords.
In order to enable advertisers and developers to drive more downloads of mobile apps — across Google properties — we built Universal App Campaigns. To date, Universal App Campaigns has delivered more than 2 billion downloads for advertisers, across Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, and the Google Display Network. And last week at Google I/O, we announced this campaign type is now available on iOS.
Today, we are announcing even broader changes to advertising with Google, from how text and display ads work, to the way advertisers optimize campaigns.
What do text ads look like in the mobile-first world? Mobile has revolutionized the canvas where ads live. Earlier this year, we removed right-hand side ads on desktop to improve the search experience and make it more consistent across devices. This paved the way for us to introduce the biggest changes to our text ads since AdWords launched fifteen years ago.
Optimized for screen sizes of the most popular smartphones, new expanded text ads in AdWords provide more ad space so you can showcase more information about your products and services before the click. Here are the key changes:
These upgrades help your ads work harder across screens, especially for the on-the-go mobile consumer that wants to know exactly what you offer before tapping into your website.
Based on early testing, some advertisers have reported increases in clickthrough rates of up to 20% compared to current text ads. We encourage you to start planning for this upgrade before it rolls out later this year. How do display ads look in a mobile-first world? From sites to apps to videos, mobile has unlocked a universe of new spaces to reach consumers. Responsive ads for display adapt to the diverse content across the more than two million publisher sites and apps on the Google Display Network (GDN). They also unlock new native inventory so you can engage consumers with ads that match the look and feel of the content they’re browsing. Simply provide headlines, a description, an image, and a URL — and Google will automatically design these beautiful responsive ads.
We’re also extending the reach of GDN remarketing campaigns by giving you access to cross-exchange inventory, which includes more websites and apps around the world. With this inventory, European airline SAS drove about 20% more conversions at a similar CPA for its remarketing campaigns. Learn more
What does bidding look like in a mobile-first world? Marketers need more control and flexibility to optimize bids on specific devices. In the next few months, you’ll be able to set individual bid adjustments for each device type — mobile, desktop and tablet. This lets you anchor your base keyword bid to the device most valuable to your business and then set bid adjustments for each of the other devices. You will also have a wider range to adjust bids, up to +900%. With more controls, you can now optimize with greater precision while keeping things simple with a single campaign that reaches consumers across devices.
Mobile is local, bridging digital and physical worlds for marketers
Nearly one third of all mobile searches are related to location. People’s online and offline worlds are colliding — whether you’re researching restaurant ideas for dinner on Friday night or looking for a store that sells rain boots in your size.
To help advertisers reach consumers searching for physical business locations, we’re introducing new local search ads across Google.com and Google Maps. Advertisers using location extensions will be able to prominently showcase their business locations when consumers search for things like “shoe store” or “car repair near me.” Learn more
We’re also investing in more branded, customized experiences for businesses on Google Maps — geared towards helping you increase store visits. We’re currently developing and experimenting with a variety of ad formats on Maps that make it easier for users to find businesses as they navigate the world around them. For example, Maps users may start to see promoted pins for nearby coffee shops, gas stations, or lunch spots along their driving route. Local business pages are also getting a brand new look — to encourage consumers to explore your store before they even arrive, we’re adding new features like special offers and the ability to browse product inventory.
With online ads bringing more people to your storefronts, how do you measure the impact?
AdWords is the largest online-to-offline ad measurement solution in the world. In fact, since AdWords store visits were introduced two years ago, advertisers have measured over 1 billion store visits globally.
Businesses across a variety of industries around the world are using insights from AdWords store visits to measure the impact of online ads on offline activity. Nissan UK discovered that 6% of mobile ad clicks result in a trip to a dealership, delivering an estimated 25x return on investment. See the full story here.
Succeeding in a mobile-first world
As consumers live their lives online and blur the lines between online and offline, it’s more important than ever to build your business for mobile. Google’s building for this mobile-first world as well and we’re excited to go on this journey with you.
To see the full range of ads and analytics innovations announced this morning, watch the Google Performance Summit keynote here. Also, check out the new AdWords Marketing Goals site to learn how to use ad solutions to meet your business objectives.
Last year at Google I/O, we shared our mission to make app growth easier with the launch of Universal App Campaigns – one simple campaign that surfaces apps to billions of consumers who use Google Play, Search, YouTube, and more. It’s working, and more people are discovering apps on Google than ever before. Over the past year—and thanks to Universal App Campaigns—we’ve more than doubled the volume of app installs driven by ads, and to date, we’ve delivered more than 2 billion downloads to developers.
Today at Google I/O, we’re announcing multiple improvements to Universal App Campaigns to make it an even more powerful tool for app developers to find the right users for their app.
Making app growth simple for iOS developers
First, Universal App Campaigns are expanding beyond Android to help developers grow their iOS apps. Now, all app developers can tap into the simplicity and power of Universal App Campaigns to reach billions of Android and iOS users on YouTube, the Google Search App, and the Google Display Network. Universal App Campaigns for iOS are available in beta today and will roll out to all developers in the near future.
Finding more valuable users with less effort
Second, we’re helping developers more easily grow an active user base by finding the right user from the start. Instead of reaching any user to install their app, developers can now also find customers who are likely to be valuable users of their app. A recent study1 showed that 17% of users drive 85% of app revenue, which is why successful apps are shifting their focus from volume to finding more of the right customers.
Universal App Campaigns will automate targeting, bidding, and creative generation to find your most valuable users based on your in app conversions. Just tell us the in app events that matter to you, whether it’s reaching level ten in your game, subscribing to your service, or making a purchase in your app, and we’ll do the rest. Our models evaluate countless signals and constantly learn and adjust, meaning every ad is based on the freshest, most relevant data. The best thing is that we do all the hard work in the background, predicting which users will be valuable and acquiring them at the right price. These innovations are in testing and will roll out in the coming months.
Pocket Gems has already been leaning on the automation of Universal App Campaigns to find quality users at scale, as David Rose, Director of Performance Marketing said:
“Universal App Campaigns have helped us acquire users with a higher LTV compared to other acquisition channels. We’re particularly excited about how the next generation of Universal App Campaigns will enable us to iterate quickly and optimize for the actions that matter most to our business. This is an app marketer’s dream.”
More ways to reach the right customers at the right moments
That’s not all. We’re creating more chances for developers to show ads where users go to watch, discover, and communicate. Universal App Campaigns will soon reach more users on YouTube, as well as introduce a new opportunity to reach users on top of tabs in Gmail.
Insights made for apps Finally, we know app developers need the best user insights to build better apps and power their marketing campaigns, so we’re particularly excited about Firebase Analytics, our new analytics platform designed for apps from the ground-up that was announced at Google I/O earlier today. It provides prebuilt engagement and in-app actions that will help manage your conversions and lifetime value for AdWords campaigns and over 20 third-party ad networks. If you’re an AdWords user you can funnel these conversions into AdWords so it’s even easier to optimize campaigns to the things you care about.
SparkPeople, one of our early testers in the health and fitness sector, is already gaining more insights and taking a longer term view of app audience growth by linking AdWords accounts to Firebase:
“AdWords is a crucial part of my customer acquisition strategy. Linking my AdWords account to Firebase was incredibly easy, and now I can see total lifetime value for all users I’ve brought in from AdWords, broken down by campaign. The ability to sync my AdWords data to Firebase Analytics has simplified my daily management and optimization from hours to minutes, so I can spend more time building an app my users will love.” – Joe Robb, Digital Marketing Director, SparkPeople
We look forward to helping many more developers build and grow successful businesses. At Google I/O, we’ll be sharing essential insights and best practices on how to drive growth with Google tools. You can take part too by viewing the live streamed and recorded sessions here. Happy I/O!
Finding the right customers on Google Shopping starts with your Merchant Center product feed: it contains all the information about the products you sell to help online shoppers find just what they’re looking for. But we know that creating and maintaining a complete and compliant data feed can be challenging. To make feed management easier, we’re excited to introduce Feed Rules, a self-service tool to help you transform your existing data from your inventory management systems into the format accepted by Google Shopping. Feed Rules helps you streamline your data feed uploads, whether you’re already running Shopping campaigns or you’re just getting started.
Use Feed Rules to set up and maintain your feed in Google Shopping format Feed Rules allows you to perform basic transformations of your existing product data — making it easier than ever to get your data feed up and running. You can export and submit your product data in your own format, and use different rules to transform it into product attributes and values that follow the Google Shopping feed specification, directly in Merchant Center:
Map your column headers to the attribute names supported by Google Shopping. For example, if you have an existing feed with the unsupported column header “main title”, you can set up a rule in Merchant Center to have it recognized as the supported attribute name, “title”.
Transform the values in your feed to values supported by Google Shopping. For example, to submit gender specifications for your products, you can transform the unsupported value “for women” in your existing feed to the supported value “female”.
Populate missing attribute values with a fixed value, or with different values based on conditional criteria. For example, if the “condition” attribute is missing and you’re only selling new products, you can set up a rule to have this attribute automatically set to “new”.
Once you specify new rules for a feed, all future uploads of this feed will be processed according to those rules.
Use Feed Rules to organize your data for campaign optimization You can also use conditional rules to better organize your data:
Implement rules for custom labels to structure your campaigns in new ways. For example, you can group products by price ranges or margins, then later bid differently on these groups.
Tag your products with a shipping label. For example, you can derive “heavy” from the category, label those products, and define a particular shipping cost for those items.
As we introduce the first version of Feed Rules, we’re eager to learn about even more use cases from you. Feedback and suggestions for this feature can be entered directly from your Merchant Center account by clicking the gear icon in the top-right corner of the page and selecting “Send Feedback” to let us know what you think.
Measuring the impact of online video is something of a passion for us at Google. It’s been three years since we unveiled Brand Lift for YouTube and brands have seen great success. But the last piece of the puzzle has been how does online video drive offline sales? This is particularly true for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, for which the vast majority of sales – over 90% – happen offline. Thanks to our new integration with Oracle Data Cloud – a leader in the emerging Data as a Service (DaaS) industry that measures the sales impact of digital media – we now have a solution to answer that question. Today we’re announcing the availability of sales lift studies in the US, for CPG advertisers using TrueView video ads.
The value of video
We’ve been testing this capability for a while, and have seen promising early results: 78% of TrueView campaigns we studied on YouTube showed an increase in offline sales, with 61% driving a statistically significant lift in sales of the advertised brand.1
To build this solution we worked with Oracle Data Cloud to develop the first in-depth application of their DLX ROI product on video formats, and we studied a range of CPG video campaigns running TrueView ads across food, health and beauty, beverage and homecare. We built this with privacy at the center, and no personal data is exchanged between the companies.
Early client successes
One campaign we measured, Gatorade’s “We Love Sweat,” earned $13.50 sales in return for every dollar spent on TrueView (return on ad spend, or ROAS). This stunning success was due in part to persistent branding and strong creative geared specifically for driving sales. Gatorade’s campaign was also interesting because it delivered a remarkable 16% lift in sales among new buyers that had seen the video vs. new buyers that had not – according to Oracle Data Cloud a typical lift in this metric hovers around 2.5%.
Similar to Gatorade, parent company PepsiCo also saw sales lift success with their campaign for Doritos. Not only did our DLX ROI solution show that their 30-second creative drove higher lift in sales among exposed households than a 15-second version, but they saw particular targeting techniques – namely topic targeting and remarketing – drove greater sales lift compared to a demographic target.
Mars also participated in our DLX ROI test for their Pedigree pet food brand, and the sales lift studies helped them make key creative decisions. They tested a video that opened with strong branding against one that saved their branding for the end, and learned that the video with strong upfront branding drove nearly 7x greater sales lift. As Laurent Larguinat, Global Director of Mars Consumer and Market Insights said, “With this new offering, YouTube is rounding out a full funnel measurement solution for video. We’re excited to continue to see these results for all of our campaigns.” This new sales lift offering drops the last piece into place for full funnel measurement of CPG campaigns on YouTube, and we’re excited to bring you new creative and media strategy insights that drive incremental sales as we scale these studies.
Google, leading the way yet again in technological innovation, continues to focus on making more concepts mobile friendly to gain a foothold on the consumer power present behind mobile applications and purchasing.
After all, what better way to welcome Spring other than learning of a new and cool list of mobile marketing opportunities from the edgy company?
Springtime announcements are becoming almost a tradition, mostly focused on mobile advancements. This time proves to be no different, as new changes to mobile platforms via Google are the center focus of upcoming innovative announcements from the company.
It’s nice to welcome the warm weather and outdoor activities with the knowledge that some neat new mobile features are coming to our fingertips courtesy of Google.
It’s mobile-first these past few years for the company, but Google’s innovative ability to adapt its features to be mobile friendly help give it an edge over others, who often lag behind the mobile changes introduced by Google.
So, what can we expect this year?
With a mobile-first emphasized evolution, the SERP appearance continues to modify itself for the mobile opportunity. Next on Google’s list is molding paid ads to fit into the mobile concept. Google’s major announcement this Spring rolled out the red carpet for some innovative AdWords mobile features.
Below are some of new changes, and what to expect.
Ads on Google Maps
Following is a list that covers the latest and greatest features coming to Google. So, you’ll be educated and prepared when AdWords starts shifting, and ready to pounce on the marketing opportunity.
Google’s going to be ramping up its ads on its Google Maps application. The updated version of Google Maps includes several more local search ads, which will be present in both the mobile and desktop versions.
Google.com itself will also display several more ads than it currently does. What’s nice for those marketing using Google AdWords is that brand logos, as well as company offers, will now be right on the map’s surface and much easier to see.
Plus, if customers click on the logo on the map, they’ll be taken to a local inventory ad format for the business. So not only will your ads be displayed on more apps, they will be much more clear for general marketing.
Doubling Headlines for Better Vision
If you are wondering, “Why Google Maps for more ads?” you are probably not alone. The answer comes from the sheer volume of users—more than a billion.
Within Google, searching for a location makes up about 33% of all the searches present on mobile devices. So Google will be using the location of the user to advertise about businesses that are near the customer while the customer searches for a destination and uses the map.
You’ve probably noticed there are no more right side appearances of Google AdWords.
The desire was to pull the appearance of Google together on all devices, rather than having anything seem broken up or offset. The text ads are now the next things set to evolve.
Headlines will increase to two 30 character headlines, replacing the current 25 character one headline version. Even better for advertisers using Google, Google found that this headline length brought up CTR by nearly a quarter.
There’s going to be an increase in the characters present in the description line as well. Right now, Google AdWords offers two 35-character description lines, which will increase to one 80-character line.
While five characters might not seem like much, the ads are certainly going to be bigger and more noticeable, which seems to promise much more clicks than the current version of Google AdWords
Monitoring In-Store Connections
AdWords brings the capability to measure the conversion from the customer that clicked on your ad in the mobile world to the person physically walking into your store. This prospect, although not completely new, will allow business owners to see how many people searched for your store, clicked on your ad, and then came to your store. While the feature exists, it is not standard, and Google plans to focus on making this capability general to all types of businesses.
Responsive Display Ads
If you are tired of making different ads for all the different formats in existence, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Google will allow you to create an ad that will adapt to the best format for you, depending on where it is being served. From there, all you will need to do is type in a URL, headline, description, and image, and Google will make that ad for you. So, you can kiss your ad headaches goodbye.
Device Bidding Updates
AdWords Bidding will become more user-friendly. You used to have to setup a desktop bid, and mobile bids could adjust the base bid. And if you had a tablet, you were stuck with the desktop version no matter what. Now, you’ll be able to set bids via mobile, desktop, or tablet freely, and if they become dependent it is based on your choice. You’ll have a lot more control over your bidding.
Google-Centered Innovations
Google is one innovative company, and who can blame them? Their focus on mobile enhancement provides benefits for customers and advertisers alike, and many people are looking forward to the change.
As more people become more reliant on their mobile phones, the shift to mobile-centered features promises Google many happy and grateful consumers and advertisers.
When mobile users are looking for entertainment they often turn to game apps. In 2015, an estimated 41% of all apps downloaded were games.1 However, while a user may be excited about downloading an app, it can soon be forgotten; studies have shown that 1 in 4 installed apps are never used.
For game developers, building a successful business has often depended on an approach of acquiring as many users as possible, then trying to keep them engaged in the game as their interest wanes. While volume is important, it’s more important to find the right kind of user, who’ll open the app and keep on playing. That’s why today, at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), we announced a host of new features in AdWords and AdMob that make it simpler for developers to reach the right users at scale.
Let users try your app before downloading from Google Search We recently introduced Trial Run Ads on the Google Display Network which lets users stream your game from a display ad for your app before they download. In the next few weeks, we’ll extend these ads to search results on Google as a beta for selected U.S. advertisers. With Search Trial Run Ads, when a user searches for a game on Google, they can click ‘Try Now’ from within a search ad and try the app before installing it, similar to streaming apps from organic results. These ads will appear to smartphone users on WiFi, and the user can play for up to 10 minutes, then download the app in full if they choose. This format drives highly qualified users who are more likely to stay engaged with the app after install. Contact your Google representative to learn more about using this new format.
Showcase your game with portrait videos More than 80% of video ad views in mobile apps on the Google Display Network are from devices held vertically, but often, the videos are created for landscape viewing. Over the next few weeks, we’re launching Portrait Video Ads so users have a full-screen, immersive portrait video experience without having to re-orient their device. We’ve seen significant improvement in both click-through and conversion rates from game developers using Portrait Video, resulting in a much lower cost per install and a larger number of downloads.
Promote your app to game-lovers Advertisers have long been able to control who sees their AdWords ads, and in the coming weeks we’ll be launching even finer options to reach high-quality users with Active User Targeting for Games. This new type of targeting for Android apps can show ads to users who have spent more than 30 minutes playing games, or who have played a Google Play Games integrated game in the last 30 days. Game developers can show their ads to game lovers, and combined with other types of targeting, such as a particular game category (e.g., Adventure), they can reach a very precise audience.
Earn money from rewarded ads with AdMob Mediation AdMob helps app developers around the world earn through in-app advertising with best-in-class formats and smart tools to maximize revenue. Increasingly, rewarded advertising is becoming a popular form of game monetization: users are given the choice to engage with ads in exchange for in-app rewards. Today, we’re introducing a way for developers to easily monetize apps with rewarded video ads from a number of ad providers in AdMob Mediation. Supported networks and platforms include AdColony, AppLovin, Chartboost, Fyber, Upsight, and Vungle, with more being added all the time. So if you’re a developer monetizing with these providers, you can easily manage and optimize them through the AdMob interface. It’s part of our ongoing commitment to provide app developers with a first-class mediation solution, and follows our recent launch enabling SDK-less mediation.
We’re working closely with developers to innovate our ad solutions and help them build strong businesses. If you’re a game developer, come and meet with our ads teams at GDC at the Google booth between Wednesday and Friday, to discuss developing great games, growing your user base and earning more money. We’ll have a series of great talks in our booth mini-theater each day, and on Thursday morning we’ll be part of the main GDC sessions, with a discussion on user acquisition and monetization.
People constantly move between devices throughout the day — reading breaking news on their smartphone, watching a viral video on their tablet, or researching a beach vacation on their laptop. This creates a challenge for marketers: how do you find the right person at the right moment? Google’s audience solutions help marketers reach people based on the things that matter to them using insights from millions of websites and apps on the Google Display Network and billions of daily video views on YouTube. Whether you’re a business looking to build your brand or drive sales, we can help you deliver relevant messages to people at each stage of the path to purchase. Here’s how businesses can find the right audience with Google display and video ads:
Demographics – Reach customers within demographic groups you choose — including age, gender, and parental status. For example, a brand running a promotion for back-to-school backpacks can reach moms 25-34 years old.
Affinity audiences – Drive brand awareness and engagement by reaching people who have interests relevant to your brand. For example, a sportswear brand can reach outdoor enthusiasts to announce its new line of hiking apparel.
Custom affinity audiences – Drive consideration with an audience tailored precisely for your business. For example, a company that produces a soccer video game can reach fans of specific soccer clubs.
In-market audiences – Drive qualified traffic by reaching customers actively researching and intending to make a purchase. For example, a consumer electronics manufacturer can reach customers actively shopping for cameras.
Each month, AdWords advertisers worldwide run hundreds of thousands of campaigns using these audience solutions. Ford New Zealand, one of these advertisers, used Google’s audiences to drive more car shoppers to its website. Ford wanted to reach auto enthusiasts and raise brand awareness for its vehicles, so it used affinity audiences. The automaker also wanted to reach individuals actively researching and considering the purchase of a new vehicle, so it used in-market audiences. By using these solutions as well as dynamic remarketing, Ford drove a 60% increase in site visitors and tripled the amount of time spent on its site.
“Google’s audiences let us reach customers at each stage of the path to purchase, which helped us drive more qualified customers to our website and increase leads,” said Ford New Zealand’s general manager of marketing, Cameron Thomas. Read more here.
Marketers can achieve results like these because of three things unique to Google:
1. Deep consumer insights based on many touchpoints Google’s audiences are built using data from millions of websites and apps — including properties like YouTube that reach over a billion users. This gives us a wide range of contexts — reading hotel reviews, browsing homes on a real estate app, watching car videos, and more — to understand what people care about. Users can control their experience so they’re more likely to see useful, relevant ads.
2. Ability to distinguish between people’s passions and purchase intent We classify the millions of websites and apps on the GDN using machine learning, separating those that indicate “passion” from those that indicate “intent.” This enables you to connect with customers at the right stage of the path to purchase based on the types of websites and apps people visit. For example, if you’re an electronics brand looking to drive awareness, you may want to reach people who browse electronics blogs and videos to satisfy their passion for gadgets. But if your goal is to drive sales, you may want to reach people who are researching high-definition televisions on price comparison websites.
3. Real-time data that’s always fresh AdWords updates audiences in real-time, adding new information each time an ad is shown and removing information that no longer reflects people’s current interests. This is important for your ads’ performance, since a person who shops for a plane ticket today may no longer need one tomorrow. Or a person who is an aspiring chef this winter may find a new all-consuming passion for the outdoors in the spring.
To help even more marketers reach their audiences, we’ve also made these solutions available globally on YouTube and DoubleClick. Whether your goal is building your brand or driving sales, Google’s audiences help you reach the right people at the right moment across millions of websites and apps.
focused on mobile advancements. This time proves to be no different, as new changes to mobile platforms via Google are the center focus of upcoming innovative announcements from the company.
With a mobile-first emphasized evolution, the SERP appearance continues to modify itself for the mobile opportunity. Next on Google’s list is molding paid ads to fit into the mobile concept. Google’s major announcement this Spring rolled out the red carpet for some innovative AdWords mobile features. 
The updated version of Google Maps includes several more local search ads, which will be present in both the mobile and desktop versions.
setup a desktop bid, and mobile bids could adjust the base bid. And if you had a tablet, you were stuck with the desktop version no matter what. Now, you’ll be able to set bids via mobile, desktop, or tablet freely, and if they become dependent it is based on your choice. You’ll have a lot more control over your bidding.