Many brands have had a long and illustrious history with Google Adwords. They used the platform because it enabled them to reach the largest online audience and increase their brand awareness. Along the way, they were able to inform their customers about their products and maintain a conversation and interact with them. They were also able to increase their conversion rate and add considerably to their bottom line.
But every product needs to adapt to the needs of its clientele, and Adwords had its limitations. Google noticed areas where the product could be improved, and to their credit, they gave Adwords a complete overhaul to increase its capabilities.
More Flexibility
Many brands wanted to run different ad campaigns that each featured a different feature or aspect of a single product. The thinking was to present a product to different potential buyers and markets that may be unaware of it. But they wanted to do this without alienating its core audience. To do that effectively meant designing different types of ad campaigns with different end goals.
Expanded Capabilities
Google incorporated expanded flexibility into the re-design of the Adwords platform. They created six different ad campaign formats for their clients to choose from. They also changed the name to differentiate the old platform from the new. Google Adwords gave way to Google Ads.
The six different ad categories were defined as:
- Search
- Display
- Shopping
- Video
- App
- Smart
Search Ads are popular because they’re a simple concept. By choosing the right keywords that a user types in when looking for a product, the ad pops up on the first page of the search results and catches the user’s attention. This is even without even any search engine optimisation (SEO). The trick is in choosing the right keywords. But by devoting a bit of research to the ad content, these ads can be extremely effective.
Display Ads are the ads that appear on websites or apps that partner with Google. The ads have a variety of sizes and formats, making them useful on a variety of different Google platforms like Gmail or YouTube. The ability to easily change sizes is also helpful when designing ads for different devices.
Shopping Ads are targeted at the immediate buyer. When a user types in specific keywords, an ad with information including store name, location and item prices will pop up. These are also ideal for brands that have online ordering capabilities.
Video Ads make use of Google’s famous YouTube platform. They are akin to television advertising in that the creators of the videos get a share of the ad revenue. But when they’re attached to videos that happen to go viral, they can provide limitless brand exposure.
App Ads are made to promote and drive app downloads. They can appear on YouTube and partner websites, as well as in Google’s Play Store. They feature the ability to click on the ad and download the app directly.
Smart campaigns use ‘smart’ technology to continuously monitor, assess and enhance an ad’s performance. They allow technology to do all the hard work in monitoring and adjusting the ads.
Contact Primal to schedule a consultation and learn more about what the latest version of Google Ads can mean for your brand’s digital marketing capabilities.