Google Marketing Live 2019: What You Missed

A summary of all the ad updates announced at Google Marketing Live 2019.

Last week Google held its annual Google Marketing Live event where the company announced a host of new features related to the search giant's ad product.

Here is a summary of the new ad formats and updates Google is rolling out over the next few months.

1. Responsive Search Ad editing directly in Google Ads App

Users will now be able to create responsive search ads directly inside the Google Ads App instead of on desktop.

The feature should make launching quick, informal campaigns easier and faster. For instance, you could edit an ad during a commute to work or away from desktop.

As Google puts it:

"You can write creative, five-tune the headline and set bids and budgets right from your mobile phone!"

2. New Google Ads App Recommendations and Notifications

Google is launching new recommendations and notifications that will appear in the Google Ads app and enable users to optimize their campaigns for better results. They include:

  • adding new keywords
  • adding negative keywords
  • pausing poorly performing keywords
  • opting into smart bidding strategies

The app will also send users a notifications when it has identified an area of a campaign that could be optimized to maximize conversions and optimize performance.

3. Local Campaigns available for more advertisers

Google announced that it will now make local campaigns available to retailers regardless of whether they have store visits management enabled.

"Local campaigns are the first campaign in Google Ads specifically designed to help marketers drive foot traffic to stores, restaurants, auto dealerships and more," Google announced.

One new feature Google is rolling out is the ability to showcase product-specific information and offers within an ad. Customers like to have an idea of what to expect before visiting a store, and this new update is designed to give customers a picture of what to expect before they walk into a store in person.

4. New Google Maps Ads

Also Google Maps is being updated with more places where ads will be shown.

For example, when a user plans a route from point A to point B and your store is located along that route, you can have Google show an ad for your business. This will make it easier for users to stop by your when doing errands.

5. Discovery Ads

Google revealed feed-based Discovery Ads which can be shown in three places:

  • Google's Mobile Home Page
  • YouTube's Home Page
  • Gmail's Promotions Tab

Discovery Ads are designed to target users at the top of the funnel when they are most perceptive to learning about a new brand and receiving more information.

6. Gallery Ads

Google revealed a new image-based ad unit that will function similar to Facebook's Carousel and be displayed at the top of search results for users to swipe through.

Gallery Ads will give brands an opportunity to display multiple merchandise and product lines in one ad, a boon for retailers.

7. Audience Expansion

Google is introducing a new tool that will expand advertisers' reach to drive more conversions while maintaining the same average cost-per-acquisition (CPA).

8. Google Shopping

Probably the most important announcement at this year's Google Marketing Live was the release of Google Shopping, an attempt by Google to combine the best of Google Express and compete with Amazon.

Google Shopping will include a personalized shopping home page that will include a list of all past purchases a user has made and important details like credit card info.

In addition, a shopping icon will be added to videos, images and search, which users can click on to directly purchase any product.

For instance, if you are watching YouTube and merchandise comes up, you can add the item to your shopping cart without leaving the video.

9. Google Shopping Ads updated

To go along with its new shopping experience, Google has also updated its Shopping Ads by revealing Smart Shopping Campaigns for store visits. These are ads designed to drive people to visit in store and boost foot traffic.

Google Shopping ads will also now have the ability to display specific product inventory or product lines.

10. App deep linking

Customers that have downloaded the app of a business tend to be more loyal to a brand.

Therefore Google will now allow ads to link to pages in a business's app, not just their website.

Doing so removes one barrier of friction. Why take customers who have already downloaded the app of a brand to their website, when directing them to an app will more likely result in a conversion.

11. Bumper Machine Ad Generator

A new tool for YouTube will use machine learning to create several six second videos out of a longer 30 second or 90 second commercial. The last two seconds of the ad will always include a call-to-action.

The idea is to automize the video-making process and force creatives to get shorter with their content without wasting time on editing which can be automized.

12. Campaign-level conversion settings

Advertisers will now be able to set conversion goals at the campaign level, instead of just the account level.

Not all campaigns within an account often have the same conversion goals. So allowing campaign-level conversions will make it possible for advertisers to differentiate goals for different campaigns.

13. Seasonality adjustments

Different businesses operate in different business cycles, which means that some months there could be spikes in activity while other months could be dead.

Google is now recognizing these fluctuations and allowing advertisers to adjust for seasonal spikes, such as a one-time holiday sale or promotion.

14. Maximize conversion value

A new bidding strategy by Google will allow advertisers to maximize for conversions within a specified budget.

15. New value rules

Finally, Google announced that over the course of the next several months new value rules will be implemented that allow advertisers to differentiate conversion values based on characteristics like location, device and audience.

Try Aori

Spending too much time on your Google Ads? Try our Google Ads Editor alternative for a smoother, faster and more effective experience.

DMEXCO 2019: Key Takeaways Google releases new Smart Bidding strategies Visual Search: Future Growth and Opportunities