2021 March
Welcome, spring! Of course, the last month of winter hasn’t passed without an update concerning the biggest online marketing platforms around. Let’s dive into the most recent updates and news!
Every news starts with a short summary with the key points, however, if you are willing to dive deeper into a certain topic, you can always find an additional link for further reference.
1. Responsive Search Ads Are Now Defaulty Ad Type for Google Ads
Search Engine Journal
Google has announced that Responsive Text Ads will be the default ad types for Google Ads search campaigns – expanded text ads will still be available, however. The difference between Responsive Search Ads and Expanded Text Ads is the following: for an expanded text ad, you create separate headline and body copy combinations – but in a responsive search ad, the various elements are viewed as an ‘asset’. These assets are then mixed and matched by Google, enabling it to find the best combination of headlines and body copy for a campaign’s goal.
2. Google Search Console Update: Core Web Vitals Reporting
Search Engine Journal
Google’s Core Web Vitals report will become the base of Google Rankings in May 2021, and now they have updated some metrics of the report. From now on, the metrics defining the boundaries for largest contentful paint (LCP), first input delay (FID), and cumulative layout shift (CLS) are now defined as ‘less than or equal to’ – up until now it was ‘less than’. Though it seems like a small change, it can still have a big impact on your site’s report.
3. YouTube Analytics Update: New Video Comparison Tools
Search Engine Journal
YouTube has added a new section into their Analytics menu, making creators able to compare the performance of their videos in the same timeframe – up to 100 videos. It can help YouTubers determine what’s working on their channel and what’s not. The data is presented in the form of dot plots. Creators have the option to choose the first 24 hours, first 7 days or first 28 days performance. You can also have a look at the Top performing and Bottom performing videos (of the chosen timeframe, out of the chosen videos). You can also have insights on various metrics: views, impressions, CTR, average percentage viewed, average view duration, watch time, likes, dislikes. This update can help the work of a lot of YouTubers and brands out there!
Read more about YouTube Analytics’ update.
4. Lead Forms Are Now Available in Google Ads
Google users often need more information when considering a purchase. To help marketers, Google has introduced Lead Forms in their search ads – from now on, users don’t even have to leave the results page, they can enter their information there. The form becomes active when searchers tap on the headline of your ad. After submitting, users can choose to go back to the results page, or visit your site.
5. Attribution Report now includes YouTube and Discovery Ads
Attribution reports are Google’s way to help you understand a customer’s journey, how and where they interact with your ads, what paths they take to complete a conversion. A few months ago, YouTube ads were added to this report, and now, to give you a holistic view of your Google media, they have added Discovery ads as well. This feature is now in beta, you can opt-in within the Measurement – Attribution section in Google Ads. You have the opportunity to have a view of the Top Paths your customers take, and you can also compare various models.
6. How can Google Marketing Platform tools boost your sales?
Google Marketing Platform
In this case study, Google introduces Moccler, an Italy-based clothing company, that has realized the growing power of online channels – even though most customers kept buying offline. They took an omnichannel perspective, and that’s when Google’s tools came handy! As the first step, they implemented Google Analytics 360 and started using Search Ads 360 – initially they used these only for reporting, but now they also make use of them to build attribution models. They also launched their first programmatic campaigns using Display & Video 360. The result of this new data-driven programmatic strategy is quite impressive: programmatic buying represented about 65% of the total investment, it produced a 36% lower CPM, and overall resulted in a 72% rise in revenue YoY, and a 35% improvement in ROAs.
7. How will the disappearance of Broad Match Modified keywords impact your Google Ads campaigns?
Search Engine Journal
Last month we informed you that broad match modified keywords will disappear from Google Ads. Google offers various keyword types besides exact match: there’s also phrase match, broad match, and broad match modified – this enables advertisers to cover keywords that are similar to theirs – e.g. hotels and lodging. However, there might be keywords that are inevitable for a business: for example, a hotel in Miami might be okay to show up to either hotel or lodging, but Miami has to be in the search term. With broad match modified, adding a + symbol in front of Miami, let’s the advertisers do just that – and it was quite popular with 89% of advertisers using it. However, it is used in a different way than intended: advertisers usually “modify” every keyword with a + sign, and they are not really aware of how it should function. However, from now one, phrase match keywords (where other words can be added before or after the keywords) will be taking this function. How will this affect your campaigns? Advertisers predominantly using phrase match can expect an increase in clicks and conversions, while advertisers using broad match modified can expect a little decrease in clicks and conversions.
Read more about how the disappearance of Broad Match Modified will affect advertisers.
8. Are Blogs Dead in 2021?
HubSpot
In a world where podcasts and vlogs are getting more and more popular, it’s fair to ask the question: is it even still worth it to blog? While Google’s statistics show that in the last five years there has been a slight decline in the popularity of blogs, and on the contrary, a growing demand for podcasts. However, marketers still claim blogging is a worthwhile investment in the long run: think about SEO strategies, and the lead generating power of a post. They also note that while podcasts are a good form of branding, blog posts are generally aimed at top of the funnel customers. Video/audio content and blogs can also be supplemental in a customer journey: for example, a furniture store can write a blog post about the benefits of their products, and create video content on how to install them. So, to sum it all up: bloggers don’t need to worry, they will probably be around as a useful content marketing tool in the future.
9. Updates to Google Ads Mobile App
To help you stay up to date with your ad campaigns, now you can set custom notifications in the Google Ads mobile application – you can create one in the Settings menu. You can also access performance insights, to have a deeper understanding why the performance of a campaign has changed. You also get push notifications if there is a significant change in performance.
10. How data insights can help your business in agility
Think with Google
2020 has been a year when agility was key to success: realizing customer trends and reacting to government restrictions have brought an unexpected turn into the strategy. In this article, Google introduces Survey Monkey and Old Navy (part of parent company, Gap), and explains how data insights can help you besides campaign optimization: they can guide your strategic decisions and also make predictions for planned and unplanned shifts in customer demand.