1. Brand Inclusions in Broad Match: This allows you to leverage broad match benefits while limiting traffic to specific brands. You can now easily identify and apply brand inclusions through new recommendations on your Recommendations page.
2. Brand Exclusions Across All Match Types and Dynamic Search Ads (DSA): Unlike brand inclusions, brand exclusions let you exclude specific brands across all match types and DSA, including misspellings and variants, ensuring you only show up for the most relevant non-brand searches.
3. Improved Visibility in Search Terms Report: Misspelled queries, previously hidden under “Other” due to privacy thresholds, are now reported with the correctly spelled search query. This change makes about 9% more search terms visible, enhancing your ability to analyze and optimize campaigns.

4. Simplified Blocking of Misspelled Searches: Previously, excluding misspelled variations of keywords was cumbersome. Now, adding a single negative keyword will exclude all its misspellings, streamlining the process and improving campaign control.

Stay tuned for more updates as Google continues to refine and enhance its advertising tools to support campaign success. If you have any questions or need assistance implementing these changes, feel free to reach out to our team.

The post Maximize Your Search Campaign Performance with Google’s New Query Matching Updates appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Performance Max

1. Advanced image generation technology
2. The ability to add brand guidelines (including brand colors and font)
3. AI-powered image editing (add/remove objects, adjust sizes, extend backgrounds, etc.)
4. Partnerships with 3rd-party platforms like Canva. (this allows teams to create assets outside of Google and export them to Google Ads)
5. More insights into performance
   • Where ads served on YouTube (placement reporting)
   • Asset-level reporting

Search

1. Shopping ads to appear at the top of visual search results (with Google Lens and Circle to Search)
2. Ads will soon start showing within the AI Overviews (currently they are only above or below)

Retail

1. Product Studio – Uses Google AI to transform static images to brand-appropriate videos.
2. Brand profiles (showcases a brand’s images videos, promos, etc.)
3. Virtual try-ons (this will start with men’s and women’s tops and allow you to see how they look on various body types)
4. 3D views/3D spins of footwear
5. Profit optimization (new smart bidding option for PMAX and standard shopping campaigns)
6. Category-level performance insights (including competitive benchmarks for PMAX and standard shopping campaigns)

YouTube

1. Stickers for YouTube Shorts (clickable images to increase engagement)
2. BrandConnect (a self-service platform that connects creators with brands)

Measurement & Audience

1. Cross-channel budgeting in Google Analytics (track pacing and projected performance across channels)
2. AI-generated insights via Google Analytics insight cards (helps to explain significant changes in data)
3. Meridian – Google’s open source marketing mix models (MMM) (will help to measure marketing impact and make more informed decisions)

As you can see, this year’s GML unveiled a ton of exciting innovations, most powered by Google AI. I personally look forward to leveraging them in campaigns for greater success! For more information, reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility or visit Googe’s summary of announcements, here.

The post Google Marketing Live 2024: A Quick List of Announcements to Get Excited For appeared first on MoreVisibility.

In-Platform Asset Creation

Google announced updates to the already existing image generation technology that advertisers can use to create compelling images for Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Display campaigns. Later this year, Google will roll out functionality to input your very own brand guidelines (including colors and fonts) to create more on-brand ads than available in the past. This is a powerful new tool that can help any brand, but especially those with limited design resources.

Performance Max Reporting Insights

While insights into Performance Max campaigns are still limited, we can expect to get a bit more data into performance in the coming months. Most notably, there will be asset-level reporting to see key conversion metrics for each creative asset to (finally) get insight into which creatives are generating conversions.

Interactive UX in Google Search Ads

Google will be testing a much more immersive user experience within search to select advertisers this year. This new experience will allow the user to search not only with text (a search query) but include photos and other “multimodal inputs” to receive tailored recommendations to the question or query the user is looking for. The example given by Google is for a user searching for short term storage and getting an AI-driven plan to find the right storage solution for them (see below).

Demand Gen Campaign Updates

Advertisers who utilize a Merchant Center account can now showcase their products with video content in Demand Gen campaigns. This works by using the brand’s product feed to automatically create animated image ads that will serve on YouTube Shorts placements.

In addition, it’s important to note that while similar audiences have been deprecated across all other Google campaign types, they are still available for use within Demand Gen campaigns. To take this a step further, Google announced that the minimum audience size for lookalike segments has been lowered to a 100-user threshold instead of the previous 1,000-user threshold.

These are just a handful of the new and exciting product updates Google has in store for advertisers, but there are many more! The full summary of announcements can be found on Google’s Support website.

To learn more about advertising in Google, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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8 months later, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to hammer Google on their manipulation of search prices in their closing statements. The following slides are from the DOJ’s closing deck, which is specific to search advertising.

Google’s Monopoly Power

Google’s dominance allows it to control ad prices and dictate terms to advertisers. Additionally, they do not need to consider the competition’s ad prices. The following slides outline quotes from various Googlers discussing how they raise prices to increase revenue.

Tuning/Manipulating Prices

The Department of Justice outlined 3 things that are harming advertisers: format pricing, squashing & Randomized Generalized Second-Price (RGSP).

1. Format Pricing: In the Google auction, advertisers never pay more than their max bid, however in 2017, Google launched a project called “Momiji.” Momiji artificially inflates the auction’s runner up’s bid. As a result, the “winning” advertiser experienced a 15% increase in cost.
   
2. Squashing: A new product called “Kumamon” was introduced in 2017. It was indicated to incorporate more machine learning signals into the auction, however in reality it was “a simple algorithm consisting of bid, three quality signals, and some (mostly) hand tuned parameters.” In other words, it was another way for Google to “raise the price against the highest bidder.”
   
3. RGSP: Randomized Generalized Second-Prize is a practice that Google uses to pick the winner of an ad auction at random for advertisers with similar ad ranks. The top bidder then “pays the price of the bid equal to the next-highest bid plus one cent.” The result of this was higher prices over time (AKA inflation). It did not however lead to higher quality.
   

These admissions shed light on Google’s practices in optimizing revenue streams, raising questions about transparency and fairness in digital advertising. Google has a big monopoly, which means they pretty much control the game. This affects how much we pay for ads in search auctions. Advertisers want a fair market where everyone has a chance, but Google’s dominance makes it tough. We need rules that keep things fair. In doing so, businesses can compete, and customers get the best results when they search online.

View all 143 slides from the DOJ’s closing statement here: https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-05/421661.pdf.

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LinkedIn states that their network of publishers includes Paramount, Roku, and Samsung Ads and cites that “your campaign is aligned with publishers across the LinkedIn Audience Network, which DoubleVerify measured as over 99% brand safe.”

In addition to the benefit of increasing brand awareness to your targeted audience with this new offering, there is an opportunity to reach users who have viewed their CTV video ad with additional campaigns and ad formats to build a full-funnel marketing strategy, all within LinkedIn.

One of the most significant advantages of CTV advertising is its ability to deliver highly targeted ads based on demographics, interests, and viewing behavior. LinkedIn takes this a step further with many specific targeting parameters that B2B advertisers find extremely useful, such as job titles, company names, years of experience and more.

In addition, utilizing CTV campaigns within LinkedIn provides an additional placement option to fuel a full-funnel approach. Advertisers can build separate campaigns with different messages and product/service offerings tailored to those defined audience segments. Advertisers can then retarget users who have viewed specific video ads within their CTV campaign with in-feed ads supporting the messaging from CTV ads, pushing them lower down the conversion funnel.

To learn more about LinkedIn advertising, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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Customer Lifecycle Goals: New(er) customer acquisition goals prioritize finding new customers while now advertisers can focus on finding high-value customers. In addition, a new retention goal targets lapsed customers, fostering a comprehensive customer lifecycle strategy.

IP Exclusions: Account-level IP exclusions allow marketers to filter out irrelevant traffic, ensuring ads reach only the most relevant audiences, thus protecting budget and optimizing spending.

Real-time Testing: Advertisers can experiment within a single campaign to test optimization strategies. Currently in beta, the Final URL expansion tests enable the testing of relevant landing pages, providing insights into their impact on campaign performance.

Granular Audience Insights: To complement the existing interest and behavioral insights, detailed demographics including age and gender can help reveal untapped market segments. This empowers advertisers to tailor ads to specific age and gender groups, maximizing relevance and resonance.

Budget Pacing Insights: Real-time spend tracking and projected spend forecasts offer visibility into campaign pacing. Advertisers can strategically shift budgets to campaigns that are close to becoming budget limited, ensuring efficient allocation of resources.

These new features and insights are helpful for advertisers aiming to maximize the effectiveness of their Performance Max campaigns. By leveraging advanced AI innovations and gaining deeper control and understanding of campaign performance, advertisers can optimize their strategies to reach the right audience at the right time with the right message. This not only enhances ROI and campaign effectiveness but also fosters stronger relationships with both new and existing customers.

If you have any questions about launching or optimizing Performance Max campaigns, don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility.

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What Are Enhanced Conversions?

Enhanced Conversions represent a leap forward in SEM measurement. Going beyond traditional conversion tracking, EC supplements your existing conversion tags by sending first-party data (hashed) from your website to Google in a privacy-safe way. This feature uses the industry standard, hashing algorithm called SHA256.

How It Works

Upon a customer’s completion of a conversion on your website, you might acquire first-party customer information like email addresses, names, home addresses, or phone numbers. This information can be captured within your conversion tracking tags, hashed, transmitted to Google in its hashed format, and subsequently utilized to improve your conversion measurement.

For example:

• A user views your YouTube ad while signed into Google
• That user proceeds to convert through a form on your website
• The conversion tag captures form information (email, name, etc.), hashes the information and securely sends the information to Google
• The hashed data gets matched against Google’s hashed user data which allows a conversion to be accurately reported in your Google Ads account

Benefits Of Using Enhanced Conversions

1. Increased Conversion Observability:

Enhanced Conversions provide advertisers with a better way to track conversions. In a world without third-party cookies, advertisers will lose visibility into a good deal of conversion activity. Additionally, EC will allow advertisers to observe net new conversions from the addition of first party data.

2. Better Attribution Modeling:

Traditional conversion tracking often struggles with accurate attribution. Enhanced Conversions facilitates more accurate attribution modeling by connecting the initial ad views or clicks and following a user through the conversion process. This helps advertisers identify the touchpoints most influential in driving conversions.

3. Strategic Bidding Optimization:

By utilizing machine learning, enhanced conversions empower advertisers to refine their bidding strategies. Understanding the value of different user interactions allows for more competitive bidding on keywords likely to yield high-quality conversions.

4. Efficient Budget Allocation:

Armed with a clearer understanding of conversion drivers, advertisers can allocate budgets more efficiently. This optimization ensures resources are directed towards channels and strategies that deliver the best return on investment.

If you have any questions about Google’s Enhanced Conversions, don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Enhanced Conversions 101 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Welcome Series: When a new user subscribes, signs up or purchases for the first time, you can add them to a list for your ‘Welcome Series’ campaign. This is an introductory hello that can include further brand resources, information and even discount offers to try and have the user come back and purchase. The Welcome Series can be automated to send out 3-4 emails over 4-6 weeks that remind the user of your brand resources and all the perks they can take advantage of. If the user only subscribed to a mailing list but did not purchase from your site, this can be a great tool to provide exclusive promotions for a limited time to convert them.

Drip Campaigns: These campaigns work best to nurture a lead. For products and services that need multiple impressions for the buyer to convert, using a drip campaign can help. The most common drip campaigns include offering discounts and free shipping to users who purchased in the past, promoting a new product of service, or creating partnership awareness for brands that have teamed up to offer something exclusive to their audience. For example, retailers could set-up drip campaigns sending one email per week for five weeks, each time offering a larger discount for an item. This will measure a threshold for when buyers purchase based on a discount opportunity and could significantly increase revenue, depending on the deal offered.

Special Occasions: Hit your loyal customers with a surprise discount or free product when they expect it, and when they least expect it. Popular occasions for email marketing campaigns include birthdays, anniversaries, and national holidays. These are all dates in which the customer may expect an email with a special offer. However, it doesn’t hurt to also get creative and send a promotion to celebrate the seasons changing, a social trend that is currently going viral or just a gift because your brand cares about keeping your customers happy. Capitalizing on the times when customers are not usually getting a lot of brand promotions can be just as successful as when they are excited and expecting offers.

Event Triggers: Find out what actions are most important on your website and in your customer journey, then label them and develop an email campaign for those times. You can automate these emails being sent out after a customer completes the required action, such as:

• Adding to the shopping cart but not purchasing
• Looking at a product or service page for more than 60 seconds
• Reading a blog or product information page
• Downloading resources available on your site
• Searching specific products on your website, and more.

By knowing what actions lead to a conversion and tracking those actions, you can be present for every user in the buying journey to push them along when needed.

I would also recommend having a lead scoring system in place to complement the four campaigns above. Your email provider likely has a version of this that can be included in your monthly package. Lead scoring will allow you to assign different labels and importance to user actions on your site, breaking down users who are at the top of your funnel versus ready to covert. If you would like to elevate your email marketing strategy, contact us at info@morevisibility.com.

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Create Personas: creating buyer personas is a great exercise because you can clearly see your audience come to life as it makes you think about every angle of their personality. This is key to determining when they want to purchase, finding out more information or engaging with your brand. Identify their pain points, buying habits, number of impressions needed to take action and the type of content they consume.

Map the Buyer’s Journey: After you create your audience personas, map out their buyer’s journey. In this exercise, you are trying to identify the stages of buyer awareness, consideration, and decision. You want to have a plan on what type of advertisements they should see in these stages and why. This will allow you to have a clear plan and tailor your content to each should audience for maximum results.

Storytelling: Sharing success stories, testimonials and behind the scenes content is a great way to connect with your audience on a personal level. This will make your content more engaging and build brand loyalty and trust, if done correctly. Storytelling is best done through video content, but imagery and strategic copy can still be your first impression or hook to get a click that leads to more content. Storytelling is also a great way to expand your content over multiple campaigns.

Summarize and Tease: Use the other content on your website, such as blogs, podcasts, testimonials, etc to advertise your expertise and brand identity with shorter videos and teasers. For example, you may have a great blog that isn’t getting a lot of traffic. Create a short video teasing the conclusion without giving it away, making the targeted audience want to click through and read what happens. This can be done with podcasts and any other pieces of content you created.

Brand Voice: Make sure you have consistency across your advertisements. Brand voice goes beyond just narration in video ads, it is also the voice inside your target audience that they hear when they read your ads. Having inconsistent colors, fonts and tone-of-voice in your ads will lead to inconsistent feelings in the audience and ultimately no lasting impressions. We all know it’s an Allstate commercial as soon as the ‘Mayhem Man’s’ voice starts talking on our screens, just like we read a Geico ad in a British accent because the gecko mascot is next to the copy. Create a memorable brand voice across all your ads.

Prioritize Pageviews: Engagement is always a great measurement for how well your ads connect with your audience, but pushing to achieve higher pageview rates could yield greater profits. Users that have the desire to leave their current page, platform, or app to visit your website, have a greater desire to potentially take a significant action, such as purchasing. By making this metric a focus, you will automatically audit your ad experience for the best ways to connect with your audience.

Be relatable, let your brand’s personality shine through to your audience and you will always have a great chance of connecting with them. The points above will help you fill in the strategic details on how you’re going to achieve the goals you set. If you would like more information on how your advertising strategy can better connect with your target audience, email our team at info@morevisibility.com.

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Pros of Advantage+ Targeting:

1. Expansion of Target Audience:
   Advantage+ will find new users outside of your outlined targeting parameters. Seasoned advertisers with a consistent target audience “checklist” as well as newer advertisers looking to gain intel into their target audience can both benefit from the expansion of your campaign’s reach to users you may not have otherwise targeted.

2. Efficiency:
   The AI-driven automation streamlines the campaign setup process, reducing manual efforts. This efficiency allows advertisers to focus on overall strategy, creative elements, and analysis.

3. Adaptability to Market Changes:
   The dynamic nature of Advantage+ ensures that your audience remains relevant. The system learns from user behavior and adjusts accordingly, helping you stay ahead in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Cons of Advantage+ Targeting:

1. Learning Curve:
   Implementing Advantage+ may require a learning period for the platform to find relevant users. Like any AI advertising tool, accurate data inputs (in Meta’s case called “audience suggestions,” which is optional) will help decrease the lead time for ads to start serving and can help overall quality of users reached.
2. Overreliance on Automation:
   Relying on automation may pose challenges if the system encounters unforeseen technical issues. This level of automation also limits the overall control that advertisers have on the targeting aspect of their Meta campaigns. Striking the right balance between automation and human oversight is crucial.
3. Not Available for Special Ads Category Campaigns:
   Advantage+ targeting is not available for advertisers who fall within Meta’s Credit, Housing, Employment, Social Issues, Elections or Politics or Pharmaceuticals special categories.

Based on your organization’s flexibility with audiences, budget constraints, and overall comfort level with automation, Meta’s Advantage+ targeting could bring a wealth of benefits to the table.

The post Can Meta’s AI Really Find Your Target Audience? appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Influencer marketing will continue to grow as social media and content outlets grow. The more platforms there are, the more ways there will be for people to connect. Some influencers have a strength in a particular platform while others boast significant followings on them all. The good news for marketers is the influencer market provides more options than ever – offering influencers from different industries, different price points and different types of content. Brands can pinpoint an influencer that fits their brand voice by reviewing their content, engagement, and audience demographics. Here are some great ways you can track and quantify your Influencer Marketing Campaigns:

Compare Engagement

Make sure you have a baseline average of what the engagement of the influencer is per post. You should know their average views, video views, likes, saves, comments, reactions, and any other action their followers take. Compare this baseline to the engagement data from your paid influencer posts to gauge who their audience reacted. Average or above is successful, while below average could lead to a more organic approach by the influencer in the next post.

Review Follower Sentiment

It’s not if followers are commenting and sharing, it’s about what they are saying. A campaign with 100 positive comments that clearly shows the audience likes the post will yield a higher ROI over time than a post with 1,000 comments and half of them are vocal about not liking the influencer promoting your product. Instead of just tracking the number of comments over time, also track the rate of approval from these comments.

Quick vs Slow Action

Knowing your influencer’s following and history combined with your sales data should begin to give you an idea of how long it may take for the influencer to ‘win over’ their followers enough to take significant action and create an increase in revenue. This is important for budgeting, it is not uncommon for an influencer to promote a product or service for months or years before the ultimate goals of the company are met. If you have a smaller budget, it will be crucial for you to choose the right influencer and the right content for them to post because you will likely have a shorter length of time and smaller amount of posts to get your influencer to move the audience to action. Also, do not be fooled if the influencer creates immediate ‘buzz’ and you start increasing revenue from the first few posts – how often your customers purchase is then a crucial piece of data to understand if there is a point of no return with the influencer marketing your product.

Popularity Trajectory

Marketers set boundaries and limits on who they want to add to a potential list of influencer matches for their campaign. For example, “find me a list of influencers with nothing less then 50k followers,” to ensure they gain the exposure they are after. This is natural, especially with so many influencers in the market now. But it may be beneficial to also look below your original threshold. Influencer marketing works off of trust, so you can also build trust with influencers who are growing their followers. The more followers and engagement the influencer has, the more money they can charge to promote products – so any dedicated influencer will continue creating content steadily as they work to their goal. If you can find an influencer that fits your tone-of-voice and their content is in line with how you’d like your campaign to look, do not cross them off your list if they don’t have enough followers right now. For a smaller budget, you can build loyalty with these influencers and grow as they grow, much like investing in a stock.

Using promotional codes and tracking website behavior is part of the influencer campaign as well, but because influencers usually have an audience that likes their specific style and personality, we must have unique and flexible ways to measure efforts. If you need further information on influencer marketing strategy, email us today at info@morevisibility.com

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1. Real-Time Bidding – Programmatic advertising uses real time auctions that take each advertiser’s bid and sells them to the highest bidder in real-time. This maximizes relevance to the user (helping to gain more clicks) and speeds up the ad buying process for advertisers, so your ad is shown in relevant times and more often.
2. Data-Driven Targeting – Your ads will take advantage of precise audience segments from the programmatic platform that feature data on demographics, user behavior and user interests. Because of these targeting options, advertisers can ensure ad placements are being used on relevant audiences.
3. Automation – Programmatic advertising allows marketers to spend more time focusing on creativity and overall data analysis because a lot of the manual work is removed. With the ad buying process automated, this is a big benefit for small advertising teams who have a long list of ads to manage.
4. Cross-Channel Integration – Programmatic doesn’t just mean the ad buying process is automated, but also the ad placement. Your ads will automatically be rendered correctly and displayed across multiple channels of your choosing, including display, video, social, streaming platforms and traditional television.
5. Dynamic Creative – Programmatic platforms will offer dynamic creative, automatically changing content in real-time to try and gain more clicks based on the ad placement and the user demographics. There are restrictions you can impose, so the advertiser does not lose full control, but artificial intelligence has the power to change creative in real-time can yield better, faster results.
6. Dynamic Messaging – Similar to dynamic creative, programmatic platforms also have the ability to tailor your message or copy to a certain demographic or ad placement, with the goal of better ROI.
7. Fraud Detection – Due to the nature of programmatic advertising and having an automated process, platforms that feature programmatic ads have stepped up their fraud prevention technology. This ensures they do not lose ad revenue and reputation and ensures the advertiser the impressions and clicks are real.
8. Real-Time Campaign Metrics – Programmatic platforms also let you see campaign data in real-time. Unlike other platforms that may take 24 hours to a few months to show complete performance, advertisers can take advantage of real-time optimizations.
9. Private Marketplaces – Also called PMPs, private marketplaces are exclusive auctions within the programmatic platform that only a select group of advertisers have access to. If you fit the criteria for that platform, private marketplaces help drive up the quality of the ad placement because the winning bid will be guaranteed a high traffic spot that is relative to their preferred audience.
10. Multiple Exchange Bidding – Some programmatic platforms offer the option to optimize the auction process further by selling ad inventory across multiple ad exchanges at once. This in return secures spots for the ads and allows the advertiser to expand the reach of their placements without any manual work.

As you can see, programmatic advertising is not just a type of ad campaign, but a transformative environment that combines human creativity with the knowledge of machine learning. I like to think of programmatic advertising as the chameleon of ads – given your parameters and audience, it will do the rest and change appearance in real-time.

If you think testing programmatic advertising could be right for your digital strategy, send us an email at info@morevisibility.com.

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An Open letter to Google Ads Advertiser

To me, the most important thing when a Google search takes place is to figure out what the user’s “why” is, the intent behind their query. With decades of experience on the front line of search, a trend I have seen consistently is that digital advertisers want nothing to do with irrelevant impressions of their ads and the wasted dollars that can come along with it.

From inception of Google AdWords, BROAD MATCH was the default match type. And just when you thought there was nothing broader, BROAD MATCH MODIFER was introduced to match your ads to even more queries. Though it was ground-breaking at the time, it came with many challenges, notably lack of transparency in reporting and misaligned ads to queries. The amount of money wasted on irrelevant and inappropriate ad clicks became a frustration to digital marketers who ultimately ended their use of BROAD MATCH altogether and never looked back.

Is this fair? As the majority of digital marketers must be aware, features are iterated and improved over time.

I would appreciate the opportunity to connect with any Google Ads advertisers who ever tried using BROAD MATCH and/or BROAD MATCH MODIFER and stopped abruptly. Nothing would please me more than being able to broaden your reach in a new and improved smart way while generating higher conversion volume at a lower cost. Let me show you just how smart my team at Google Search really is.

Sincerely,

Broad Match

Inspired by “An Open Letter to Hobbyists” written by Bill Gates in 1976.

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The Search Ads Toggle allows advertisers to seamlessly integrate their campaigns into TikTok users’ search results. This means that when users search for specific keywords or topics, advertisers have the opportunity to display their ads prominently, aligning perfectly with users’ interests – and perhaps, buying intent. In essence, it allows advertisers to extend their reach beyond TikTok’s native algorithm-driven placements (on a user’s “For You” feed) and show ads on a keyword-driven search results page. The result? A balance between broad audience reach and specific intent-based targeting.

When the Search Ad Toggle feature is enabled, ads are clearly labeled as “Sponsored” content on the search results page. Per TikTok’s blog post, ads will “appear in varying positions on the results page based on relevancy, user intent (as understood from their search query) and broader learnings from other user behavior.”

So, how can this new placement tool help advertisers achieve their ROAS goals? TikTok internal research has shown that 70% of ad groups with the feature turned on show “more efficient” performance as a result of lower-cost conversions. Not surprising, as users are more likely to be lower down the conversion funnel while searching for a hyper-relevant product or service.

To learn more about social media advertising strategy, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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What is Performance Max

Before we dive into how to gain search insights, let’s quickly recap what Performance Max is. A Performance Max campaign is an advertising campaign type offered by Google Ads that aims to maximize performance and reach across multiple Google platforms, including the Search Network, YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. This campaign type utilizes machine learning and automation to optimize your ads for various placements and audiences, with the goal of achieving your desired marketing objectives.

How to Understand Search Volume and Activity

Now that we know that Performance Max campaigns pushes ads on all of Google’s platforms, let’s dive into the search aspect. Performance Max campaigns use the content of your website, audience signals and audience segments to determine which searches ads should be shown for.

Recent updates allow marketers to see key KPIs in a detailed report – and the data goes back starting March 2023. Previously, we could only see these key metrics in a limited view for the last 28 days at max. See campaign insights below:

This data not only allows us to understand which searches are generating impressions, it also allows us to understand what percentage of Performance Max impressions, clicks and conversions can be attributed to paid search (and how it has trended).

I look forward to continuing to gain deeper insights into these highly effective campaigns. If you have any questions about Performance Max campaigns, don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility.

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The Consumer Journey

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital advertising, the path to purchase has become increasingly complex. Advertisers strive to understand the impact of each touchpoint on a consumer’s journey towards conversion. This is where attribution models come into play, assigning value to these touchpoints, and helping to shed light on the effectiveness of advertising efforts. Let’s dive into the difference between rules-based and data-driven attribution models.

What Are Rules-Based Attribution Models?

Rules-based attribution in Google Ads refers to a method of assigning value to different touchpoints or interactions that a user has with your ads along their journey to conversion. It involves predefined “rules” that determine how credit for a conversion is distributed among these touchpoints. Traditionally, rules-based attribution models have been the go-to choice for assigning value to different conversion touchpoints. However, these models have limitations when it comes to adapting to the dynamic nature of consumer behavior, since each rule for a specific touchpoint is set up manually. Recognizing the need for a more versatile and accurate approach, Google introduced data-driven attribution which relies on machine learning and artificial intelligence to dynamically allocate credit to these different touchpoints.

Why Embrace Data-Driven Attribution?

Data-driven attribution leverages the power of Google’s AI (rather than manual, pre-set rules) to comprehensively understand and analyze the impact of each advertising touchpoint on a conversion. This AI-driven approach, coupled with automated bidding strategies, enhances overall campaign performance by providing a granular understanding of attribution.

What’s Next?

Google has announced a phased transition away from traditional rules-based attribution models; June 2023 marked the deadline for advertisers to have the option of selecting first click, linear, time decay, or position-based attribution models for setting up new conversion actions in Google Ads. Most recently announced, by September 2023, any remaining conversion actions using these models will be automatically switched to data-driven attribution.

It’s important to note that this shift does not affect any conversion actions currently set up under data-driven attribution, last click attribution, and external attribution models. Advertisers who prefer not to utilize data-driven attribution can still opt for the last click model. The removal of these rules-based models from the platform will also affect reporting features across Google Ads, including the Overview page and the Model comparison report within the Attribution tab.

The move towards data-driven attribution marks a significant leap forward in accurately understanding the impact of advertising touchpoints, especially in omni-channel campaigns (i.e., Performance Max). As we bid farewell to traditional rules-based models, we eagerly anticipate the enhanced insights and capabilities that data-driven attribution will bring to the forefront of digital advertising strategies. To learn more, contact the digital advertising experts at MoreVisibility.

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Brand restrictions for broad match allow advertisers to get the benefits of broad match (more reach and Google AI) while restricting traffic to only brand searches. For example, a company that sells shoes could create a brand restriction for “Nike” and “Adidas”. This would ensure that their ads only appear when someone searches for one of those brands. Currently, brand restrictions are only available for broad match campaigns.

Brand exclusions for Performance Max allow advertisers to specify which brands their ads should not appear for. For example, a company that sells shoes could create a brand exclusion for “Walmart”. This would ensure that their ads do not appear when someone searches for “Walmart shoes” in a campaign type that is prone to a variety of search themes.

How to use the new brand settings

To use the new brand settings, you’ll need to create a brand list (Tools & Settings > Brand Lists). A brand list is a list of brands that you want to include or exclude from your campaigns. You can create a brand list by adding the URLs of the brands’ websites.

Once you’ve created a brand list, you can add it to your campaigns. To do this, go to the Settings tab for your campaign and click on Brand restrictions or Brand exclusions. Then, select the brand list that you want to add. As a reminder, if you are using Brand restrictions broad keywords will be turned on.

The new brand settings in Google Ads are powerful tools that can help you to improve your campaigns. By using these settings, you can gain more control over where your ads appear, improve your reporting, and save money. If you have any questions about these updates don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google Ads Introduces New Brand Settings for Broad Match and Performance Max Campaigns appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. You’re not providing strong audience signals to power Google’s AI. One of the core features of a Performance Max campaigns is Google’s AI-driven optimization. This advanced technology leverages audience signals to deliver personalized ads to potential customers. However, if your campaign fails to provide strong audience signals, it can hinder the AI’s ability to optimize effectively.
   
   Audience signals can and should be in the form of customer match lists (first party audience data), remarketing lists, custom audiences (this can include commonly searched keywords/competitors) as well as in-market or demographic information.
   
   By providing clear and accurate signals to Google’s AI, you empower it to deliver tailored ads to the right users at the right time.
2. You’re simply optimizing towards conversions and not qualified conversions. Driving conversions lies at the heart of any successful marketing campaign. However, focusing solely on generic conversions without prioritizing qualified ones can undermine the success of your Performance Max campaign. Generic conversions may bring in a high volume of leads, but if they lack quality or relevance to your business objectives, they won’t contribute significantly to your bottom line.
   
   Use either offline conversion import or enhanced conversions to improve your lead quality. By setting up your campaign goal for as far into the conversion funnel as possible, you’re giving Google AI the best possible look at who you want to reach.
3. Your ad assets are limited. The success of most advertising campaigns, including Performance Max, heavily relies on compelling ad creatives. If your campaign lacks a diverse range of high-quality ad assets, it can limit Google’s ability to dynamically generate engaging ad combinations that resonate with your target audience.
   
   Ensure you’re creating a robust selection of assets including copy, images and video. Use “Ad Strength” as an indicator to determine whether you’re set up for success and add more assets as necessary. More assets = more ad formats. Last, ensure that you’re creative speaks well to your audience (defined by your audience signals).

While Performance Max campaigns offer a great opportunity for success, if not set up and run properly, your campaign will not be effective. Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for help navigating Performance Max campaigns.

The post 3 Reasons Why Your Performance Max Campaign is Failing appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that creates new content based on learned patterns. Generative AI can produce new content, chat responses, etc. Traditional AI has focused on detecting patterns, making decisions, honing analytics, classifying data, and detecting fraud.

This brings us back to how Google is using Generative AI to improve search. Now open to users through Search Labs, Search Generative Experience (SGE) takes the work out of search and uses AI to summarize search results. It allows you to get the answers you need quicker. This aligns with Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful.

In the coming months, Google will be experimenting with adding both Search and Shopping ads into this new search experience. In anticipation of this, they have outlined some commonly asked questions, summarized below.

What should I do for my ads to appear in the new generative AI experience in Search?

No action needs to be taken for campaigns to be eligible to show.

When will ads show with SGE?

Google will be testing different ad placements for people who are participating in the Search Labs experiment. This will include both dedicated ad slots on the page as well as ads weaved into the AI snapshot and conversation mode.

Will I see reporting for my ads that show with SGE?

Ads that show with SGE will appear in search terms reporting based on contextual intent from users in searches. Negative keywords will still be applied and there will not be new reporting based on this new search experience.

As Google continues to change the search landscape, I look forward to seeing how ads are incorporated. On the flip side, I’m also starting to think about what that means for digital strategy and campaign setup. Ensuring you’re using Google products powered by AI is likely going to be the key to future success. Think Performance Max, Responsive Ads, broad match, etc. More to come here…

If you have any questions about Search Generative Experience and the impact it will have on paid or natural search, don’t hesitate to reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) for Advertisers appeared first on MoreVisibility.

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1. Targeting

• Utilize top performing audiences from your other LinkedIn campaigns.
• Don’t forget about remarketing. Target past website visitors, users who have engaged with other lead gen ads or single image ads.

2. Choosing Your Sender

• Make sure the person you choose to be your sender has a high-quality profile photo. The sender’s image plays a huge role in whether a user opens your sponsored message.
• Test multiple senders. Test for effectiveness by different job titles, friendly profile pictures or users with name recognition.

3. Ad Creation

• Always begin the ad creation with a goal in mind. If you want to drive brand consideration, link to asset downloads, webinars, etc. If you want to drive leads, offer demos, tutorials etc.
• Introduce yourself in the opening message (note the first line in your message will appear in the subject line).
• Include various CTA buttons, however, remember that only one lead gen form per conversation ad is allowed.
• Test content that is working well for your business in email campaigns.
• Keep your copy short, sweet, and conversational.
• Ask questions to keep a two- way dialogue.
• Personalize the message using Macros. Macros allow you to pull LinkedIn profile data into your conversation. The following are currently available: First name, last name, job title, company name and industry.

4. Reporting

• Use the “Conversation ads CTA performance” report to gain understanding of how engaged users are with the conversation. Export the report then pivot the data by CTA button copy.
• As with other ad types, demographic reporting is available and should be utilized to understand who is opening and clicking your conversation ads.

LinkedIn Conversation Ads offer a unique and effective way to engage with potential customers. By following these best practices, you can create personalized, interactive, and engaging ad experiences that drive conversions and build your brand on LinkedIn.

Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for help planning, launching or optimizing LinkedIn Conversation ads.

The post LinkedIn Conversation Ads: A Quick Best Practices Guide appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Text Assets

Headline: 30 characters max; include at least one with 15 characters or less.

Long Headline: 90 characters max

Description: 90 characters max; include at least one with 60 characters or less.

Business Name: 25 characters max

Image Assets

Landscape & Square Images: at least 1 and up to 20

Portrait image, optional

Logo (1:1)

Landscape logo, optional

Video Assets

While this is optional, we highly recommend including at least one video asset to give your ads the most visibility across Google properties. Your video asset must be available as a link to the video on your YouTube channel (the video may be private.)

Call to Action Asset

This is automated by default. Should you want to have a fixed CTA, you can choose from: Learn more, Get quote, Apply now, Sign up, Contact us, Subscribe, Download, Book now, or Shop now.

Save yourself some time by making sure your Performance Max assets adhere to these specifications. Not only are the file type and size important, but aspect ratios also play a part in your ad viewability. Think about how your ads will look on the small screen (mobile devices). Take advantage of the ad showing across all Google properties by uploading all asset types, in multiple variations.

Request a free Digital Marketing Strategy Session from our team to learn more about how Performance Max campaigns can amp up your digital marketing performance.

The post Performance Max Asset Specifications Quick Reference Guide appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. How are my customers searching for and engaging with my business?
   • The search terms insights section analyzes searches your ads have appeared on the last 7 or 28 days, grouping them into categories and providing KPIs for each. Here you can see what searches are converting more frequently. This insight may inform landing page and creative asset decisions.
     

2. Who is seeing my ads?
   • The audience insights section shows which audiences are converting at higher rates. These insights will surface characteristics, interests and behaviors of users who see your ads and convert. You may learn something new about your audience which can inform a broader business strategy.
     

3. How are various ad assets resonating with my audience?
   • The asset audience insights section shows you which audiences are resonating with various assets. These insights can help you generate additional assets that may resonate well with users in your top audiences.
     

4. How are changes I’m making impacting performance?
   • The Performance changes section provides a great view on recent changes made to campaigns with correlated changes in performance.
     

While the initial launch of Performance Max campaigns brought a lot of mystery, Google has made some serious strides in giving advertisers added insights into what’s going on under the hood. The Insights page helps answer strategic questions to learn more about your audience and campaigns, which can inform optimizations and strategy. I look forward to the continued insights Google offers into Performance Max.

Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for help navigating Performance Max campaign insights and optimizations.

The post Understanding Performance Max with the Insights Page appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Google makes it an easy and painless process for advertisers to get started.

1. Choose the goal, or conversion action, you want users to take on your site.
2. Pick one page / URL you want to drive traffic and conversions through.
3. Load up your ad assets.

A Performance Max ad is made of individual text, image, and video assets. Google mixes up the assets and picks the best combination based on the property/channel an ad is being shown on. Even with no designed images, you can get started quickly because Google will use the content on your website or landing page to pull text, image, logo, and video content from. This requires surrender of total creative control, however, don’t fear, you can see previews of what your ads may look like before launching your campaign.

While Performance Max campaigns are driven by machine learning, conversions do not happen overnight because first Google needs time to learn about your goals and intended audience. Ramp-up time to generate conversions is shortest when you have campaigns with historical conversion data. You can also see results more quickly by applying audience signals and 3rd party data. Telling Google more about the customers you are looking for helps flatten the learning curve and generate results faster.

Request a free Digital Marketing Strategy Session from our team to learn more about how Performance Max campaigns can help drive more value for your Google ad spend.

The post Getting Started with Performance Max Campaigns is Quick and Easy appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Another takeaway I had was that “keywords are becoming less important” to quote David Hinshillwood, Google’s Strategic Agency Manager.

When paid search was the only option available for advertisers to inject themselves into a user’s ‘conversion’ journey, ad investment was very high in this channel. As more options have emerged along with the rise in number of digital touchpoints a user initiates and encounters in a journey (YouTube research, checking ratings and reviews, asking for recommendations in social channels, etc.), the returns on paid search have diminished. Search should continue to be an important part of your marketing mix, but not as the work horse it may have been in years past.

Performance Max is designed to complement your traditional keyword search campaigns. Ads are served across all of Google’s channels (YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps). It is a goal-based campaign type, so you start by establishing the conversion point, or goal, that you want to accomplish. Rather than cannibalize your existing campaigns, Performance Max ads will only be served where they can drive incrementality.

Our Vice President of Digital Advertising, Max Braglia, is passionate on the topic and said this of Performance Max, “It’s a game-changing approach that can help you take your advertising efforts to the next level.”

As an agency, we highly recommend utilizing Performance Max to boost your Campaigns’ performance. Contact us if you want to learn more about how Performance Max campaigns can help drive more value for your Google ad spend.

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1. Account-Level Negative Keywords – While you cannot add negative keywords directory to a Performance Max campaign, you can add account-level negative keywords, which will help you exclude traffic you do not want to receive. These negative keywords apply to all campaigns that serve on Search and Shopping inventory, which includes Performance Max.
2. Campaign-Level Brand Exclusions – Coming soon, you will be able to exclude brand searches for your Performance Max campaigns.
3. Page Feeds – In the coming months, we will have the ability to upload a feed of URLs to inform Google’s AI of your most important pages. Note that this does NOT restrict its page matching to just them.
4. Experiments – Use experiments to measure the incrementality of using Performance Max by running an experiment. You can also use experiments to test a traditional Shopping Campaign vs. Performance Max to gauge whether you should replace the Shopping Campaigns.
5. Video Creation Tool – Google has added the (already available) Video Creation Tool to the Assets section of the Performance Max workflow. This will allow you to create templated videos using images and copy assets you already have. As a reminder, if you don’t add a video to your Performance Max campaigns, Google will automatically create one for you.
6. Asset Group Reporting – We will soon see key performance metrics at the asset group level. Currently, we only see a generic rating (Below Average, Average, Good, etc.)
7. Budget Pacing Insights – In the next few weeks, we will start to see insights around how our campaigns have spent, how much they are projected to spend along with current and forecasted performance.

Navigate these changes by working with an expert. Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for help.

The post You Asked, They Sort Of Listened: Performance Max Edition appeared first on MoreVisibility.

What is changing

Currently, the “remove redundant keywords” recommendation (within the auto-apply section) defines redundant keywords as keywords within the same ad groups, destination, bidding strategy, and match type. Starting January 19^th, this recommendation can include keywords with different match types.

Here is an example for how this will work, according to Google. “If your ad group has the phrase match keyword “women’s hats” and broad match keyword ladies hats, we will recommend that you remove the phrase match keyword since the broad match keyword ladies hats covers all Searches from “women’s hats”.”

Why Google is making this update (according to Google)

According to Google, consolidating keywords across match types will make managing your account easier, it won’t negatively impact performance and it will still allow your ads to appear on the same searches.

Why Google is making this update (according to Jill) and my advice

Google has been pushing broad match keywords for the better part of the last two years. This is due to its improvements in machine learning (which in all fairness has improved the effectiveness of the broad match type) and because it gives keywords the most reach. More reach = more spend potential. Plain and simple.

That said, proceed with caution. Do not simply let Google auto-apply the widespread pausing of phrase and exact keywords in favor of broad. Be strategic, be meticulous with monitoring search terms and adding negatives, use with responsive search ads, apply audiences and TEST.

How can you turn off automatically applying recommendations for this type?

Recommendations > Auto Apply (button on the top right) > Manage Tab > Uncheck “Remove redundant keywords” (and any other “recommendations”)

Navigate these changes by working with an expert. Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for help.

The post Google Ads Update: Improvements to ‘Remove redundant keywords’ Recommendation appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. Test more broad match keywords.

   As a someone who’s been managing paid search campaigns since 2009, I can count on one hand the number of instances that I’ve used broad match keywords. That said, it’s 2023 and with the advancements of machine learning there’s a good case to be made to begin testing broad keywords.

   According to Google, “When you pair Smart Bidding with broad match, there’s no need to segment by match type to boost optimization. The bidding system sets a bid for each individual auction of each query and bids up or down depending on how well the query is likely to perform. Broad match keywords allow the algorithms to learn faster and find additional auctions that can help you reach your growth objectives. On average, advertisers that change their phrase keywords to broad match can see ~25% more conversions (in Target CPA campaigns) and ~12% more conversion value (in Target ROAS campaigns) while meeting targets.”

2. Incorporate Performance Max into more client accounts.

   Performance Max was a big deal in 2022. However, given the lack of control that comes with this type of automated campaign, not all clients were on board. Fast forward to 2023 and we simply can’t argue one simple fact – it works. With that in mind, I’m hopeful that more clients will be open to testing Performance Max campaigns and that I can continue to find levers to pull to “optimize” and improve results. Some initial ideas are to test new assets/asset group variations, different audience signals and various campaign goals.

3. Educate myself on Google Analytics 4 and the impact and opportunities it will have for digital advertising.

   2023 is the year that Universal Analytics will stop processing new hits. That means advertisers need to embrace the use of Google Analytics 4 sooner rather than later. A lot of clients are currently importing their goals from UA into Google Ads to be used as conversions. While that’s the most obvious change that will need to be addressed, I know there’s a lot of powerful data that will be generated in GA4 that can be utilized for advertising. More to come here.

What are your professional goals for 2023? How are you going to maximize your time and budget to get the most out of your digital advertising campaigns? One way is to work with an expert. If you are a MoreVisibility client and are looking for ways to change up campaigns in 2023, continue discussing with your client strategist. If you’re not a MoreVisibility client and are interested to know how you can take your digital advertising campaigns to the next level, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post My Top 3 Digital Advertising Resolutions for 2023 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Instead of similar audiences, different campaign types offer solutions to leverage first-party data to enhance campaign performance (while protecting privacy) by means of capturing the right audience.

For Display, Discovery, or Video Action campaigns, the solution is to be optimized targeting instead of similar audiences.

For Awareness, Reach or Consideration video campaigns, the guidance is to include your first-party data in ad groups and enable audience expansion to reach users similar to your first-party data.

For Search or Shopping campaigns, it’s highly recommended that you use Smart Bidding in your campaigns. When customer match lists are applied to search & shopping campaigns (targeted or observation), those lists will automatically be factored as a signal for Smart Bidding.

• Definition of Optimized Targeting
  • According to Google, “depending on your campaign’s goal, optimized targeting can help you reach new and relevant audiences that are likely to convert. Optimized targeting looks beyond manually-selected audience segments in your campaign to find audience segments that you may have missed to improve the campaign’s performance.”
• Definition of Audience Expansion
  • According to Google, “audience expansion allows you to reach your audience in a simple, goal-based way. With audience expansion, it’s easier to reach more people that matter to your business and achieve your marketing goals with Google Ads.By enabling audience expansion, we can open up additional inventory by expanding to additional, relevant audiences. Audience expansion is available for Video campaigns that use the “Product and brand consideration” or “Brand awareness and reach” goal.”
• Explanation of Smart Bidding
  • According to Google, “Smart Bidding refers to bid strategies that use machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each and every auction—a feature known as “auction-time bidding”. Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize conversions, and Maximize conversion value are all Smart Bidding strategies.”

These modifications will occur in phases.

Phase One (May 1, 2023)

During the initial phase, similar audiences will no longer automatically generate, nor will be able to add similar audiences to campaigns and ad groups. Currently, campaigns and ad groups that already have similar audiences will continue to run as expected.

Phase Two (August 1, 2023)

During phase two, similar audiences will be removed from all existing campaigns and ad groups. That said, you will still have access to historical data on the removed audiences.

This update is one of the many changes that Google has announced in the effort of driving business growth while maintaining the high expectations that users have as it relates to privacy. Tackle these deviations by working with an expert. Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for assistance.

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What Does Advertiser Verification Do?

More money is being used for digital advertising, and the pandemic that started in 2020 gave it a big boost. With an increase of advertisers comes an increase of scams and data threats. To combat this, platforms have introduced advertiser identification to verify that the company or user running the ads is real and legitimate.

How Will This Change for Advertisers?

Microsoft will be rolling the feature out to 15 countries, including the United States to begin. As Microsoft audits their ad accounts, advertisers will receive an email notification prompting them to complete steps for verification of their identity. This includes providing information from “government-issued documents or busy-related documents,” states Microsoft. You will have 30 days to complete the steps required from the time you receive the email notification. Microsoft has not released details on what happens if this is not completed upon request, but if we learn from other platform policies, your ads may be turned off until the process is completed.

How Will This Change for Users?

When viewing an ad, the user will have the option to click on a dropdown arrow next to the URL in the ad to see further advertiser details. Using the template, here is an example replacing the advertiser’s name with MoreVisibility:

For our clients, this verification process has become a standard practice and we recommend following the steps provided by Microsoft to complete verification as soon as you receive the email notification.

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While no two landing pages are the same, every great landing page is composed of five core elements:

1. A unique selling proposition (USP)
2. A hero image or video
3. The benefits of your offering
4. Social proof
5. A single call-to-action (CTA)

These building blocks, which are listed in no particular order, should be used as a guide to help increase the success rate of your landing page. Almost all landing pages designed with these user-centric elements will do well, because the structure of a landing page aligns to persuasion and these are elements that help persuade.

Take a look at the illustration below. Although your own landing pages will look different, the same basic building blocks of landing page structure should be present. Below, we’ll discuss each in more detail.

1. Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Your unique selling proposition is what sets your product or service apart from your competitors. It is the answer to the age old question, “What makes your company so special?” It is not about elaborate features, but rather your one-of-a-kind brand promise to your customer.

A helpful analogy to consider is one of my recent guilty pleasures: dating and relationship reality shows.

The premise is a room full of optimistic singles try to win the heart of their dream mate. Every competitor talks about how they are well traveled, have a stable job, and are ready to settle down. The key to making it to the end of the show is to stand out from the rest and prove the promises they have made. Although some parts are scripted, this is reality TV—if a contestant lies, social media will call them out.

Your company is in a similar position, vying for the heart of eligible consumers. Simply being in the room is not enough to be noticed. To stand out from the crowd, your USP needs to clearly outline who you are and how your offer will benefit visitors.

Landing pages need to communicate this proposition in a succinct way so that your visitors immediately understand what makes your product or service appealing. A couple of page elements help tell the story of why your offering is unique:

USP tactic #1: The main headline

Your headline is the first thing that your visitors will read. So it is critical that it very clearly describes what a visitor stands to get from your product or service. Keep your headline punchy, clear, and concise about your USP. Avoid using vague or exaggerated language.

USP tactic #2: A supporting subheadline

Since headlines need to be short and sweet, sometimes you will use a subheading or a couple sentences to provide a touch of extra info. Do not get carried away here either, though. As with the headline, shorter is better.

2. The Hero Image

First impressions are important, and the hero image is likely the first visual element of your landing page that visitors will see. In web design, a hero image is the main photo, graphic, illustration, or video people see at the top of a web page. The goal of this image is to add excitement to a page.

Ideally, a hero image should show the context of use. If you are running a SaaS company, this could be an image, or several images, of your application. If you are in the food industry, it could be an appetizing image of someone enjoying a stack of your nourishing, great-tasting whole grain pancakes.

If you can use custom photography or illustrations, all the better. One of the greatest benefits of custom images is that it presents you with the opportunity to show visitors something they have never seen before. While there are high quality stock images available, you run the risk of using a visual your competitor might be using.

3. Benefits

So far we have discussed the importance of your USP and hero image for your landing page. While they are ideal for grabbing visitors’ attention, they do not address some of the questions people may have. That is why your landing page should highlight the benefits of your product or service.

It is always a good idea to provide a few more examples of how your business will impact either business or personal life of a landing page visitor. Your landing page copy should address the needs and pain points of your ideal customer. Address them directly, demonstrate empathy for their specific problem, and then showcase the benefit of your offering as the solution to their problem.

Remember to include your USP into your copy. What makes you different than the competitor? What are the benefits that only you can offer?

4. Social Proof

If you are one of the seven out of ten people who have purchased something online, chances are you have looked at reviews before adding that item to your cart and purchasing it. That is an example of social proof and it is an excellent way to persuade potential customers to buy.

On a landing page, social proof can be shown many ways:

• Direct quotes from customers
• Case studies (or links to case studies)
• Video interviews or testimonials
• Logos of customer companies
• Review scores from sites like Google, Yelp, or Amazon
• Awards from credible organizations

When using testimonials, be sure to gather as much information as possible such as names, photos, and titles of the people who are speaking on behalf of your business. The more you can display about them, the more real they become to your visitors. A testimonial will be most effective if your prospect can identify with the person giving it.

5. A Conversion Goal (Your CTA)

Last but most importantly, a landing page should be focused on one clear conversion goal, otherwise it is not a landing page. To your visitor, this is presented as a call-to-action (CTA), wh­ich can be either a standalone button on a clickthrough page or a form on a landing page designed for lead generation.

The CTA is the main point of action on your page. Without an effective CTA, your landing page will struggle to convert because no amount of convincing copy or enticing imagery can save a landing page if your CTA fails to impress.

There are all sorts of advanced resources about creating the optimal CTAs, but here are three essentials to get you started:

• Avoid vague button text such as “Click Here” or “Submit.” Use conversational language and let your visitors know exactly what they’ll be getting for their precious clicks (“Start My Free Trial” or “Get 25% Off Your Purchase”).
• Keep the amount of form fields as short as possible. Be sure to include a privacy statement to provide reassurance the user’s data is safe and to comply with any federal regulations.
• Since small differences can have a big impact on your conversion rates, CTAs are always strong candidates for A/B Testing.

In Conclusion

Now that you understand the anatomy of a successful landing page, it’s time to see how they can help grow your business. Contact the experts at MoreVisibility and we will help you create a well-developed landing page that will attract, engage, and convert your visitors.

The post The Anatomy of Successful Landing Pages appeared first on MoreVisibility.

In Google’s example below, the keyword [Lawn mowing service] can match to users searching “grass mowing service”. No longer do the exact words need to be within the user’s search to match to an exact match keyword. If the meaning is the same, your ad will be eligible to show. In the phrase match example of “lawn mowing service,” a matching search could be “hire company to mow lawn”. This search includes the meaning of the keyword.

As someone who has been practicing search engine marketing for over 10 years, this is a significant change. However, what does this mean for your campaigns? How should you adjust? Well let me tell you 3 simple, straightforward actions to take.

1. Simplify your campaigns, ad groups and keyword selection. Now that Google is matching your keywords with more queries, there’s no need to bid on as many keyword variations. It’s very likely you have a lot of overlap among different campaigns and ad groups. Review your search terms reports and re-structure.
2. Transition to responsive ads. As a reminder, you will no longer be able to create or edit Expanded Text Ads as of June 30^th. Responsive Search ads expand reach and typically improves performance due to the automation of testing different combinations of headlines and descriptions. Google learns which combinations perform best and optimizes towards it.
3. Embrace smart bidding. The third piece of the trifecta. We now know that Google is using machine learning in keyword matching and within our now standard ad units. Sensing a pattern? Smart bidding uses machine learning to optimize towards conversions using “auction-time bidding.” Simply, the machine can make smarter, and more informed decisions that a human can.

BONUS STEP

4. Refine your targeting by using more first party & compliant audiences. With less control over the exact search terms your ad is showing on, audience inclusion becomes more important than ever. Be sure to include all relevant audiences for observation and target audiences when it makes sense.

While Google’s machine learning has dramatically improved over time, it’s still not perfect. What Google deems believe to be a good match for a keyword may not be your ideal search query. Navigate these changes by working with an expert. Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for help.

The post What’s Up with Keyword Match Types These Days? appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Staying up to date on new technology trends isn’t simple. Implementing them is even more complicated. Solid marketing technology helps your business with all the facets that make it easier for you to sell the products and services you offer, position your offerings accurately, and give you the insights you need to stay on top.

Let’s take a look at some new technology trends that can benefit your business in 2022.

2021 literally lay the foundation for the fourth industrial revolution introducing us to advanced technology trends the world has never known. With the mass expansion of robotics, nanotechnologies, and AI, we optimistically look ahead in 2022 to even more advanced technological systems that will help improve business processes and allow companies to provide a better user experience.

By 2025 there will be 75 billion connected devices in the world! – Statista.com

In the words of Jean Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise, it’s time to ‘engage’! Here’s some top technology trends to watch out for in 2022.

Blockchain Technology

The blockchain technology industry revenue is predicted to hit $20 billion by 2024.

The blockchain technology trends is nothing new, but in 2022, it will become a part of almost every business and industry.

The technology behind blockchain makes it ideal for industries such as banking, healthcare, travel, ecommerce and many others.

Major companies that use blockchain technology currently are Microsoft, Walmart, Amazon, Nvidia Tencent, J.P. Morgan, Alibaba, PayPal and Samsung.

The appeal behind blockchain technology is that it focuses on creating decentralized digital ledgers that store and track information across multiple locations. The approach makes it impossible to hack, as all identification requires complex calculations.

IOT (Internet of Things)

“Someone needs to refill the Coca-Cola machine!” The world’s first IoT device was created back in 1980 at the Carnegie Mellon University to notify students when to refill the soda machine.

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects or “things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet.

These devices range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated business and industrial tools. With more than 7 billion connected IoT devices today, experts are expecting this technology trend to grow to 22 billion by 2025.

Sectors that benefit from IoT applications are:

• Agriculture
• Energy
• Finance
• Healthcare
• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Hospitality
• Transportation and Logistics

IoT devices also became the go to solution for contact tracing during the Covid-19 Pandemic, giving companies a way to prevent outbreaks in their facilities.

AI – Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Intelligence

“Hey Alexa! Play the score from Hamilton.”

AI – aka cleverbot, wintermute, constitutional robocracy and other urban slang. AI or ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is a household term now which increases efficiency and productivity due to the availability of increasing computer power and applications.

Artificial intelligence in the workplace focuses on functions such as learning and problem solving.

Different from ‘augmented intelligence’ – both share the same objectives but approach it in different ways.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence is recognized as machine learning. It refers to intelligence demonstrated by machines (hence artificial) in contrast to intelligence shown in humans.

Think AI powered robots, devices and machines that react and work like humans but perform better.

Newer AI technologies such as advanced natural language processing and machine learning systems have already reached and surpassed human capabilities.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) devices have the ability to learn entire new languages, scan entire systems, and make accurate decisions better than humans.

Think devices in your home and office that already use AI; Google assistant, Alexa, Siri all use AI to continue to improve on a variety of practices in the future.

2022 will be the year when most major companies start to introduce both AI technology trends into their processes on a regular basis.

What is Augmented Intelligence?

Augmented intelligence is supposed to be a complement not a replacement for human intelligence. It’s about helping humans become faster and smarter at the at the tasks they’re already performing.

How does augmented intelligence help businesses?

Augmented Intelligence helps businesses by facilitating data collection and analytics and performs data cleaning. It can automate insights to help your business make better data-driven business decisions.

Ecommerce stores use data analytics to predict customer preferences as do political think tanks to identify undetermined voters.

5G Tech

“Got 5G?”

5G focuses on improving internet speeds to allow data to be instantly transferred. Compared to 4G, it’s able to increase speeds by tenfold.

With that being said, there are still some improvements to be made with this technology trend.

5G uses millimeter waves to transmit data. The current wavelength spectrum allows for the data to travel only on short distances. For tings to work smoothly, governments must install billions of 5G antennas everywhere. Another stumbling block is that the waves cannot penetrate through walls or thick structures, so these antennas must be installed inside large buildings as well.

There are still many obstacles in adopting 5G, but the overarching outlook is that it will ultimately redefine entire businesses and industries by improving connection speeds, act as the support system for things such as connecting autonomous vehicles to the internet, improving virtual reality and bringing IoT to the next level.

Quantum Computing

“I’ll be back” – Just as Arnold forecasted the revolution of the (artificial intelligence) supercomputers in the blockbuster film ‘Terminator.’

With the latest generation of quantum computers, supercomputers use quantum bits, properties of quantum physics to store data, rather than the regular pokey binary system. What would take traditional computers ten thousand years to process, takes a supercomputer just 3 short minutes.

How will Quantum Computing Help Businesses?

Quantum computing will eventually enable businesses to improve encryption, discover products, help with product design, mobility, supply chain management, optimize investment strategies and much more.

These mega computers are so smart, they can break through any 256-bit encryption n seconds, using algorithms that are able to complete seemingly impossible tasks.

Should you worry about a quantum computer hacking into your crypto Meta Mask wallet? Not just yet, according to Newscience.com as this computer is still a million times too small to break the algorithm that secures Bitcoin.

Tech giant Google states they are working on a quantum computer for commercial use before 2030.

Data Fabric

Cotton, rayon, velvet chiffon? Nope we’re talking ‘data fabric.’

Big data is the leader of the pack as it provides innumerable opportunities for businesses to gain insights from it so marketers know exactly what, when and where to offer goods and services, and whom to offer them to.

What is Data Fabric?

Data fabric is a term that allows for the flexible reliable integration of data sources across platforms and business users, ensuring that data is available where it is needed regardless of its location.

The term ‘fabric’ is used to describe data or ‘storage area networks.’

If you’re a large corporation, you need to reduce the complications of huge amounts of data. Data fabric is an architecture and software that helps organizations solve complex data problems by eliminating inefficient and manual data integration processes and provides business-ready data.

Data fabric learns and actively indicates where data can be used and updated using analytics. This technology software can help save your business up to 70% on data management.

From Zero Trust to Cybersecurity Mesh

‘Trust starts with truth and ends with truth.’

There’s no question that online security and privacy is at the forefront with all industries and businesses today.

With the amount of data online, and the average breach taking 280 days to identify, businesses need a secure system in place to protect not only their own businesses data, but that of their clients and customers data as well.

What is Zero Trust?

Zero Trust is a security framework introduced almost two decades ago. The architecture required all users to be authenticated, authorized, and continuously validated for security configuration.

Today it is no longer assumed that access to a resource through one particular network is secure.

Enter Cybersecurity mesh which was developed into the pool of security design options less than a year ago.

In light of the ‘work from anywhere’ movement, businesses everywhere have had to rethink their security architecture in order to allow users to gain access to their resources by establishing a secure perimeter (mesh) around not just the entire network, but on protecting each device and access point.

These security policies apply at the identity level, the individual level vs at the network level by using firewalls, checking IP addresses, and controlling ports. So, no matter how the infrastructure changes, your businesses data will remain secure.

Conclusion

Marketing and business go hand in hand. Marketing and technology help businesses become more efficient and reach out to vast audiences both locally and world wide.

Businesses that partner with marketing firms that are up to date on the latest technology trends have a higher chance of increasing their revenues by using them.

“What we’re seeing is a transition – the beginning of an S curve of growth for the data center industry – unlike the internet bubble of 2000 which involved ideas that had yet to generate any revenue, the cloud with upward of 4 trillion in market cap, is a real business with real opportunities – this isn’t a bubble.” – Dave Crowley Chief Technical Advisor at Microsoft

More Interesting Technology Stats for 2022

8.4 billion voice assistants by 2024 – Statista.com

By 2025, 500 million virtual reality headsets will be sold – Forbes.com

The global machine learning market is expected to reach $20.83 billion in 2024. – Finance Online Forbes

$183.24 billion generated revenue by web hosting services marketplace by 2026 – Fortune Business Insight

83 billion by 2024 – Finance Online Forbes

Resources: Newscience.com, Forbes.com, Onelogin.com, Crowdstrike.com, Statista.com, Boldbusiness.com, Livemint.com, Techjury.net, etsITsolutions.com

The post How New Technology Trends Benefit Business in 2022 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Why Personalized Marketing Matters

Countless studies show that the vast majority of customers enjoy customized advertisements and marketing. At the same time, companies are struggling with implementing this approach. The good news is that any learning curve is well worth the ROI. Consider the fact that companies that implement personalization can exponentially increase their ROI. Once you start implementing the right tools, the sky’s the limit.

While generalized advertisements have certainly had their place, they also represent a more static and passive approach to marketing. Personalized messaging is data-driven, which means that you fundamentally know more about the consumer, and you are leveraging that information to create more effective campaigns. Since the messaging is targeted, your chances of catching their attention and motivating them to engage are exponentially higher.

Gathering data on customer behavior also allows you to be proactive about meeting their needs. Instead of being caught flat-footed as markets evolve, you can predict what products, features, and/or services consumers will be interested in next. Innovation at the company can be informed by consumer needs so that you can always be positioned at the forefront of your industry.

What Does Interactive Online Marketing Look Like?

When it comes to effective online marketing, personalization and interactive content often go hand in hand. Providing interactive content through surveys, social media posts, quizzes, assessments, and other tools helps to promote engagement. The more a customer interacts with your content, the more information you can gather about their interests, preferences, and behavior. All this data can then be channeled into personalization.

While personalization and interactive content aren’t new ideas, they are becoming increasingly common in a data-driven world where customer expectations are constantly on the rise. If you have yet to fully implement these tools or explore creative ways to use them for your business, now is the time because there is no doubt that your competition is already leveraging these tools.

The post Why it is Time to Capitalize on Personalization and Interactive Marketing appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. Utilize audience segments/data in new ways
   • As a best practice at MoreVisibility, upon campaign launch we add all Google Ads audience segments that are relevant to our client’s business. By doing so, we are generating data that can later be used for optimization. While doing this at campaign launch is a great practice, in 2022 I will regularly look for new audiences that may have been added to Google’s long (and always growing list).
   • While having this data is step one. Step two is utilizing the data. In 2022, I will regularly review the audience data available to inform bid changes, new campaigns targeting audiences, exclusions and more.
2. Maximize the use of automation and improve upon storytelling
   •  It’s no secret that machine learning and automation are the new norm in campaign management. More products are being launched that use machine learning to automate many aspects of running a campaign such as keyword targeting, ad creation and bidding. In 2022, I will test the use of automation in legacy campaigns and launch new campaigns with automation at the forefront. By using automation, we’re saving time in many manual tasks once needed to be done by campaign managers. In 2022, that time saved will be spent analyzing the performance of campaigns to paint a clear picture for my clients in what’s happening and what we should try next. Which brings me to my last resolution.
3. Always be testing
   • This is by no means a new idea to campaign management, however it’s a tried-and-true way to continually grow. In 2022, I will commit to always be testing something new. This can be the use of audience or automation as noted above, new ad copy, new campaign types, etc. This testing possibilities are endless, and Google Ads’ Drafts & Experiments makes it extremely easy to do so.

What are your professional goals for 2022? How are you going to maximize your time and budget to get the most out of your PPC campaigns? One way is to work with an expert. If you are a MoreVisibility client and are looking for ways to change up campaigns in 2022, continue discussing with your client strategist. If you’re not a MoreVisibility client and are interested to know how you can take your PPC campaigns to the next level, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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NFTs seemingly appeared out of nowhere in March of 2021 when a digital artist sold a collage of 5,000 images at a major auction house for close to $70 million. The record sale also sparked huge interest in these digital certificates of authenticity known as NFTs. As a web designer and artist, I’ve asked myself, “What do NFTs mean for me and the businesses I work with?” Let’s begin with a definition.

What Are NFTs?

If something is fungible, it is interchanged with other goods or assets of the same type. A typical example would be a dollar bill. That bill can be swapped for goods, services, or another currency of equal value. If you happened to have had a dollar bill signed by Andy Warhol, it becomes a unique product with a unique value (non-fungible). Also, like any investment, the value of that bill can increase or decrease in the future.

NFTs are digital assets like bitcoin, only they’re unique and irreplaceable, like owning an original work of art online. They utilize the same authentification technology as cryptocurrency and, similar to the digital currency, are still indefinable in their uses. While some NFTs hold monetary value, others link owners to communities, are in the form of audio, or can even be worn digitally.

Most importantly, NFTs enable creatives to reach wider audiences. Anyone with access to the internet can create, find, and trade NFTs. So, what if it could help businesses do the same?

How Are Brands Using NFTs in Marketing?

It all started with Taco Bell incorporating NFTs into their marketing strategy. Earlier this year, Taco Bell sold a small collection of taco themed digital art. All 25 unique pieces sold out within 30 minutes. The proceeds went directly to their Live Más Scholarship, which increased Taco Bell’s brand awareness and supported a good cause at the same time.

Since then, Twitter, CNN News, UNO, and Campbell’s are just a few of the many brands that have leaped into the ever-popularizing market, with more joining them by the day. Because of the interest they’ve generated all over the world in the last few months, these digital collectibles have given companies a new way to tell stories and interact with consumers. Additionally, with NFTs in their infancy, the opportunities for use in a brand’s digital marketing strategy are endless.

However, NFTs aren’t all reward and no risk. An NFT’s success relies heavily on the community to create the publicity and traction for a successful project. For new and smaller NFTs that don’t have publicity from a well-known source, this community is crucial as it usually provides the initial funding and hype for the project’s launch. If the community isn’t large enough, the project might not reach the recognition it needs to have a competitive demand.

The Future of NFTs

Some of the reasons why NFTs are so important for brands and corporations are because they can create new, memorable experiences for their consumers, reach new audiences, and offer a new way to engage in the digital space. Yes, they’re still new and their practical use may seem limited. However, people love them and are willing to spend on them. That is proof enough that NFTs are here to stay.

If your brand can afford the risk, has overlapping audiences, and wants to test new digital marketing strategies, we recommend incorporating NFTs into your marketing strategy. With the help of NFTs, your company can increase brand awareness, encourage customer interaction, create unique experiences for your consumers, and generate more interest in your business and its solutions.

The post NFT Art: What Is It, How It Works, and What It Means for Your Business appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Recently a few of our clients have reported seeing a new “Asset Library Beta” in Google Creative Studio where all your campaign images and videos are saved. For those who run a wide-range of Google Display and Responsive ads, this could be a huge efficiency in 2022.

The Asset Library would house all the assets uploaded for a campaign – allowing the advertising team to reuse them for another effort, or switch out creative immediately without pausing and re-launching campaigns. The Asset Library can also save dynamic assets, so you can reference them in your campaigns. Advertisers would now have a main hub to reference and update for their entire ecosystem of campaigns.

Here is a look at how the current Creative Studio Asset Library is set up:

Google has not yet announced a plan to release this feature to all advertisers, however with positive feedback so far – we are hoping to utilize this further in the near future.

The post Google Ads Testing New Asset Library for Advertisers appeared first on MoreVisibility.

As 2021 winds down and the newest variant dominates the news, it’s reasonable to cancel trade shows for the winter and continue to push out trips to visit with customers and potential customers. Yet, reasonable may no longer jive with maximum proactiveness and the missed opportunities that occur by continuing with a Zoom-only approach.

I’ve been on a handful of business trips over the past few months on both coasts and here’s what I have learned…

Some people aren’t yet ready to meet in-person again, but the ones who are receptive are incredibly appreciative of the effort. While we’ve all proven that business communications can “pivot” to be completely remote, I believe that a meaningful percentage of the business community who were accustomed to working with their peers, customers and future ones in-person are anxious to get back into a more normalized cadence of interactions.

If you seize the opportunity to get out there again, there’s a wonderful opening right now to rekindle old and foster new relationships in a manner that Zoom can’t deliver and that can help to position you and your company ahead of others.

The post The Pandemic May Be Lingering but In-Person Can Be a Differentiator appeared first on MoreVisibility.

QR codes, abbreviated for Quick Response, are two-dimensional barcodes that are readable by smart devices. They are commonly found on, but not limited to, packaging, business cards, restaurant menus, or print ads.

The idea behind QR codes is to bring offline customers online by having them pull out their smart device, scan the barcode, and be directed to online content. That online content could be a website, landing page, social media profile, or payment option, among others.

Years ago, Inc’s research found that an astounding 97% of consumers didn’t know what a QR code was. In addition, many were unsure of which app to use to read a QR code, or how to search for an app to read one. Put simply, the problem was that QR codes never were as rewarding or straightforward as they may have sounded. That is until recently.

Fast forward to the current pandemic and the need for touchless solutions in our socially distanced society, the QR code is experiencing an unexpected, but appreciated revival. The need for a touchless world—along with mobile technology finally allowing QR codes to be scanned directly through the camera app—has called the once-detested QR code back into daily use, and it’s important for marketers to take note.

Some of the many uses for QR codes I’ve seen recently have been restaurants, bars, and pubs exchanging their menus for laminated flyers of the QR code to protect their staff and customers. Grocery stores have also adopted new ways to pay by using QR codes to reduce the risk of human-to-human infection. The healthcare sector is also implementing QR codes to collect patient data through touchless forms and to allow for easy patient checkout.

Essentially, whether someone’s dining out or purchasing their weeks’ worth of groceries, they may very well be interacting with that business by using QR codes. For marketers wanting to get potential customers to a webpage or to a signup form quickly, QR codes make perfect sense due to their quickness and simplicity of use. So what are you waiting for? Your next customer could be just a scan away.

If you want to (re)enter the QR code market for your business, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post QR Codes Have (Re)Entered the Room appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Keyword Insertion

Keyword Insertion is an advanced feature that allows you to dynamically update text in your ads based on a keyword you are bidding on that matches a customer’s search. For example, if you are promoting a sporting goods store and you have an ad group targeting keywords for various types of home gym equipment, you would add a snippet of code that may look like this {Keyword:Home Gym Equipment}. When a customer uses one of your targeted keywords to search, Google may automatically update your ad copy with the matched keyword or if the keyword is beyond character count, the default text would be used. In this example, the copy would default to Home Gym Equipment.

• Why do this?
  • This level of copy customization has been shown to increase keyword relevance, improving your CTR and expected CTR which is one of the three components of quality score.
• How to Implement:
  • Step 1: Enter the “{“ symbol in the text field
  • Step 2: Enter the default text in the event that the matched keyword has too many characters to be shown

Countdowns

Keep your customers informed and drive a sense of urgency using the countdowns feature to customize ad copy. Using a countdown allows you to easy update your ad copy to show how many days, hours, minutes, and seconds before an event occurs. This could be great for an ecommerce merchant with a limited time only sale or for promoting live or virtual events.

• Why do this?
  • This level of copy customization has been shown to increase urgency, improving your CTR and conversion rate.
• How to Implement:
  • Step 1: Enter the “{“ symbol in the text field
  • Step 2: Enter the date that you would like your countdown to end, how long before the end date you want to run the countdown and the time zone in which you want to utilize.

Location Insertion (NEW)

Location insertion allows you to customize your ad copy based on either a searcher’s physical location or location of interest (typically driven by their search query). This is a great opportunity for businesses with brick and motor locations to highlight their locations by either city, state or country. For example, if you are promoting a chain of sporting goods stores, you maybe use location insertion to create a headline such as this, “Find a Store Near {LOCATION(City):Boca Raton}”. Similar to keyword insertion, you can include a default location in the event the character count goes past the limits.

• Why do this?
  • This level of copy customization has been shown to increase relevance, improving your CTR.
• How to Implement:
  • Step 1: Enter the “{“ symbol in the text field
  • Step 2: Select City, State or Country and define a default text in the event that your copy goes beyond character count limits.

If you are a MoreVisibility client, you likely know about advanced ways to customize your ad copy in Google Ads. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Keyword Insertion, Countdowns and Location Insertion Oh My! appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Information about Google Ads that users may be able to see include:

• Advertiser names change history
• Ad creatives
• Ads removed or accounts suspended for legal or policy reasons
• Business contact information
• Dates and locations ads served

This innovation shouldn’t come as a surprise, being part of a series of initiatives Google is taking to promote transparency and consumer privacy by creating a clear and intuitive experience for users who engage with ads on Google.

Last spring, Google introduced an advertiser identity verification program that requires Google advertisers to verify information about their businesses, where they operate from and what they’re selling or promoting. This transparency, according to Google, does help users learn more about the company behind a specific ad. Since the introductions of the program, thousands of advertisers have been verified.

Other major advertising platforms, such as Facebook, are already offering very similar “transparency” features, where people can easily find out more information about who’s behind the ads that they are served on the social media platform.

Google’s advertiser pages will launch in the coming months in the United States and will roll out in phases to more countries in 2022.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google is Making its Ad Experience More Transparent appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Our approach at MoreVisibility is continuous professional development with our staff – including training from internal and external resources. That training is coupled with real-world, hands-on experience and expertise. Our specialists work with clients and within the channel and engine interfaces to craft and test strategies and optimize for the greatest ROAs possible. So, when LinkedIn launched its new certifications, our team was ready. And did they ever make the grade! Our Digital Advertising team members have earned certification in both LinkedIn Fundamentals and LinkedIn Marketing Strategy.

LinkedIn Fundamentals Certification

This qualification evaluates participants’ knowledge of:

• LinkedIn Ad Basics
• Creating, monitoring, and optimizing LinkedIn Campaigns
• How to use LinkedIn’s incredibly powerful Audience Targeting options
• Leveraging data to improve campaigns

LinkedIn Marketing Strategy Certification

This qualification focuses on more advanced components of LinkedIn advertising, like:

• Knowledge of “full-funnel” LinkedIn advertising techniques and tactics
• How to reach and engage audiences across the entire user journey
• Options and tactics for building Branding & Awareness
• How to drive qualified, cost-effective Leads via LinkedIn Ads

More details about these certifications are available on the LinkedIn Blog. MoreVisibility is so proud that in addition to being (as an agency) Google Ads Premier Partners and Google Marketing Platform certified for Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Data Studio, and Google Optimize, including team members individually certified across these platforms, that we can now count LinkedIn Ads Certifications among our teams’ achievements.

The post LinkedIn Ad Certifications: MoreVisibility Team Makes the Grade appeared first on MoreVisibility.

What is changing?

One year later, Google has announced that they have found new privacy-safe ways to show more queries in the search terms report. This data will be shown for queries received as of February 1, 2021. Having more data around search terms allows advertisers to spot trends in themes which could influence changes in ad copy, landing pages, negative keywords, etc.

As part of Google’s larger picture goal of privacy and consistency around the thresholds at which data is shared, there will be more changes announced in the coming months. In Google Ads, data collected prior to September 1, 2020 that does not meet their new privacy thresholds will only be available until February 1, 2022.

What does this mean moving forward?

At the end of the day, advertisers want the best possible data to be able to understand search trends to improve campaign performance and ultimately increase sales. Google wants to give you those insights with privacy in mind. Expect to see more changes around data collection and privacy in the near future. One thing that’s for certain is that this is just getting started. Stay tuned!

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about changes around privacy in Google Ads, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google to Improve Search Terms Report With Privacy in Mind appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Walmart DSP is set to be ready for advertisers to explore in October 2021. Walmart Connect SVP Rich Lehrfeld stated, “It’s all first-party data. So we look at our data, we append an ID on to it, we are looking at a post-cookie world.” The Trade Desk has also announced the ability in the near future for publishers and advertisers to leverage Walmarts first-party data. Using their own third-party cookie, advertisers will be able to leverage many of the customer and audience segments within the Walmart DSP. Both companies seem to have created an ecosystem of data and revenue for each other. 

A quick Google search will remind you how powerful Walmart’s data could be: 

Large retail companies have adapted to the boom of e-commerce and are now adapting again using their customer data. New user privacy restrictions on devices are making third-party data challenging to collect, opening a higher demand for retailers to leverage and use their first-party data. Look for retailers like Walmart to begin leveraging their customer data in every way possible and ramp up demand for advertisers to use their platforms.

The post Walmart Releases Details About New Advertising Platform appeared first on MoreVisibility.

The Beach House
270 North Pompano Beach Blvd.
Pompano Beach, FL 33062

Our panel of Digital Marketing experts will be sharing everything you must know in Google Update: What’s Now and Next. Topics will include:

• All the latest information about new YouTube advertising opportunities
• Changes in Google Ads that have and will impact your campaigns
• Google’s newest SEO Page Experience Update, and
• How to prepare for the upcoming “cookie-pocalypse” – when Google will no longer be utilizing third-party cookies.

So much has happened in Digital Marketing in 2021 and there’s many new things on the horizon for 2022. Let’s get prepared together with Google. We hope to see you there in Pompano Beach: Register today.

The post Google Update: What’s Now and Next: Join Us Live appeared first on MoreVisibility.

What Does This Mean for Advertisers?

For those who are not yet utilizing responsive search ads (RSAs), there is still time to make updates to ad structure and evaluate performance. Also note that ETAs will continue to serve after June 2022, they just will not be able to be edited.

Google recommends creating and enabling at least one RSA in every ad group of each search campaign before next year’s cut-off. Below are some additional tips to set your campaigns up for success.

1. Re-purpose high performing ad copy from ETAs in your RSAs.
2. Utilize the “pin” function to ensure headlines and/or descriptions of your selection appear in specific ad positions within the ad.
3. Focus on improving ad strength.

For more information on this update and how it may affect your digital advertising campaigns, contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google’s Expanded Text Ads to Sunset in 2022 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Responsive Display Ads are now the default ad type for Display campaigns that run on the Google Display Network. While the old school default (Image Ads) appears to users as images that you upload, Responsive Display Ads automatically take on qualities of the publisher’s website. They can adjust in size, appearance, and format to fit available ad spaces and appear as native ads.

Three reasons why we encourage our clients to incorporate Responsive Display Ads into their display campaigns are for the time-savings, expanded ad reach, and the opportunity to leverage machine learning in ad optimization.

Time Savings

Cut down on the number of resources you dedicate to producing creative in numerous sizes and configurations.

Expanded Ad Reach

Pulling from your text and image assets, your ad will adapt to ad slots and formats across all devices, the combinations can be massive.

Machine Learning-Driven Ad Optimization

Google uses your historical performance along with a machine learning model to build an ad on the fly which is intended to be optimal for each ad slot and user.

Responsive Display Ads are here to stay and can help elevate your display campaigns’ performance. If you would like to talk about how to take advantage of the flexibility and visibility offered by these ads, request a free Digital Marketing Strategy Session from our team.

The post Responsive Display Ads are Here to Stay appeared first on MoreVisibility.

As of the first week of August, Google Ads has upgraded all non-last click attribution models to support both YouTube and Display campaigns. Prior to this, Google Ads was only using search and shopping campaigns in their attribution modeling.

Why is this an important change?

Both YouTube and Display campaigns constantly get undervalued as channels that contribute to the end purchase. One reason why this happens is because Google Ads conversions use a last click attribution model by default. So, while YouTube and Display campaigns are typically touchpoints in a customer journey, the last click prior to conversion is typically brand search. This means, that by default, these campaign types are not getting credit where credit is due. With this change, clicks that occur as a result of a YouTube or Display campaign will influence modeling. This will give more value to these two important campaign types within the Google Ads platform.

Also with this change, advertisers using data-driven attribution can also measure engaged views from YouTube. This means that data-driven attribution is smarter than ever in understanding the overall impact of different campaigns.

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about attribution modeling and the recent changes, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility

The post Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: Google Ads Attribution Models Now Support YouTube and Display Ads appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Available on both desktop and mobile devices, Video Extensions are a fantastic way to provide rich content alongside your ads. See below for an example of how they appear. When clicked, the video will open as an overlay with a customizable button which will take users to a landing page of choice.

What you need to add Video Extensions to your campaign

Other Important Details

• Video extensions can show with other ad extensions
• You will be charged per click and the same amount as other ad clicks
• Video Length is between 6 and 120 seconds
• Recommended file formats are MPEG-2, MP4 or MOV. However, most other formats are accepted
• Aspect ratio should be in the range from 16:9 to 9:16
• Resolution should be as high as possible. 720×720 is recommended
• Max file size for uploaded videos is 10 GB

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about Video Extensions with Microsoft Advertising, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Microsoft Advertising Introduces Video Extensions appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. Young people (under 16) will be defaulted into private accounts
2. Making it more difficult for accounts that are potentially suspicious to find young people
3. Limiting advertiser’s options on how they can reach young people (under 18) with ads.

This change is just one example of how Facebook is “building for the next era of personalized experiences.” People’s privacy expectations have changed, and Facebook is working towards new ways for businesses to reach customers while giving consumers greater transparency and control in how their personal information is used.

What will change on August 23, 2021?

Advertisers are currently able to target young people using a combination of age and interest or behavior-based targeting. This change will limit targeting to people under 18 to age, gender and location. These changes will be global and applied to Facebook, Instagram as well as Messenger.

What does this mean for advertisers currently targeting users under 18 through Facebook?

Ad sets that use these targeting options for reaching young people may see a decrease in audience sizes or potential reach. If you have an audience targeting an age range that includes users below and above the age of 18, it’s recommended that you split the audiences into two separate ad sets or campaigns to keep enhanced targeting for users 18+.

How else can you reach the under 18 audience?

Consider using different channels if you need to reach that under 18 audience. Snapchat and TikTok are both fantastic options. Both provide the ability to advertise to that younger audience with additional targeting layers such as interest or behaviors.

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about advertising to the under 18 audience, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Facebook to Change How Businesses Can Advertise to Young People appeared first on MoreVisibility.

In the hands of skilled marketers, cookies facilitate seamless, “magical” experiences matching users’ needs with solutions. But all good things run the risk of overuse. When unskilled marketers are at the helm, cookie-based targeting results in a cacophony of obtrusive, jarring ads lacking in synergy and success.

In their natural state people crave convenience and are generally okay with the exchange of some information about themselves in order to receive it.  Doubt it? How often do you clear your browser cache and how annoyed are you when you do and then must reenter passwords and/or re-customize your settings to suit your personal preferences? Still doubtful? How many users does Facebook have? In exchange for free accounts, people tell the platform everything about themselves.

However, nothing is sure to wake people from their general complacency as much as poor, invasive ad experiences. They drive users to demand stricter data privacy controls. Hence one of several reasons we’re experiencing a rise in self-imposed tracking regulations from platforms, such as changes in iOS 14 and Google’s push to stop utilizing 3rd party cookies (scheduled for 2023).

These tracking restrictions in the USA, are reminiscent of the Hollywood Production Code of the 1930s. Prior to movie Ratings (G, PG, etc.), the major Hollywood studios created their own code of morality for what could be shown on screen in order to try to pre-empt external bodies from regulating them. The channels are in a similar boat, “we’ll ‘police’ ourselves,” they proclaim, so no one else (such as government bodies) has any further reason (beyond some measures already taken by states) to do so for them.

When you consider that third-party cookies have been the essential building block of personalized advertising aiding the tremendous growth of Digital Advertising over the past 20 years, these changes seem apocalyptic. How does Online Marketing survive in this new world? You may want to take a listen to some of our team’s thoughts on how to shift your strategy.

Some challenges we’ll all need to prepare for in the absence of third-party cookies, are:

• Fewer Conversions
  • Solution: Get started running Google Analytics 4 tracking now (in parallel to your Universal Analytics tracking).
• Limited Remarketing Options
  • Solution: Invest in campaigns and tools to grow your in-house list. The more first-party data you have, the easier it will be to continue to run targeted campaigns.
• Breaks in Existing Attribution
  • Solution: Use Data Driven Attribution and/or experiment with Conversion Modeling in GA-4.

The moral of the tale: If you take away a sophisticated marketer’s cookies, they will embrace other data sources.

The post When You Give a Marketer a Cookie… appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Where to Find Drafts & Experiments

You can find Drafts & Experiments on the left menu of the Google Ads interface.

Drafts

How they work: Drafts allow you to prep changes to your campaigns without implementing those changes until you are ready. Once you are satisfied with the changes in your campaign, you can either update the original campaign or set up an experiment to test how those changes would perform against the original.

Experiments

How they work: Once you complete drafting up changes in a campaign, you can run an experiment. Specify how long you would like your experiment to run and what percentage of the traffic should be tested. As your experiment runs, you are able to monitor it’s performance and adjust if needed. You may find that you need to extend the dates to get more meaningful data or perhaps the changes you are testing are worth implementing earlier than expected. If that’s the case (or if you run to completion and are pleased with the results), you’re able to easily apply the changes from your experiment to the original campaign or create a brand-new campaign using the experiment setup.

Common experiments we run through Google Ads are A/B testing different landing page experiences and bidding strategies. However, the possibilities are truly endless. If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about Google Ads Drafts and Experiments, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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What Is Ad Strength?

There are two components that make up the strength of your Google Responsive Search Ads: the overall ad rating, and the action items suggested by Google that are available to help improve ad performance.

The overall rating indicates how effective your current responsive search ad is in reaching the user searching for your active keywords. Poor ad strength indicates that your ad is not effective in engaging your targeted users – this can mean irrelevant ad copy, redundant headlines/descriptions, or even more technical aspects such as a missing ad group assignment or final URL.

There are two areas to locate the strength of your ads. First is during ad creation, and second is in the Ad Strength column. The Ad Strength column is located in the “Ads & Extensions” section at the campaign level in the Google Ads interface. Here, you will see an overview of your active ads which includes the column for ad strength. You will notice the ratings range from “poor” to “excellent”.

Improving Ad Strength

Upon clicking on the rating in the Ad Strength column, Google will provide feedback on specific elements that can be improved within the ad. One of the most common areas of improvement is regarding the actual ad copy. Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, Google will supply specific copy recommendations that may improve overall effectiveness of your search ads.

The beauty of Responsive Search Ads is the ability for Google to serve the most relevant ad to each user pulling from the bank of assets provided in the interface. Now that Responsive Search Ads are the new default ad type for search campaigns, it is more important than ever to create the strongest, most effective ads possible to reach your target audience.

To learn more about paid search opportunities, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google Responsive Search Ad Strength: What Is It and How Can It Be Improved? appeared first on MoreVisibility.

What exactly is happening to Broad Match Modifier (BMM)?

To give advertisers more control and better reach, Google is bringing the best of broad match modifier into phrase match. As a result, broad match modifier will be discontinued, and phrase match will expand to cover additional broad match modifier traffic. All of this, according to Google, while continuing to respect word order when it is important to the meaning.

Advertisers are not required to take any specific action, and broad match modified keywords can continue to be added until July. At that time, no new BMM keywords can be added, while the existing ones will continue to serve, but will be matched based on this update.

Below, I would like to share some best practices on how this update might impact paid search campaigns.

Best Practices

1) Monitor Your Phrase Match Traffic and Shift Budgets Where Necessary

Expect the share of phrase match traffic to increase, both from new traffic and due to existing traffic being shifted from other match types. As a result of this change, you will need to closely monitor the performance of your keywords, and shift budgets where necessary to continue to reach relevant search traffic.

2) Monitor your BMM traffic and Add Keywords Where Necessary

The inability to run BBM keywords will most likely mean adding new keywords to your campaigns to ensure you do not lose coverage from relevant queries. A good place to start is the Recommendations page in your Google Ads account, where keywords to recover previous BMM traffic will be labeled.

3) Create Phrase Keywords Going Forward

Although existing BMM keywords may remain with the BMM notation indefinitely and Google will not prevent new BMM keywords from being created until July, we recommend creating any new keywords using phrase notation going forward. Because phrase match and BMM will behave the same once this change fully rolls out (on February 18th), doing this will have no impact on performance.

One important thing to remember: changing the match type of a keyword will remove the old and add a new keyword, affecting the stats you see in your account.

In conclusion, I see this change as another step that Google is taking to consolidate and streamline the search experience, inviting advertisers to get away from fixating on the keyword level of search, while relying more on their machine learning (e.g., Smart Bidding) and audience targeting capabilities.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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What is Search Engine Marketing?

Search engine marketing (SEM) (also often referred to as paid search advertising or pay per click advertising, or PPC) is the promotion of a business by paying to show an ad at the top of a search engine’s results page (SERP). This occurs (in it’s most traditional sense) by bidding on keywords that users are searching to generate relevant results on popular search engines such as Google or Microsoft Bing. Ads are typically shown above non-paid listings, which makes them particularly valuable as there’s been research that proves users typically only click on the top few search results.

The Benefits of SEM in comparison to SEO.

Although both SEM and SEO (Search Engine Optimization, or the practice of increasing website traffic through unpaid tactics) help your brand appear in search results, there’s some key differences between the two. Namely, SEM is paid, and SEO is not. That said, there’s some major benefits to using SEM to drive traffic to your website.

1. Your results are immediate
   • Ads can be live within minutes.
2. You have real-time control over messaging and landing page
   • PRO TIP: Use your brand keywords to convey important messaging for your business.
3. You have more control over audience (who sees your ads)
   • PRO TIP: We recommend applying all relevant audience segments with a targeting setting of “Observation.” This allows you to gather invaluable data with zero added cost or impact on your campaigns. You can later limit or expand the reach of which audiences see your ads.
4. SEM is great for testing and data intelligence
   • PRO TIP: The search terms report provides a wealth of knowledge around your audience’s search trends. This could open doors to new keyword themes you may not have thought of upon initial campaign setup.

What is Quality Score?

“Ad Quality helps us maintain the Google ecosystem by providing an economic incentive for advertisers to create high quality ads for our users.” – Google

As the name would suggest, quality score is an estimate of the quality of your keywords as they relate to your ads and landing pages. The higher your quality score, the lower you will pay for each click. This helps prevent irrelevant ads from showing on searches, preserving the user experience. Keywords can receive a 1-10 score, with 10 being the highest quality score a keyword can achieve.

Keep in mind, that Quality Score is a helpful tool to diagnose the health of your campaigns, however is not a key performance indicator. Always optimize towards business goals, rather than improving quality score.

There are 3 main components of quality score:

1. Expected Clickthrough Rate: How likely is it that your ad will be clicked when it’s shown?
   • PRO TIP: Improve your expected click through rate by keeping a close eye on your search terms report to regularly add negative keywords. In time, this will improve the quality of the searches that your ads appear for, improving expected clickthrough rate.
2. Ad Relevance: How closely do your keywords align with your ad’s messaging?
   • PRO TIP: Improve your ad relevance by utilizing Responsive Search Ads. Responsive Search Ads allow you to enter multiple headlines & descriptions which Google will use to automatically test different combinations to learn which perform best. By having more options that can match to a user’s search, these ads typically will improve ad relevance.
3. Landing Page Experience: How relevant is the landing page to the people who clicked on your ad?
   • PRO TIP: Improve your landing page experience by making sure your page loads quickly. A poor load time can negatively affect landing page experience.

What is Ad Rank and how is it calculated?

Ad Rank is the value that’s used to determine your ad’s position on a search engine results page (or if your ad will show all together). It’s primarily calculated using your bid and quality score, however other factors do come into play. These factors include but are not limited to the competitiveness of an auction, Ad Rank Thresholds, the context of each person’s search (device, location, etc.) and the expected impact of your ad extensions and other ad formats.

Since Ad Rank puts a heavy weight on quality score, it is fair to say that the better your ads, the better your ad rank. That said, your bid also plays a big role here. While there is no published calculation you can use to determine ad rank (due to the many factors that influence it), here’s a simplified version that shows how quality score and bids work together to influence your ad’s position on a page.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of SEM 101. In the meantime, if you have any questions or would like to learn more, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Search Engine Marketing (SEM) 101 Part 1 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Previously, Google offered both custom intent and custom affinity audiences to help reach people based on the topics they are actively researching or their general interests and passions. As of September of 2020, these two features have been combined into one simplified solution: Custom Audiences.

Custom Audiences can be utilized for campaigns optimizing towards the goals of awareness, consideration or conversions and is available to use across your Display, Discovery and YouTube campaigns.

To create a Custom Audience, follow the following steps:

Step 1: When creating a campaign, navigate to the Audiences section, select Your Custom Audiences and click the + Custom Audience link.

Step 2: Choose to target people based on their interests or purchase intentions or by people who searched specific terms on Google and add those in as keywords in the open field.

BONUS: You can also expand your Custom Audience by adding in people who browse types of websites, use types of apps and/or visited certain places.

Step 3: As you add your keywords, websites, apps and/or places. Keep an eye on the Audience Insights to the right as your estimated audience size will adjust based on what you include. Also note that you can change the campaign type, geo and language to get a more accurate estimate.

Step 4: Save the audience.

Last, if you have a legacy Custom Affinity or Custom Intent audience within an active campaign, no changes are needed at this time. However, keep in mind that Google will automatically migrate these audiences to the Custom Audience type. Here’s how:

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like more information about Custom Audiences or audience targeting, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post New Custom Audiences in Google Ads appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. Frequency Distribution

The first new metric available is frequency distribution. Most simply put, frequency distribution breaks down how many people saw your ad a certain number of times over a particular date range of your selection. There are 6 possibilities that each user can fall in: 1+, 2+, 3+, 4+, 5+, and 10+ ads served. For example, if a user has seen your ad 5 times, they will be included in the 1+, 2+, 3+, 4+ and 5+ columns. Note that the 1+ column is equivalent to unique reach. Below is an example of how this is reported within the interface:

In addition, you can hover over the number shown in each of the columns to see more data in a visual format, which also specifies the percentage of users within each range:

With this new approach to frequency reporting, you can now get a more in-depth look at how each campaign ad is being served, and to who, to help with both frequency capping as well as indicating the appropriateness of your target audience size.

2. Average Impression Frequency per User

The next updated metric is average impression frequency per user. This metric will show how often a user saw your ad in either a 7-day or 30-day window within a given time frame of your selection. You can use this metric while your video campaign is still active to see how frequency might change over the length of the flight (comparing 7 days to 30 days), or once your campaign is complete to report on trends throughout the length of the campaign. Below is an example of how this is reported within the interface:

Similar to the frequency distribution metric, when hovering over the average impression frequency, Google provides more information in a visual format to show how the frequency has changed over the given date range:

Again, these new metrics will help to analyze both the need for frequency capping as well as any opportunities to broaden or tighten your targeted audience. To utilize any of these new metrics, simply update your columns at the campaign level to include “frequency distribution”, “avg. impr. freq. / user (7 days)” or “avg. impr. freq. / user (30 days)”.

To learn more about digital advertising opportunities, please reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google Releases New Frequency Reporting Metrics for Video Campaigns appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Three main points come to mind:

The first is when clients genuinely consider us to be an extension of their marketing team, versus just a vendor. It really helps our efforts to be more in the loop with some of the other marketing initiatives that they’re doing outside of digital. We’re always rooting for the success of our clients and I think when we’re able to have those deeper conversations, it can make their overall strategy super-successful, particularly in terms of consistency of brand messaging.

Second is receiving timely feedback. It’s vital to always be improving program performance. Digital channels are fluid and adaptable, so testing new copy, landing pages, etc. (for SEM) are key to achieving the best possible ROI. Accurate analytics data is a key component here.

Number three is helping our clients (who need it) to gain a basic understanding of Digital Marketing. This leads to more productive conversations and outcomes. Our clients are the experts in their industry and in their business and how it operates. But when they understand how Digital Marketing can drive meaningful revenue / results, it helps us help them to succeed by knowing what we need to focus on most immediately.

Prioritization is crucial in terms of focusing attention where it’s most needed.

If you’d like to learn more about how we work with clients to achieve fantastic outcomes, please let us know.

The post What Makes A Great Client Relationship? appeared first on MoreVisibility.

So, the question is, how can you utilize YouTube while also keeping your brand safe? This can be accomplished by employing multi-layer exclusions to prevent video ads from showing with content that a brand doesn’t want to be associated with.

Choose a Google Inventory Type

The first action occurs when setting up your YouTube campaigns. Google provides inventory types. There are three: Expanded, Standard and Limited. Google suggests standard, but if you want it to be exclude most types of sensitive content, Limited inventory should be chosen.

Employ Content Exclusions

Apply Google Content Exclusion at the campaign level. Google classifies content and uses labels, which are very much like a movie rating. They have DL-G, DL-PG, DL-T, etc. and you can choose which content labels to exclude. This helps avoid content that doesn’t fit with the audience based on a maturity level.

Utilize Topic Exclusions

Next is layering in Topic Exclusions. This narrows the targeting and disallows ads from showing with content that’s considered unsuitable. Google provides a list of topics that can be excluded. Some examples include computer and video games, mature interests and reproductive health.

Add Placement Exclusions

Lastly, you can create a list of placements to exclude. This is helpful in limiting the possibility of ads appearing with YouTube channels or videos that wouldn’t align with the brand.  Once you launch the campaigns, it’s important to check your placement results to see where your ads are initially shown and update your exclusion list accordingly.

While there is no guarantee of a perfect solution and sometimes things slip through the cracks, these are steps that you can take to minimize the possibility of your brand being associated with undesirable content.

If you’d like to learn more and discuss further, please let us know.

The post How To Advertise “Safely” On YouTube appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Now when I say my YouTube consumption has increased, I’m really saying my son has been watching a lot more Cocomelon and Sesame Street than I would like to admit. That said, he’s not old enough to watch unsupervised so perhaps the correct pronoun is our. In knowing that I’m not alone in the everyday struggle of managing WFH and watching a little one, it got me thinking if other parent’s viewing habits have also changed.

A client of mine is running a YouTube campaign with the goal of gaining some broad awareness that they are hiring. Their open jobs are all entry level in the New Jersey area. With all the unfortunate rise in unemployment due to COVID-19, they really wanted the local community to know that they have open positions and that their jobs are here to stay. Because of this, the video campaign is simply targeting by location. If you are in the target area, you could be served one of their video ads on YouTube.

The campaign has been doing great in all aspects. Awareness, engagement as well as conversions are all favorable. That said, in looking at the placements where these ads were shown, I was simply blown away… Take a look for yourself.

In the above placement report, you can see the top YouTube channels that my client’s ads were shown on sorted by impression. Every single line item is a kid’s channel. At first this was discouraging as I don’t want children viewing our ads, however when seeing all the conversion activity I quickly realized that parents are seeing them. I had a few takeaways from this. First, this was a great reminder to focus on audience rather than content when targeting in YouTube as you never know what users are interested in. Second, if you are looking to get in front of parents in your targeting, YouTube is an excellent place to be – especially right now. Finally, this was confirmation and comforting to know that I’m not alone, and other parents are going through the same struggles as me.

If you are a MoreVisibility client and would like to test a YouTube campaign, contact your Client Strategist. If you are not a MoreVisibility client and would like additional information on video opportunities, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post The Video Campaign That Blew Me Away appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. Utilize a full-funnel, multi-channel digital marketing strategy
   These days, consumers are experiencing FOGO (fear of going out). We’re nervous about shopping in store so we want to spend as little time there as possible (if at all). This means that users are doing all their research and decision making online. By the time they get to the store they already know what they are going to buy. The in-store experience has been reduced to merely a transaction point.This means that you MUST be visible along your target audience’s path to conversion. From the generic search of “best gifts for mom” to the ads on the social platforms they frequent and beyond, each channel and each interaction provides a way to remind users that you have what they want this holiday season. Repetition is the mother of retention. If you want consumers to buy your product, show them why and then remind them over and over again.
2. Keep paid search and shopping campaigns a primary focus
   That said, keep paid search and shopping the cornerstone of your efforts. With the shift to online shopping, the first touchpoint in most e-commerce transactions is paid search. Whether users are starting their shopping with a generic search for luxury handbags or they have already zeroed in on a brand or style, they typically start with opening their favorite search engine. Be visible during that first interaction and make the best possible first impression. Ensure your messaging is strong, showcase any promotions that are active and speak to the convivences you are offering this holiday season.
3. Convenience will be a big selling point this holiday season
   The need for and use of contactless shopping has been a major shift in buyer behavior this year. According to eMarketer, 52% of the U.S. population will use buy online pickup in store options in 2020. All brick and mortar stores should offer this convenience to their customers. Although it may be an investment in an infrastructure change, analysts believe this will be a permanent behavior shift.Aside from contactless shopping, ensure the online transaction process is seamless and simple as the older (at risk) population will be shopping online more this year than ever.Last, free and fast shipping is a convenience that shoppers have come to expect from top brands. If possible, offer promotions on shipping. According to RetailMeNot, 81% want retailers to offer expedited shipping for holiday shopping.

For additional information on digital advertising opportunities for this holiday season, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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In a nutshell, this report allows advertisers to see a list of specific search terms that people have used, and that resulted in the ads being shown. One of the most common uses of the Keyword Search Terms report is to find non-relevant keywords, which are then added as negatives, preventing the ads from being shown, saving advertising dollars, and improving the overall performance of the campaigns.

Given how helpful the Keyword Search Terms report is, it was surprising to hear from Google that, starting in September 2020 (that is, right now), the report will only include terms that a “significant” number of users searched for, even if a term received a click. For this reason, advertisers may now see fewer terms in your report.

In simpler terms, advertisers will have reduced visibility into which search queries trigger their ads, even if they incur a click or conversion. That is not good news.

If you are asking why Google is making this change to the Search Terms report now, know that you are not alone. We still do not have clear answers on why this is happening now. Google is citing privacy concerns, saying “to maintain our standards of privacy and strengthen our protections around user data”, which is, to a certain extent, a valid point.

Still, Google’s decision is not helping advertisers to determine with the greatest accuracy the keywords that are working vs. the ones that are not, leaving them feeling they have less control over their accounts. That’s definitely a concern.

Beyond advertising, the other concern is that this change will possibly have an impact on research for SEO, as well as cross-collaboration between SEO & SEM, which is a common practice at our agency, where meaningful keyword data is shared across teams with different expertise (e.g. SEM and SEO) as a way to approach the “search universe” in the most effective holistic way.

We will continue to monitor the impact of this sudden change and we’ll make sure to provide marketers and advertisers with updates as they become available.

If you have further questions or need assistance in adjusting your digital marketing strategy, please email us at info@morevisibility.com,

The post Google Ads Reduces Visibility in Search Terms Report appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. Create a new ad, and navigate to “Use Existing Post”
   
2. Select Post
   
3. Navigate to the Instagram tab. If available to your business, you will see a new column for “source” indicating whether the content is Feed or Stories.
   
4. Select the content you would like to promote and click continue to finish creating your ad.

Note that there are some Stories that you cannot promote, indicated with an error icon. This may be because you are unable to promote Stories with interactive elements such as location stickers, hashtag stickers, @ mentions, question stickers, etc. It is also important to note that emojis and gifs are not considered original content and your ad may not be approved if using them.

If you would like more information on how to boost organic Instagram Stories, contact your Client Strategist. For additional information on social media advertising opportunities, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

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MoreVisibility is now seeing these credits displayed within random Google accounts (U.S. advertisers so far). It appears to be a phased roll-out by the search engine giant, without any clear priority or order assigning the credits. Google indicates all credits should be applied by/around July 1^st. These are automatically generated for businesses that qualify based on their criteria, so no need to request or submit information to receive.

So far with our clients, we have seen campaign credit amounts applied between $300.00 – $1,000.00. The amount is based on the prior Google ad spend for the business and credit must be applied to a future campaign ad spend anywhere across the Google Ads platform. If the credit hasn’t been used by December 31, 2020 it will be removed.

Once you identify a credit within your account, be sure to maximize ROI on the advertising initiative you use it toward.  Don’t waste free money! Our team provides tremendous insight and opportunity to optimize your Google Ads campaigns … so please take advantage of this.

The post Credits in Google Ads – COVID-19 Advertiser Support appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Structured snippets help showcase a group of products or services that your business provides. There are pre-determined headers or types that can be used so structured snippets may not be a good fit for all websites. Headers you can choose include “Services”, “Brands”, “Courses”, “Insurance Coverage” and more.  The full list is available when you are setting up a new extension in your Google Ads account. Regardless of the header you choose – you must enter at least 3 values for the extension to have chance to be displayed. Structured Snippet Extensions are typically displayed under the description, as a comma-separated list.

Callouts can also help highlight specific offers or aspects of your products and services. They are less restrictive than Structured Snippets in that you do not assign your values to a header. So Callouts are a good fit for any website. At MoreVisibility we have used Callouts within some of our clients’ accounts to help communicate what they are doing to ensure health and safety of their customers and team members during the COVID pandemic. For example, “Safety is our Priority”, “Social Distance in Place”, “All Staff are Tested”, “Curbside Pickup”, “24/7 Virtual Care”. At least 3 Callouts are required but we suggest adding many more because Google will show up to 10 different Callouts – the ones they think best align with each searchers’ intent.

Adding or updating your Callout and Structured Snippet extensions take little time to implement and can make a big impact on your CTR and conversion rate.

The post Use These Ad Extensions to Help Keep Your Google Ads Relevant appeared first on MoreVisibility.

It reveals the actual search queries that resulted in a display of your Google Ads. That data helps define user behavior because it indicates exactly how users are searching for your product or service. Leverage this insight to refine keyword lists, update messaging and create more targeted content.

The post Are You Data Mining Search Query Reports? appeared first on MoreVisibility.

To learn more Healthcare Marketing trends and insights, request the Healthcare Marketing: The Path Forward webinar. 

The post Healthcare Marketing & The Future of Telehealth appeared first on MoreVisibility.

As soon as the COVID-19 Pandemic began to escalate, Google created the “Google Trends Coronavirus Hub”, a particularly good resource that helps to keep track of what people are searching for during this challenging time.

If you scroll to the very bottom of the Google Trends Coronavirus Hub that is where you will find my favorite resource of all within the Hub: the “Thank You” Google Trends page.

This page, which shows how people are searching for ways to show gratitude towards all those working tirelessly during this time, really moved me and gave me great inspiration.

Not only you can watch a touching video (located at the top of the page) that thanks all healthcare workers, but you can also learn how people in the US are searching for ways to thank or to support people or organizations hit by the pandemic.

More than ever, people are searching for ways to help their community, to stay connected.

Which brings me to the point: if you are a marketer, you must listen to these signals and adjust your tone of voice and messaging to connect with your customers.

Remember, while finding the right message can be challenging, especially in a fast-changing situation, you are responsible for setting the tone for how customers perceive your brand during a difficult time. Spending a little time with the tools above can help you do just that.

If you have further questions or need assistance in adjusting your digital marketing strategy, please email us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post How the “Thank You” Google Trends Page Can Inspire Marketers appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Below are the top four categories reported by eMarketer for ecommerce purchases in April 2020:

• Clothing and Apparel – 52%

Though Clothing and Apparel remain in first place, the category dropped 4% from the previous month.

• Health and Beauty Products – 44%

A focus on at home health and self-care, caused this category to increase 6%.

• Household Cleaning Items – 37%

This category is up 7% following the spike in demand for cleaning and disinfectants products.

• Food and Beverage – 36%

With many states still under stay-at-home orders, it is likely customers will continue to heavily rely on ecommerce. Here are a few considerations when adapting an ecommerce strategy.

• To properly fulfill the needs of customers and adjust your Digital Marketing Strategy accordingly, adopt a data-driven mindset. Analyze your campaign and website performance, looking out for patterns in consumer behavior that can be applied toward optimization.
• Remain transparent and consistent with communication to your customers. Provide inventory updates on product pages and website content with answers your customers are looking for.
• Look for opportunities in special sales or loyalty programs. Many consumers may be especially price sensitive during this time; consider offering a discount or item add-on if resources are available.

If you are in need of assistance or have questions regarding your Ecommerce Strategy, please email us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post Top Growing & Declining Ecommerce Categories in April 2020 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Living on the ThinkWithGoogle domain, Rising Retail Categories is updated daily with trending product searches. While the interactive tool may seem similar to Google Trends, it provides queries specific to the fastest-growing retail categories. Users of the tool can review data based on category, geographic area, and time period.

Marketers and business owners can utilize the data in a few ways:

• Promote products or services they offer, that are currently trending.
• Use search queries to create new content or optimize existing content.
• Target new audiences or geographical areas.
• If the resources are available, identify new product or service ideas.

Along with Google’s other resources, Rising Retail Categories is a great tool for a business of any size to gain market insight and uncover potential opportunities during uncertain times.

If you have further questions or need assistance in adjusting your digital marketing strategy, please email us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post Google Launches New Tool: Rising Retail Categories appeared first on MoreVisibility.

In these cases, MoreVisibility, in collaboration with the hospital system, uses digital ads to identify people online who may meet specific requirements and drive them to the relevant research and support effort.

For NYU Langone, a leading healthcare provider in New York, one current focus is the new COLCORONA trial, which seeks to determine whether the anti-inflammatory medication colchicine can help decrease the progression of disease in people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). MoreVisibility is working with NYU Langone to find people in the tri-state area who meet certain criteria.

You can learn more about NYU Langone’s COLCORONA trial on their website.

For Memorial Healthcare System, the preeminent provider in South Florida, the search is on for COVID-19 survivors who are willing to donate blood plasma. MHS is working as part of the Mayo Clinic Convalescent Plasma Expanded Access Program. Through online marketing efforts, we are identifying people whose donations of blood plasma could help to treat and help current sufferers of COVID-19.

Details of Memorial Healthcare System’s blood plasma donation program are available on its website.

The post Online Ads Help Recruit Participants for COVID-19 Efforts appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Here is a list of the most important areas to focus on, and what you should be asking yourself if you need help identifying where to start.

#1 Social Platforms

Establishing a digital footprint is a vital component of marketing your business. We often use social channels to “set it and forget it”. No more my friends! Take this time to thoroughly audit your social profiles and ask yourself these questions.

• Do you have a Social Media Strategy?
• What can you tell from the engagement with your audience?
• Are your social profiles up to date with valid information?

This video describes the three key considerations for your Social Media Strategy to help get you started.

#2 Website Content

Many businesses go through a very comprehensive process to build out a new website to use as a marketing tool, and then never take the time to make the necessary updates.  The fundamentals of onsite content maintenance are making sure it always has the most up to date information, and implementing SEO best practices to increase your Organic visibility.

• Do each of your pages have a core theme and specific targeted keyword?
• Are there other relevant pages you can create internal links for to direct users to other pages of your site?
• When was the last time the meta data (title tags and descriptions) were reviewed?

Start with an audit to identify which SEO elements you need to focus on. If you need help with getting started contact us to find out how we can create a customized program to help you get the job done.

#3 Resources

Now more than ever more users are referring to a brand’s resources (i.e. blog, white papers, ebooks) available on their website. It’s not only a section of your site to establish your thought leadership, but also a chance to offer various forms of content for your audience to engage with.

• Are your resources up to date and organized?
• Can a user easily search your resources to find the content they are looking for?
• What additional forms of content could you be providing to your audience as a valuable resource? (i.e. Case studies, white papers, PDF downloads, videos, etc.)

Right now many websites are building out specific COVID-19 resource centers for users to easily find the content that will help them in their new work environments.

#4 Reporting & Tracking

This is a big one, and possibly the most important task to tackle. Ensuring your data is being tracked and reported on accurately will help you in the future when looking to make data driven decisions for your business. Here is what you should be thinking about:

• When was the last time you checked to see if any pixels were interfering with each other?
• Do you have Google Tag Manager set up?
• What additional features or changes have been made to the site that need to be tracked as a conversion point?

If your website is prone to continuous changes and you are not entirely sure about the above, do an audit of your Analytics and make sure you are getting the most out of your data reporting.

#5 Paid Advertising

For some organizations, this may be on pause for now, but it is a major area to focus on when trying to build your business back up to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

• What channels are you currently using to drive traffic to your site and how effective have they been?
• What changes in audience or products will the business be prioritizing as an opportunity for growth to target in the future?
• How are you planning on growing your market reach with the current competition?

The way businesses are operating and the way people are working has obviously changed during this time, and will be changing in the foreseeable future. Forbes touches on just some of the fluctuations we will see in regards to education, senior living, and distributed workforces. Planning your strategy now is a vital component to helping your company succeed based on the new objectives that you may have.

Need help deciding where to start, or stuck on how to move forward? Email us at info@morevisbility.com to find out how we can help set your online efforts up for success.

The post Auditing, Analyzing & Strategizing Your Marketing Efforts to Thrive Post COVID-19 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

#1 People Are Consuming More Content Now Than Ever

We are looking for information on COVID-19, ways to help our healthcare workers, how to sew a facemask, in-home fitness videos, how to make whipped coffee… the list goes on. Although you may not be selling that instant coffee used for whipping (it’s delicious and I recommend you try it), keep in mind that the person learning how to make it may also be interested in what you offer. So, with YouTube advertising today, we should be less focused on contextual targeting (the type of content your ads show alongside) and more so thinking about an audience-based targeting strategy (who is watching those videos).

#2 Costs May Be Lower

Although it’s not recommended, we know a lot of businesses have either reduced or completely paused their advertising efforts. And according to a March 2020 emarketer.com survey of people who said the coronavirus impacted their advertising efforts, 43% of digital video media has decreased. Competition is what drives up cost, so now is the time to get those YouTube ads running at a lower cost.

#3 You Can Tell a Better Story Through Video

Do you have a new product offering? Is it not one your business is typically known for? We are seeing Panera Bread deliver groceries, ExxonMobil making hand sanitizer, etc. Traditional display ads will not be as effective in showcasing the who, what, when where and why. Video provides a wonderful outlet to showcase how your business has changed.

#4 YouTube Can Drive Conversions

Although YouTube is most often used for branding and awareness, there are strategies you can take advantage of that are geared towards conversion. My personal favorite is using custom intent audiences for YouTube. Targeting is based on users who have performed particular searches on Google.com within the past 7 days. So, there is that intent we love with paid search combined with recency. These audiences almost always outperform expectations.

#5 Ease of Video Creation

Long gone are the days of needing a professionally produced video to run advertising on YouTube. Google has made it easier than ever to create a well optimized video for advertising on YouTube with Video Builder. This is a free tool (currently in beta) that animates your images, text and logo with music to create short YouTube videos.

If you would like to test a YouTube campaign, contact your Client Strategist. For additional information on video opportunities, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Five Reasons Why You Should Be Using YouTube Advertising Right Now appeared first on MoreVisibility.

While what we are now facing may not be exactly a “normal”, comparable period, there are many lessons that can be applied from marketing decisions made in 2008. For starters, successful marketing during uncertain times is possible. Here are a few lessons and a few best practices to follow:

Reassess Before Reacting

Many businesses are inclined to hit the panic button and completely pull back on all marketing efforts. Remain calm and consider the effects going “dark” may have on your business. In 2008, companies who strategically invested in advertising, saw long-term profit growth. Reflect on the category your business is in, the likelihood of demand, and whether you have the resources to continue marketing.

Invest in Your Brand Long-Term

In 2008, many businesses cut back considerably on brand advertising, instead focusing on short-term activation campaigns. This tactic is unlikely to be best practice now as demand or supply may not exist for some categories in the period following the pandemic. If resources permit, shifting dollars to focus on brand building will likely have a positive long-term effect. Lack of branded advertising for your business may lead competitors to take advantage of lower category ad spend costs, increasing their market share over yours. During a period of recovery, regaining market share may be difficult and expensive should your brand choose to go “dark”.

Continue to Adjust Your Messaging

The implications of the pandemic may be felt for some time and in an effort to keep brand sentiment positive, maintaining the appropriate tone will be important for months to come. Mirroring content and messaging from 2008 may not be quite as effective, as the attitudes and behaviors of customers will vary during this time. Following live market trends and guidelines will be necessary. Appropriately catering to the mood of your customers, demonstrating empathy and solidarity, is the best rule of thumb businesses can follow in any period of difficulty.

If resources permit, plan for continuity of advertising that is focused on remaining competitive, appropriately reaching your target audience, and building positive brand sentiment.

If you need assistance in adjusting your digital marketing strategy to meet the demands and challenges of the shifting marketplace, please email us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post A Guide to Advertising in Difficult Times and Potential Brand Benefits appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Hear Danielle Leitch’s, COO at MoreVisibility, thoughts and contact us at info@morevisibility.com if you need Marketing, website and communication strategic guidance.

The post Get Ready for the Comeback appeared first on MoreVisibility.

• What Google Shopping Is
• When This Change Will Occur
• How Users Will Be Impacted
• And More!

The post Google Shopping Is Now Open to Free Product Listings appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Need help adjusting your ads in Google given these new guidelines? Please reach out to us today at info@morevisibility.com.

The post Google Response to COVID-19 with New Ad Copy Guidelines appeared first on MoreVisibility.

#1 Challenged: Consider Short-Term Marketing

View your marketing in 90-day terms. There are likely still customers who are looking for you; continuity of marketing will ensure they can find you.

• Identify your most profitable areas and products, and place most of your focus there.
• Set up an action-plan to quickly adjust your current campaigns as the market changes.

#2 Assessing: Prepare for Recovery

Adjust your marketing similarly to those who are in the “challenged” category but with a longer term view of 6 months or more.

• Revisit your current campaigns, and perform a campaign clean-up to ensure they can be implemented post-crisis.
• Check your search and location settings for up-to-date information.

#3 Pivoting: Shift Spend & Strategy

Maintain updated knowledge on how to shift your marketing budget and focus as the marketplace continues to change.

• Position your brand to be easily discovered.
• Increase brand reach and equity and identify new markets and customer segments.

#4 Investing: Invest & Build Customer Relationships

If demand for your product or service remains steady, find additional ways to connect and be a resource for your customers.

• Keep customers informed on helpful, timely information (e.g. newly stocked items, shipping dates, business hours).
• Take advantage of new marketing formats and channels.

Regardless of how your marketing strategy changes, be sure to always:

• Audit and assess all of your marketing channels to determine what is appropriate
• Adjust the tone of your messaging and creative
• Use every opportunity to be helpful and a resource for customers

If you need assistance in adjusting your digital marketing strategy to meet the demands and challenges of today’s marketplace, please email us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post Tips to Help Adjust Your Digital Marketing Strategy appeared first on MoreVisibility.

I think it is safe to say that we are all going through our own version of crazy. No one would have expected something like this to happen and no one was prepared for it. Not the healthcare industry, the restaurant industry or even the digital giants we work with every day. Amazon’s coveted Prime 2-day delivery time is being pushed out weeks and search engines are struggling to differentiate spam marketers from legitimate advertisers trying to share messaging that may save people’s lives.

However, the search engines and social platforms we work with every day have done a great job sharing resources to help advertisers navigate these trying times. Below is a consolidated list of some of those resources.

Google Ads

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9790909

https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9803410?hl=en

Microsoft Advertising

https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/march-2020/covid-19-insights-trends

https://about.ads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/post/march-2020/strategies-for-unprecedented-times

LinkedIn Marketing Solutions

https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/linkedin-news/2020/guiding-principles-melissa-selcher-linkedin

Facebook for Business

https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/resource

Here is a summary of some of the common themes shared from the above, as well as a few personally added considerations:

1. Stay Safe: This should always be the #1 priority.
2. Stay Informed: Tools such as Google Alerts and Google Trends can help you understand fluctuations in search demand. Likewise, metrics such as search impression share can more specifically give you insights into your account as it relates to your geo-targeting and keywords.
3. Evaluate Your Ads’ Copy & Images. Then Re-Evaluate Them: This has been a big one with all clients. The tone of your copy needs to change. The world is different than it was a month ago. Your creative needs to reflect that. Be sensitive to what’s happening, be helpful by sharing how your business has adapted and then re-evaluate it every day. What’s appropriate today may not be appropriate tomorrow.
4. Be Able to Adapt in Real Time: Stay flexible and be ready to pivot at a moment’s notice. Businesses are all moving faster than ever to adapt to the world around us. That will inevitably reflect in your digital marketing strategy.
5. Communication is Key: With everyone working remotely, keeping the communication lines open is essential. Increase your video interactions, have regular check-ins and be transparent.
6. Be Patient & Kind: This is a difficult time for everyone. Let’s take a step back and remember that each day.

As I sit here in my home office with my 10-month-old crying hysterically to be held, I think about how lucky I am to be home with him employed doing a job that I love, supporting some incredible clients doing incredible work for their communities. Most of all, I’m thankful for the health of my family. Here’s to getting through this together.

The post Diaries of a Quarantined Campaign Manager appeared first on MoreVisibility.

#1 Be Helpful

With the increase of misinformation everywhere online, it is imperative that your messaging is providing credible, detailed, and current information to your customers. Try incorporating messaging and tactics that reinforce “we are here to help you.” For example,

• Put forth content that shows your company is being flexible during this time and how you are able to help customers with cancellations, refunds, customer service, etc.
• Show that you’re a thought leader in your industry and define your value proposition to users through offering free and ungated content.

#2 Forge New Communities & Ways to Connect

As people continue to physically distance themselves from others, consumers are taking “shelter in place” orders more seriously and learning new ways of interacting. An interest in virtual communities has begun to surge, which has a created a large opportunity for brands to initiate new ways to forge connections and nurture relationships with their customers or customer-to-customer online. If you haven’t done so already, consider the following…

• Starting a “Group” via Facebook or LinkedIn or creating a branded hashtag to answer customer questions or provide company updates
• “Going Live” on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or etc. to answer customer questions
• Leveraging a video conference service provider to offer virtual consultations
• Looking for ways your brand (or a partner) can create / enhance shared experiences virtually

#3 Adjust Timing for a 24/7 Content Consumption Cycle

During this time, people’s routines and schedules have changed. Some of your consumer may be waking up, working or even staying up later than before. With this change comes the need to adjust the time content is being released on your website, via email or on other channels.

Right now, brands should try to communicate and connect with customers at all times throughout the day / week. This will signal to your audience that solutions are available whenever and wherever. Since there is a need for content that informs, entertains, and promotes wellness (physically and mentally), attempt to publish content as often as possible, especially during parts of the day that have not previously been opportunities.

#4 Promote Everyday Local Heroes

Currently, there has been an increase in people praising the everyday heroes who have stepped up in this critical time and are risking their own health or safety to keep others healthy. Take a moment to craft some content that shows off your appreciation and celebrates a member or organization in your local community or in your current client / customer wheelhouse. These can be:

• Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers on the front line
• Employees
• People who use your products
• People who could use support

#5 Embrace Novel Content to Combat Boredom

While your audience’s space may have contracted, their time has expanded because of the time spent at home, alone or with each other (virtually or in person). As boredom and uncertainty set in, consumers are seeking out new ways to enrich and elevate their lives and combat boredom. Search interests for online and virtual events are on the rise. Longer form, immersive content is sought and being consumed more as well. Depending on your brand’s service or product offering(s), consider creating content centered around:

• Home-based health, fitness and well-being
• Things to do with kids or as a family
• Virtually experiencing parks, concerts, museums, and zoos
• Expanding minds (podcasts, webinars, ebooks, white papers, etc.)

If your company content marketing strategy is in need of adjustment, please email us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post Adapting Your Content Marketing During Troubled Times appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Google’s support comes during a global health crisis that is impacting many businesses and the way in which they communicate with their customers. In a time of social distancing, Digital Advertising is a quick, effective channel to provide a business’ customer base on updates, closures, and resources to help during these uncertain times. Google has announced ad accounts active within the past year may be eligible for ad credits. These credits can be used across varying Google channels, with hopes that businesses can stay in touch with their customer-base and mitigate some of the cost exposures they are facing.

Aside from small businesses, Google has also pledged to support healthcare organizations, agencies like The World Health Organization, community financial organizations, and academic and research institutions. This aid will be provided in the form of:

• Financial support to partner manufacturers, with intentions of increasing the production in supplies many hospitals and other healthcare organizations are in need of
• Google Ad Grants to distribute critical information and PSAs to communities
• Funds supporting small businesses in accessing capital
• Credits to Google Cloud access for academic institutions who are pursuing studies and research on COVID-19

While the exact timeline and specific details for Google Ad credits and Google Ad Grants have not been released, eligible small businesses and organizations can expect to see notifications in their ads account with ability to use their credits through 2020.

If your business or organization’s marketing strategy is in need of adjustment or for more information on Google Ad credits, email us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post Google Donates $340 Million Google Ads Credit for Small Businesses appeared first on MoreVisibility.

What this means for you: With explanations, advertisers can view the most likely reasons for impression, click, and cost changes with only a click of a button. This makes it easy for advertisers to spend more time focusing on optimizations, and less time analyzing performance issues.

Google asks that advertisers keep the following in mind before getting started:

1. Explanations is currently available for manual CPC or eCPC Search campaigns
2. Explanations can compare two time periods of equal length within the last 90 days
3. Explanations may only show campaigns with significant performance changes

The post Google Releases New “Explain” Feature appeared first on MoreVisibility.

For example, if a user clicked on an ad last week and then converts today, these new metrics will attribute the conversion to today. The image below shows how the Conversions (by conv. Time) column impacts the way conversions are reported.

Six new columns are now available to report on conversions:

• “Conversions (by conv. time)”
• “Conv. value (by conv. time)”
• “Value / Conv. (by conv. time)”
• “All conv. (by conv. time)” and
• “All conv. value (by conv. time)”
• “Value / all conv. (by conv. time)”

By having this information available, advertisers can now compare Google Ads data to internal reporting and CRM platforms to tell a more accurate story of when users are really converting.

It is important to keep in mind that Google will still have standard reporting available which shows the conversion attributed to the first click on the ad – in the example referenced above, this conversion would be attributed to last week. These new columns can be added to existing reports alongside the standard conversion metrics; they will simply increase visibility and insight into user behavior and the customer journey.

If you have any questions about Conversions by Time, please reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google Rolls Out a New Way to Report on Conversions by Time appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Hear what tactics Andrea Hamilton, a senior member of our Client Services team, suggests to elevate your brand’s visibility in YouTube.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility for assistance.

The post How to Increase Your Brand’s Visibility in YouTube appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Advertisers can customize lead forms with a title and description. After selecting a call-to-action button, users can seamlessly submit a form which is pre-populated with contact information from their Google account (i.e. First Name, Last Name, Email Address). Advertisers also have the option to upload their own background image for the lead form. They can also customize the message that appears after customers submit their information. Lastly, advertisers can choose to deliver on their call-to-action in the form of a website link or a direct download.

Google notes, in testing, one advertiser reported a 20% higher closing rate for sale leads after implementing lead gen extensions.

The post Google Ads Rolls Out Lead Form Extension appeared first on MoreVisibility.

How to apply monthly budgets in Google Ads:

1. Navigate to your daily budget column
   
2. Click your daily budget. The following drop down will appear.
3. Select month
   
4. Last, and most importantly, adjust your budget to your ideal monthly ad spend. You will notice that Google Ads will automatically set your monthly budget to 30.4 times (the average number of days in a month) the daily budget you previously had. This may or may not be your ideal monthly ad spend.

What happens when you make changes to your monthly budgets?

Mid-month budget changes: When you adjust your budget mid-month, your new monthly budget will be the amount you can expect your campaign to spend within that calendar month.

For example: If your December monthly budget is $5,000 and on the 21^st of the month you have already spent $2,000 and you lower your monthly budget to $4,000, the most you can expect to pay for that campaign is $4,000.

Mid-month campaign launch: When you launch a campaign mid-month, the maximum you will pay gets prorated based on the campaigns launch date.

For example: If your campaign launches on January 10^th with a monthly budget of $3,100, you can expect to pay $2,200

$3,100/31 days in January = $100/day x 22 days = $2,200

Your campaign pauses mid-month and gets re-enabled that same month: In this scenario, your campaign will still spend the budget that’s set when your campaign gets re-enabled.

For example: Your campaign launches on March 1^st with a $7,000 budget, you spend $2,000 and pause your campaign on March 10^th. If you re-enable on March 25^th, your campaign can still expect to spend up to $7,000 so long as that is the monthly budget that is still set.

A few extra notes:

1. Google Ads monthly budgets are based on calendar months.
2. Monthly budgets are not yet compatible with Google Ads API, Google Ads mobile app, accelerated delivery and shared budgets.
3. According to Google, “selecting monthly budgeting will enable Google to optimize spend for better budget utilization and efficiency throughout the month.” So it seems as if this may become the “recommended” budgeting option.

If you would like to test monthly budgets within your Google Ads campaign, contact your Client Strategist. For additional information on Google Ads opportunities, please contact the experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Monthly Budgets Now Available in Google Ads appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Google said, the way that accelerated delivery works can make it an inefficient option. If an advertiser has a capped daily budget, choosing the accelerated option can mean your ads stop serving before the day ends. Google also stated, “this method can increase CPCs due to increased competition early in the day, or unintentionally spend most of your budget in earlier time zones.”

Over the years standard delivery has been improved to be more predictive: “Standard delivery considers expected ad performance throughout the day and is better at maximizing performance within your daily budget. With standard ad delivery, your budget is paced throughout the day or the periods of time you’ve scheduled your ads to run. Optimizes your spend to be more reflective of targeted inventory user search” (https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2404248?hl=en) as opposed to accelerated delivery, which Google says is “less optimized.” This is another indication that Google believes its machine learning algorithms are now better equipped to optimize campaigns.

The post Google Ads Removing Accelerated Ad Delivery appeared first on MoreVisibility.

During the workshop, team members from MoreVisibility will join experts from Google to provide advertisers and business leaders the latest innovations and features in Google Ads and Google Analytics that can help illustrate what factors are contributing to your campaign performance and bottom line.

Topics include:

• How Google Is Helping to Create Attribution Solutions
• Google Ads Features to Take You Beyond “Last Click”
• Google Analytics Tips to Improve Your Measurement & Reporting
• And More!

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from the best Digital Marketers in the business! Space at the workshop is limited – Register for the workshop here.

The post MoreVisibility & Google Partner for Live Attribution Workshop in South Florida appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Gallery ads are a swipeable, image-based ad format that gives customers the information they need about a product and service at the top of the search results page. They’re designed to help businesses showcase their brand visually with the ability to include up to 8 images and cover substantial real estate in the Google search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition, each image can have a unique caption, and advertisers can utilize a call-to-action button at the end of the gallery.

Ready to roll our Gallery Ads for your brand? Contact our team for more information.

The post Google’s Gallery Ads (Beta) Are Now Available Globally appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Moreover, this new Google Chrome feature will modify how cookies function and require Google’s developers to clearly indicate the cookies that are permitted to work across the web and could be used to track users. Once the feature is released, Chrome users will have the ability to clear all of their cookies, while not affecting single domain cookies and preserving things like logins and settings. In addition, Google Chrome will be more transparent about which websites are setting these cookies, which will give its users the power to make more informed choices about how their data is being used.

Consequently, this could have a major impact on marketers use cookies to target their audiences with online ads and monitor ad performance. It is unclear if Google’s tracking will receive preferential treatment while blocking other industry players. The brief announcement has also left some Digital Marketers wondering if Google cookies are blocked, whether the browser will still be able to track a logged-in user using their Google ID.

“Giving users more information or control over their data is a move that will continue to be a trend for big brands like Google,” said Max Braglia, Vice President, Interactive Advertising at MoreVisibility.  “While this is going to be a challenge for Advertisers, it is also an opportunity for the industry as a whole to reevaluate the importance of older targeting methods, such contextual ads.”

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Google Certified Experts at MoreVisibility.

The post Google Chrome’s Recent Privacy Updates to Alter the Online Marketing Space appeared first on MoreVisibility.

• Don’t worry if you’re not spending the full $10,000. Your spend is not a reflection of the quality of your grant account. Most non-profits aren’t spending the full $10k. In fact, several of the non-profits I spoke with were spending around $500-$1000 per month. One should be more focused on benchmarking goals and trying to beat them month over month. That brings us to our next key takeaway.
• Track your conversions. Make sure you are tracking conversions. Speakers at the event highly recommended conversion and revenue tracking. First and foremost, by utilizing conversion tracking you will know which campaigns and keywords are driving key conversion actions. In addition, this will allow you to use additional bidding strategies within the campaign settings. Many non-profits have other conversion points than donations, so be sure to track whatever key actions are the most important for your non-profit.
• Use maximize conversions bidding strategy. This was talked about heavily during the workshop. Once your conversion tracking is implemented and key actions are being tracked, leverage automated bid strategies such as maximize conversions. Even though $2 is the max bid, by using the maximize conversions bid strategy google may bid above the $2 threshold.
• KW Research is your friend. Finding new and niche keyword opportunities based on your non-profit will be key in maximizing your grant spend. You can bid on keywords related to content on your website, blog topics, FAQs, and even relevant current events related to your non-profit. Even if a keyword has an estimated CPC of over $2, you can still bid on them. Think about long-tail keywords variations and how your target audience would be searching.
• The secret to maximizing your grant account…. there is no secret. Time and dedication must be allocated to your Google Ads Grant Account to maximize it. Whether it is dedicating your own time or finding someone within your organization who is data driven and technical, the key here is nurturing and growing your Google Ads Grant Account as if it were a paid one. Dedicate time to build new campaigns based on relevant events, mine for new keywords, create and test new ad copy, spend time to setup the appropriate conversion tracking, and enhance the landing page experience.

Once these elements are in-line you will find great value in your Google Ads Grant Account. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to us at info@morevisibility.com.

The post Grow with Google NYC Event – Maximizing Your Google Grants Account appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Yes, you had the availability to segment by conversion type at the campaign level, but all counted conversions were totaled up in the “Conversions” column. You were not able to choose which conversion actions to optimize against at the campaign level.

Now, you can choose which conversion actions to include in the “Conversions” column at the campaign level. This will allow you to analyze performance and optimize campaigns based on the most relevant conversion action types.

The “All conversions” column will still show all the conversion actions you’ve selected for inclusion at the account level.

You might have campaigns that you want to be able to optimize for more than one conversion action (i.e “request a quote” or “contact us”). The new conversion action will allow you to bucket conversion actions and apply them across campaigns for reporting in the Conversions column.

Where to find this? You can find the Conversion Action Sets tab in the Conversions section located under Tools in your account.

The post Campaign-Level Conversion Actions Now Live for Google Search & Display Campaigns appeared first on MoreVisibility.

With the continued surge of podcast content, Google has released an update to search results that will now include podcasts. If your search returns podcast results, you will be able to visit the website it is being hosted on and the most recent episodes. Here is a screenshot from a search I did on my desktop:

While my search wasn’t looking for a specific show or episode, you can see the podcast selections allow the user to see the title, date published, running time and a play button to listen with just one more click. By clicking “More Episodes” you are also brought to the Google Podcast main page that features a long list of other episodes from different hosts you can scroll through:

Impact: If your brand produces podcast content, you are likely promoting that through your website, on streaming platforms, or both. Google has provided a reference page explaining how to properly use their structured data so your podcast is picked up by search engines. This feature will not only crawl your podcast title and meta data, but Google has also included an audio search within the code that allows Google to transcribe the words in your podcast – meaning a user searching for topics within your podcast could see your show in search results as well.

Blog content has been a huge focus for many brands and you should not pull away from that strategy. However, if your brand currently produces podcasts you should look at the frequency, quality and strategy behind them. Google is telling us that podcasts are important to search engines, which means they are important for users. Owning the search landscape with authoritative content is a goal many work to achieve – with this latest update, podcasts are just as important as any other form of content.

The post Podcasts Now Show Up In Google Search Results appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Although Bing, the search engine, will remain a large part of Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft hopes to have this new name better describe the wide range of Microsoft’s advertising products, including those utilizing AI and automation.

Although Microsoft says the rebranding of Bing Ads should be a “simple shift,” they did hint at some upcoming advertising products, with a focus on AI, over the next year.

“In the next year, we’re introducing more advertising products with built-in AI, more connected to your data and your business,” the article said. “There are two offerings that showcase ways in which Microsoft Advertising is delivering on this potential: the Microsoft Audience Network and Sponsored Products.”

For Microsoft Audience Network, which was launched in 2018, Microsoft will be adding some product enhancements that include viewable impressions and image upload and management tool updates. In addition, Microsoft stated that they will be expanding this audience network, which previously was only available within the United States, to both the UK and Canada.

As for Sponsored Products, Microsoft will be introducing a new feature that will allow manufacturers and retailers to boost visibility and drive more traffic to their top products within their shopping campaigns. This new feature will only be available to those within the United States, which is common for Microsoft to do when testing a new offering.

The post Microsoft Rebrands Bing Ads to Microsoft Advertising appeared first on MoreVisibility.

In this video, Fiorella Öxndal and Max Braglia discuss the implications of changing from the traditional Last-Click attribution model to Position-Based.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility for assistance.

The post Moving from Last-Click to Position-Based Attribution Modeling appeared first on MoreVisibility.

If you have any questions, please reach out to the experts at MoreVisibility for assistance.

The post Elevate Your Paid Advertising Campaigns with AI & Machine Learning appeared first on MoreVisibility.

1. Quality ranking: calculates your ad’s predicted quality compared to other ads with the same target audience.
2. Engagement rate ranking: calculates your ad’s predicted engagement rate compared to other ads with the same target audience.
3. Conversion rate ranking: calculates your ad’s predicted conversion rate compared to other ads with the same target audience.

This change will allow advertisers to better understand where wins and losses are occurring in terms of relevance. This can help guide optimizations and recommendations. Facebook says the current relevance score metrics will start to be removed from ad accounts on April 30th. Reach out to the MoreVisibility team with any questions!

The post Facebook’s Relevance Score Metric is Being Replaced and Improved Upon appeared first on MoreVisibility.

Our past workshops have been packed with the latest industry information, and this workshop will be no different. The MoreVisibility team and Google representatives will be providing attendees with tactical recommendations to maximize YouTube and Google Keyword Search advertising. During the workshop, attendees will learn:

• Strategies for improving website UX
• The latest changes & new features coming to google ads
• How to build marketing funnel momentum & move users through the research, discovery, and selection journey
• And More!

At MoreVisibility, education has been a cornerstone of our business since 1999. This workshop and partnership with Google exemplifies our commitment to equipping Digital Marketers with the tools and strategies they need to optimize their internet campaigns.

Do you have specific questions about Google Advertising? Schedule a one-on-one consultation immediately following the workshop. Whether you are completely new to SEM and are looking for guidance on how this channel could enhance your marketing efforts, or if you already have presence in Google Search and would like an audit of both your current campaigns and missed opportunities, a Google Advertising consultation is ideal for you.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn from the best Digital Marketers in the business. Space at the workshop is limited. Register for the South Florida workshop today!

The post Learn Straight from the Experts – Google Workshop Returns to Deerfield Beach on March 12, 2019 appeared first on MoreVisibility.

The new metrics are “Impression (Absolute Top) %” and “Impression (Top) %”, which describe what percent of your ads appear at the top of the page and absolute top of the page. Google provided the following example to illustrate what each metric means in terms of the actual position:

Google Ads currently plans to officially sunset Average Position by the end of September 2019. Until then, Average Position will still be in the platform, but advertisers should incorporate Absolute Top and Top metrics into their analysis early to prepare. Please reach out to MoreVisibility if you have any questions regarding this change.

The post Google Ads’ Average Position Metric Is Going Away appeared first on MoreVisibility.