Changes Coming to Google Analytics and Ads

Always Evolving: Five Need to Know Updates from Google Analytics & Ads

This year, Google has rolled out some heavy-duty tactics and we were excited to see how these updates will shape the way we utilize Google Analytics and the suite of Google of products.

Here are just five of the many new additions Google will be rolling out to all Google Analytics, AdWords, and DoubleClick users over the next few months. At JP Marketing, we’ll be taking these into consideration, as they become available to us, when planning and reporting for our clients’ campaigns.

Target in-market audiences through Search campaigns

This targeting tactic is currently only available through the Google Display Network for display ads. This is a game changer as now text ads can reach consumers that have expressed interest in a certain product or service other than just targeting by keyword.

Has it worked? Yes. Google’s already tested this with select advertisers across the nation as part of a Beta Test. Their results found conversion rates increased by 10 percent compared to campaigns that didn’t have access to in-market audiences.

Location Extensions added to YouTube Ads

This is a feature that’s only available for Search Engine Marketing (SEM) campaigns. Advertisers will have the opportunity for their physical location to be present across their pre-roll or in-stream video ads across the TrueView platform. Consumers can click for directions or call your location.

Now, creative can be more specific to direct customers to visit their brick-and-mortar store in a more direct manner.

Life Events coming to YouTube Ads

This is one of our favorites! The buzzword throughout the recent keynote was Artificial Intelligence (AI). Google and big data companies are using their databases and algorithms to help marketers make smarter decisions. AdWords will soon roll out Life Events based on AI data like search habits and categories consumers consider milestones or life events.

Say you’re going to get married. You begin searching for caterers, venues, florists, and local wedding cake bakeries. Google will take those search queries into consideration and presume this person is planning a wedding. In turn, they’ll sell that data to advertisers to target you with a TrueView video ad that’s specific to that Life Event.

Landing Page Reports on Google Analytics

Google will now be able to tell advertisers which page is the weakest link in causing your traffic to drop off in a more digestible way than the Google Analytics Page Flow view. This tool will help clients’ budgets go further and will aid in making smarter optimizations for our web developers.

Google will also offer recommendations on how to optimize your landing page as well as have access to Google experts with more detailed solutions.

P.S. JP has exclusive access to two Google Partners representatives that offer hands-on recommendations for any of our clients’ campaigns. 😉

Google Attribution

Marketers often have problems tracking conversions from point A to point B. There can be a disconnect between tracking in-store sales, online purchases or leads with how they were attributed. Google’s tool will make that problem a lot easier to answer by being able to measure your campaign’s impact.

It will also be able to track the customer journey from the point of contact to the completed conversion. The best part is that it’s completely FREE to Google AdWords users! We can’t wait to test it out with our clients.

If any of the above sounds intriguing to you, let us know in the comments!