Patrick Kulp says, “Google’s advertisers may soon figure much more prominently into the terrain of the company’s maps feature. A new type of ad offering will let companies buy the ability to place a small logo image over their physical locations on Google Maps, the search giant announced on Tuesday. Such ads are already available in Google-owned navigation app Waze. Other new ads within Google Maps will allow retailers to peddle in-store discounts on specific products or display an inventory search of a nearby store when users search relevant terms within Maps. If someone were... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Google announced a tranche of changes to its ad products yesterday. Whilst there were no massive surprises (updates were in line with recent tests seen in the wild), there’s still work for marketers to do to understand their impact. Here’s a summary of things to look out for in the coming weeks and months. Start preparing now for expanded text ads Text ads will include more characters for the first time since Google launched AdWords. For mobile, neatly summed up by the GIF below, this means two lines of headline and more description”. What do Google’s... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “With the news that over half of the trillions of Google searches happen on mobile, Google announced Tuesday that it will soon change the way advertisers set bids for targeting ads by device type in AdWords. Other coming changes announced at Googler Performance Summit in San Francisco include an update to Google text ads on all devices and responsive mobile display ads that can access native mobile ad inventory on the Google Display Network. The change in bidding is significant in that it accomplishes two things: 1. Untethers desktop and tablet bids; and 2. Allows advertisers... [...]

Joe Youngblood says, “What started with Siri in 2010 is quickly leading to an age where consumers engage with the internet using only their voices, in much the way Captain Picard engaged with the computer on the USS Enterprise. Google’s foray into voice search has been calculated and planned for years, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It currently appears to be based on a closed system owned and overseen by Google, not on an open system like the trillions of websites that populate the internet are built on (i.e., HTML). I predicted this eventuality more than two years ago, after the... [...]

Julie Ask says, “Google took a few big steps forward at Google I/O 2016 to fill in its portfolio to win, serve and retain customers in their mobile moments. Three new product announcements should propel Google forward. They include: 1. Google Home. Google Home looks like an incredibly promising (and necessary) entry into the home virtual assistant or agent hardware market. Like Amazon, Google led with a story of entertainment and media followed by that of virtual assistance. Google claims the combination of natural language processing, artificial intelligence and years of experience with... [...]

Christina Warren says, ““We’re kind of in an AI Spring,” says John Giannandrea, Google’s head of machine learning. Giannandrea’s statement — a reference to the term AI winter — sums up how the use cases, interest and research in artificial intelligence are really taking off. During a Google I/O panel on Friday held at the company’s developer’s conference, Giannandrea was joined by Google SVP of Product Aparna Chennapragada and Google Brain lead Jeffrey Dean to talk about how AI and machine learning are changing products”. Google’s artificial intelligence... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Google I/O saw the tech giant unveiling products across the hot topics in tech right now. New messaging apps, a new VR platform and a virtual assistant. How are these products placed in the market? Which might be the likeliest to succeed? Messaging – Allo With Allo, Google is abandoning the necessity of logging in with a Google account (a la Hangouts) and allowing users to message each other using an encrypted service (though, controversially, this won’t be enabled as default). Allo will be tied to your phone number, much like WhatsApp. In appearance, what we’ve... [...]

Pete Pachal says, “Google CEO Sundar Pichai had good reason to be excited Wednesday. Pichai, who is probably most often described as “subdued,” was unusually energized as he emceed his team through a host of product announcements — several genuinely impressive. He kicked things off with Google Home, the company’s answer to Amazon Echo. Then came Allo and Duo, a pair of messaging apps that look well poised to compete with the likes of WhatsApp and FaceTime. And Android Instant Apps — apps that download themselves directly from links — could change the face of mobile,... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Yesterday saw the latest development in Google’s search advertising product. Shopping ads, or product listing ads (PLAs), are set to appear within Google image searches. I asked for some initial thoughts from agency search practitioners. Here are a few things to look out for. Expect a drop in organic traffic from image results Of late, Google’s product changes in search have led SEOs to bemoan the erosion of natural listings, notably with more and larger ads appearing on mobile (three text ads at the top instead of two, and large format PLAs)”. Google introduces... [...]

Entrepreneur team says, “Alphabet’s Google Inc. unveiled its answer to Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant along with new messaging and virtual reality products at its annual I/O developer conference on Wednesday, doubling down on artificial intelligence and machine learning as the keys to its future. Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai introduced Google Assistant, a virtual personal assistant designed to perform voice-controlled tasks, along with the tabletop speaker appliance Google Home. Amazon’s Echo, a surprise hit that has other tech giants racing to match it, uses a... [...]