Paul Chaney says, “Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) today announced the addition of three new features to AdWords Expressintended to help small businesses reach a larger audience and better understand the impact of their ad campaigns on bottom line results. The new features are: New Google Adwords Express Features Ad Scheduling Advertisers can now opt to run ads at specific times, a feature that was only available to AdWords‘ users previously. “Ad scheduling is a simple way to make sure your ad only runs at times you choose (during your hours of operation, for example), so you reach your customers... [...]

Samantha Shannon says, “If you have ever run a Google AdWords campaign, you know how overwhelming maintaining an account can be. Luckily, Google has many features and tools that make managing campaigns easier and more successful. The catch? It is up to us to utilize them. Today, I am talking about an advanced feature that can help advertisers better reach customers by matching their search query. This seemingly magical feature is called keyword insertion. What is Keyword Insertion? Simply put, keyword insertion allows you to customize ad text based on the search term a customer uses. This... [...]

Sean Philip says, “With Google unleashing several new Adwords features in the first half of 2016, advertisers should take this as an opportunity to maximise their paid search campaigns. Here’s how… The updates During the first half of 2016 Google announced two fundamental changes to its Adwords real estate. It launched ‘Expanded text ads’, with both ad headline and description lines increasing in length and it removed the familiar ‘sidebar’ paid search ads (on the right of the results page), introducing an additional spot for paid search listings above the organic results”. Six... [...]

Will Scott says, “As an avid Google Maps user on both a personal and business level, I’ve often wished for a more interactive and all-inclusive experience. For instance, wouldn’t it be great to get suggestions for options like the closest coffee shop or lunch spot while I’m driving from Point A to Point B? Sure, I could pull over, open up Google and search for these things separately, but who wouldn’t welcome a truly responsive and local experience within Google Maps? If you’re like me, then Google’s recent announcements for local businesses are good reason to celebrate. These... [...]

Luke Richards says, “Over the past few months our Internet Statistics Compendium has seen some increasingly detailed mobile advertising data hit its pages, thanks in part to some free-to-download research over at Kenshoo and IHS. For today’s post I want to reflect on some of these trends and relate them to some of my own recent experiences of mobile ads – particularly the ever-surprising world of in-app advertising. We know that app installs and in-app ad spend are both growing Kenshoo’s Mobile App Advertising Trends Report released back in March highlighted some good top-level growth... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Google is introducing three new reports on cross-device activity, along with a reorganization of the Attribution section under the Tools menu in AdWords. With six out of 10 online conversions in the US starting on one device and ending on another, according to a Google/Ipsos study, the new reports are designed to help marketers track cross-device conversion paths, including those that feature search ad clicks from more than one device in a conversion path. The new cross-device activity reports: – Devices: an overview of the cross-device activity in your account. –... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “With 500 million active monthly users, Instagram offers a unique opportunity for marketers to reach their target audiences through ad campaigns. The other perk of advertising on Instagram? The ads can look almost no different than regular posts, making them much less invasive than other ad types. But setting up ads on any platform requires a lot of thought: What should your target audience look like? What should your copy say? What image should you use? Not to mention, the more technical aspects like what size your image needs to be or how long your ad should run for.... [...]

Barry Levine says, “Earlier this month, I posted a story that pointed out there’s a key missing stat in all the data about ad blocking: Where is the data showing that, if ads were more relevant or less annoying or less privacy-invading or loaded quicker, most if not all users of ad blockers would stop using them, or would delete the one they have, or would not download one? I haven’t seen that stat. Neither has mobile marketer Tune’s mobile economist, John Koetsier, who has studied whether there are enough users to support mobile content through payments instead of ads. (Spoiler alert:... [...]

Zak Stambor says, “Google’s Product Listing Ads accounted for 46% of retailers’ Google paid search clicks in the quarter, a three percentage point increase from the first quarter. The image-focused ads are set to account for more than half of retailers’ paid search clicks by the end of the year, according to a new report by performance marketing agency Merkle Group Inc. The report finds that Google’s push to eliminate ads from the right side of search results has helped boost PLA click volume 73% year over year in the second quarter, outpacing the 43% growth in PLA spending. The cost... [...]

Mimi An says, “It’s no secret that internet users are no strangers to seeking out the information they need online — in fact, Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second. And as the volume of search queries continues to climb, advertisers are recognizing an opportunity to introduce a number of different types of ads. (Think: pop-up ads, autoplaying video ads, and the dreaded mobile ad that takes up the entire phone screen.) As a reaction to some of these disruptive online ads, internet users have started installing ad blocking extensions by the millions. In case... [...]