6 Important Google Ads Changes You Need to Know

Does it feel like every time you get into a good groove with your Google Ads, the search giant switches things up and you have to rethink your campaigns? Even as a professional who works in this space, I often feel like I’m playing Whack-a-Mole with Google Ads updates, and it’s not surprising that so many small business owners who run their own PPC ads struggle to keep up considering everything else on their plates. Here are a few notable changes Google has made to its advertising program this fall. Keyword matching In September, Google announced that the technology it uses to understand the context and intent of search queries is being extended to keyword matching in Google Ads. 6 SEO Tools Every Small-Business Owner Should Know Broad match and phrase match keywords that are identical to the query at hand are preferred when there’s not an exact match keyword; when there are more than one match types for a keyword and each is relevant to the query, but not identical, Google will make a decision based on both relevance and Ad Rank. What does all this mean? Google is spinning it as a positive change that benefits its advertisers because it delivers more qualified traffic with fewer keywords, but not all advertisers are feeling the love for this update. If you haven’t reviewed your keywords and ad group structure in a while, then now is the time. The good news is that Google is giving us more data in the Search Terms report, which brings us to the next important update. More robust data in Search Terms Report Last September, much of the information in the search terms report became restricted. This September, Google responded to frustration from advertisers by adding some of this information back to their reports. Specifically, advertisers can now see search terms that they had impressions for, whether or not a user clicked on them. This is a change from the previous update, which only showed advertisers the terms with a high enough volume to maintain user anonymity and that had one or more clicks. This isn’t a full reversal of the last update, but it’s better than nothing. Increased automation on display ads Do you run display ads on Google? If so, you should be aware that Google has combined the setup for Display and Smart Display campaigns, making them a single campaign type. When setting up a campaign, you’ll go to the Select Campaign Type page, then click Display; from there, you can specify whether you’d like to set up a standard Display campaign or a Smart Display campaign. In addition, display campaigns are automatically set up for optimized targeting, which lets you generate more clicks from outside of the audiences you select based on your goals. You can opt out of this if you wish, though. No more expanded text ads Expanded text ads have been widely used in search, but last spring Google replaced them with responsive search ads as the default for most Google Ads search campaigns. Now, we know that this change was foreshadowing—expanded text ads will be eliminated next June, with responsive search ads as the only available ad type to create other than call and dynamic ads. The good news here is that existing expanded text ads will be grandfathered in and can be run indefinitely. About This Ad pages People who click on “Why am I seeing this ad?” will now be directed to an About This Ad page where they can view additional ads from a brand and learn more about the advertiser in question. This feature is being rolled out for display, video and shopping ads. New types of travel ads If you have a travel-related business, you’ll be pleased to learn there’s a new type of ad created with you in mind. Things to Do ads allow advertisers to include information about pricing, along with reviews, images and other relevant information. Another positive change for tourism-related businesses is that now when people search for an attraction, there will be a link for purchasing tickets or reservations, rather than just general information. Amazon Muscles In On Google’s Turf With New Search Tool for Sellers