Atomic Media

Google Ads adds product Categories tab

Written on August 30, 2024 at 8:27 am, by admin

Google Ads added a new Categories tab under the Products section. It appears to pull from the google_product_category attribute.

Why we care: These ecommerce insights may give you a clearer view of performance metrics, demand trends and actionable recommendations to drive more clicks and sales.

How it works:

• Performance insights: Understand what’s driving success in your campaigns and where improvements can be made.
• Demand trends: Stay ahead by spotting shifts in consumer interest at the category level.
• Actionable recommendations: Get tailored suggestions for boosting your return on ad spend (ROAS), including tips on pausing underperforming categories and optimizing top-performing ones.

What to watch out for. Some advertisers wonder whether Google will correctly categorize products.

First seen. This update was first brought to our attention by Aleksejus Podpruginas on LinkedIn:

Bottom line: These insights could help you fine-tune your strategies and possibly outpace the competition, all from the convenience of the product page.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

6 steps to AI-driven budgeting and forecasting for digital marketing

Written on August 29, 2024 at 5:25 am, by admin

AI is transforming how businesses approach their digital marketing budgeting and forecasting processes.

Companies can develop robust forecasting and budgeting models that focus on data-driven decisions.

This approach enables customized strategies that align with specific business goals and can be adjusted based on organizational needs and channels.

AI is a key driver for transformation.

• Up to 86% of organizations implementing generative AI report seeing revenue growth of 6% or more in their total annual company revenue, per a Google Cloud report. 

This article covers how to leverage AI with the right data to come up with forecasting and budgeting prioritization, specifically for digital marketing efforts.

Below are the six steps to craft a model that aligns with your unique business needs. 

Step 1: Define business goals, objectives and KPIs

This step is divided into two parts: setting goals and identifying key performance indicators (KPIs).

Clearly articulate business objectives

Specify the overall business objectives, such as increasing revenue, enhancing brand awareness, generating leads or boosting engagement rates.

Identify specific KPIs

Determine the relevant KPIs for each targeted channel, such as views, conversion rates or cost per acquisition (CPA).

After aligning on goals and KPIs, analyze historical trends to identify channels and strategies that can contribute toward achieving the goals.

Step 2: Trends, customer journey and channels

Channel distribution analysis

• Gather historical data: Collect data on marketing spend, revenue and key performance indicators for each channel.
• Identify performance levels: Analyze the data to determine which channels are high-performing and which are low-performing.
• Calculate ROI: Know the return on investment (ROI) and other relevant metrics for each channel.

Market and trends analysis

• Identify industry and market trends: Examine industry trends, including market demand and supply patterns for the upcoming year and the previous year.
• Assess consumer behavior and emerging technologies: Identify shifts in consumer behavior and emerging technologies, such as AI, virtual agents and the shift to mobile platforms.
• Analyze competitor activity: Evaluate competitor performance across different channels.

Search trends and customer journey 

• Analyze customer discovery channels: Determine how your customers are finding your business. While new marketing strategies may seem promising, ensure these channels align with your customer’s journey. 
• Use Google Search Console and Google Analytics: Leverage tools like search console and analytics to understand customer search trends and compare them with industry-wide search changes.
• Evaluate content formats: Assess whether your business is gaining traction through videos, AI-generated overviews or images and compare these results with industry and competitor benchmarks.

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Step 3: Data and infrastructure 

Evaluate the existing technology stack

• Assess the technology infrastructure for its ability to centralize data, maintain data quality and ensure data security.

Centralize data

• Consolidate all data from various channels and touchpoints into a single location, such as a data lake. Test if data can be used to run analysis and reporting.

Data cleaning and pre-processing

• With all the data collected, the next step is to prepare it for forecasting and budgeting models.
• Begin by cleaning and organizing the data, focusing on the most relevant data points aligned with business goals and KPIs.
• Ensure data accuracy and consistency by removing outliers and addressing any inconsistencies.
• Conduct exploratory data analysis to identify patterns and correlations.

Step 4: Forecasting

Forecasting is key to budgeting because it helps manage risks, seize opportunities, optimize resources and make smart investment decisions. 

The following machine learning and language-based models can be used to generate these forecasts:

ARIMA (Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average)

• Combines autoregression and moving average.
• Flexible for various time series patterns.
• SARIMA, or seasonal ARIMA, accounts for seasonal fluctuations.

Prophet

• Developed by Facebook.
• Decomposes time series data into trend, seasonality and holiday effects.
• Works best with time series with strong seasonal effects and multiple seasons of historical data.

Chronos (language-based model)

• Developed by Amazon.
• A family of pretrained time series forecasting models based on language model architectures.
• A time series is transformed into a sequence of tokens via scaling and quantization and a language model is trained on these tokens using the cross-entropy loss.
• Once trained, probabilistic forecasts are obtained by sampling multiple future trajectories given the historical context.

Consider using Claude 3.5 Sonnet by Anthropic to easily generate Python code for implementing the forecasting models.

Step 5: Budgeting

Determining the optimum channel allocation

• Determine the most suitable budget allocation method based on business objectives, such as percentage of revenue or a fixed amount per channel.
• Consider factors like channel maturity, potential ROI and customer and market trends.
• Use statistical techniques such as Linear Regression to generate a market mix model that optimizes the budget allocation across channels to meet your business goal.

Regular monitoring and optimization

• Continuously track channel performance against budget and KPIs.
• Identify underperforming channels and reallocate budget accordingly.
• Optimize campaigns based on real-time data and insights.

Step 6: Use cases

Finally, create specific use cases for each step of your marketing plan. For example:

• “As the chief marketing officer of an upscale hotel, I want to increase online revenue by 20% year over year. To help achieve this goal, recommend the best budget allocation across digital channels.”

Solution steps

Define business goals and KPIs

• Goal – Increase revenue by 20% overall 
• KPIs – Revenue

Channel distribution, ROI, revenue and conversions 

• Gather historical revenue and conversion data from Google Analytics across all channels. 
• Collect spend data for all channels.
• Calculate ROI for each channel. 

Data and infrastructure

• All data should be available in a centralized storage such as a data lake.
• It is easier to access clean and centralized data for training the model.
• Install required python libraries such as pandas, numpy or scipy.
• Perform exploratory data analysis to identify trends and seasonal patterns by running python libraries and statistical analysis  

Forecasting and budgeting

• Use forecasting models such as SARIMA to forecast the revenue from each channel based on the spend. The model will account for seasonality trends in the data
• Use statistical optimization techniques to find the best budget allocation across channels.

Working model output 

Current average spend across the top channels:

After executing all the steps given above, here’s the recommended allocation by the budgeting model:

Individual channel allocation

Once you have the budget allocation for each channel, the next step is to break it down further and identify specific sources or platforms within each channel. 

For example:

• Within the organic search channel, you might consider sources like Google Business. 
• For paid search, platforms like Google Ads and Facebook. 

This helps determine the precise budget needed for each source.

For our use case, focus on the organic search channel. Run the budgeting model for all sources within this channel to determine each source’s allocation.

After executing all the steps, here’s the recommended budget allocation for organic search sources:

Strategies and solutions to maximize the full-funnel digital experience 

Now based on the recommended allocation, deploy the strategies to optimize GBP Listings and Google Search.

AI in digital marketing: Smarter budgeting and forecasting

In the AI era, budgeting and forecasting can be done in real time if data from various customer touchpoints and channels is centralized and readily available throughout the customer journey. 

By leveraging AI, you can optimize marketing performance by allocating the right budget to each channel based on its contribution to achieving your business goals.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

New Google tools to boost first-party data strategies

Written on August 29, 2024 at 5:25 am, by admin

Google is rolling out two new features to help you navigate the evolving digital privacy landscape and strengthen first-party data strategies.

Why we care. Despite Google deciding to roll back on its plans to remove third-party cookies, with privacy regulations still in place, first-party data has become crucial. These tools is intended to help you simplify data collection and management while respecting user privacy.

Driving the news. Google announced Tag Diagnostics and a new consent management setup, both designed to streamline first-party data collection and utilization.

Details. The new offerings include:

Tag Diagnostics:

• Provides at-a-glance view of account health.
• Alerts users to potential measurement issues.
• Offers guidance on fixing problemsAvailable in Google Tag Manager, Google Ads, and Google Analytics.

Integrated Consent Management Platform (CMP) setup:

• Streamlines consent banner creation and consent mode implementation.
• Works within Google Ads, Analytics, and Tag Manager interfaces.
• Integrates with several CMP partners, including consent manager, Cookiebot, iubenda, and Usercentrics.

What’s next: Google plans to continue adding new diagnostics capabilities and investing in first-party data solutions as the industry evolves.

Bottom line. As digital advertising faces a privacy-driven shift, Google is positioning itself as a key enabler of first-party data strategies for advertisers.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Adtech antitrust trial judge blasts Google’s business practices

Written on August 29, 2024 at 5:25 am, by admin

Google’s legal troubles appeared to worsen yesterday as the judge of the adtech antitrust trial delivered sharp criticism of the tech giant, signaling possible consequences for its business practices.

What happened: During the pre-trial motion hearings, Judge Leonie Brinkema sharply criticized Google for its handling of privileged information, labeling the company’s actions as “absolutely inappropriate and not proper.” 

The court singled out the so-called ‘Walker Memo,’ containing what she referred to as “incredible smoking guns,” as evidence of potential wrongdoing.

The ‘Walker Memo’ refers to a 2008 memo by Google’s chief legal officer, Kent Walker, who created a “communication with care” policy. This policy advised employees to switch sensitive litigation-related chats to “history off” mode, automatically deleting chats within 24 hours, according to court documents.

The judge also condemned Google’s practice of auto-deleting chats, mockingly referred to by employees as “Vegas mode,” implying that the company may have intentionally destroyed evidence.

Why we care. If Google is found to have engaged in anticompetitive practices, it could lead to significant changes in the digital advertising landscape. That could include changes in pricing and bidding models, and possibly increased competition from other platforms.

The big picture: This trial, one of the most significant antitrust cases in decades, could reshape the landscape for the media and tech industries.

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The judge’s remarks suggest that Google’s internal practices could heavily influence the trial’s outcome, with potential inferences drawn against the company as witnesses testify.

What to watch: With less than two weeks until the trial begins, Google faces mounting scrutiny. The judge’s familiarity with related antitrust rulings, including a recent unfavorable decision against Google, sets the stage for what could be a pivotal moment in the company’s legal battle.

Dig deeper.

• Google’s $2.3 million check secures bench trial in adtech antitrust case
• Google will face a new U.S. antitrust jury trial in September

U.S. vs. Google. This is the second major antitrust trial for Google within the year. Earlier this month, in the U.S. vs. Google antitrust trial, a federal judge ruled that Google illegally monopolized search and search advertising markets, especially by paying $20 billion annually for default search status on iPhones.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Seasonal PPC: Your guide to boosting holiday ad performance

Written on August 29, 2024 at 5:25 am, by admin

Black Friday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day – these aren’t just dates on a calendar; they’re golden opportunities for savvy marketers.

A well-planned pay-per-click (PPC) strategy can mean the difference between riding the wave of seasonal demand and getting lost in the holiday noise.

Seasonal PPC isn’t about simply increasing your ad spend when the leaves start to fall. It’s a specified approach that aligns your Google Ads campaigns with the rhythms of consumer behavior throughout the year and your inventory strengths and seasonalities.

This article will show you the key components of an effective seasonal PPC strategy, including:

• Identifying seasonal trends in your industry.
• Adjusting budgets and bids to profit from peak periods.
• Crafting strong ad copy that resonates with seasonal intent.
• Leveraging advanced features in Google Ads for seasonal success.

Understanding seasonality in PPC

Seasonality is not just about Santa hats in December or beach balls in July. In PPC, it’s the rhythm that drives consumer behavior throughout the year.

What is seasonality?

At its core, seasonality refers to predictable changes that happen at specific times of the year. 

Think of it as the business world’s version of nature’s seasons. But instead of leaves changing color, we’re looking at spikes in search volume, shifts in buying habits and fluctuations in ad performance.

Take the fashion industry. As surely as birds fly south for winter, shoppers start hunting for cozy sweaters and boots when the temperature drops. 

Or consider travel. Come January, you can bet your bottom dollar that searches for “summer vacation ideas” will start ticking up as people dream of escaping the winter blues.

But it’s not just about the weather. Seasonality can be driven by:

• Holidays (Christmas, Halloween, Mother’s Day).
• Annual events (Super Bowl, Black Friday).
• Academic calendars (back-to-school season).
• Financial cycles (tax season).

Each industry has its own unique seasonal patterns. The key is recognizing yours.

How seasonality shakes up consumer behavior

Consumers are a fickle bunch and seasonality plays them like a fiddle.

One month, they’re all about fitness gear and diet plans (hello, New Year’s resolutions); the next, they’re loading up on chocolates and flowers (looking at you, Valentine’s Day).

These shifts in demand aren’t just minor blips. They can cause bigger changes in search volumes, click-through rates and conversion patterns. For example:

• Searches for “air conditioner” skyrocket in the summer months.
• “Tax software” becomes a hot topic when the tax submission deadline comes nearer.
• “Halloween costume ideas” explodes in popularity come October.

Understanding these patterns is like having a crystal ball for your PPC campaigns. It allows you to anticipate changes and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Why you can’t afford to ignore seasonal trends

If you’re not factoring seasonality into your PPC strategy, you’re essentially flying blind. Seasonal trends aren’t just nice-to-know trivia. They’re the bread and butter of effective PPC management.

Recognizing and adapting to these trends lets you:

• Allocate your budget more effectively, ramping up spend when it matters most.
• Craft more relevant ad copy that speaks to seasonal needs and desires.
• Adjust your bidding strategy to stay competitive during peak seasons.
• Avoid wasting money on campaigns that are out of sync with consumer demand.

Think of seasonality as your secret weapon. While your competitors use the same strategy year-round, you’ll pivot and adapt, always one step ahead.

Remember, in PPC, timing is everything. Understanding seasonality is your ticket to being in the right place, at the right time, with the right message.

Preparing for seasonal PPC campaigns

Prepping for seasonal PPC campaigns isn’t about guesswork or shooting in the dark. It’s about arming yourself with data, insights and rock-solid goals. Let’s break it down.

Data analysis: Your crystal ball

First, dive into your past campaign data. Pull up your reports from previous years and look for patterns. 

• When did your clicks spike? 
• When did conversions soar? 
• When did things go quiet? 

These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet; they’re breadcrumbs leading you to PPC gold.

For example, if you’re an ecommerce store, you might notice that your “women’s boots” campaign goes through the roof every September. That’s not a coincidence, that’s valuable intel.

But don’t just look at the wins.

Those campaigns that tanked? They’re just as important.

Maybe your summer swimwear ads flopped in June but killed it in April when people were planning vacations.

Lesson learned.

The goal here isn’t just to reminisce about past glories or cringe at old mistakes. It’s to build a roadmap for the future.

Your past performance is the best predictor of future success – if you know how to read it right.

Next to the campaign report, a product ID report and category report are also valuable.

Depending on the inventory size, ID reports might get a little out of hand, and you should consider using more enterprise tools instead of a Google spreadsheet, but for most use cases, that should work just fine. 

Personally, I’d like to include the last 12 months in a separate column and pull the IDs in rows. That way, you can easily scan through months and find patterns.

In the Google Ads interface, this can be done via the Shopping Products report, where you can add a Month column and clearly split it.

Market research: Spy games

What are your competitors up to?

You can use various PPC tools to see what kind of ads your competitors are running during different seasons. 

Are they ramping up spend for certain keywords? Are they using specific ad copy during holidays? 

Don’t copy them outright, but do take notes.

But don’t stop at your competitors. Look at the broader market conditions.

• Could economic factors impact your seasonal performance?
• Are new trends emerging in your industry?

For instance, if you’re in the travel industry, monitor fuel prices, as they could impact people’s vacation plans and, by extension, your PPC performance.

Remember, you don’t operate in a vacuum. The more you understand about your market ecosystem, the better positioned you’ll be to carve out your niche.

Dig deeper: Top 5 ways to stay up to date on paid search trends

Goal setting: Your North Star

You’ll need concrete, measurable objectives to guide your seasonal campaigns.

Start with the big picture.

What do you want to achieve this season? More sales? Higher ROI? Increased market share?

Then, break it down into specific, measurable goals:

• “Increase conversion rate for our Christmas campaign by 15% compared to last year.”
• “Achieve a 20% higher click-through rate for our Back-to-School ads in August.”
• “Reduce cost-per-acquisition by 10% during our slow season in February.”

These goals aren’t just numbers to impress your boss (though they might do that, too). They’re your North Star, guiding every decision you make in your seasonal campaigns.

Review your goals regularly as the season progresses. Be ready to pivot if needed. Flexibility is key in PPC.

Remember, preparing for seasonal PPC campaigns isn’t a one-time task. It’s an ongoing process of learning, adapting and refining.

But with solid data analysis, shrewd market research and clear goal-setting, you’ll be well-equipped to tackle whatever the seasons throw at you.

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Designing seasonal PPC campaigns

Alright, we’ve done our homework. Now it’s time for the fun part – actually designing those seasonal campaigns that’ll make your competitors wonder what hit them.

Keyword strategy: Surfing the seasonal wave

First up, keywords. You might think you know your keywords inside and out, but seasons have a funny way of shaking things up.

Time to put on your detective hat and do some seasonal keyword research. Tools like Google Trends are your best friend here.

For instance, if you’re selling fitness equipment, you’ll see searches for “home gym” spike every January. But come summer, “beach body workout” might be the phrase on everyone’s lips.

But don’t just stick to the obvious. Look for those hidden gems – the long-tail keywords your competitors might be missing.

Maybe it’s “last-minute Valentine’s gift ideas” or “affordable Christmas decorations.” These could be your ticket to standing out in a crowded market.

And remember, it’s not just about finding new keywords. It’s about adapting your existing strategy.

That evergreen keyword that performs well year-round? It might need a seasonal twist. “Men’s shoes” could become “men’s winter boots” or “men’s summer loafers,” depending on the season.

The key is to think like your customer:

• What are they looking for right now?
• What problem are they trying to solve this season?

Your keyword strategy should reflect that.

Ad copy and creative: Dressing for the season

Now that we’ve sorted our keywords, it’s time to dress them up in snazzy seasonal outfits. I’m talking about your ad copy and creative.

Your ad copy needs to do more than just mention the season. It needs to capture the customer’s mood, urgency and excitement.

• For a summer campaign, don’t just say, “Buy swimwear.” Try “Make a Splash This Summer – New Swimwear Collection.” 
• For Christmas, instead of “Holiday Sale,” how about “Unwrap Joy: Christmas Deals That’ll Make Santa Jealous”?

But it’s not just about clever wordplay. Use your ad copy to address seasonal pain points.

• “Stay Warm and Stylish” for winter clothing. 
• “Ace Your Finals with Our Study Guides” for the exam season. 

Show your customers you understand what they need right now.

And let’s not forget about ad extensions. Use them to highlight seasonal offers, limited-time deals or special holiday services.

• “Free Gift Wrapping for Christmas Orders” as a callout extension? Yes, please!

For visuals, if you’re running display ads, make sure your imagery matches the season. Snowflakes in winter, beach scenes in summer – you get the idea.

But don’t be cliché. A unique, eye-catching image will always outperform a generic stock photo.

Budget allocation

Seasonal PPC isn’t about spending more – it’s about spending smarter.

Identify your peak seasons.

• When do you make the most sales? 
• When is customer interest at its highest? 

These are the times you want to go big.

Don’t be afraid to significantly increase your budget during these periods. If December accounts for 30% of your annual sales, maybe it should also account for 30% of your annual PPC budget.

But here’s the trick: start ramping up before the peak hits. If your big season is Christmas, don’t wait until Dec. 1 to increase your budget. Start in November to capture those early bird shoppers.

On the flip side, don’t completely neglect your off-seasons. This is a great time to test new strategies, build brand awareness or target niche markets without breaking the bank.

And remember, budget allocation isn’t set in stone. Keep a close eye on your campaigns and be ready to shift funds around. If a certain ad group is killing it, don’t be afraid to funnel more budget its way.

The goal is to be fluid, responsive and ready to seize opportunities. Your budget should be as dynamic as the seasons themselves.

Designing seasonal PPC campaigns is part art, part science and a whole lot of staying on your toes. But get it right, and you’ll ride the seasonal waves to PPC success.

Plan your peak

When planning for seasonal events or promotions in digital marketing, it’s crucial to recognize that seasonality typically unfolds in three distinct phases:

• Pre-phase.
• Peak.
• Cool-off.

Each of these stages requires specific strategies and preparations to maximize effectiveness. 

Pre-phase

• Involves building anticipation, adjusting budgets and preparing ad creatives.
• Gradually increase your advertising efforts to capture early interest during this time.

Peak phase

• The height of the seasonal event, where consumer interest and activity are at their highest.
• Demands the most aggressive strategies, with maximized budgets and highly targeted campaigns to capitalize on peak demand.

Cool-off phase 

• Sees a gradual decline in interest, requiring a strategic scaling back of efforts while still capturing lingering engagement.
• Plan for a smooth transition between these phases, adjusting bids, budgets and messaging accordingly.

By recognizing and planning for these distinct phases, you can more effectively allocate resources, tailor messaging and optimize campaigns throughout the entire seasonal cycle, ensuring they capture the full potential of seasonal trends and events.

Implementation and management

Now it’s time to put your battle plan into action and keep those campaigns humming like a well-oiled machine.

Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of making your seasonal PPC campaigns work their magic.

Campaign setup: Building your seasonal powerhouse

Your campaign structure should be as crisp and clear as a winter morning. Group your ads by season, product line or whatever makes sense for your business. 

The goal? To make management a breeze and performance tracking crystal clear.

For example, don’t lump your “Summer Swimwear” and “Winter Coats” into one catch-all clothing campaign. 

Give them their own space to shine. This way, you can easily dial up or down as the seasons change.

Leverage special offers. These are your secret weapons in the seasonal battle for clicks. 

Flash sales, limited-time discounts, buy-one-get-one deals – use them all. 

But here’s the kicker: make sure they’re prominently featured in your ad copy and extensions. “48-Hour Summer Blowout!” is a lot more compelling than “Summer Sale.”

And don’t forget about those countdown timers in your ads. Nothing creates urgency like watching the seconds tick away on a great deal.

Dig deeper: How to use incentives in your PPC ads to drive more sales

Make use of adjustment tools

Seasonality adjustments are a powerful feature in advanced bidding strategies. They help fine-tune ad campaigns for short-term events that significantly impact conversion rates. 

This tool is particularly useful for managing bids during brief periods of anticipated high activity, such as sales, promotions or seasonal events that typically last between 1 to 7 days. 

By implementing seasonality adjustments, you can proactively inform the bidding algorithm about expected changes in conversion behavior, allowing for more accurate bid optimization during these periods. 

However, using this feature judiciously is important, as Smart Bidding algorithms already account for most seasonal trends. 

Seasonality adjustments are most effective for short-duration events and may not perform optimally if applied for extended periods exceeding 14 days. 

When used correctly, this tool maintains optimal performance during brief periods of atypical conversion behavior, ensuring that campaigns remain effective and efficient even during short-term fluctuations in market conditions.

Monitoring and optimization: Keep your finger on the pulse

You’ve launched your campaigns. Time to kick back and watch the conversions roll in, right? Wrong! This is where the real work begins.

Real-time monitoring is your new best friend. Set up alerts for sudden drops in performance or spikes in cost. 

The seasonal PPC landscape can change in the blink of an eye, and you need to be ready to pivot.

A/B testing isn’t just for websites. Try different ad copies, landing pages and even bidding strategies. 

Maybe your “Spook-tacular Halloween Deals” ad outperforms your “Halloween Savings You’ll Die For.” Only one way to find out!

Speaking of bidding, be ready to adjust on the fly. If a certain keyword is crushing it, don’t be afraid to up the ante. 

Conversely, if something’s eating budget without results, cut it loose. Remember, in seasonal PPC, hesitation is the enemy of success.

Dig deeper: 3 ways to stay on top of PPC performance

Utilizing automation tools: Your PPC autopilot

I know what you’re thinking. “This sounds like a lot of work!” Well, here’s where automation comes to the rescue.

PPC automation tools are like having a tireless assistant who works 24/7. 

Use them to adjust bids based on weather (perfect for seasonal products), time of day or user location. 

Set up rules to pause low-performing ads or increase bids on high-converters automatically.

Automated bidding strategies also apply here. These use machine learning to adjust your bids in real-time, helping you achieve goals like maximum conversions, target ROAS or enhanced CPC.

Automation isn’t “set it and forget it.” Think of it more like a smart co-pilot. You still need to keep an eye on things and make course corrections when needed.

For example, during your peak season, you might want to loosen up your target ROAS a bit to capture more sales volume. 

Or, during slower periods, you might switch to a different strategy or increase ROAS to maintain visibility without breaking the bank.

The key is to find the right balance between automation and human insight. Let the machines crunch the numbers, but bring your seasonal know-how to the table.

Remember, implementing and managing seasonal PPC campaigns is a bit like steering a ship through changing waters. You need to be alert, responsive and always ready to adjust your sails. 

But with the right structure, a keen eye for optimization and smart use of automation, you’ll navigate those seasonal seas like a pro.

Measuring success

Alright, you’ve weathered the seasonal storm. Your campaigns have run their course. Now comes the million-dollar question: How did we do? 

Key performance indicators (KPIs): The vital signs of your campaign

KPIs are the vital signs of your PPC campaign – the metrics that tell you whether you’re crushing it or crashing and burning.

I could rattle off a laundry list of metrics, but let’s focus on the heavy hitters for seasonal campaigns:

• Return on ad spend (ROAS): This is the big one. How much are you making for every dollar spent? During peak seasons, you want this number doing backflips.
• Conversion rate: Are your seasonal shoppers pulling the trigger? A spike here means your ads are hitting the mark.
• Click-through rate (CTR): This tells you if your ad copy is resonating. Is your “Spooky Halloween Deals” ad actually spooking up some clicks?
• Cost per acquisition (CPA): Keep an eye on this one. It’s okay if it creeps up a bit during peak seasons, but it shouldn’t be skyrocketing.
• Impression share: Are you showing up when it counts? During your key seasons, you want to dominate those search results pages.

Remember, these KPIs don’t exist in a vacuum. A dip in CTR might be okay if your conversion rate is through the roof. It’s all about the bigger picture.

Analyzing results: Making sense of the numbers

Now that you have your numbers, it’s time to put on your detective hat and figure out what they’re telling you.

Start by comparing your results against your goals. Remember those targets we set way back when? How’d we do? 

If you smashed your goals, great! But don’t stop there. Figure out why. Was it that killer ad copy? The smart bidding strategy? Bottle that success for next time.

If you fell short, don’t beat yourself up. This is where the real learning happens. 

Maybe your timing was off or your messaging didn’t quite land. Every “failure” is just a lesson in disguise.

Look for patterns and anomalies. Did certain product categories outperform others? Were there unexpected spikes or dips? Each of these is a clue to help you refine your strategy.

And don’t just look at your own performance. How did you stack up against the competition? 

Tools like Auction Insights can give you a peek into your share of the market during the season.

Dig deeper: 3 steps for effective PPC reporting and analysis

Post-season review: Your seasonal PPC postmortem

This is where you extract every ounce of wisdom from your seasonal campaign.

Get your team together (yes, even the intern) and have a no-holds-barred discussion. What worked? What flopped? What surprised us?

Here are some questions to kick things off:

• Did we time our campaign right or were we late to the party?
• How did our ad copy perform? Any unexpected winners or losers?
• Did our budget allocation match the ebbs and flows of the season?
• How did our automated strategies hold up under seasonal pressure?

Document everything. These insights are pure gold for your next seasonal campaign.

Based on what you’ve learned, start sketching out plans for next year. Maybe you need to start your Christmas campaign earlier. 

Perhaps your summer sale needs a complete revamp. Whatever it is, get it down on paper while it’s fresh.

Managing seasonal PPC campaigns: Additional tips and tricks

Here are some further ideas to leverage more out of seasonality:

Product labeling for special shopping campaigns

• Create specific labels or custom labels for products that are particularly relevant to the seasonal event. 
• For example, label items as “Valentine’s Day Gifts” or “Black Friday Deals.” 
• This lets you easily create and manage dedicated Shopping campaigns for these seasonal products.

Optimizing product titles

• Enhance your product titles with seasonal keywords. 
• For instance, add phrases like “Men’s Christmas Gift Idea” or “Perfect for Mother’s Day” to relevant products. 
• This can improve visibility in seasonal searches and increase click-through rates.

Utilizing audience lists

• Create and use audience lists based on past seasonal shoppers or users interested in similar products.
• This is useful for more targeted remarketing during the current season.

Seasonal-themed bundles or giveaways

• These usually work much better if there is a connection to a current seasonality or event.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Google removes Auction Insights from Looker Studio

Written on August 28, 2024 at 2:23 am, by admin

Google Ads users no longer have access to Auction Insights fields in new data sources within Looker Studio. Existing data sources will lose this access on Sept. 23.

Why we care. Auction Insights provides critical competitive data, helping advertisers understand their performance relative to competitors in the same auctions. The removal of these fields from Looker Studio will require advertisers to adjust their Looker reports and strategy tools, and revert to getting the competitive metrics they want to see in Google Ads.

Fields impacted. Affected fields include Auction Insight metrics such as Domain, Average Position, Impression Share, Outranking Share and several others critical for competitive analysis.

Action needed: Advertisers should proactively remove these fields from their Looker Studio reports and charts to prevent disruptions. Failing to do so could result in broken reports, impacting the ability to track and optimize ad performance effectively.

Yes but. Advertisers shouldn’t worry here – Google has not said Auction Insights will go away. You can still access all the competitive analysis metrics in Google Ads.

Bottom line: With the removal of Auction Insights from Looker Studio, you will need to find alternative ways to track competitive performance metrics and adjust Google Ads reporting strategies.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Google introduces YouTube creator-based audience targeting

Written on August 28, 2024 at 2:23 am, by admin

Google Ads now allows advertisers to create remarketing lists based on viewers of specific YouTube creator videos, unlocking new possibilities for targeted campaigns.

Previously, advertisers could only create remarketing lists based on viewers’ interactions with their own linked YouTube channels. This update opens up new opportunities for targeting based on creator content.

Why we care. This new feature allows advertisers to create remarketing lists based on viewers of specific YouTube creator videos, potentially expanding reach and targeting capabilities.

How it works:

• Advertisers can now link YouTube creator videos to their Google Ads accounts.
• This provides access to organic view metrics and the ability to create remarketing segments.

Key features:

1. View counts: Access to non-paid metrics for linked videos.
2. Remarketing: Create audience segments based on video views.

Between the lines. This feature could be seen as an alternative to impression-based remarketing, offering more precise targeting based on specific creator content.

What to watch: How advertisers will leverage this new capability and its impact on campaign performance and audience targeting strategies.

First seen. We were first alerted to this update by Georgi Zayakov on LinkedIn:

Bottom line: This update expands the toolkit for Google Ads users, potentially allowing for more nuanced and effective YouTube-based remarketing campaigns.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Google adds generative AI insights, shopping ad campaign goals

Written on August 28, 2024 at 2:23 am, by admin

Google today introduced four updates meant to help retailers ahead of the holiday shopping season.

Key updates:

• Shopping trends insights. You can now access real-time shopping trends in Google Merchant Center. This could help you adjust your inventory and product descriptions based on what shoppers are actually searching for or viral trends.

• AI-powered insights. Two new generative AI features in Merchant Center Next provide quick summaries of product performance and custom reports based on specific data queries.

• Automated in-store availability. Google is streamlining the management of local inventory ads by automatically syncing in-store availability from retailers’ websites. This should make it easier for customers to find products nearby.

• New campaign goals. Google Ads now includes options for setting customer acquisition goals and optimizing campaigns with profit-focused metrics, helping advertisers prioritize profit and optimizations during peak shopping periods.

Why we care: There are fewer days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s to reach consumers. This means retailers will be under pressure to hit holiday sales goals. Google’s new tools are meant to help businesses stay agile and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

What is ASO? 7 fundamentals to app store optimization

Written on August 28, 2024 at 2:23 am, by admin

With over 6.8 billion smartphone users worldwide, mobile apps are crucial for brands to reach their audiences. However, creating a great app is only half the battle. 

A strong app store optimization strategy is essential to ensuring your app stands out in a crowded market. 

Let’s explore the fundamentals of ASO and how you can leverage them to increase your app’s success.

What is ASO?

App store optimization (ASO) helps improve your app’s visibility in app stores, making it easier for users to find and download. 

It’s the crux of any successful app marketing strategy and indispensable for increasing an app’s visibility and performance.

When done properly, ASO can dramatically increase an app’s discoverability and help with organic installs and paid conversion rates.

But these increases in visibility don’t just happen overnight. Much like SEO, ASO is a long-term game.

Sure, you can see some small improvements within a month or so of launching, but you need patience and sound ASO fundamentals for your app to have any staying power in the App Store or Google Play.

What are the business benefits of ASO? 

While the primary goal of any ASO campaign is to improve visibility and place your app higher in store rankings, there are a couple of other benefits to your business:

• Increase brand awareness: With the right ASO strategy, millions of users will have access to your brand, and the right keyword optimization strategy could connect you directly with users looking for exactly what your app offers. 
• Reduce user acquisition cost: ASO is a long-term strategy. It often requires a significant up-front investment and relies heavily on paid channels to drive traffic to app pages. Once you establish a solid ASO foundation, it can help sustain a higher rate of conversions from those paid campaigns, reducing overall acquisition costs.

Fundamental 1: Research

AppTweak ASO Report – Category Rankings example

While ASO research has many components, keyword research is among the most critical. Comb through search data, competitor strategies and even AI suggestions to determine the most effective and relevant keywords for a particular app.

Although ASO keyword research is similar to standard SEO, some significant differences exist.

ASO keyword research focuses on visibility and search traffic while considering conversion rates, which differ from traditional SEO search patterns and goals.

Keywords typically fall into one of two categories for ASO keyword research: primary or secondary.

• Primary keywords are the most popular terms users type in to find your app. You’ll typically find these keywords in the title and subtitle (App Store) and title and short description (Google Play) sections.
• Secondary keywords are still popular and effective, but they may be a lesser-searched variation or keywords centered around one of your specific app features.

Each type serves its purpose and a well-rounded ASO approach contains a strong mix of primary and secondary keywords.

What are the best tools for ASO research?

Research for ASO is an in-depth and ongoing process.

To enhance your ASO strategy, gather data from general research, competitor keyword analysis and market assessments.

Here are some of the most popular tools used for ASO:

• AppTweak: A great all-around ASO keyword research tool.
• Appfigures: The best tool for understanding keyword rank and putting together daily, weekly and monthly reporting.
• App Store and Google Play: A mobile device and the App Store or Google Play are still some of the best ways to conduct research and create strategies. Apple Search Ads is also an excellent tool for understanding search term traffic.
• Sensor Tower: While it’s not specifically an ASO tool, SensorTower is one of the best marketing intelligence tools for app growth.

Keyword research strategies

Focusing on keyword-level data for metadata restructuring and optimization can lead to ASO success in a highly competitive environment.

Here are some effective keyword research strategies you can implement in your own ASO campaigns:

Collaborating with SEO teams

While SEO and ASO research processes differ, it is hugely beneficial to understand what works well on SEO and how people find the brand and its app through natural search.

Understanding how people search for your app on Google can provide valuable insights into how they might find it in app stores.

Use this information to optimize titles, subtitles, and hidden keywords for the App Store, as well as keyword phrase targeting in Google Play.

For most brands, app downloads may come primarily from branded queries. However, that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of opportunity to drive more app visibility and downloads from non-branded keywords with the right strategy and SEO collaboration.

Prompting AI

Platforms such as ChatGPT or Gemini can help identify potential keywords for your research or inspire new ways of thinking about how people might search for an app.

It’s also worth noting that Gemini can access Reddit data, which opens a cool opportunity to get easy insights about what people say about certain apps and why people love (or hate) certain apps.

Dig deeper. ChatGPT prompts for SEO: What you need to know

Analyzing competitors

Evaluate your competitors’ top-ranking keywords to gain insight into their overall strategy. 

Some information you find could be relevant to your app or spark new ideas for your keyword research.

The goal is to locate keywords you also want to target and any keywords your primary competitors aren’t ranking for. 

Using lower volume keywords

These are great options to support your primary keywords or to overtake competitors in a crowded industry. However, other apps may go after the big terms, making breaking into the rankings difficult. 

Targeting a lower search volume variation provides access to a large sector of the same audience without the same level of competition.

Targeting keywords with mid- to low-traffic opportunities means you’ll need to capture more share of voice (SOV) to get the same number of downloads you would from a high-volume search term, so there are tradeoffs to consider.

Regular keyword updates

Regular keyword updates are essential for effective ASO, as they help adapt to evolving market trends, improve visibility and outpace competitors. 

To implement this strategy, set an update schedule every 4-8 weeks, monitor performance metrics and conduct ongoing keyword research. This proactive approach ensures your app remains relevant and competitive.

Market and category analysis

Uncover informative trends by analyzing the best-performing apps within your category and peer group. Look at metadata and creative trends and think through optimal category placement. 

With a tool like AppTweak’s ASO Timeline, you can reverse engineer your competitor’s A/B tests and analyze their winning assets. 

In a recent exchange with Alexandra De Clerck, Chief Marketing Officer at AppTweak, we spoke about the unique competitive advantage from examining rivals’ A/B tests:

• “Analyzing competitors’ A/B tests offers valuable insights into what resonates with your shared audience. These insights allow you to refine your strategy, avoid ineffective tactics and uncover new opportunities you may have previously overlooked.”

Fundamental 2: Title and metadata optimization

Using keywords strategically in your App Store title, subtitle, hidden keyword field, and Google Play short and long descriptions is essential for maximizing your app’s visibility and attracting more downloads

The App Store and Google Play have their own nuances on properly integrating keywords, though. Content within the App Store is strictly user-facing, so it’s often more flowery, marketing-style language. 

Google Play copy is also user-facing, but Google crawls and indexes it – meaning it’s typically simple content with as many keyword iterations as possible (think early-era Google). 

I’m not advocating for keyword stuffing here. While repetition is necessary for success on Google Play, there’s a fine line; too much repetition can hurt, so it’s important to strike a balance. 

It’s also important to maximize the characters you use on each platform. Both the App Store and Google Play allow up to 4,000 characters for an app description. 

• App Store: Try to hit at least 3,000 characters. 
• Google Play: You’ll want to aim for 3,800 characters since keyword density is crucial. More copy means more opportunities to optimize. A short or sparse description could hurt your position on Google Play since Google crawls and indexes it. 

It’s also important to consider formatting and use headings and bulleted lists to improve scannability and readability. 

Headers and bullet points should also be punchy and to the point while highlighting the app’s best functions and features. 

Fundamental 3: Creative design

Eye-catching and functional visual elements are integral to your app’s success. 

In addition to your title and subtitle, your app icon is the other early touch point for your app and brand. 

Focus on making the icon simple, engaging and closely tied to the brand. 

Your icon doesn’t have to do all the heavy lifting. Screenshots are another crucial element of your app store listing. These help convey main functions and features and even act as another instance of keyword optimization. 

However, to maximize their effectiveness, test, track and update your screenshots every 6 to 8 weeks.

Videos can also be helpful for ASO creative, depending on your app’s category. Keep video assets at 15 to 30 seconds. 

Be sure to use strategic, engaging graphics and always include a call-to-action (CTA) that stands out toward the end of the video. However, don’t assume video is best for your category. 

Testing and letting the data speak for itself is highly recommended, as video doesn’t always work. In many cases, videos can hurt conversions more than they help, so be sure to test, test, test. 

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Fundamental 4: Testing

“Test and track” is one of the longest-standing mantras in marketing. ASO is no different. 

Routine testing gives you the insight necessary to consistently create winning campaigns, grow your app’s performance metrics and steadily increase your revenue curve.

Creative A/B testing is a powerful tool for testing within ASO. Here, you test at least two iterations of screenshots against one another and monitor performance.

The trick is to keep all other elements constant so you can drill down any change in performance to the single element in question.

Although most tests are creative split tests, ASOs also test video vs. no video, Google Play short and long descriptions and feature graphics.

You can think of every update in ASO as a test, even if it’s just measuring pre- and post-optimization or this month versus the same month last year.

While ASO testing products like SplitMetrics Optimize exist, they have a hefty price tag and data complexities.

Using the native app platforms (Store Listing Experiments in Google Play and Product Page Optimization in the App Store) is usually the best and most used A/B testing tool for ASO.

Why is ASO testing important?

Testing is important because it provides in-depth insight into how your audience interacts with your app listing. 

Testing, tracking and tweaking each element of your app page over time can lead to a higher conversion rate, more revenue and reductions in customer acquisition costs.

Fundamental 5: Reviews and rating management

App Store Spirit Airlines app reviews

Authentic, genuine reviews for your app are a powerful component of your position in the rankings. 

The right blend of customer reviews and proper management can provide you with a higher position in the app store, improve keyword optimization and impact conversion rates.

However, properly handling reviews is more than just hoping your customers leave positive feedback. You need a ratings and review management strategy. 

This strategy should cover two goals: 

• How to get users to leave positive reviews.
• How to handle negative reviews.

Strategies for getting positive reviews

The key to getting positive reviews is timing. You want to ask your users for their review at a point when their experience using the app is best. 

It’s also important to consider how you will ask for your reviews. In addition to timing, elements like the design and implementation of your app prompts can be incredibly important in creating positive feedback about your app. 

Handling negative reviews

The first step in addressing your app’s negative feedback is understanding it. 

Ask yourself what topics users are criticizing, how you’ll respond to their criticisms and how you can work with your app developers to prioritize changes. 

Take time to provide an engaging, thoughtful answer; users might be more likely to contact you to resolve the issue. 

Again, app marketing tools can be indispensable for research like this. Platforms like AppTweak and Appfigures provide consolidated review data, making it easier to measure overall sentiment. 

Fundamental 6: Tracking and performance reporting

Continuous monitoring and reporting serve as your roadmap for ASO. The “test and track” mantra mentioned earlier could be applied to your entire campaign. 

Use tools with cumulative dashboards to manage and organize the stockpile of data that comes with working on ASO. 

With so much data to track, it’s important to follow the key performance indicators (KPIs) that help improve the app’s performance.

While tools and dashboards may vary, focus on the following metrics:

• Visibility metrics: This includes all metrics that directly affect your app’s visibility in the stores. On a more granular level, visibility comes from metrics like impressions, keyword rankings and listing visitors. 
• Conversion rate metrics: Conversion rate metrics, including conversion rate and impression-to-download rates, provide insight into your listing’s effectiveness at drawing in and securing potential users. 

Fundamental 7: Advanced optimizations

Once you’ve mastered the foundational elements of ASO, you’ll want to explore additional elements or strategies you can add to enrich your app’s presence.

With each of these elements or strategies comes its own nuanced form of optimization. Here are a few to consider and how to approach them:

App Store custom product pages

Custom product pages enable you to create new variations of your main product page by changing things like screenshots, preview videos and promotional text. 

You can launch up to 35 custom product pages, each with a dedicated URL to which you can drive traffic through advertising and promotions.

In-app events

In-app events enable brands to promote limited-time events occurring within their app right on their app product page. 

Event promotions are often featured in the app store search results or in editorial content within the app stores.

This increased visibility can lead to higher discovery rates, especially if the event is time-sensitive or aligned with current trends.

Apple Search ads and Google App campaigns

Paid search campaigns are critical for maximizing the impact of ASO. 

You can:

• Boost an app’s visibility.
• Target a specific audience.
• Connect with similar businesses.
• Promote at scale.
• Benefit from detailed measurement and optimization.

Boost your app’s discoverability with ASO

Mastering ASO is a necessity to maximize success. ASO serves as the foundation of any app marketing strategy. It enables brands to improve their app’s visibility, attract more downloads and ultimately increase revenue while reducing user acquisition costs. 

With billions of apps vying for attention in app stores, the importance of a well-executed ASO strategy cannot be overstated. 

By continuously refining ASO efforts through research, testing and optimization, you can stay ahead and ensure long-term growth and success.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing

Survey: Google updates, self-preferencing, AI Overviews are top SEO threats

Written on August 26, 2024 at 11:22 pm, by admin

Google’s favoritism of certain types of websites – or itself, in the form of search features and AI Overviews – are the biggest threats facing SEO consultants, according to a new survey from Aleyda Solis.

SEO threats in 2024. Google updates that favor certain types of sites (e.g., user-generated content, big brands) in the search results is the biggest threat to SEO consulting efforts, according to 52% of survey respondents.

• Google favoring its own features/services over external sites was the second biggest threat (48%) while AI Overviews came in third (41%).
• Other real SEO threats are the adoption of LLMs to search instead of Google (37%); AI personalization of Google Search results (32%) and adoption of social platforms to search (28%).

Counter threats. So how are SEOs combating these threats? Based on responses Solis received, SEOs are focusing on:

• Improving content quality. High-quality, valuable, engaging, helpful and intent-based content. Which really is not new, per se.
• E-E-A-T. This is a concept that represents a collection of ranking signals related to content, links and user interactions.
• Traffic diversification. This is something Google’s Danny Sullivan discussed recently.
• Staying updated. Which you can do, in part, by signing up for Search Engine Land’s daily newsletter.

Why we care. SEO is more difficult than ever in 2024 – especially for smaller and mid-sized brands and websites. We’re already seeing many threats in 2024 (e.g., Google algorithm updates, more competition and complexity, less resources). But there continue to be many opportunities to reach and influence people during search journeys in today’s fragmented search landscape.

About the survey. The results are based on responses from 337 SEO consultants, collected between July 21 and Aug. 21.

The report. You can read it here: The SEOFOMO State of SEO Consulting – Survey 2024 Results.

Courtesy of Search Engine Land: News & Info About SEO, PPC, SEM, Search Engines & Search Marketing