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Maximizing Performance Max: Strategies for ecommerce success

Written on August 7, 2024 at 7:58 pm, by admin

Despite the significant allocation of Performance Max (PMax) advertising spend toward Shopping Ads, many marketers struggle to leverage its full potential. The key lies in the campaign structure.

At SMX Advanced 2024, Andrew Lolk, founder of Savvy Revenue, shared insights on optimizing Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns for ecommerce businesses. 

Below are the key takeaways from his presentation.

The state of Performance Max

Performance Max has become the dominant campaign type for ecommerce, with shopping ads accounting for up to 95% of spend.

Despite initial excitement, Performance Max still lacks crucial insights and control compared to traditional campaign types.

Performance Max vs. Meta Ads

Google’s Performance Max algorithm lags behind Meta’s in terms of ad targeting and optimization without search intent. Lolk said:

• “Why doesn’t PMax do better compared to Meta? So, I think that Google simply just don’t need to. I’m sure they want to, but they don’t need to. Search ads is still such a cash cow.
• “Apparently, it’s not that easy to create an algorithm from an ad perspective, like Meta has done. A lot of other social media companies haven’t been able to do it. Even though Meta makes it seem so easy they’re really light years ahead of Google.
• “PMax struggles to effectively utilize Google’s diverse ad inventory across YouTube, Display and Search.”

Dig deeper: Meta Ads for ecommerce: 7 things to test and iterate

Campaign structures for better performance

Basic setup: Include first-party data and customer lists; be cautious with new customer acquisition settings.

• “You need to add your own onion signals. Meaning your customer list from Klaviyo, from your email list, upload those and your targeting. That’s really what you need from an audience perspective.
• “Don’t touch new custom acquisition unless you know how to do it.”

Consider separating brand and non-brand campaigns for better budget control and performance.

Evaluate whether to include search ads and display/video based on your specific needs and ability to manage potential waste.

• “Should you include search ads? The pros on this is that if you’re not running dynamic search ads, which is basically the search ad component in Pmax, then it’s an easy extra revenue source, and you really should be doing it. It’s super easy. It’s – one ROAS target, one budget is where it’s supposed to be.
• “The cons on the other side is you get really low visibility into search terms and that’s where DSA (dynamic search ads) or search inside PMax can be highly wasteful if you don’t exclude blog, your return policy, informational pages in general, etc.
• “But with very low visibility in PMax, then we can’t actually see how this is happening so it can become highly wasteful. And without insights in Pmax, we have no way to fix it. Then the other side of it, it can be highly wasteful, but it can also just allow for no visibility into whether or not it spends or not.”

Advanced campaign structures

• Hero vs. accessories: Separate campaigns for main products and accessories to optimize budgets and targets.
• ROAS targets: Split high and low performers into separate campaigns to maximize exposure for profitable products.
• Seasonal campaigns: Create distinct campaigns for different seasons or collections to manage budget allocation effectively.
• Expanded ROAS structure: For large catalogs, consider separate campaigns for new products, best sellers and underperforming items.

Standard shopping campaigns

Don’t overlook standard shopping campaigns, which still offer valuable control through priority settings and focused ad inventory.

• “The death of smart shopping is greatly exaggerated. The ability to only get shopping ads clicks, meaning that you’re not mixing in any search and you’re not mixing in any display or YouTube or anything else.” 
• “If I’m putting $80,000 a month into this and I bumped that up to $100,000, I am not buying any other ad inventory. I’m buying the same ad inventory as always, and it just performs. That is something that’s invaluable when you scale. So standard shopping for me still works.” 
• “Use it when you’re doing a brand and non-brand split, and put non-brand in Pmaxd and brand into a standard shopping campaign.”

Lolk emphasized the importance of tailoring Performance Max campaign structures to solve specific business issues and align with overall marketing strategies.

While Performance Max offers simplicity, advanced structures can significantly improve performance for ecommerce advertisers. 

Watch: Maximizing Performance Max: Advanced campaign structures for optimal ROI

To hear all the examples Lolk shared, watch his SMX Advanced presentation here:

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

Google declared a monopoly: industry reactions and implications

Written on August 6, 2024 at 4:55 pm, by admin

Yesterday the ruling passed that Google is a monopoly after the 10 week trial that occurred last year.

Here are the key reactions from search advertisers:

Google’s Appeal and the Future Legal Battle

Julie Bacchini, president and founder, Neptune Moon, underscores that while the court ruling declaring Google a monopoly is significant, the real impact will emerge during the remedy phase and Google’s inevitable appeal.

• “Google will appeal (and they said they will in their comically bad statement about the ruling) and that will be a slow process. But it is the remedy phase that will ultimately decide what this ruling will actually mean in practical terms.”

• “Also, this case was as much about setting the table for the Google advertising case that goes to trial in September. This case got A LOT on the record that will likely be used in the upcoming trial.”

• “Monopolistic behaviours have gone essentially unchecked in a lot of industries since the Reagan administration and maybe that hasn’t been such a good idea. These cases are starting to try to act on that. The App store cases run along the same lines.

• “If the Sherman antitrust act had been enforced over even the last 25 years, the business landscape would look very different. It wasn’t and we have what we have.”

• “To be fair too, Google is like any other publicly traded company today – their primary goal is to make sure the meet analysts expectations every quarter. That’s it. And I think we often forget that. Their decisions all come back to that core. And what that makes them do can make it feel like they are a big, kinda evil corporation.”

Oscar Ford, CEO and PPC specialist finds the ruling’s development fascinating and anticipates a prolonged legal battle due to Google’s appeal.:

• “Google are appealing the ruling, so this will roll on for a while longer. I’m not sure what the outcome is, but to break up an existing monopoly the only option surely is to split it into separate companies?”

• “Google’s response to the ruling is amusing but they have a point – they have made the best search engine and nothing else has come close for decades.”

Chris Ridley, Head of Paid media predicts a resolution similar to that of Google shopping in 2017:

• “What I do see happening is an echo of what we saw happen to Google Shopping in 2017. A similar EU ruling regarding Google’s Shopping that led to Google opening up their Shopping space to third-party Comparison Shopping Services (CSS), which were granted a 20% discount on cost-per-clicks (CPCs) to ensure they could fairly compete.”

• “This could lead the way to Google introducing Comparison Text Advertising Services to the Google text ad market to dismantle Google’s monopoly on the text advertising market, which may also benefit from a similar discount on CPCs as a gesture of Google encouraging competition on their SERPs.”

Market Dynamics and Google’s Competitors

Chris Lloyd, B2B SaaS Marketing consultant, points out that Google’s market share has been declining due to its inability to innovate:

• “I think we are already seeing their decline, and it’s not due to regulatory rulings. Google has been losing market share for a couple of years now. Quite simply they can’t build and innovate and will continue to be outplayed by Perplexity, OpenAI, Meta, Apple.”

Sam Tomlinson, Executive Vice President and Digital strategist, criticizes the legal reasoning in the 286-page ruling, particularly the market definition, which he believes won’t hold up on appeal.

• “The market definition was categorically insane to me – something I don’t think gets upheld on appeal”

• “It isn’t like the winner today is always the winner tomorrow. Google even admitted that (and the court agreed) in this ruling, where they highlighted that Google has innovated massively, at great expense, despite having a ‘monopoly’”

• “Every other company, hedge fund, investment bank and PE fund does the exact same thing — which is why this feels ridiculous. It isn’t good or bad, it’s just profit-driven, because profit is an existential imperative for any business”

Navah Hopkins, Brand evangelist and PPC influencer, is disappointed that the US failed to establish search advertising as a distinct market:

• “I am disappointed in the US for not being able to make the case that search advertising is a market (I understand there’s another case in September, but the ruling makes it clear that information just wasn’t presented).”

• “The fact that this case started in 2020 and that’s when PMax began to really take hold speaks to the diversification that was clearly top of mind for Google. As the ruling stated “search text ads are a monopoly” but search advertising was not. PMax gives Google the cover it needs to still have some search without running a foul of the search text ads monopoly rules.”

• “That Microsoft was brought up as a serious competitor felt disingenuous. Though it is interesting to see how CPCs trended after each other (i.e. the market drove up costs not Google itself…which I’m skeptical about)”

• “There are a lot of openings for appeal issues, I agree. But I really think the testimony they got and internal Google documents are going to be a tough hill for Google to climb in the Ads case. So I can’t help but wonder if this case was more about making that one stick?”

Ethical and Practical Concerns

Sarah Stemen, Paid search specialist reflects on her disillusionment with Google and doubts any significant penalties will arise:

• “I need to stop gaslighting myself into thinking Google is great because they built my career. This is a capitalist driven company that lost sight of any values and it sucks.”

• “I think we all remember Microsoft and I would like to think that’s the outcome but I don’t actually think any penalty of any significant difference will happen especially under our current administration and court system.”

Reid Thomas, Marketing strategist, observes that the US ruling aligns closely with the EU’s mandate & questions a meaningful mandate:

• “Our point of views are all very US focused – isn’t this ruling very aligned with the EU ruling from a few years ago that mandated search engine choice?”

• “My question is – ‘What is a meaningful penalty?’. You can’t break google up like the bells.”

• “I also think it’s quite disingenuous to target the distribution agreements with the ‘If Google is so great, why are they paying?’ and the answer is: because this is a competitive market, and others could pay, too.”

The diverse opinions highlight the complexity of the issue and the far-reaching implications of the ruling for the tech industry, digital advertising, and antitrust law. As the legal process continues and potential remedies are considered, many in the industry are watching closely to see how this decision might reshape the future of search and digital advertising.

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

Advertisers react to Google Reporting and Product Listing glitch 

Written on August 6, 2024 at 4:55 pm, by admin

Last week Thursday after reports from several advertisers, it was confirmed by Google that there was a major reporting blackout. Report Editor, Dashboards, and Saved Reports in the Google Ads web interface were down. On top of that Products, Product Groups and Listing Groups pages were down across the web interface, API, and Google Ads Editor.

The glitch, which Google claims affected only “a small fraction” of advertisers, exposed sensitive data across accounts and disrupted normal reporting services.

Advertisers had a lot to say about these issues varying from gratitude that they don’t look after e-commerce and so were not affected to those who found the lack of listing/product group data as a massive obstacle. 

Practical Challenges

Greg Finn, Partner at Cypress North, highlighted the practical challenges:

• “The lack of listing/product group data last week was a massive obstacle for those shopping advertisers. Specifically, we have some campaigns (PMax) that feature monthly deals and sale items for some clients and were unable to confirm that campaigns were working correctly.”

• “While I understand that there was an error on Google’s behalf, flying blind without seeing any product data is beyond scary. As an advertiser, I would much rather see a mistake and continue to work than to know that there is a mistake and have no way to view product data.”

Data usage/Breach

Paid Search Specialist, Sarah Stemen, raised questions about data usage in Google’s auction system:

• “Well, we know Google knows prices of all products, profit margin, msrp, sales etc. But seeing the data cross contaminated makes me wonder if data is being leveraged in the auction more than Google will admit.”

Kate Luke, Head of Digital, emphasized the gravity of the data breach:

• “Let’s not gloss over the fact that this sensitive data is paramount to the businesses affected.”

She called for Google to “address those affected directly rather than deliver generic ‘resolutions’.”

Transparency/Timing

Performance and marketing consultant, Meriem Nacer expressed concerns about Google’s transparency:

• “Will they notify affected brands and reimburse them, or only respond if contacted? Many might not check their accounts or know how to. How did this happen?”

Nacer also feels that due to timing, it can’t be completely unrelated to the Merchant Center Next rollout –

• “They claim it’s unrelated to the Merchant Center Next rollout, but the timing coincides with updated PMax reporting and the upcoming migration. Is it just a coincidence, or did someone push that “big red button” we’ve always joked about? The situation raises many questions.”

Mike Ryan, Head of ecommerce, summed up the severity of the situation, with a particular concern that the issue began earlier than Google is claiming:

• “This is a serious potential breach of advertiser confidentiality, and seemingly also a huge billing fuckup. Google maintains that these errors only occurred from July 30 through July 31, however I have team members who state that this may have been occurring for two weeks or longer.”

Automation/Feed security

Julie Bacchini president and founder, Neptune Moon pointed out the broader implications including automation & questions the sanctity of the feed:

• “It definitely raises some questions about firewalls between accounts though doesn’t it? I think that is the most concerning piece.

• “Reporting and data lags happen. But data leaking is a much bigger issue. And taking it a step further, as automation takes over more and more, will we even know if something like this happens in the future?

• “The biggest issue I have is that it impacted feed based campaigns – so the sanctity of the feed is compromised. I would like a detailed explanation from Google Ads as to exactly how another advertiser’s feed data was allowed to infiltrate another account. And what they have done to ensure it can no longer happen.”

Competitive Intelligence

Marketing Director, Scott Frederickson detailed the potential competitive intelligence leaked:

• “The screenshots showing custom label content in the reports were chilling. For those who don’t know, those labels are entirely free-form. I’ve seen them used for margin bucketing, seasonality, stock controls, best sellers, various promotions, vendors, divisions, all kinds of things.”

Finally advertisers like Reid Thomas, Marketing Strategist, viewed the issue as “a tempest in a teapot… because I have never had an account where a even a week of reports being inaccessible would massively change strategy, especially given that real data wasn’t being blocked for automations, etc.”.

Majority of responses however indicated serious concerns about data privacy, competitive intelligence, and Google’s handling of the situation. As PPC specialist Chloe Varnfield, put it, “Trust in Google is low anyways, so it’s just another letdown.”

The incident has left many advertisers demanding more transparency and better safeguards from Google to prevent similar issues in the future.

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

Federal judge rules Google violated antitrust law

Written on August 5, 2024 at 1:55 pm, by admin

A federal judge ruled that Google maintained an illegal monopoly in search and advertising markets, marking a significant victory for the Department of Justice.

Why it matters. This is the first major decision in a wave of tech monopoly cases brought by the U.S. government in recent years, potentially setting a precedent for future rulings against other tech giants.

Key details:

• Judge Amit Mehta found Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits monpolies
• The court focused on Google’s exclusive search deals with Android and Apple devices as key to its anticompetitive behaviour.
• The ruling focuses on Google’s liability, not remedies
• Decision comes after a 10-week trial last fall

Why we care. While immediate changes are unlikely, advertisers should start preparing for potential long-term impacts on their digital marketing strategies.

Between the lines. The case revealed Google pays Apple $20 billion annually for default search status on iPhones.

The big picture. This ruling could influence how century-old antitrust laws are applied to modern digital markets in pending cases against Amazon, Apple, and Meta.

What’s next:

• Remedies to address Google’s monopoly will be determined in future proceedings
• Google faces another DOJ trial over its ad tech business, starting September 9th

What they’re saying. “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote in his decision.

The bottom line. While a major setback for Google, the full impact on its business practices remains to be seen as the case moves to the remedies phase.

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

Google Ads bug mislabels Demand Gen campaigns as Display Network

Written on August 5, 2024 at 1:55 pm, by admin

A reporting glitch in Google Ads is causing confusion among advertisers, with Demand Gen campaigns incorrectly showing as Display Network placements.

Why we care. This misrepresentation could lead to inaccurate performance analysis and campaign management decisions for affected advertisers.

The latest. Google Ads Liaison Ginny Marvin has confirmed the issue is a bug, not a feature change.

Details:

• Bug reporting start date: Week of July 8, 2024
• Affected: Demand Gen campaign reporting

What they’re saying. “This is due to a bug that led to the Google Display Network label appearing in error in some Demand Gen campaign reporting,” Marvin stated on X, promising more information to come.

Between the lines. The confusion is ill-timed as advertisers are currently waiting for Google to fix reporting issues as well as product and product listing glitches seeing advertisers unable to edit product groups. 

First seen. We were first alerted to this error from Leslie Drechsler’s X:

The bottom line. Advertisers running Demand Gen campaigns should be aware of this reporting error and await further updates from Google before making significant campaign adjustments based on current data.

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

Google to sunset Structured Data Files v6 in Display & Video 360

Written on August 5, 2024 at 1:55 pm, by admin

Google is phasing out an older version of its Structured Data Files (SDF) format used in Display & Video 360, its enterprise-level advertising platform.

Why we care. This change affects advertisers and partners using SDF v6, requiring them to migrate to newer versions to maintain uninterrupted service.

Key details:

• SDF v6 will be deprecated on April 30, 2025
• Users must migrate to SDF v7 or higher before the sunset date
• Google has provided a migration guide for transitioning from v6 to v7

What’s next. After April 30, 2025:

• Default versions for partners and advertisers will automatically update to v7
• API requests using SDF_VERSION_6 will return a 400 error

How to get help. Google has set up a new Display & Video 360 API Technical support contact form for migration assistance.

The bottom line. Advertisers and partners using SDF v6 have about 9 months to plan and execute their migration to avoid service disruptions.

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

Google Search Console launches recommendations

Written on August 5, 2024 at 1:55 pm, by admin

Google Search Console is rolling out recommendations within Google Search Console for some users. Google said this is an experimental feature and gives you insights and recommendations to improve your site’s performance on Google Search.

What are Search Console recommendations. Search Console recommendations is a “feature that provides websites with optimization opportunities and suggests actions they can take to improve their presence on Google Search,” Google wrote.

Recommendations offer you tips to help with indexing, crawling and serving based on the data Google collects in Search Console. “The data was already available to you on Search Console, but now we’re helping to make it more accessible by providing direct recommendations,” Google added.

Google updates the recommendations on a “regular basis and may expire or change details over time,” Google added. If Google does not have any recommendations, Google will show none.

You can learn more in this help document.

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot from Google of these new recommendations in Search Console:

Why we care. These recommendations may provide insights into improving your sites or client site’s indexing, scrawling and serving in Google Search. Some may be obvious to experienced SEOs, some may prove to not be too helpful, while others may be super helpful.

Keep on the look out for these recommendations in Search Console.

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

Google Ads hit by major reporting glitch, exposing competitor data

Written on August 2, 2024 at 4:48 am, by admin

Google Ads is experiencing a significant outage affecting multiple reporting tools and product management features.

Why we care. This outage is impacting advertisers’ ability to manage campaigns and access critical performance data.

Details:

• Down: Report Editor, Dashboards, Saved Reports in web interface.
• Affected: Products, Product Groups, Listing Groups pages across web, API, and Google Ads Editor.
• Data breach: Unrelated item IDs, product titles, and Merchant Centre information visible to competitors.

Between the lines. This glitch raises serious privacy concerns, as advertisers can potentially identify direct competitors by searching exposed product titles.

What they’re saying. Google Ads Liaison, Ginny Marvin acknowledged the issue on X, and is “actively looking into” it, promising updates as more information becomes available:

What to watch. How quickly Google resolves the outage and addresses the data exposure, and potential fallout from the privacy breach.

First seen: UK advertising agency, Bidnamic reported a severe data breach on LinkedIn between July 30-31, 2024, with advertisers seeing competitors’ sensitive information in their accounts.

Bottom line. Advertisers should exercise caution when accessing their Google Ads accounts and avoid acting on any data until Google confirms the issue is resolved.

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

Digital ad prices rise across channels as performance holds steady

Written on August 2, 2024 at 4:48 am, by admin

Digital advertising spend increased across retail media, paid search, and paid social in Q2 2024, despite rising ad prices, according to new data from Skai.

By the numbers:

• Retail media spend grew 21% year-over-year.

• Paid search spend increased 6% YoY.

• Paid social spend rose 13% YoY.

The big picture. Higher ad prices drove most of the spending growth, while ad volumes (clicks and impressions) slowed or decreased in some channels.

Yes, but: Despite higher prices, key performance metrics like conversion rates have largely kept pace, suggesting improved ad efficiency.

Why we care. Despite higher prices, conversion rates are holding steady, suggesting potential opportunities for advertisers who can navigate the changing landscape effectively and aren’t deterred by all the AI updates.

Between the lines: The shift to newer ad formats like Google’s Performance Max and Meta’s Advantage Shopping Campaigns+ is contributing to the changing dynamics.

• Performance Max now accounts for 13% of paid search spend on Skai’s platform:

• Advantage Shopping Campaigns+ spending grew nearly 6x YoY, but still only makes up 5% of Meta spend

What to watch. As advertisers adapt strategies to handle higher prices, historical trends suggest this period of price increases may be temporary.

Bottom line. Advertisers are navigating a complex landscape of rising costs and evolving ad formats, but so far are maintaining performance through optimization and new tools.

The report. You can read the full Q2 2024 Quarterly Trends Report (PDF) from Skai.

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

Reddit CEO to Microsoft and AI search engines: Pay for our content

Written on August 2, 2024 at 4:48 am, by admin

Reddit will continue blocking Microsoft and other search engines and AI models from crawling its content using robots.txt – unless they strike a content licensing deal. That’s what Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said in a new interview.

Why Reddit is blocking search engines. Noting it’s been “a real pain in the ass to block these companies,” here’s what else Huffman told technology news site The Verge:

• “Without these agreements, we don’t have any say or knowledge of how our data is displayed and what it’s used for, which has put us in a position now of blocking folks who haven’t been willing to come to terms with how we’d like our data to be used or not used.”
• “We’ve had Microsoft, Anthropic, and Perplexity act as though all of the content on the internet is free for them to use. That’s their real position.”
• “I think the traditional value exchange from search engines has changed. Search and summarization and training are merging, and the value exchange of crawling in exchange for traffic back is becoming muddied.”

Freeware. Yes, Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman actually called web content “freeware,” saying anybody can copy and use it:

• “…With respect to content that is already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the ’90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been freeware, if you like. That’s been the understanding.”

Google not blocked. Meanwhile, Reddit didn’t block Google. That’s because Google pays Reddit $60 million a year. That content licensing deal was announced in February.

Microsoft statement. Following the news about Reddit blocking search engines, a Microsoft spokesperson told Search Engine Land:

• “Microsoft respects the robots.txt standard and we honor the directions provided by websites that do not want content on their pages to be used with our generative AI models. Bing stopped crawling Reddit after they implemented their updated robots.txt file on July 1, which prohibits all crawling of their site.“

Why we care. Reddit is in a powerful position, having a licensing deal with Google – not to mention the insane amount of organic visibility and traffic it’s getting due to its prominence in Google Search results. However, other content producers and publishers likely will need whatever visibility and traffic they can get from AI search and answer engines by incorporating generative engine optimization (GEO) strategies.

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