November 2024: Campaign changes, AI tools, & data fixes for digital marketers

The Bluebird Messenger is a monthly newsletter that recaps all the latest news that digital marketers need to stay on top of their game. Keep scrolling to find out which updates recently dropped and how they impact best practices within marketing. Enjoy the read!

Paid Search

A change in campaign priority for Shopping & Pmax

Performance Max (PMax) and Standard Shopping campaigns will now compete based on the highest Ad Rank rather than PMax being automatically prioritized. If you're using a hybrid setup with both campaign types, it may be necessary to review and validate the campaign structure. Industry discussions suggest this change could potentially lead to higher average CPCs when both campaign types are active, as the bid will be the sole factor determining the winning ad for duplicate products in your account.

AI-Powered video enhancements

Google is rolling out AI-powered video enhancements to optimize ad performance. Google AI can flip videos to different aspect ratios and create shorter versions by selecting key moments, expanding reach across formats while retaining essential messaging. Advertisers can review and remove AI-enhanced videos through the asset reporting tab or disable the feature entirely in campaign settings.

Paid Social

Measure misattributed conversions

Clients of Bluebird know how passionate we have been about Search Lift and understanding how Paid Social and Paid Search work together. The methodology is simple and scalable across channels, making it possible to understand how many incremental conversions Meta drives that are attributed to other marketing channels. Reach out if you are interested in learning more about the solution!

Conversion Value Rules

Meta is currently working on a product that makes it possible to set value rules and adjust your bidding based on your most valuable customers. The product is very similar to Bid Multipliers, which many are familiar with through Smartly, and is a simplified way—and the first step—toward optimizing your campaigns for higher LTV. We are happy to help you get early access!

Snapchat on the roadmap for 2025

The challenging economic climate over the past few years has impacted marketing budgets and, naturally, media mix choices. Meanwhile, Snapchat has made significant investments in its platform to adapt to the advertising landscape without losing its unique character—remaining the platform to maintain relationships and stay authentic with your inner circle. Bluebird sees a lot of potential in the channel going into 2025, from both a brand and performance perspective. And hey! A completely new Snapchat experience is coming our way...

SEO

Sitelinks Search Box to be removed from Search

Google has announced that it will be removing the Sitelinks Search Box feature, which allows users to perform internal searches within a website directly from Google Search. This change will be implemented globally starting November 21st.

No Action Required for Structured Data Users

Websites that currently use structured data for the Sitelinks Search Box do not need to take any action.

Store Ratings expands across countries

Google's Store Ratings feature is expanding its reach to English-speaking shoppers in Australia, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. This feature, previously available only in the US, will now allow online stores in these countries to display customer reviews directly in Google Search results, helping potential customers make informed purchasing decisions. By clicking on the store rating, users can access detailed information about the store. We can therefore assume that this functionality also will reach our Nordic countries in time.

Google Expands AI-Powered Search to Billions Globally

Google is significantly expanding its AI-powered search capabilities. The company has introduced AI-organized search results in the US, providing a more comprehensive overview of web content. Additionally, Google has updated the format of AI Overviews to include more detailed links and citations. In a major global expansion, AI Overviews are now available in over 100 countries and support multiple languages, bringing this powerful search tool to over 1 billion users worldwide.

Tracking & Analytics

GA4 / GTM Update Reduces (not set) Errors

The recent update addresses issues with custom events being sent before a configuration command, leading to (not set) values in GA reports. Previously, auto-events were deferred until after config commands, but this wasn’t applied to custom events. Now, a new setting in Google Tag Manager will allow custom events to wait until a config command has been sent, improving session tracking and attribution accuracy. Google plans to start the launch soon, though timelines are a bit uncertain. This update will enhance the reliability of sessionization and campaign attribution, reducing instances of (not set) values for source/medium. Improved accuracy in reporting attribution data will provide clearer insights into campaign effectiveness and reduce overattribution to “Direct.”

Recommended Actions: Ensure all customers have a config tag that triggers before custom events are.

GA Data Quality Progress

GA’s recent update addresses the issue of inaccurate attribution by introducing a “data not available” label for source/medium dimensions when information is missing due to consent or processing limits. This label replaces misassignments to “Direct,” improving reporting accuracy. Traffic with specific identifiers (GCLID, DCLID, or Braid) will now be grouped as “Cross-network,” and a data quality indicator will appear when over 10% of data is marked as unavailable on a page.

These changes apply to event, user, & session-scoped data in daily, intraday, and BQ streaming data. The BQ Fresh Daily Export already uses similar terminology.

Each cause—like missing session starts, consent mode limitations, unlinked Ads accounts, and ad_user_data being denied—has specific recommendations to ensure more reliable tracking and reduce data gaps. For example, ensuring proper tagging configuration, setting default consent values, linking GA with Ads accounts, and using custom URLs when consent is denied are essential steps. These improvements will help avoid overattribution to "Direct," providing clearer insights into campaign effectiveness and source accuracy.

Display & Video

CTV landscape: SmartTV home screen advertising possibilities

Latest industry trends emphasize the advertising possibilities within the CTV landscape. Numbers indicate that we reach 70-80% of users connected to CTV while we only reach 60% on linear TV. Within the CTV landscape users are often displayed hyperchoices, and 46% of these users can't decide what to watch and spend an average of 11 mins on their CTV home screen trying to decide. This means that there is plenty of room for advertising here!

TV4 Media Manager - new platform for linear TV and Online Video

TV4 released a new media manager platform used for booking ads. The new platform aims to lower the bar for inexperienced buyers, smaller and medium-sized companies since TV4’s previous platform, WOO Manager, was primarily aimed at larger, professional buyers. The WOO? manager will still be available. In their new tool linear TV and digital ads can be booked and the performance of each campaign can be followed up.?