Paid Media News & Opinion ??#84

?? ?Major update to search query matching on Google Ads

23rd June 2024 ? PPC ? Source

???What’s happening

Google Ads announced some big updates to the way query matching works, linking search terms to keywords, affecting both brand and non-brand search terms.

1) Brand exclusions are now available for all match types and dynamic search ads, vs only broad match when initially released.

2) All misspellings of a single keyword will be included in exclusions. A helpful guide with examples from Google is available here.

3) Search term reports will include misspelt search queries under the data for the correctly spelled term, making more search terms and data visible.

Google has also recently mentioned that they are avoiding confusion in the platform by renaming brand ‘restrictions’ to ‘inclusions’, which act as the opposite of exclusions.

???Why we care

Brand exclusions have been a more nuanced and effective way of excluding brand terms from campaigns, including Performance Max, but were frustratingly limited to broad match only resulting in extra work to cover all areas of negatives. This update will hopefully result in more accuracy for removing brand from generic and vice versa.

The wider update on search term matching with misspells shows that keywords are getting more semantically grouped – long gone are the days of individual misspell ad groups – but this also begs the question of how accurate will that system actually be. We recommend you keep monitoring search terms across campaigns in light of this new update.

Search term report data will benefit from, according to Google, an extra 9% of search terms which should help reduce those annoying “other” terms that will now be unlocked for analysis.

?? EU Consent rules tightened for Customer Match ads

24th June 2024 ? Paid Media ? Source

???What’s happening

Google Ads is once again updating its user consent policy for Customer Match lists used in the European Economic Area (EEA). This is due to the ongoing privacy regulations that are impacting EU campaigns, and the change is being made to ensure Google Ads remains compliant in this region.?

Following the change, advertisers are required to explicitly pass consent signals to Google in order to use Customer Match. Consent can be passed using either the Google Ads API, Partner and Audience Partner API, Manual input in Audience Manager, or via Conversion-based customer lists with consent mode enabled.

???Why we care

Customer Match increases the accuracy, quality and scope of your targeting data, so it’s essential that it should be used in Google Ads. Although this update requires a bit more work from advertisers in the EEA, that shouldn’t deter you. Accurate and plentiful data are cornerstones of great paid media accounts, so make sure you implement the changes required to keep your data compliant and fully functioning.?

Those who don’t pass on their consent signals will limit the delivery and performance of campaigns

?? tROAS insights is coming to Google Shopping

25thth June 2024 ? Shopping ? Source

???What’s happening

Google is introducing new tROAS 'Insight Box' to PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns, allowing advertisers to gain a new level of insight into what Google forecasts as the result of setting different target ROAS goals.

These insights will be displayed as a visual graph showing the performance over time, including indications of whether campaigns are projected to meet their ROAS goals over time. These graphs will also include a section in a lighter shade of blue which will indicate the anticipated range of actual ROAS outcomes based on the different set tROAS.

???Why we care

One difficulty with setting PMax target ROAS goals is that there can be uncertainty in how this will impact spend and actual ROAS. Whilst the budget forecasting tool is helpful as a proxy for seeing how ROAS will change based on budgets, this is no replacement for this new tROAS insights box.

This new insights box will be especially useful for brands that are ROAS sensitive, allowing them to forecast how changes to the tROAS will impact the actual ROAS they achieve.

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What else we've been talking about:

• Netflix’s advertising challenge: it isn’t big enough
• 5 new features coming to Google Analytics 4
• Google streamlining YouTube, Display ad content controls
• At Cannes, publishers attempt to quell marketers’ open programmatic apostasy