Google announced what they showcased at an event they hosted for 170 search marketing experts at the AdWords Performance Forum the other day.
In short, Google is rolling out new AdWords features for Apps, improved Estimated Total Conversions and more advanced features within the AdWords console for managing ads.
(1) Apps: You can now promote apps to users who install apps related to yours across search, display and YouTube. Google will use the app installs and in-app purchases to enable advertisers to show ads. Also, there is a new feature to do "app re-engagement", which is a new campaign type in AdWords for both search and display so that consumers can be taken directly into already-installed apps. Plus, you can soon measure conversions across the entire lifecycle of the app - from install to re-engagement to in-app purchases.
(2) Estimated Total Conversions has been upgraded to support in-store purchases. Google said "As people search more online for local businesses and then go into the store to make purchases, we're testing ways to measure the effectiveness of search ads at driving in-store sales, using anonymized purchase data from retail partners."
(3) Google also added new tools within the AdWords console for advertisers including:
- More bulk actions: With new bulk capabilities for extensions and settings, you'll be able to easily set up campaign settings like location targeting and ad rotation across all your campaigns (even if you have thousands of them!). This should be particularly useful for big seasonal promotions, when you might want to update all of your campaigns at once.
- Automated bidding: Building off of the momentum that Google has with automated bidding, Google is adding the ability for you to maximize the number of conversions or the total value of conversions. For example, if you’re a car maker, you’ll be able to set up your campaign to allocate your budget in a way that maximizes the number of people who visit your site to design a custom vehicle.
- Advanced reporting: To help you analyze your data better (without the endless downloading and re-formatting of data) Google is providing you with new multi-dimensional data analysis and visualization tools so you can perform most, if not all of your data analysis, right here inside AdWords. Google is also making it easy for you to turn your data into tables, graphs and charts so that you can download them and share with your teams.
- Your own lab: One of the great benefits of AdWords is that it offers an incredible platform to test and tweak live campaigns. So Google built a lab inside AdWords for you to prepare ideas for your campaigns, see what they’ll look like, and then run tests with live traffic as an experimental trial. You can experiment with almost anything in your campaign, including bid changes, new keywords, different campaign settings, special bids for times and locations, different kinds of ad formats, and more.
Forum discussion at Google+.
