Google announced a bunch of new or updated tools from the Google Ads side yesterday. These include an updated test my site portal, feeds in app campaigns and deferred deep linking, deep linking expansions and a new ad destination report.
In short; if you don't want to read too much; here are quick hits on what is new:
(1) Test My Site: Revamped microsite for providing marketers and developers recommendations on increasing site speed and performance. Play with it over here.
(2) Feeds in App campaigns / Deferred deep linking: Helps brands surface a wide range of products directly in their ads and brings users to the specific app product page upon app open.
(3) Deep linking expansion: Originally available on Search, Display and Shopping ads, Google is expanding deep linking from YouTube, Hotel, Gmail and Discovery ads.
(4) Ad destination report: This is a new report type to help understand where consumers are landing and converting from ads.
Deeper:
(1) The Test My Site portal really isn't new, they pretty much added the core web vitals feature to it. Google also added customized tips on how to make your site experience relevant and easy to use. For example, learn how to build a one-step checkout and keep customers coming back with relevant push notifications.
(2) Feeds in App Campaigns: You can deliver more relevant and helpful ad experiences with feeds in App campaigns.
Richer formats that help you create more engaging ad experiences. Feeds can now surface images of your most popular items as ads on apps and sites in our network. Soon, retail advertisers using Google Merchant Center can also begin showing image ads in the canvas below YouTube TrueView “in-stream” app promotion ads.
Expanded query eligibility helps you scale your campaigns. On Google.com, feeds help make your app more discoverable by expanding where and how your ads serve. If you’re a furniture brand with couches in stock, feeds may surface your app ads more frequently when users search for “loveseats for two.” This is a result of feeds giving our ads algorithms more signals on which products are available in your app. Richer data increases the likelihood of your app ad matching with a user query and becoming eligible to serve.
Feeds can also automatically adjust your ad text to highlight a match between your offerings and a user’s query—for example, a search for “loveseats” can trigger an ad headline or description text such as “shop loveseats and couches.”
Retail advertisers using Google Merchant Center, and non-retail advertisers using custom, Flights, Travel, Hotels & rentals, and Local deals Business data feeds can serve feed ads on Google.com today. Over the coming months, feed ads on Google.com will also become available for the Education, Jobs, and Real estate verticals.
Smoother onboarding for new users. With feeds in App campaigns, you can also use deferred deep linking to give new app users a smoother onboarding experience—from app install straight to the item they saw in the ad.
Here’s how it works: if a new user taps on a Wish ad for running shoes, for example, she will be directed to her app store to install the Wish app. After installing and opening the app for the first time, she would automatically land on the running shoes’ product page to learn more or make a purchase.
For retailers using Google Merchant Center:
(1) Create an App campaign
(2)Select “App installs”
(3) Click on “Show advanced settings”
(4) Check the box “Help Google Ads learn about your app by selecting a feed that describes the contents of your app”
(5) Click on “Google Merchant Center feed”
(6) Select from the dropdown menu a Google Merchant Center account with the feed you would like to promote with your App campaign
(3) Deep linking expansion: Google is expanding it to YouTube, Hotel, Gmail and Discovery ads.
(4) Ad destination report: This new report should give better insight into where consumers are landing and converting from your ads. For example, let’s say you’re a retailer with both a website and app. With the ad destination report, you can see in the “App deep link” row that these ads drive a higher conversion rate at a lower cost per conversion.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
