Nancy McCord – Page 31 – The Web Authority

May 20, 2019May 15, 2019

Google Strives to Become Amazon

McCord Web Services is a Google Partner and a Certified Google Ads Professional

I listened with interest at the Google Marketing Live 2019 presentation this past week to how Google will try to compete head to head with Amazon. Clearly they are afraid they are losing too much market share.

Here’s what I learned:

Google will be making all products shown on its 8 properties shoppable. You will be able to buy items directly from ads on YouTube videos from within the search results and you will be able to choose to buy it through the Google Platform or from the business owner’s website.

Google will be providing customer service when you buy it from them and will allow for simple returns as well as a Google guarantee.

You will be able to use your Google payment profile to pay for merchandise. Additionally, shopping and buying features will soon be appearing in the Google Assistant which appears to have Alexa firmly in its sight.

Google will even be making images found in the image search into shoppable ads. Clearly from this announcement, and very tight integration of selling products into all Google properties, Google does not want to lose out to Amazon on being the premier shopping and buying platform.

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May 15, 2019May 7, 2019

Google Ads Conversions – Deciding What to Measure

Be on target with deciding what conversions to let the Google AI base bidding on.

Deciding what to measure on Google Ads as a conversion has significant impact for your account performance. This is especially true when it comes to automated bidding.

For example, if you include page views in your conversions, you may skew results for any bidding algorithms you may use in the future.

When I manage an account, I look to include sales, completed web forms, and website phone calls as conversions. Other items that I may consider important depending on the client and what they are selling may be page views, whitepaper downloads, opening of the chat form. Typically I will consider those lower value actions in the “all conversion” category but not in the “conversion” category.

Doing so allows me to tell the bidding AI what conversions I really consider of value. Although I can add both sets of conversions to my reports, most decisions as to strategy should be based only on the high value conversions.

If you are not sure which and what you are tracking, click the wrench at the top right of your Google Ads account, then go to conversions. Take a look to see what data you are considering important and click on those specific actions to add or remove them from your reports.

You do not lose any data, it is simply whether those actions will be shown in the conversions column or the all conversions column.

Help Google bid smarter for you by only including “conversions” to give you better performance.

If you need help with Google Ads, please visit our website section on our services to check pricing and our programs.

May 8, 2019May 3, 2019

The Future of Google Ads is Dimmed by Amazon Advertising

Nancy C. McCord, Owner of McCord Web Services LLC

Google announced that earnings from Google Ads had dropped this last quarter. Feeling pressure from newbies on the block, like Amazon, is sure to shakeup the Google Boardroom.

Google Ads has been king – that is until recently. With renewed pressure from Bing Ads – now called Microsoft Advertising – which appears structured to expand in unknown marketing arenas, Amazon is also now strongly entering the pay per click platform mix.

Amazon has an accredited professionals program and I will be starting my training this week. Not only has Amazon changed the way we buy online, but it may now be the biggest contender against Google for the e-commerce pay per click dollar.

Have you seen this yourself, you are looking to buy a product and now do not even go to Google, but rather start your search on Amazon? I am doing just this myself. Do I click on the Amazon Sponsored items – you bet I do as usually they are a great deal and the price is right. Add to that free prime shipping and Amazon is rapidly becoming my shopping search engine. I rarely buy now items on Google.com – and only if I cannot find it on Amazon.

Amazon has tested services too, so they are just not all about selling products. I have seen cleaning services and pest control service programs on Amazon. Tie that in with the super smart Alexa devices and app that are becoming assistants of choice in millions of homes and Google should be worried.

As I certify for Amazon advertising, I will keep you posted on what I see and learn.