I have just received this notice from Google and we knew it was coming when the EU added taxes to Google’s activity.
Dear Advertiser,
As of 1 October 2021, we will include a surcharge to your invoices or statements for ads that are purchased through Google Ads and for YouTube placements purchased on reservations basis, and that are served in the following specific jurisdictions:
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Ads served in Austria: a 5% Austria DST Fee added to your invoice or statement
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Ads served in France: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement
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Ads served in India: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement
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Ads served in Italy: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement
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Ads served in Spain: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement
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Ads served in Turkey: a 5% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement
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Ads served in the United Kingdom: a 2% UK DST Fee added to your invoice or statement
These surcharges are being added to cover a portion of the costs associated with complying with digital services tax legislation in these jurisdictions.
If you are one of our client’s you receive a report daily on your account activity from Data Studio. These reports help you as a business owner to understand the conversion activity that Google Ads is driving with your advertising investment.
I have posted several screenshots to help you understand several very important and common scenarios.
Limited by Budget
When I see many spikes in an account during the month, it typically shows that the account is limited by budget. Google is trying to meter out the ad spend to spread it over the month, but has to lower the daily budget between activity as there is simply not enough budget in the account to support the activity that exists.
The image below shows a longer time frame of an account limited by budget. You can see many peaks and valleys as Google overspends on some days and then cuts back on others as it tries to pace the budget to cover demand.
The image below shows in a smaller time period this same peak and valley. When I go into the account I can see that Google spent more than 20% on one day and then had to cut the budget back for the next several days, causing this jagged appearance.
Business to Business Activity
Another scenario we see frequently is typically seen in business to business accounts. Here, although ads continue to serve 24/7, we can see that conversion activity is typically happening on weekdays. In this case the valleys in the account match Saturday and start to show strong activity happening consistently on specific days of the week. Notice how the peaks of activity are at nearly the same height throughout the month. This account is not restrained by budget, but rather is reflecting how customers and prospects react with ads.
Google Reacts to Both Scenarios
When using Smart Bidding in your account Google’s machine learning algorithms work hard to deliver conversions and over time understands how your prospects and customers use your ads. For Business to Business clients Google pays less for clicks and even drops ad spend on times it knows your customers are not converting or are not active. In the scenario in the image above, Google does not spend the full daily budget on the weekends, saving more money to spend on active weekdays.
Experience Makes the Difference
As a Google Partner and a Certified Google Ads Professional, McCord Web Services know Google Ads and can leverage this knowledge to provide the lead generation results you seek. Find out more about our programs today.
We encourage you to review our price list to understand that we work hard to make exceptional account management affordable for you and your agency.