Smart Shopping Campaigns in Google Ads are like regular Shopping Campaigns but with a twist.
Uses Google Ads advanced AI tools to target and bid.
Increases conversions.
Is totally automated.
Shows ads on more properties.
Optimizes for performance.
I have tried regular Shopping Campaigns against Smart Shopping Campaigns and here are the results for real clients.
RV industry accessory sales – 56% decrease in cost per click.
Industrial equipment – 34% decrease in cost per conversion.
I have found that it will typically take about 30 days to have enough data to weigh is Smart Shopping Campaigns are right for you, but so far I am seeing an increase in conversions at a lower overall cost.
Smart Shopping Campaigns will show your shopping ads on YouTube, Gmail, and in the Google Search results and on Search Partners. Your reach is expanded and your ads are dynamically created and more attractive.
Our clients love our experience and savvy Google Ads expertise.
Planning ahead to boost your business for 2019 takes planning and strategizing with your sales team. Once you determine your plan and set a goal for sales, take time to set your Google Ads budget to achieve your plan.
If you are currently selling products or services that generate $200,000 and your plan is to achieve a 20% increase in sales, make sure that your Google Ads budget has an equal increase or a specific plan to generate additional low click cost activity such as in the Display network.
It is crucial that your ad spend be increased to help your program achieve success. Many clients will set a Google Ads budget and then not do a yearly review . It is a good plan to every January review your last year ad expenses, gross sales, sales attributable to Google Ads and your growth plan for the next year.
At the minimum, I would encourage a 10% increase in your Google Ad Spend budget if you have been successful in having Google Ads drive phone calls, emails, and other beneficial actions on your website.
If you need help with your Google Ads plan and want to jump start activity in 2019, I invite you to visit our website to see if our services would be a good match for your needs.
Often in strange economic times a business may need to trim back Google Ads budgets. We are definitely in one of those strange periods where interest in services appears to be high, but customers are not moving into conversions.
The stock market and drama within the federal government have created a climate of “wait and see”. But advertisers are working to fiercely compete in Google Ads for the available clicks even if customers are not moving to buy.
If and when you have to cut back your advertising budget; do it smartly based on conversions and value to your business.
First, sort your data for a longer period than 30 days. I will usually use a 6 month period. Note the conversions of each campaign to the total as a percentage. Then decide on the new total 30 day ad spend you can live with. Divide that number by 30.4 to arrive at your daily ad spend budget.
Multiply your daily budget by the conversion percent of each ad group to arrive at your new campaign budget. Then look to do a reality check. If you’ve got remarketing at less than $10 a day Google really will not serve that program. If you have some campaigns at $10 or $15 a day but your average cost per click is $5, you will get very little activity for that program.
Instead consider grouping some of those low budget items into a shared budget to try to help Google be able to serve your programs that you have put on a diet.
Remember, big changes to your budget will take about 7 to 14 days for Google to adjust to again. Be patient to see results at your new lower budget.
I have been a Google Partner and Certified AdWords Professional for years. I have studied and passed numerous certification exams, nearly from the time that Google instituted the AdWords certification program.
This announcement states that people were confused on what Average Position is and that it is not what they had thought. Here is the important quote from the announcement.
Contrary to common perception, average position is not meant to describe where the ad appears on the page. Average position reflects the order that your ad appears versus the other ads in the ad auction. As a result, an ad position of “1” means that your ad shows ahead of all other ads, but it doesn’t mean the ad was at the very top of the page. Sometimes no ads are displayed above the organic search results so the ad with a position of “1” appears at the bottom of the page.
Therefore, we’re rolling out four new metrics over the next several weeks that – unlike average position – provide clear insights on where your ads are appearing on the search results page:
Well, this is a change. All the AdWords test materials and study guides over the years have stated that average position was just that – a statistical average of where your ad appeared on the page to give you an idea of how high or low your position was as a factor of your quality score and bid.
Strangely, now Google has announced that no, we have all been mistaken and that Average Position was not that, but rather a factor of ad rank – which is very, very different.
This is a marked change and one that has impacted numerous client accounts in November. Where accounts were happily chugging along with great click and conversion numbers, November 6th hit and I had many accounts take a sudden nose dive in clicks and conversions. I saw this across several key accounts in very diverse sectors. It appears that Google has restructured the auction algorithm to cater to this new terminology that they have themselves created for Average Position as of this year.
Please visit my post on Wednesday, part two of this series to learn about the new metrics they have rolled out as part of this definition change of Average Position.
