The speed of change in online advertising is rapid and no year saw as many changes as in 2011. Keeping up to date on all these advancements is no easy feet, but I guess that is why we specialize in PPC. Here are just a handful of the biggest changes to hit Adwords.
1. Interest Targeting expanded
Interest targeting allows you to target people on the Google Display network based on interest categories. This feature works by tracking the behavior of people on the internet. If for example, you had been to multiple sports websites in the past 30 days, then it would be safe to say that you are interested in sports. Now interest targeting has been around for a while, but this was the first year that we saw huge results using it. Plus you can combine it with other targeting options to lazer target your ads based on behaviour.
2. Google + and +1 Button on Ads
The Google + was added to ads this year. It allows people to + ads that they like, giving Google another way to rate ads based on relevancy. Google wasn’t the first network to use this system, as Facebook has had this for years on their ads. It is still unclear to what extent Google + will affect your quality score, but in the future it could easily carry more wait.
3. Multi-Channel funnel analysis
Google Analytics now allows you to see multiple touch points in your funnel via Multi-Channel funnels. Before you were only able to see how many times your search ads were clicked before a conversion took place. Now you can see how social media, display and search results all interact in your conversion funnel. Multi-channel funnel is just another way to help advertisers optimize their conversion funnel.
4. Automated Rules
Automated Rules allow you to set up rules to manage your pay per click account. In previous years these rules never worked very well however, this year they made some serious changes to the way they work. Rules can save you a lot of time and money if they are set up correctly.
5. Call Conversion Tracking
The addition of call tracking allows you to track “click calls” from mobile devices. For example say someone comes to your site via a mobile PPC ad, then once on your site they click on your phone number initiating a call. The original PPC ad would then get credit for the call and be give a call conversion.
If you would like helping setting up any of these new features contact us here.