Earlier this week, during Google’s Search Ads Week, we were updated on 2 new search ad tools; automatically created ad assets and new customer acquisition goals.
Google’s AI automatically creates responsive ad assets
Google has always alleged that it aspires to deliver the best possible, most relevant ad to every searcher, just at the right time. It claims that this is much easier when there are a lot of different assets to choose from. This is why it advises advertisers to provide all 15 (unique as possible) headlines and 4 descriptions within a responsive ad and strive for the perfect ad score of ‘Excellent’.
It was last year that Google announced the release of automatically created assets, during Google Marketing Live, but now they are available to all advertisers in English as an open beta.
Advertisers currently have to opt-in to this feature at campaign level:
If the feature is turned ‘on’, Google can then choose from the assets the advertiser has provided manually, plus any new ones it has created, based on the unique context of the ad and its landing page.
Additionally, these further improvements will be rolling out:
- Auto-created assets will also be factored into the overall ad strength score
- Manually inputted assets, such as keywords, will be used to customise headlines and make them more relevant to the user’s search
- Any automatic assets that are created, that are not liked/required/relevant can be removed, thankfully
This feature will also be rolled out in other languages later in the year.
Increase conversions from new customers with the new customer acquisition goal
For many businesses increasing interest and traffic from new customers is a very important goal. In order to increase market share and grow a business, you need new prospects to know what you have to offer in order to grow revenue. To try and help with this, Google has launched a new customer acquisition goal for search, now available across the globe.
The feature uses Smart bidding and first-party data to help advertisers get in front of new prospective customers. Google recommends pairing this goal setting with bid strategies such as maximise conversion with target ROAS (where applicable), to try and find those new customers that will add the most value to your business.
Google says, “fashion retailer Baltic Born had an aggressive growth target to increase revenue. To expand its business beyond repeat customers in a highly competitive market, the retailer turned to using the new customer acquisition goal for Search. Combined with target ROAS, a value-based bid strategy, Baltic Born drove a 73% increase in new customers and as a result, 36% more revenue.”
There are two options available with this new goal:
- Value New Customer – “Bid higher for new customers than for existing customers.” The advertiser must choose an additional value for a new customer:
- New Customers Only – “Bid for new customers only.” Please note that a customer list of at least 1,000 is required for this:
Should all advertisers be using these new features?
As with all of Google’s automation features, they sound great on the surface and if they work like they see they should, then why wouldn’t you opt-in to them? However, the reality is often very different.
I personally don’t like the idea of auto-created ad assets. I’d much prefer to have them as a suggestion, which could then be selected and added manually, rather than automatically added and then have to be removed if they are not actually relevant/liked.
The new customer acquisition goal sounds valuable, like I say, if it works. It’s definitely something I’ll be testing for clients, but until then I can’t really say if it’s a good thing or not – I’ll be sure to report back!
