Inside AdWords: Best practices

Tailor your ads with dynamic remarketing - Google Best Practices

Thursday, July 07, 2016

If you think people make purchase decisions quickly, think again. Today’s consumers visit websites at least 6 times, on average, in the purchase process.¹ And for those who abandon a shopping cart, 75% say they intend on returning to a company’s website to make a purchase.²

We’ve created a new best practices guide, Tailor Your Ads with Dynamic Remarketing, to help advertisers win those crucial “ready-to-buy” moments with dynamic remarketing and relevant ads. As business data feeds are crucial to dynamic remarketing campaigns, this guide focuses on how to create and optimize your feeds. It covers topics such as:

Setting up high-quality business data feeds
Providing complete product data
Keeping your business data feed fresh
Activating dynamic remarketing ads

Check out these dynamic remarketing best practices to drive more relevant ads and improved performance.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing crew

1. Source: Google/Nielsen Study: Mobile Path to Purchase: Five Key Findings, November 2013
2. Source: BI Intelligence Study: Shopping Cart Abandonment Report, March 2015.

A new guide to attribution with AdWords - Google Best Practices

Thursday, June 02, 2016

The customer journey can be complex. Being able to identify which ads actually influenced someone’s decision can be challenging, but it’s crucial to get right.

In May, we launched the ability to update your attribution model in AdWords. It’s an update that can help you go beyond last-click measurement, the default in AdWords, and understand your customer’s journey on a much deeper level. As of today, this change has been rolled out to all AdWords accounts.

We’ve published a new guide to help you understand attribution and make the right decisions for your account. This resource offers best practices about what you need to do to go beyond last-click, covering topics such as:

Determining if going beyond the last-click is something that you need to do
Choosing a model that fits with your needs
Acting on attribution
Evolving your approach to attribution as measurement gets better

By going beyond last-click attribution for your Search ads in AdWords, you can understand your customer journey and make changes to improve your campaigns. Users take a while to make decisions; by changing your approach to attribution you can identify how your advertising affects people across all of their crucial, decision-making moments.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Driving Mobile App Downloads and Engagement - Google Best Practices

Monday, May 23, 2016

In today’s crowded market for mobile apps, it’s more important than ever to be able to attract the right users to your app, gain their loyalty, and drive long term value.

By now, you’ve probably had the chance to hear about some new ads & analytics announcements at Google I/O designed to make it easier for developers and marketers to find more of the right users for their apps across all of Google. Things like:

Improvements to our Universal App Campaigns: expanding beyond Android into iOS and optimizing beyond CPI for user value and in app conversions, and
A new analytics platform called Firebase Analytics that can help you to understand and optimize for lifetime value.

To help prepare for these updates, we’ve updated two of our best practices guides that will help you use AdWords for increasing user engagement.

You can also check them out at g.co/PromoteYourApp. Only 364 days left to the next I/O!

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Posted by: Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Making the Most of Display Advertising - Google Best Practices

Monday, April 04, 2016

Today, people have higher expectations of ads than ever. It’s never been more important to tailor messages to the right people at the right moment as they engage in blogs, news sites and more across the web.

We’ve put together a new guide, Making the Most of Display Advertising, to help you deliver relevant ads and efficient results on the Google Display Network. The guide touches on topics such as:

Reaching the right audience at the right moment
Matching the message to the moment
Optimizing for performance

Check out these display advertising best practices to deliver on consumers’ expectations and drive more sales for your business.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

A new guide to entering international markets with AdWords - Google Best Practices

Thursday, March 31, 2016

It’s possible to connect across the globe in an instant. Expanding your business to new countries unlocks new opportunities and challenges for your AdWords account.

We’ve published a new guide to help advertisers go global. This resource offers best practices on exporting your AdWords advertising to new countries, covering topics such as:

Discovering your opportunities abroad
Connecting with the locals
Setting up your account for international optimizations
Using automation to scale your coverage

By understanding how you can prime your AdWords campaigns for new markets, you can expand your account effectively and take your business worldwide.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Capture more holiday traffic with click share for Google Shopping

Monday, November 16, 2015

More shoppers are turning to online shopping with each holiday season, increasing the opportunity for you to attract shoppers to your online store. Today we’re launching click share to better help you identify when you’re missing out on traffic. Click share is a new metric that shows the percentage of total possible clicks received by your Shopping ads.

Click share metric for product groups

Let’s walk through an example of how to use click share to identify product groups with potential for more traffic to ensure your ads show prominently enough to maximize traffic to your site on Black Friday. First, add the click share column on the Product groups tab. In this example, you see “winter coats” with a click share of 30%. This means that you only got 30 out of every 100 possible clicks on your “winter coats” ads. Second, take this opportunity to adjust your bids for “winter coats” to make your ads more prominent. Third, make sure to check back frequently, especially for your most popular products, to closely monitor click share and continue to optimize bids.

There is more you can do to ensure holiday success. In addition to driving traffic, you’ll want to fine-tune your campaigns to reach new shoppers and drive sales. We’ve created two holiday checklists to help you manage your campaigns over the coming weeks and through the new year:

Holiday Readiness Checklist: Get your Shopping campaigns Black Friday-ready to connect with shoppers at the moments that matter and convert them into customers
Holiday Survival Checklist: Follow this checklist to make mid-flight changes to your campaigns and learn how to adjust bids for new trending products

By taking these lists and checking them twice, and tuning your campaigns based on click share insights, you can increase sales this season...and have a happier holiday!

Posted by Dimitris Meretakis, Product Manager, Google Shopping

Google Shopping best practice videos to help you reach more shoppers for the holidays

Monday, October 26, 2015

As the holiday season approaches, your to-do list can seem never-ending. On top of the festivities of the season, you’re managing your bids, adding new popular products to your inventory, and trying to balance your budget — all in hopes of reaching holiday shoppers at the moment they’re looking to buy. Here at Google Shopping, we want to help you succeed during one of the busiest times of the year by connecting shoppers with your products at the drop of a (Santa) hat.

Earlier this year, we shared Google for Retail, our online hub for businesses of all sizes to get up and running with Google Shopping ads. Today, we’re introducing a few new Google Shopping best practice videos to highlight three tactics that help you turn clicks into customers this holiday season.

Manage your Shopping campaign
After you’ve set up your Shopping campaign, you’ll want to make sure you have your goals, bids, and budgets set for the best results. In the video below, we’ll eliminate the guesswork and walk you through setting up realistic budgets and targets to maximize your reach on Google.

Get more of your products online
When setting up your first data feeds, you may run into issues that prevent your products from appearing on Google. Learn more about how to get your data feed into tip-top shape to show even more of your products online, making it easier for shoppers to find you.

Optimize your Shopping campaigns
Once your Shopping campaign is up and running, you’re ready to think about how to optimize your ads to get the best return-on-investment (ROI). While there are many ways to do this, the key is knowing what to do first. Learn optimization fundamentals including how to drive traffic to your site and optimize that traffic to maximize your profits and ROI.

By managing your Shopping campaigns, fixing your data feed disapprovals, and optimizing your ads, searching shoppers can find all the products you’re selling -- helping you efficiently and effectively get more sales for the holidays, and beyond.

For more information on Google Shopping YouTube channel.

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Posted by Kim Doan, Product Marketing Manager, Google Shopping

Improve the performance of your DSA campaigns - Google Best Practices

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Dynamic Search Ads are driving great results for businesses, and, as we announced last month, DSA is now more powerful than ever.

As you reach all sorts of interested users via Dynamic Search Ads, we’ve created a Best Practices checklist to help you get the most out of DSA. Beyond Keywords, a checklist for optimizing Dynamic Search Ads, is loaded with recommendations and tips, such as:

Why you should create targeting groups based on user behavior
How to exclude traffic you don’t want captured
Which tactics to combine with DSA to improve performance

Review the checklist and start optimizing today.

Want to stay on top of even more Best Practices? Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter.

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

A new guide to great reporting in AdWords - Google Best Practices

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

We hope you’re excited as we are about last week’s launch of the Report Editor. This powerful new AdWords tool lets you explore your account data in brand new ways from within your browser.

On the heels of that update, you should also be sure to check out our brand new guide to AdWords reporting: Special Reports. Inside the guide you’ll find advice about how to surface the right insights in your account and how to turn those insights into action. Specifically, learn how to:

Frame analyses around what success looks like for you
Give analyses the appropriate context
Tell a story that translates reports into action
Tailor reports to be uniquely meaningful to your needs

There are plenty of example reports throughout that are intended to inspire you as you put together your own analyses. Whether you run those analyses via the Report Editor or via any of the other different ways to report on AdWords performance, find actionable insights through smart reporting. Happy analyzing.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

AdWords paid search Best Practices right in your inbox

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

We get it. You’re busy. Staying on top of your AdWords game is important, but there are only so many hours in the day (or week {or month}) to read guides and watch webinars.

That’s why the Google Best Practices team put together a brand new newsletter. It’ll be an email per month, and we’re designing it to take approximately three minutes to read in its entirety. We want the insights and recommendations in it to be worth the time you put into reading it. Even if it only takes three minutes to read, we want those to be three valuable minutes.

Whether it’s a quick video or recommendations on using a new feature, we hope to include the type of insights that make you better at doing what you do, all while getting you back to doing what you actually do as quickly as possible.

Sign up here. We hope it’ll be time well spent.

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Best Practices for AdWords Display Creatives - Google Best Practices

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

With so many ads on the internet, learn how to design effective display ads that will break through the noise, inspire people to take action and drive strong engagement.

To help get your creative juices flowing, we’ve put together a new best practices checklist, Put Your Best Image Ad Forward. This checklist covers how to:

Craft the right message to the right customer
Choose eye-catching visuals and animation to quickly gain a person’s attention
Balance your overall design with color schemes, art elements and text
Prioritize and test your display ads

Since consumers shift their attention in the blink of an eye, you want your display ads to leave a lasting impression. View and download our checklist now to create high-impact display ads.
g.co/GoogleBP.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

How will your store reach omni-channel shoppers this year?

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The customer is always right, at least that’s what they say.

If you believe in that, then stores must acknowledge the reality that shoppers really, really like their smartphones. They carry and shop with them wherever they go—to the bathroom, to competitor stores, everywhere. What’s a retailer to do?

You have three options: Do nothing, resist change, or embrace it. Macy’s Inc, the world’s largest fashion retailer, chose the latter. Since Mar. 2010, their stock is up 240%. How did they do it?

Their success is due in part to fusing their “multi-channel” approach into a singularly focused omni-channel one. “We used to have two separate, siloed budgets,” explains Serena Potter, group vice president of digital media strategy at Macy’s. “Now we really only have one marketing budget. We look at what’s the best way to spend that; whether it’s digital or offline, and focus on how they work together to deliver the most sales and the best customer experience.”

In other words, Macy’s Inc and others like them no longer compete with their online or offline selves. They don’t fear showrooming, get anxious when a smartphone shopper consults her phone in the aisle, or fret when a consumer jumps from one channel to another mid-sale. They view these realities as new opportunities; new moments to interact with consumers and increase loyalty.

There’s upside in doing so. Smartphone or omni-channel shoppers have 30% higher lifetime value than single-channel shoppers, according to a recent study from market researcher IDC.¹ How can retailers understand and convert these higher value shoppers?

The answer: Omni-measurement. In order to realize success, retailers must increase their understanding of omni-shopper behavior. Omni-measurement not only does this, but it enables mouth-watering marketing programs, including predictive campaigns, site-to-store funnelling (and vice versa), enhanced purchase frequency, and automated messaging and product recommendations.

Leading retailers such as Macy’s, Office Depot, PetSmart, Sprint and others are increasingly turning to Google measurement tools such as Adometry, Store Transactions for a complete view of consumer behavior across all paths, channels, and beyond just clicks.

For example, Sprint discovered that paid search ads drove five in-store sales for each online sale.² Knowing that, the company increased their focus and deepened their understanding of the role smartphones play in the purchasing journey. With AdWords Store Visits enabled, Sprint achieved a 31% higher visit rate³ from mobile search ad clicks versus desktop search ad clicks. This knowledge was instrumental in helping the carrier create a more seamless online to in-store experience recently.

“Over the last several years, we’ve really thought about how that experience when a consumer gets into the store can continue to build on that bridge we’ve made in digital,” says Evan Conway, Sprint’s vice president of digital. “We’ve looked at the transactions and conversations that our sales associates were already having with the consumer and then we tried to build the tools, technology, and content to make the in-store experience better.”

PetSmart, too, was better able Store Visits reporting in AdWords. For them, the data revealed that 10–18% of all search ad clicks resulted in an in-store visit within 30 days.⁴

"As a national retailer building a sophisticated local marketing strategy, PetSmart has seen tremendous value in Store Visits data. This data has helped solve an incomplete puzzle,” says Phil Bowman, PetSmart's executive vice president. “Historically, we’ve relied on numerous approximations to tell us how our search ads were driving store visits, but this data has validated our estimates. It helps us understand the full picture of where our customers are going after clicking a search ad."

When they’re not helping retailers understand how online ads impact in-store behavior, Google tools help merchandisers promote nearby inventory online, another crucial demand of omni-shoppers. In other words, retailers can now “think local” in ways that have never been done before.

For instance, Office Depot achieved a Local Inventory Ads.⁵ "Now, we are able to reach customers when they search for a product," says Christine Buscarino, vice president of ecommerce marketing for Office Depot, Inc. “Local inventory ads provide us with a unique opportunity to offer products that customers are searching for and assure them there is inventory in a nearby store."

Of course, these are just a few examples of leading retailers embracing the omni-channel movement to meet the expectations of today’s consumer. And they’re doing it with the help of Google ad formats and measurement tools.

Learn more about how leading retailers are connecting with today’s connected consumer here.

Posted by Emily Eberhard Pereira, Head of Shopping Solutions Marketing.

¹IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Retail 2015 Predictions. November 2014

²Sprint Internal Data
³AdWords Store Visits Data
⁴AdWords Store Visits Data
⁵AdWords Store Visits Data
⁶IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Retail 2015 Predictions. November 2014

The new shopping assistant: 5 ways retailers can drive foot traffic with smartphones

Thursday, March 19, 2015

When it comes to brick and mortar stores, misinformation runs rampant.

For instance, search results only send consumers to e-commerce sites, retailers lose the shopper who checks a phone in store, and buyers only visit stores to transact or showroom. Those are three common myths debunked in Digital’s Impact on In-Store Shopping¹, new research conducted by Ipsos MediaCT and Sterling Brands for Google, based upon purchasing behaviors of more than 6,000 smartphone shoppers.

Although 95% of all retail transactions still occur in-store², smartphones have quickly become consumer’s favorite and most trusted “shopping assistant.” These handy devices reduce buyers’ remorse, raise consumer expectations for getting more accurate and faster information from store associates, and present new challenges for hungry retailers.

For instance:

68% of shoppers surveyed said they were happier with store purchases when they did research online before buying, according to those surveyed
71% expect clerks to know or find product information more quickly now, due to smartphones
46% of smartphone shoppers browse the retailer’s own site or app in-store

But when paired with a consistent shopping experience — specifically mobile optimized, locally relevant, and personalized search results — these same “shopping assistants” can become as powerful to sellers as they are to buyers, the research found.

In fact, they’ve helped double the value of in store visit,³ increase customer satisfaction (69% of consumers are more satisfied with purchases when they get to touch or feel a product in-store), and they’ve given retailers more opportunities to build brand loyalty (51% said they used digital devices to look for additional information after buying).

For instance, Local Inventory Ads, which lets retailers display nearby store inventory to online shoppers.⁴ “Local inventory ads fit perfectly into our strategy of using digital tools to drive store traffic,” says David Buckley, chief marketing officer at Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores. “If people are searching for a product on their phones, there is nothing more targeted than serving that item with a picture, description, and price while letting the customers know exactly how far they are located from the product.”

The technology also helps Sears extend the reach of its advertising budget, driving $8 of in store sales for each dollar invested online.⁵ “When we compared our most recent performance of local inventory ads to offline media typically used to drive store sales, such as a recent broadcast television campaign,” Buckley explains, “local inventory ads returned in-store sales at more than 5X the rate of tv advertising for each dollar spent.⁶”

Similarly, Staples saw their store visit and ad click thru rates increase by 33% and 29% respectively, after indicating nearby stock in their search listings.

“Local Inventory Ads are another way Staples helps customers shop whenever and however they want through our omnichannel,” said Ellen Comley, vice president, integrated media, Staples, Inc. “We know that more and more customers are doing research online before buying, and local inventory ads make it easier for us to reach small businesses and ensure we’re providing the most relevant offers.”

Of course, those are just a few examples. In addition to identifying other ways smartphones are changing modern shopping, Digital’s Impact on In-Store Shopping outlines several steps retailers can take to optimize their online presence for smartphones:

5 things brick and mortar stores should do now

Use Local Inventory Ads to promote nearby stock to interested buyers, including availability of complementary and recommended products
Be sure to list phone numbers in online search ads
Optimize online presence for mobile viewing and buying, including search results, website, app, and mobile ads to engage consumers while in store
Localize and integrate custom offers and product recommendations to smartphone shoppers that disclose their location
Take an omni-channel approach to marketing and measurement by combining your online and physical efforts into one (see also: Macy’s Inc)

There’s no denying that smartphone shoppers are looking at competing offers while in store, the research concludes. But a greater percentage of shoppers look to search engine results and a retailer’s own sites and apps first. To take advantage, retailers must acknowledge, react to, and consolidate their multi-channel approach into a “mobile first” omni-channel one.

Learn more about how top retailers are using digital to connect people with their stores here.

Posted by Emily Eberhard Pereira, Head of Shopping Solutions Marketing

¹Google/Ipsos MediaCT/Sterling Brands, Digital Impact on In-Store Shopping, October 2014
²eMarketer: Total US Retail Sales Top $4.5 Trillion in 2013, Outpace GDP Growth, April 2014
³Shoppertrak 2014 foot traffic and Mastercard SpendPulse transaction Data 2010 thru 2014
⁴AdWords Store Visits Data. 2015
⁵Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Data. 2015
⁶Sear’s Hometown and Outlet Stores Data. 2015

Re-engage Past Site Visitors with Programmatic Remarketing on Google Display: Google Best Practices

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Turn window shoppers into buyers. From the moment a person’s left your website or abandoned your shopping cart, programmatic remarketing works to re-engage those potential customers with tailored messages at the right moments and in the right context. Simply put, past visitors can be your most qualified prospects, making remarketing an essential tactic in your marketing efforts.

We’ve put together a new best practices guide, “Remarketing Right on Cue,” to help you win those crucial moments when shoppers are most likely to purchase. Dive into the world of programmatic remarketing on Google Display and learn how to get the most out of your remarketing efforts, including:

How to properly set up site-wide tags
Which types of remarketing lists and ad formats are most effective
How automated bidding tools can yield productivity gains in remarketing
How to acquire new customers that exhibit similar behaviors to your current ones

Download the one-page checklist to view our complete coverage of programmatic remarketing on Google Display.

Check out these and other Google Best Practices over at g.co/GoogleBP.

Want to get more out of AdWords? Sign up to receive our monthly Google Best Practices newsletter.

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Drive Calls with AdWords: Google Best Practices

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Online advertising can be about more than just your website, especially with on-the-go consumers. For many advertisers, calls are the most important channel to use when connecting with customers.

If you’re looking to take full advantage of our recently introduced call-only campaigns or to drive calls alongside clicks, there are certain things that you should be thinking about.

Our new Best Practices guide, Good Call: A Guide to Driving Calls with AdWords, covers key areas that any call-hungry business should consider.

How to decide if you want to drive clicks & calls or calls only
What are the best ways to measure all of the calls you drive
How you can update your bidding and messaging to increase the number of calls you receive
What changes you can make to increase your website’s value to callers

Stop staring longingly at your phone, wishing it would ring. Download our one-page checklist now. Your phone will thank you.

Want to get more out of AdWords? Google Best Practices newsletter.

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Staying on top of AdWords numerous new features - and learning how to best use them

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Did you know that over 200 products and feature updates launched in AdWords last year? With so many updates, many advertisers have shared that it can be hard to keep track of all the changes. On top of that, advertisers are looking for guidance about how to use AdWords so that they can better manage their accounts. We're listening.

Starting today, you will find two new resources in the Learn tab of the Help Center that we hope will keep you on top of all the new AdWords innovations and help you understand how they work. The first is a chronological list of product updates. This “New AdWords Features” page shows you what’s happening in AdWords all in a single place: from reporting improvements to new ad format launches. For example, if you visit the page today you’ll see that eligible Flash ads can now be automatically converted to HTML5 on the Google Display Network. You'll also see that we recently rolled out a service release for AdWords Editor, which included some improvements to reporting.

Each listing offers a short description of the change with links to pages with more details. In many cases, these links will take you to a page with product how-to videos or customer stories.

The second resource that we’ve added to the Learn tab in the Help Center is all about making our advertisers better at AdWords: the Google Best Practices series.

This series offers actionable advice and straightforward tips to help you get the most out of AdWords. The guidance we offer spans many topics, from writing effective search ads to successfully implementing bid automation. This series, Google's official advice on AdWords, can help form the foundation of your paid search strategies.

We hope these new resources make it easier to stay up to date with AdWords as a “one-stop shop” for discovering new innovations and helpful best practices. Bookmark them now!

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Combine AdWords with Google Analytics for Better Insights, Bidding and Results: Google Best Practices

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Like sunshine and the beach, or dogs and tennis balls, Google AdWords and Google Analytics are great by themselves but even better together. You'll get high-performance insights into your ads and your website when you link your AdWords and Analytics accounts. Google Analytics does a vital job in this pairing: it shows you what happened after users clicked on your AdWords ads.

We’ve put together a new Best Practices guide, Better Together: AdWords and Google Analytics, to help you get deep insight into your performance. When you analyze performance with the combination of GA and AdWords you can find all sorts of actionable info:

Which parts of your account drive actual on-site engagement
Which keywords attract new users to your site
What messaging and landing pages connect with the different users on your site
How your business compares across your entire industry

To whet your appetite, here’s a rundown of ten useful GA reports included in the guide (with links that lead you directly to these reports in your own GA account). Like what you see here? View the full version of our complete coverage of GA + AW goodness.

Love Analytics and AdWords being paired together? Please take our survey about your past success and what else we can do to improve the experience.

Want to get more out of AdWords? Google Best Practices newsletter.

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Five resolutions for Shopping success in 2015

Thursday, January 15, 2015

We know that retailers are always looking for the best ways to promote their products and reach shoppers online in the exact moment they’re looking to buy. Our mission with Google Shopping is to help you do that. In 2014, we introduced Shopping campaigns to all Product Listing Ad (PLA) advertisers to offer a more streamlined, retail-centric advertising experience. This year, we want to continue to help you make the most of your PLA investment.

In the spirit of self-betterment, we invite you to join us in resolving to make 2015 your best year yet. But instead of making resolutions you know you may not keep, how about trying our countdown of suggested resolutions to improve your product data and boost your PLA success? Just think of it — all the satisfaction of accomplishing your goals, and no wasted gym memberships. Kick off the new year by checking out a few ideas below:

I will be on time. Keeping track of all your meetings, appointments, and social events is crucial to making sure you get the most out of your day. But while you’re managing your personal tasks, don’t forget to plan ahead when updating your product data -- it’s key to ensuring your products show on Google. Make sure to check the Google Shopping policies and act quickly in response to any notifications or warnings you may receive; you can even put a reminder on calendar and list out steps to resolve a warning before the specified deadline. With time to spare, rest easy knowing that you’re in tip-top shape to take full advantage of every opportunity to reach more shoppers, when it counts.

I will get organized and eliminate clutter. You’ve just made it through the hustle and bustle of the holidays -- and your home, nerves, and work are probably still reflecting it. Relax -- it’s a new year, and it’s time to get things back under control. Part of reaching that “zen” state is making sure your product data is up-to-date. With the help of automatic item updates in Google Merchant Center, dynamically update product price and availability shown on PLAs if there’s a difference between your data feed and your website’s microdata. This will help you seamlessly update your ads and avoid disapproval from mis-matched information; in fact, merchants who have opted in to this feature have seen a 50% reduction in price-related item disapprovals.

I will try something new. Did 2014 have you feeling like you were stuck in a rut? This year, break free from your standard routine and get inspired. Learn a new language, pick up a paintbrush -- or try out new Google Shopping features to help you reach even more customers across screens this year. As consumers are turning more and more to their mobile devices to shop on-the-go, the new Black Friday of 2014, we saw a 3.5x increase of people searching for products on mobile year-over-year. By analyzing your performance on mobile, you can optimize your mobile bid modifier as necessary to reach your shoppers, wherever they’re searching.

I will be a better listener. No texting during dinner. No talking over others. And no more ignoring key Shopping insights. Just as listening to your friends and colleagues can mean more opportunities to develop better personal relationships, listening to your campaigns can help you nurture better results to sell more of your products. Check out a handful of tools we have for you to stay in tune with the health and performance of your campaigns, including the Search Terms report to help you identify new opportunities to optimize your titles and descriptions, based on how consumers are searching for your product.

I will be a better communicator. Just as listening can be an important part of developing stronger relationships, so can communicating. Regardless of the type of relationship, from friendship to family to job-related, the better you are at communicating, the more successful that relationship is likely to be. Foster an open dialogue with us by double-checking your contact information in your Google Merchant Center account; this will ensure we continue to send updates and alerts to email aliases that are actively monitored, so you don’t miss out on important details.

Here’s to Shopping success in 2015!

Posted by Kim Doan, Product Marketing Manager for Google Shopping

Drive Downloads and Re-Engagement for Your Mobile App: Google Best Practices

Thursday, December 11, 2014

There are millions of mobile apps with more introduced every day. But as we talked about during our livestream yesterday, how do you get people to find your mobile app? And once they do, how do you keep them coming back? We’ve created best practice guides to help you do both.

The first guide, one-page checklist will show you how to drive installs of your app and grow a valuable user base. You’ll find out how to:

Estimate the value of a user for your mobile app
Attract potential users with compelling ads and app store pages
Track and optimize the app downloads acquired through display, search, and video

The second guide, one-page checklist will show you how to keep users coming back into your app for more. You’ll find out how to:

Track what happens after users install your mobile app
Create enticing ads that will re-engage users and deep link them to the most relevant parts of your app
Drive engagement with your app by reconnecting with users through display and search

Building an app is only the first step. If you want it to be found and used often, download these guides today.

Check out these and other Google Best Practices over at g.co/GoogleBP.

Want to get more out of AdWords? Google Best Practices newsletter.

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Winning the Second Chance with Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA): Google Best Practices

Thursday, November 06, 2014

The Internet gives us more to look at every day: more information, more reviews, more offers. In fact, 49% of customers now visit 2 to 4 sites before they decide to buy¹. One powerful lever to re-engage these qualified customers and close the sale is RLSA.

To help you make the most of RLSA, we’re excited to introduce our new best practices guide, “Winning the Second Chance.” It answers important questions like these:

What’s the most efficient and effective way to tag your site?
Which types of remarketing lists should you focus on?
By how much should you raise your RLSA bid adjustment?
What advanced strategies can you use to expand volume?

Download Winning the Second Chance to win your customers over in the moments that matter and to make the most of your RLSA campaigns.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

¹Google/Compete Sporting Goods Study: (Sept 2011-Sept 2012) Clickstream BF02 (number of different brands)

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