The "Cans" and "Can'ts" of Google Mobile Ads to Look for in 2017

Google has made quite the headlines lately with their new page layout excluding right column ads, their new ad format allowing for more text space, and now their restrictions on landing page ads for mobile coming in 2017.

Greg Sterling reports to Marketing Land regarding these Google changes. Google has chosen to penalize ad ranking if an ad’s landing page includes “intrusive interstitials”. 

These intrusions are anything that includes a pop-up which blocks the content of the page, a standalone interstitial that has to be dismissed before viewing content, or an above the fold layout for an ad with the content below the fold.

However, few intrusions will be allowed including those in responses to legal obligation like cookie usage, age verification, or those top banner ads requesting app downloads.

With all of Google’s changes regarding ad formatting, it’s important to not forget the importance of landing page user experience. In 2017, it’ll be more important than ever. 

AdWords Flips the Script on the Well-Known Ad Specs

“If it’s not broken, why fix it?” might be one of the worst phrases to say to anyone involved in the advertising industry. A more accurate phrase would be, “if you’re early you’re on time, if you’re on time you’re late, if you’re late you’re running”. Well, that’s what my high school softball coach used to tell me, but hey, it applies to advertising as well.

In this case, Google AdWords would be running several laps for being so late to the game.

Anyone familiar with the traditional 25-35-35 character rule for AdWords has probably already taken note of this recent change. If you’re also late to the game, here’s the 4-1-1: Google has traded in its 15 year old design for a new and improved model. This new model lets advertisers have two headlines of 30 characters each followed by one description line of 80 characters.

This facelift allows for more prominent headlines, longer description line, and a relevant display URL that is automatically extracted from the final URL of the ad.

So what do we do with all the added real estate? Google suggests that advertisers focus on the headline saying, “big blue headlines are more prominent than your description text” which drive clicks and increase performance. Google also suggests that the second headline be cohesive with the rest of the ad. Use this space to deliver a call to action that previously was placed in the description like, “Attend Today’s Event” or “Sign up Here”.

So, why the sudden change after fifteen years? Well, Google announced that through their tests, “some advertisers have reported increases in click-through rates of up to 20 percent”.

The change might be hard though… especially for folks like Kirk who suddenly feels like he’s on an island in the middle of the ocean with no outside contact, that’s rough Kirk, real rough.

How Does Your CTR Compare with Others in the Industry?

“What’s a ‘good’ click-through-rate?” is one of the most common questions I’ve received in my short nine months working in the media world. CTR is a commonly recognized statistic that shows advertisers how often their ad is being clicked. While CTR is not necessarily the most important data point depending on the goals of the specific campaign, it is important to understand.

WordStream looked closely at their data to create this very useful chart. Here, click-through-rates are broken down by industry to give advertisers a more in-depth look.

First, it is exceedingly important that advertisers compare search campaigns with other search campaigns and display campaigns with other display campaigns. Overall, the average CTR of a search network campaign is 1.91% while GDN (Google Display Network) only holds a CTR of 0.35%. It just wouldn’t make sense to compare search and display click-through-rates.

Next, advertisers need to be aware of the diverse industries. There are some industries that run in the middle of the pack in both search and display like Health/Medicine and Auto while others succeed stronger in search verses display or vise-versa.

Some search network successors are Dating/Personals (3.40%), Finance/Insurance (2.65%), and Business to Business (2.55%). To succeed in the search world, you have to have powerful and enticing copy, people actively searching for your product/service/industry, and motivation for consumers to click on your ad. However, Industrial Services (1.40%) and Legal (1.35%) don’t quite seem to have the same success when it comes to search advertising. Maybe it’s due to advertising restrictions causing the copy of the ads to be less enticing, or maybe consumers use word of mouth to find a lawyer as opposed to the internet.

On the GDN, Technology trumps all with a 0.84% CTR followed by Dating/Personal and Advocacy both at 0.52%. I imagine the creative minds in the technology business can come up with some pretty intriguing display ads. I believe that consumers are continuously interested in these three industries whether they’re actively searching for them or not, which could spark interest when a viewer sees the ad and lead to a click. On the reverse side, Employment Services (0.14%), Consumer Services (0.20%), B2B (0.22%), and Education (0.22%) are among the worst CTR performers on the GDN.

So, before pegging a campaign as a success or failure based on the CTR, it is important to see the averages in the same industry. This will help you better understand your campaign as well as set reasonable goals for the next campaign. 

Google's Changing, Are You?

Recently, Google has launched a changed page view for its search results. Taking a look at the changes, three things are catching my eye, The Good, The Bad, and The (not so) Ugly.

The Good

According to Alistair Dent’s article, What Google’s New Layout Means for Search Marketers”, iProspect UK has found that top banner ads receive a click-through rate that is 14 times that of the CTR received from Google’s right column ads. This leads to wasted impressions on the right hand column which leads to low quality scores for those ads which lead to less impressions all together. In a gist, more banner ads equal more clicks.

The Bad

Google is reducing the number of ads per page to seven down from the previous 11. For advertisers this can be seen as a bad change due to a typical supply and demand equation; with the supply going down and the demand remaining the same (or even increasing) the price will likely go up. However, another way to look at it is to notice that there will now be more top-of-page ads which give a higher availability to those ads.

The (not so) Ugly

For this one, let’s look at an example snapshot from Dent’s article of what a search result page will now look like:

Not a ton has changed except for the fact that there is only one organic search above the fold in this scenario. Because of this, the balance between SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay-per-click) is now increasingly important. The new look is likely to be uglier for the SEO ads that are fighting for that top above the fold result whereas PPC ads have a prettier view as they have a chance of better chance of being placed before the organic results.

Anyone in the industry will tell you that advertising is ever-changing and to keep up with the pace, advertisers must be ever-adapting. As side ads become a thing of the past, advertisers can expect to set a higher bid for their ads, strive for a placement in the expanded top ad section, eliminate ineffective impressions, and adjust their PPC and SEO campaigns accordingly.