This week Google unveiled three new AdWords features all at once, the company announced it would be retiring an old AdWords metric, and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) are now discoverable in the Chrome browser for iOS.
Full details about each of these stories are included in this week’s search marketing news roundup.
Expanded Text Ads, Responsive Ads, & Device Bidding
Three new AdWords features have been released to help advertisers capitalize on the mobile-first world in which we live. Expanded text ads, responsive display ads, and device-specific bidding are now available to all AdWords advertisers around the world.
Here are some more details about each of the new ad units:
- Expanded Text Ads: When Google removed the right-hand sidebar ads it paved the way for this new ad unit. Expanded text ads feature two headlines with 30 characters each, as well as an 80 character description. Altogether it equals an ad which is 50% larger in size compared to standard text ads.
- Responsive Display Ads: Responsive display ads adjust themselves according to the size of screen they’re being served on. The new ad unit features 25-character and 90-character headlines, a 90-character description, an image, and a URL.
- Device Bidding: Google is now offering advertisers the ability to set individual device bid adjustments for smartphones, computers, and tablets.
Say Goodbye to AdWords ‘Converted Clicks’
Converted Clicks, a Google AdWords metric that has been around for the past 15 years is being retired on September 21st. Google is saying Converted Clicks is an “outdated” metric, and advertisers should be relying on the data included in the ‘Conversions’ column instead. If you’re still measuring ‘converted clicks’ for your AdWords campaigns you might as well start relying on ‘Conversions’ data instead — because after next month you will have no choice.
The main difference between the two metrics is ‘Converted clicks’ measured any action taken on your site after an ad click (even if it wasn’t the action you intended.) ‘Conversions’ measures the number of times an ad click led to an actual conversion, such as making a purchase or requesting a quote.
Both metrics are currently being measured in AdWords, but most advertisers are already using the ‘Conversions’ column as their primary source of data for bidding and reporting. If you are one of those advertisers, then this change will not affect you at all.
Google Chrome for iOS Now Supports Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs)
The Google Chrome browser for iOS received an update this week which will bring the “Top Stories” carousel of AMP articles to Google’s search results.
Google says in its update:
“Look out for a lightning bolt and ‘AMP’ next to articles in the ‘Top Stories’ section of your search results and enjoy blazing fast web page loading.”
AMP technology has been around for less than a year now, and the rollout has been slow to say the least. Until now, AMPs were only discoverable by the flagship Google Search app, or through using the search bar on Android. This update makes it so that more people can discover AMPs, but Google still has a long way to go.
Conclusion
A slew of new AdWords features have been thrown at us all at once, ‘converted clicks’ is being retired in the very near future, and Chrome for iOS can now discover AMPs. If you have any questions about this week’s updates, please leave a comment below and we will be sure to respond.
Pam Aungst
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