We’re liveblogging Google’s livestream event as AdWords product managers look back at 2014 highlights and success stories. One of the key points of this event is to better help advertisers “with everything you need to connect to your customers” as 2015 approaches. Google states that the presentation will conclude “with an announcement you won’t want to miss.”
Follow our updates and analysis live!
[3:15 PM] Hello all, and thanks for joining us for today’s Google event! Refresh the page to update our live blog commentary. Also, join the conversation on today’s announcements in the comments below, or connect with us on Twitter using the hashtags #thinkppc and #ppcchat!
[3:20 PM] Only 10 minutes to go until the event begins! Like many others, I’m curious as to what this big announcement will be.
[3:24 PM] Regarding that big announcement, I’m hoping we’ll have the ability to exclude individual Search Partners…or at least set a bid modifier on them.
[3:30 PM] The livestream has started…
[3:31 PM] Jerry Dischler, Vice President of Product Management begins talking about 2015 plans and explains the importance of connecting customers with businesses.
[3:33 PM] In 2014 AdWords has seen 200 launches. Jerry lets us know that Enhanced Reports will be complete in early 2015 and Experiments later this year.
[3:35 PM] Automation of ad formats and extensions are important to Google. In July dynamic sitelinks were released. In October, dynamic remarketing was further updated. Google also sees great importance with app promos and call features for those on the go. Dischler also mentions the importance of callout extensions.
[3:37 PM] Tom Price, Product Manager of App Promotion, takes the stage. He asks how your app will stand out. And once the user has the app, how will you keep them engaged? Says that mobile apps continue to be crucial to businesses. App Promotion was launched this year around Search, YouTube, and Display. Says 100s of millions of app installs started from a Google ad click.
[3:40 PM] Tom speaks about new and improved keyword tool. Allows the right keywords to select for app downloads. With YouTube it is about the story of an app and sight, sound, and motion. People who use YouTube are twice as likely to download apps as those who don’t. You can now raise awareness of your app through video. Game of War has seen tremendous success with app downloads on Google.
[3:42 PM] Targeting is more granular. YouTube videos should show app in action and be short. The average user has 36 apps with a quarter of them never being used. App Engagement campaigns have just been launched on Search and Display. Reengagement campaigns are being released to all users on Search this week. You can link AdWords account to Google Play account.
[3:46 PM] Phil McDonnell is up next to talk about mobile. He talks about how purchases are being made across devices. May start on mobile but then purchase on desktop. Consumers are spending about 15 hours a week on their phone. Phil says measuring all paths of conversions can be difficult so we need the right tools in place. He says this is why estimated total conversions and estimated cross-device conversions were created. Phil especially likes cross-device conversion tracking. 90% of consumers switch between at least 3 devices per day.
[3:48 PM] You’ll have to customize columns in order to view estimated total conversions. Lending Tree has used cross-device conversions to find 6% more conversions measured from their mobile display campaigns. Google is extremely conservative with cross-device numbers – makes sure to have 95% accuracy.
[3:51 PM] Phil continues talking about website call conversions. This feature references those advertisers who add a conversion pixel to their site in order to track calls coming from Adwords ads.
[3:52 PM] Wilfred Yeung is up next to talk about AdWords bidding tools and automation. He talks about how difficult it can be to manage thousands of keywords at once. Your time could be spent testing new ad copy and strategy.
[3:53 PM] Wilfred talks about a smart AdWords auction system that is precisely optimized for each bid taking into account user intent, location, browser, device, etc. He discusses strategies around increasing visibility, increasing conversions, and increasing revenue.
[3:56 PM] Dell tried “target outrank share” and found their ads in much better positions for Black Friday. Point It used target ROAS bidding strategy for their client GameHouse and saw 8% increase in revenue and 47% increase in ROAS.
[3:58 PM] Jerry is back on stage and announces AdWords Editor 11! It is available for both PCs and Macs.
[4:01 PM] Thanks everyone for joining us. It looks like you can download the new AdWords Editor here.
-Matt
