In this monthly post, we bring you the latest from all of the major platforms.
Google Ads
What: Drive Leads with Hotel Property Promotion Ads
Details: Property Promotion Ads are now available globally. Previous to this launch, direct participation in property promotion ads was done through an allowlist. They show prominently in search results for geographical locations, allowing advertisers to position specific hotels in a particular place.
Impact: Property Promotion Ads are designed to enable advertisers to influence the buying decision for users still looking for a hotel. Advertisers will be able to set specific bids for property promotion ads through the Google Ads interface, API, and bulk upload system. Hotels that have just opened, have a special promotion, or want to take advantage of increased demand from seasonality or surrounding events can have other options of capturing audiences who have not decided on a hotel to book.
What: New Summary View for Google Ads
Details: Google is introducing a simplified, consolidated version of Google Ads accounts.
Impact: Summary view can be helpful if you have a smaller number of campaigns. Advertisers will be able to quickly view performance, review custom performance recommendations, create and edit campaigns, and manage keywords all in one place.
Microsoft Advertising (Bing)
What: Automotive Ads Open Beta in the US And UK
Details: If you’re an automotive advertiser, you know how important both native and paid search ads can be for driving quality website traffic and increasing vehicle sales. Microsoft has recently announced a new open beta for automotive advertising unique to the platform. Feed-based shopping ads that show up on Microsoft Bing.com SERP right rail/mainline and the Bing image results page, as well as on native placements on the Microsoft Audience Network.
Impact: Third-party sites that have opted into the open beta are reporting incremental lifts in conversions and clicks, and lowered CPCs when running Automotive Ads. Since these ads do not require keywords, the offerings from your feed are matched to queries automatically, and they serve alongside existing text ads with a separate auction, so there’s no bidding up on yourself. You provide a richer experience, more volume on the site, and save time with automation without worrying about search campaign overlap.
What: Get Full Control Over Dynamic Search Ads with Static Headlines
Details: With the headlines of DSAs being dynamically generated based on the content of your website, there was no way to get full control over the ads that were being created…until now! Static headlines for DSA are now available in all markets where DSA is available. This is a capability unique to Microsoft Advertising.
Impact: Advertisers get all the power of DSA matching to landing pages to new and unique queries, but are able to retain complete control over ad content. This ensures that ads are pulling correct, relevant information and allows advertisers to fully control brand safety without putting in the keyword research.
What: Ad Suggestions with Auto-Apply Open Beta
Details: Starting at the end of March, you may have started to see ad suggestions with auto-apply on the Recommendations page. Microsoft has opened the beta for auto-apply ad suggestions. In the coming months, Microsoft will start onboarding more recommendations with auto-apply to drive up efficiency and help you improve campaign performance.
Impact: By infusing automation into your ad creations, Microsoft Advertising helps you identify ad groups that show potential for better performance and creating new ads, based on your existing ads. This saves time writing and researching new ad copy, and instead allows Microsoft to suggest ads based on previous ad copy, search term trends, and keywords.
Facebook & Instagram
What: Updates to Brand Safety Controls and Intellectual Property Tools
Details: Facebook is expanding its brand safety controls and making updates to the Commerce & Ads IP Tool.
Impact: Now through Rights Manager, copyright owners can opt to claim and collect ad earnings on copyrighted content that is published by pages that meet Facebook’s Community Standards and their partner monetization policies. Expansion of this ability gives publishing pages the opportunity to use content owned by someone else in a video they upload without it being taken down, while also expanding inventory for advertisers and providing people with compelling content that might otherwise be blocked due to copyright issues.
General Note
If you missed last month’s update, turn to February 2021 Updates to Paid Media Platforms for all of the latest info.
Did we miss any major monthly updates? Not covering a certain platform close enough? Feel free to let us know!
