Google Ads is the largest advertising platform in the world. and it’s evolving continuously as features are being added and removed frequently.
It’s crucial for advertisers to keep up with these changes and know about the Google Ads features to utilize them and boost the existing ad campaigns’ results.
Here is a list of the Google Ads features that advertisers must know and use in their ad campaigns for better results and efficiency.
Time Lag Report
How long did a consumer take to convert? Knowing the answer can help advertisers with remarketing and build a better brand experience.
The Time Lag Report is one of three Google Analytics reports that may be used to assess a visitor’s conversion route, taking into account how multiple channels interact along the way and the length of time. The Time Lag report, according to Google Analytics documentation, measures the number of days between the initial user encounter and conversion.
Click Conversion > Multi-Channel > Time Lag in Google Analytics to get the Time Lag report.
In-Store Sales Optimization
This Google function allows marketers to track customer behavior in micro-moments. If consumers express an interest in visiting a store, the program will keep track of it automatically. This will eventually result in increased in-store sales.
This feature can track changes in client behavior in real-time, such as whether they prefer to buy online or in a physical store. As a consequence, entrepreneurs may benefit from this platform in two ways: increasing in-store traffic and increasing eCommerce sales.
Smart bidding for store sales is used by entrepreneurs and retail eCommerce advertisers to improve bids for in-store visits and transactions.
Invalid Clicks Report
Click fraud, or “invalid clicks,” remains a big issue today for advertisers. It not only wastes your ad budget but can cause inaccurate data that’s important to making effective advertising decisions.
Google helps advertisers by providing them with an “Invalid clicks report.” To view this report, Log in to Google Ads Account>Select a Campaign>Select Columns and Choose Invalid Clicks.
Google provides additional invalid click metrics as well, like invalid clicks rate, invalid interactions, and invalid interaction rates. The platform reimburses the account for the invalid clicks, however, Google’s filters may not catch all of the invalid but it can be very important to avoid the site placements still, there are some advanced malware and bot traffic that can bypass Google filters and cause undetectable invalid clicks.
Auction Insights
In Google Ads, auction insight is a pre-built report that shows the advertisers bidding on the same keywords as you. One can see this report at the account, campaign, or ad group level.
Advertisers may get competition data for all embedded keywords if they look at the report at the campaign level. They will also receive information for all keywords in that ad group at the ad group level.
View the data at the keyword level for easier decision-making and understand where one is missing out on the audience. Marketers could try grouping keywords together as themes to make data easier to scan.
How to Access Auction Insights Report
- Go to the Google Ads account and log in.
- Depending on what information you want to see in the report, go to the Campaigns, Ad Groups, or Keywords page menu.
- Check the box next to each item to select a specific campaign, ad group, or keyword.
- Click Auction insights.
Google Ads scripts
Google Ads scripts are for advanced users only. Scripts are JavaScript code that you can add to your Google Ads account to help automate tasks and manage ads more effectively.
An example of a script is for adjustments to bidding on changes to the weather. If you’re selling a product that performs best in the rain, you would want to consider increasing bids across different geographic areas when it’s raining and then decreasing bids when it’s sunny.
These adjustments are possible by adding a weather script to your Google Ads account.
This particular script is available here and calls the OpenWeatherMap servers to get real-time weather information. The advertiser then creates a spreadsheet similar to the one below to provide the proper bid adjustments for the script.
The most obvious advantage of utilizing Google Ads scripts is the time savings. Marketers can focus more on optimizing real performance by automating the more time-consuming activities in PPC account maintenance.
Scripts might be difficult to understand initially, but can be very powerful and only require a basic understanding of JavaScript.
Full details on Google Ads scripts, including how to install them are available here. There are endless scripts that can be created but a quick Google search can help guide you to the best ones to start improving your campaigns today.
Keyword Diagnosis
Advertisers can use the “Keyword diagnostic” tool to perform a health check on their keywords, and the tool will notify them if, and why, their keywords aren’t showing up.
Ads can often not appear on intended keywords due to conflicting targeting criteria, poor ad copy, or many other reasons. The diagnosis tool can help ensure that the right search advertisements are displayed for the right search phrases.
This tool is accessible under the “Keywords” section of your reports. Once there, click the three dots in the top right corner and select “diagnose keywords” from the drop-down menu.
Search Term Reports
The search term report shows exactly what visitors typed in to get your search ad to show up. Advertisers may use this information to add new keywords to bid on or new negatives to exclude from the ads. The search term report is located under the “Details” tab inside the keyword view, the same as the auction insights report.
Every advertiser must explore these Google ads features and utilize them accordingly to boost the ad campaign’s performance. Always keep up with the new trends and features to optimize Google ads for better results.
