Greetings Happy Readers! Hosted by Julie F Bacchini, this week’s PPCChat session was based on the announcements at Google’s Search on 22 event last week and what this announcement means for PPC.
Here are recaps of what was announced at Google’s Search On 22 event last week:
- 10 biggest announcements from Google Search On 22
- 9 new Google search features and tools for shopping
- 9 new features and tools for easier shopping on Google
Q1: What was your overall impression of or reaction to the things that were announced or discussed (some were features that had been announced previously such as Multisearch)?
It was shopping, shopping, shopping… which as a consumer is kind of interesting, but as a lead gen PPCer? A resigned par for the course, I guess? @NeptuneMoon
Seemed to be all shopping and core search announcements. Not much in the way of additional features for those not in e-commerce or SEO. Unless I missed something. @John_A_Lee
Hi guys #PPCChat, felt the announcement was fine but can’t help but feel from an advertisers perspective that we just need more transparency! Everything seemed to be expected. @PPC_Fraser
It was more interesting for me as a user rather than as an advertiser. Though, as an advertiser it may be interesting on how short videos on Google Search will help me increase my overall performance. @DianaAlinaAldea
Business Messages is interesting, but doesn’t seem to have a broad use-case (at least not yet). @John_A_Lee
Maybe they think if they show product ads everywhere, we’ll visit Amazon less? @beyondcontent
Seemed super heavy on shopping and organic search updates, which might not be as relevant/impactful to a PPCer that’s mostly focused on B2B or lead gen. It was interesting (but not necessarily surprising) to hear the emphasis on multi-search again as well. @adclarke10
For the most part, it looks like 1. Google is afraid of losing search traffic (particular shopping and gen z) 2. They want to keep everyone in the Google ecosystem and not send traffic to site as much as possible 3. Push blackbox (pmax and broad) to everyone. @360vardi
How did I not even realize it was happening? Secondly, it really didn’t seem to have much impact on the paid side. Maybe I am just naive. @JonKagan
Q2: There was a huge emphasis on images and their role in search. What are your thoughts on this? Are there challenges for the brand(s) you’re working with that you expect to face for a more image-focused search experience?
More images in search has been the trend the last few years. Image Extensions, @MSFTAdvertising ‘s multimedia ads, etc. Not surprising. Images get a user’s attention. @John_A_Lee
Images are great for products (and better for some kinds of products than others to be sure )… but what about services? Not everything can be encapsulated in an image? And not every brand has quality images available or the budget to get them. @NeptuneMoon
Happily, there are not challenges for the brand I’m working with to face a more image-focused search experience. A challenge may be with the requirements for extra visuals. But I see this as a minor challenge, more prominent in the early stages. @DianaAlinaAldea
Yes it’s overdue. As desktop numbers fall off a cliff in Ecom, and scrolling/swiping is the default behavior, ugly text links are a legacy hangover. @beyondcontent
I like it personally but id like to see more collaboration with image/content services. Smaller brands rely on things like canva, so without highlighting these companies it can appear a bit gatekeepery (technical term!) @PPC_Fraser
Do think dare I say it that Bing is actually leading the way here with multimedia ads! @PPC_Fraser
I feel like there could be a bigger push from Google reps to add image extensions and opt into Dynamic Image extensions. Automated/dynamic extensions I’m not as keen on, but would also be interested to see if they add something else like video extensions. @adclarke10
A challenge we run into with image extensions is getting disapproved for using logos or having text/graphic overlays. So moving forward, we’ll probably need more general imagery from clients to ensure we have creative that gets fully approved. @adclarke10
It’s all about taking away more real estate from free organic to squeeze more paid clicks. Images will work well for a lot of businesses, but B2B? I imagine the next step would be to incorporate some 30-second video reel in search. @360vardi
Yes, huge emphasis on search. But a search that Google controls, not a consumer or advertiser. @JonKagan
Q3: The Google Search On 22 event was very retail and shopping centric in the features & functionalities that were highlighted. What are your thoughts and reactions to this?
Maybe they thought it was timely with holiday shopping season upon us? Felt incomplete though. @John_A_Lee
Not at all surprising, but yes, a little bit upsetting. @DianaAlinaAldea
Not surprising – very little for B2B as always. @beyondthepaid
That’s same old story for Google. they think their competition is Amazon and Tik Tok because they can’t imagine B2B will go anywhere else for research and ask questions. @360vardi
As an FYI, wanted to share this blog post which has a look at some of the ads updates coming for Search, including Business Messages and more. thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-stra… @adsliaison
Retail because of the cusp of Q4. Google is gonna Google for $. @JonKagan
Q4: In addition to being shopping-focused, it seems like many of the announced functionalities are also heavily for mobile… What are your thoughts on this?
Isn’t this the “year of mobile”? @John_A_Lee
This ties into the B2B discussion. B2B takes place on desktop more than ecomm does and there was zero mention of desktop whatsoever. It’s still super important for B2B and the omission was glaring. @beyondthepaid
A lot happens on mobile, but a lot also doesn’t. Again, it feels like such a massive blind spot? People don’t do their work on their mobile devices? They do work on computers and then do searches while on those same machines? @NeptuneMoon
Not something new. Most of the features Google released for a long time now are mobile-focused. They see the data, they know where most people spend their time. I think B2B is the last surviving member of desktop searches. @360vardi
Kinda echoing what others have said – mobile optimization is obviously important, but not every search happens on mobile, especially for B2B or lead gen. Ignoring the desktop seems like a missed opportunity. @adclarke10
Also (maybe I’m trying to give them some benefit of the doubt here), I wonder if Google uses mobile as kind of a first testing ground before rolling new features out to the desktop. @adclarke10
Remember when everyone thought Tablets were the wave of the future? @JonKagan
Q5: Business Messages was also discussed – where searchers can initiate a text chat right from an ad. What are your thoughts on this feature? Read Google’s resource on Business Messages here: businessmessages.google
Business Messages feels like a flat-out copy of LI conversation ads. Which for us have had very limited success. The B2B space is too complex to take place over these types of chats. @beyondthepaid
The idea of being able to start a chat from an ad or a business listing is intriguing. I have to wonder about the feasibility for businesses to respond to them instantaneously. Younger users won’t call to ask a Q so you need a text system to reply? @NeptuneMoon
I’ve used these for some car supplies and it was pretty good. This is pretty much a copy from LinkedIn and Facebook. It makes sense for Google. The end of the day, sending traffic to site means Google loses visibility and has gaps in tracking. They don’t want that. @360vardi
In theory, I think it’s a good idea & worth testing. In practice though, I’m not sure how many use cases there are for this in B2B or lead gen. I also don’t know if many businesses will be able to set it up & monitor so that they actually respond to people quickly. @adclarke10
This is actually an old extension that is being resurrected. On paper seems good, but was only ever good for customer service. @JonKagan
Q6: Is there something that you were hoping would be talked about that was not discussed at Search On 22?
Is @GoogleAds doing anything with CCTV beyond YouTube? What about innovations to display? New ad types or extensions? Vertical innovations? Etc., etc. @John_A_Lee
My eternal hope for B2B was once again not realized… Maybe at next year’s Google Marketing Live (hey, a girl can dream!). @NeptuneMoon
Anything for B2B haha. @beyondthepaid
Would’ve been nice to get some features or updates that were more impactful for B2B, lead gen, or service companies, rather than almost exclusively focusing on ecomm/shopping. But I wasn’t holding my breath for that lol. @adclarke10
Why Pmax is so difficult to work with, and how they will make it more transparent. @JonKagan
PPCChat Participants
- Julie F Bacchini @NeptuneMoon
- John Lee @John_A_Lee
- Fraser Andrews @PPC_Fraser
- Diana-Alina Aldea @DianaAlinaAldea
- Andrew McGarry @beyondcontent
- Ashton Clarke @adclarke10
- Daniel Vardi @360vardi
- Jon Kagan @JonKagan
- Melissa L Mackey @beyondthepaid
- AdsLiaison @adsliaison
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