Google Ads news
New segment options
Thomas Eccel found out that you can now sort campaigns by metrics and optimization score!
Ad price manipulation?
The U.S. Department of Justice talked about Google search ad price manipulation and more in its closing statement on search advertising. Search Engine Land wrote a longer article about it read that for more information.
Saved comparisons
GA4 has now officially launched saved comparisons!
Saved comparisons enable you and others with access to your property to compare the user bases you care about without needing to recreate the comparisons each time you want to analyze those user bases.
Distance in Ad
Filip Silobod found out that Google is showing the distance in one Ad. I have not seen this before!
New Pmax features
Georgi Zayakov made an amazing slideshow from the Meet the Expert event that was held yesterday.
During this event, Google shared three new features that are coming to Pmax:
– Digital Coupons on Google Maps
– Brand safety reporting for video on Pmax(coming in Q2)
– 3PAS Verification for Display portion of Performance Max, a pixel tracking, similar to the one for the existing GDA solution, will be supported.
eBarometer April by ProfitMetrics.io
The market index data for April 2024 has been released, showing year-over-year comparisons with April 2023 across a range of metrics, including e-commerce revenue, orders, advertising spend, POAS, ROAS, and total gross profit.
Revenue has risen by 5.5% from last year, with a notable increase from last month. Gross profit has grown by 7.7%, while the number of orders is up by 4.9% compared to April 2023.
Overall, these metrics show a positive trend with increases across the board.
Advertising expenditure has also increased by 7.7% compared to last year, suggesting that acquiring sales has become more costly.
However, for the first time in a long time, the growth in gross profit is matching the increase in advertising spend, keeping POAS steady from last year.
ROAS has decreased by 2%. Yet, as long as POAS remains unchanged from last year and revenue and order volume continue to rise, overall profitability has improved compared to April 2023.
New bid option Google Ads
Anas Siddiqui found this new bid option for target CPV where he can tick a automatically set bid.
Local inventory Ads Slovakia
Local inventory Ads Slovakia Hana Kobzová found out that Local Inventory Ads are now available in Slovakia.
Emmanuel Flossie added later that these countries also now have access to Local Inventory Ads: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
More Social proof in Merchant Center!
Google has now officially sent out an e-mail about the new annotation feature that is launching in Merchant Center.
With this tool, you can, for example, show how many people bought an item. For more information read this article.
New GTM feedback tool
Damian Cutic found out that GTM has gained a container quality section!
We have seen more new data quality tools already this year. And I think this is a good update!
Poland Gambling and Games Policy
On May 20, 2024, the Google Ads Gambling and games policy Poland country-specifics will be updated. Google will begin to accept online lottery ads from the Finance Ministry’s licensed entities.
Policy change ticket events
Starting June 10, 2024, Google Ads will update its policy regarding the sale of event tickets.
The update specifies that any disclosures related to the sale of event tickets must be prominently displayed in the top 20% of the destination page reached through an ad, without the option to hide or close them.
The text size of the disclosure must be equal to or larger than the majority of the text on the page.
This requirement applies only to pages reached via Google ads, not organic traffic.
Enforcement of the updated policy will gradually increase over a period of about four weeks starting from June 10, 2024.
Error Google Ads menu
Hana Kobzová found an error in the Google Ads menu. In the Billing section, she found two document tabs.
Image editor
Hana Kobzová found out that Google is going to add the image editor to the shared library section. For now, this tool is only available in the US.
Ranking factor change LSA
Barry Schwartz found out that proximity is no longer a relevancy factor for Local Service Ads!
Update Server-Side Documentation
Simo Ahava & 🛰️ Yoann FERRAND found out that Google has updated its server-side Google Tag Manager documentation, replacing the term “Immutable parameters” with “Internal parameters” to clarify their purpose.
The list of parameters has been refined to include only Google-specific ones, reducing confusion and potential privacy concerns.
Modifying these “Internal parameters” or other parameters like ip_override and client_id could impact data collection, so it’s important to follow the documentation when making changes.
While modifying certain parameters may still affect data collection, they are no longer labeled as “Immutable,” indicating that changes may not necessarily cause significant issues.
Google Analytics Data API update
🛰️ Yoann FERRAND found out that the Google Analytics Data API has been updated with several enhancements:
– Report tasks have been introduced in Data API v1alpha, enabling users to create customized reports asynchronously. New methods for manipulating report tasks have been added.
– New dimensions for key events have been introduced, replacing the isConversionEvent dimension. Users are advised to update their report requests accordingly, along with modifying deprecated metrics to their respective key event counterparts.
– The response for the properties/getMetadata method now includes information on key event dimensions and metrics in DimensionMetadata and MetricMetadata objects.
Removal of feeds targeting multiple locals in Merchant Center
Georgi Zayakov sent me this message that from the 13th of May, feeds with multiple combinations of a feed label and a language will be grouped into new feeds, each with only one combination.
You can also simplify the configuration by targeting a feed to multiple countries.
Hotel Ads 📉
🛰️ Yoann FERRAND & Mirai found out that the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by Google has led to a significant decline in clicks and bookings for hotels using Google Hotel Ads in affected European Union (EU) markets.
The changes, aimed at addressing self-preferencing practices by digital gatekeepers, have altered how hotel offers are presented in search results.
Before the DMA implementation, Google’s search results displayed hotel offers integrated with services like Google Maps, providing users with a clear and intuitive experience.
However, with the DMA in place, hotel visibility has decreased, leading to a 30% drop in clicks and a 36% decrease in direct bookings.
These changes have increased hotels’ reliance on intermediaries, impacting profitability.
The DMA regulations prohibit gatekeepers like Google from favoring their services over third-party offerings in search results.
Consequently, the presentation of hotel offers to users in DMA markets has become less organized and user-friendly.
The implications of the DMA for hotels include reduced visibility, profitability, and increased dependence on intermediaries.
The EU’s efforts to create a fairer market are affecting hotels’ ability to conduct direct sales and maintain independence.
The possibility of Booking.com being designated as a gatekeeper further complicates the situation.