A New Google AdWords: 5 Things to Know

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With the recent launch of a new Google AdWords interface and updates, it will become essential for businesses, marketers, agencies, etc. to adapt to an ever changing world of digital marketing. After watching Google’s AdWords webinar on May 31, 2o17 here are five important takeaways regarding Adwords and their upgraded platform.

1. Updated Quality Score Metrics:

Although metrics such as click through rate and landing page quality are still relevant, Google has announced that more factors are now going to be considered. This includes mobile friendliness, social media engagement, response rate, conversion rates, reorganizing accounts, and other factors. Due to a rapid increase in mobile site visitors, Google has responded accordingly and have placed a higher emphasis on mobile traffic. Regarding social media engagement, staying on top of platforms and showing consistency will be recognized by Google and lead to more clicks through search. In addition, having an effective response rate can be difficult to achieve yet if given the appropriate attention you will be noticed. Customers enjoy quick responses and if your organization stays on top of the game Google will begin to recognize this. 

2. Ad Rank Calculations:

It’s been reported that Google may be placing a higher emphasis on bids when it comes to Ad Rank calculations in the near future. Although quality metrics are still going to be extremely relevant with determining Ad Rank, it still needs to be pointed out that max cost per click (CPCs) might end up holding more weight for certain queries. Therefore, if increased bidding does end up being a larger determinant for Ad Rank, firms will need to adjust their AdWords strategies accordingly.

3. Historical Quality Score Data:

The new Google AdWords interface will now enable advertisers to view historical quality score data. Adding quality score reporting will greatly assist AdWords users in determining what is working and what is not. It’s even reported that advertisers will have the ability to segment the data by day, which will show quality scores changing on a daily basis and what improvements are needed to maintain a higher score. There will also be feedback icons for every keyword, giving recommendations like landing page improvements, click through rate, and relevance of ads.

4. Local Search Ads:

The addition of local search ads will take Google mobile advertising to the next level. It’s noted that about a third of all mobile searches have “local intent,” meaning that businesses will need to focus on their local consumers in order to maintain a competitive advantage. However, what is the main reasoning behind local search advertising? The answer is the desire of local companies to bring in more foot traffic to their business. With foot traffic on the downfall due to an increased demand of online shopping, local advertising options will help local businesses get back on track.

5. Expanded Text Ads:

It’s finally here – the ad text limits have expanded! The launch of expanded text ads are essentially a response to an increase in mobile search traffic. Therefore, these text ads are constructed to increase mobile search performance with larger headlines and longer descriptions. There will now be a total of 140 characters of space to use, compared to the current 95 characters (25-35-35). Another important point to mention is the potential improvement of click through rates (CTR). Having a greater visibility of text ads will most likely lead to increased CTR, and therefore more conversions or leads will be generated.

The Latest From Google

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There were a few new features recently introduced at the 2017 Google Marketing Next keynote. Google is constantly trying to optimize the experience it provides for both its marketers as well as its consumers who conduct millions of searches every minute of every day through its site. They continue to innovate and create a better experience in the year of 2017, and recently unveiled the latest in search engine optimization.

Google Optimize:

There appears to be a bigger focus on landing pages this year as Google Optimize comes out of its beta stage. The program allows a user to test their ads side-by-side in order to directly compare one ad or landing page against the other. New reporting capabilities are also included in this updated application.

Google 360:

Google 360 is another innovation that will make this process easier. More than 10 million respondents per week can be reached through this new program, which provides greater insight into how consumers react to the differences between pages or ads, and which they would be more inclined to engage with.

AdWords Redesign:

In addition to the announcements made at the Google Marketing Next conference, there are other important happenings within the realm of Google. For the first time in 8 years the search engine giant decided to redesign the look of Google AdWords. The enhancements include a more easily navigable interface and more direct comparisons when generating advertisements.

The change is not going to be released all at once. Instead, advertisers will receive the update selectively over time. There is no real way to know exactly when you may receive the update as it is, “based on a number of factors”. However, Google representatives did say that all advertisers should receive the update by years end, so stay tuned!

Which is Better: Paid or Organic Search?

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Digital marketers have long debated these two search channels in an effort to once and for all prove one as the true victor when it comes to measurable results. However, this comparison is not as simple as it seems. Much like comparing apples to oranges, these two channels are incredibly different from one another.

Organic:

Organic search results typically have a much higher conversion rate, and higher key metrics in general, associated with them when compared to paid search results. Organic results are also 100% free, and who doesn’t love free advertising? At a glance, these well performing statistics may suggest that organic is a better channel than search, but that is not necessarily the case.

 

Paid:

The paid search channel is always the first listed when a consumer conducts a Google search. Google also continues to improve upon its search by providing an obvious preference to paid advertisements rather than organic listings. This was made clear last year when the search giant added a fourth paid advertisement listing in every query. Unfortunately, these prime positions come at a price.

 

Despite the cost associated with paid listings, many advertisers utilize them to gain the most recognition from a potential customer. This form of advertising is most helpful for companies that are trying to gain awareness of their brand.

 

Conclusion:

There is no clear and definite winner. Paid and organic search channels each have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, but to only choose one of them in any marketing strategy is a weakness in itself. Digital marketers need to realize the full potential of every marketing opportunity and what they mean collectively for the company’s success.

 

If your business is limiting itself in its number of channels, then there is no doubt that it is also limiting itself in the number of potential customers it can reach. The key to the relationship between paid and organic search is that they are best when implemented together.

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Content Marketing Tips: How to Use Live Video to Build Your Brand

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In this video, Entrepreneur Network partner Salma Jafri discusses how just how important live video is in 2017.

Live video is a great to maintain a two-way conversation with your audience — something you simply can’t do when you’re reading a script — and major social networks are taking note. Snapchat is now a multi-billion-dollar company with live news feeds, Twitter has invested heavily in Periscope, and Facebook is pushing its own live feeds. So, get on board now and learn how to use this tool in 2017, because it’s going to be bigger than ever.

Time to Spring Clean Your Digital Marketing?

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Yesterday brought the official first day of spring – Now is the time to dust off the old and get your digital marketing sparkling like new! Read more

MailChimp Moves Toward Becoming a Marketing Platform with Facebook Ads Feature

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Oriented toward small businesses, the company wants to offer new features that build on the customer and product data stored in its email platform. Read more

9 Intriguing Digital Marketing Stats From This Week

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The past few days saw the digital marketing world awaken from its post-holiday slumber and really put out some eye-opening stats.

Read more

How to Create Digital Marketing Plan for Start-Ups

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Having a strong online presence has become a necessity for businesses of all sizes.

You just launched a startup and need to get your brand in front of as many eyes as possible. The problem is you are not just competing in your industry, you are competing with the millions of other marketing messages that consumers are bombarded with every day. What’s an entrepreneur to do?

Statistics show that more than half of consumers turn to the internet for information before making purchases:

  • Data reveals 67 percent of consumers are influenced by online reviews (Moz)
  • 54 percent of online buyers read online reviews before purchase. (Marketing Tech Blog)
  • More than half (54 percent) of online purchasers said they had read online reviews prior to hitting the buy button, while 39 percent of consumers who made purchases in-store did so, according to a study from customer ratings and review firm Bazaarvoice Inc. (Internet Retailer)

Fortunately, there are a few digital marketing tips for startups we wanted to share:

  1. Use your starting position as a baseline to measure your overall progress against.
  2. Determine your startup’s goals; ensure these goals are specific, measurable and realistic.
  3. Identify your customers.
  4. Study your competitors.

To start, it is important to set up a website for your startup if you haven’t already. Whether you hire someone to design and create your website or choose to build your own is up to you. However, it is often more cost-effective for a startup owner, especially one with a low budget, to build a website. From smaller websites for start-up to multi-language sites across the globe, Onimod Global has a perfect website for every budget.

Once you have your website set up, you’re ready to take the next steps to develop your digital marketing strategy:

    1. Implement perfect SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by researching keywords and building links.
    2. Create relevant content and use content marketing to attract potential clients as well as satisfy Google for ranking purposes.
    3. Consider email marketing to share the content you have created on your website.
    4. Use social media marketing to boost your startup’s online presence and increase traffic to your website
    5. Analyze your results to determine where you are seeing success — and make changes in the areas where you are not.

Onimod Global are here for you every step of the way as you build your company. We are Digital Marketing gurus with expertise in multipl-digital channels.

Contact us today and find out why we’re the best choice for launching your new business to where it needs to b this 2017.

5 Digital Marketing Predictions for 2017

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This past year has been an intense one, to say the least. But we’re finally nearing the end, and we’re ready to set our sights on 2017! Of course, in order to make appropriate assumptions about what will occur next year, we have to look back at some of the notable digital marketing predictions that came true this year.

Throughout 2016, we saw a rise in voice search queries, Google’s Penguin algorithm began updating in real-time, mobile-friendly sites continued to be rewarded, and so much more. Social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram expanded their arsenals, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology was such a favorite this year that Amazon was sold out of its Echo and Echo Dot devices at one point.

Since many of these popular trends are still pretty new, we can only expect them to continue to grow in the new year.

Below are some of our digital marketing predictions for the upcoming year

1. The shift from desktop-first to mobile-first will continue

mobile firstMobile search has always been an important component of SEO — and of digital marketing in general — so it’s no surprise that its role continues to grow as years pass. In 2015, Google released a mobile-friendly update to their search algorithm. Since this update, mobile-friendly websites have had the advantage over others when it comes to mobile rankings.

Today, many businesses are receiving more traffic from mobile search over desktop. In fact, Moz performed a study that showed 20 out of 24 industry niches note mobile as their primary source of web traffic. As technology progresses and Google continues to reward those with mobile-friendly sites over others, we have no doubt that the mobile-first trend will continue to rise and most likely overcome our desktop-first mentality.

2. Say hello to Progressive Web Apps

mobile appIf the mobile-first shift comes to pass, it’s possible that the move towards PWAs will as well. Just as AMP (a code that optimizes mobile websites) took precedence in 2015 and 2016, PWAs, or Progressive Web Apps, may take center stage in 2017. Users are becoming less and less patient with page load speeds, and even a highly optimized site has trouble loading within 3 seconds. Enter: Progressive Web Apps.

They’re defined as user experiences that have the same capabilities as a web page, and are reliable, fast, and engaging. In other words, they allow a website/website page to work as if it were an app, without actually being an app. Although PWAs may not be suitable for every type of business, there are plenty that could benefit from them, such as content-heavy or real-time data sites, chat-related platforms, news outlets, and blogs.

As consumers yearn for safer, faster, and easier-to-use mobile-friendly websites, we can expect to see a greater prominence of Progressive Web Apps in 2017. They may even replace the use of separate mobile sites or apps entirely — but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

3. Live video will take over (at least with social media and content marketing)

live videoConsumers have become accustomed to carrying around mobile devices and having practically anything they need right at their fingertips. Now, both brands and individuals have begun using livestreaming as a way to be more in-the-moment with their followers (capitalizing on that whole #FOMO trend of the last couple years).

In the past, brands chalked up their entire video marketing strategy to the hope that one of their videos would go viral. However, as video (live video, in particular) becomes a larger part of users’ everyday lives, brands are going to have to work on continuously creating quality video content.

Joe Pulizzi remarks on how video will become an important part of content marketing strategies in 2017 in an article for the Content Marketing Institute:

“It doesn’t take “Chewbacca Mom” to show us how big and important using video and having a visual storytelling strategy are…most brands [should begin] building a process and organization around the ongoing delivery of valuable information through video.”

As top platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are incorporating live video, we can be sure we’ll see it grow in 2017.

4. Native advertising will flourish

native advertisingBack in the good ol’ days, online advertising was defined by intrusive pop-up ads and annoying flashing sidebar ads. And it’s important to remember that most of those ads were irrelevant and spammy.

While there are still plenty of ads like this, native advertising has helped online ads become more user-friendly. And to ensure that users don’t click on unwanted ads, brands are required to clearly label these ads as such. Websites like BuzzFeed, Mashable, and even The New York Times offer sponsored content that relate the ads to content users are already interested in viewing.

Brands are also taking advantage of the native advertising potential on social media sites like Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. With Facebook pushing their Promoted posts and ads and Instagram releasing it’s “Shop Now” button, we’re sure to see more online native advertising in the coming year.

5. People are going to want to SEE the data

data visualizationData is key to knowing the who’s, what’s, when’s, why’s, and how’s of your marketing strategy. However, that doesn’t mean analyzing data is easy. In all honesty, it can be boring and immensely time-consuming when done properly. Even if you analyze data every day, digesting all those numbers can be tricky.

Thankfully, there are plenty of data visualization tools that can help. As technology evolves, so are visuals; and as more data visualization tools become available, the more businesses are going to start using them. In addition, as narrative content grows in popularity, the need for visual storytelling grows.

Keeping these technological and content marketing trends in mind, 2017 is probably just the beginning of the data visualization revolution.

Recap

While we don’t have a crystal ball to know exactly what 2017 will hold, we feel it’s safe to say there is a lot to look forward to. What are your digital marketing predictions for the upcoming year? Leave your thoughts in the comments — we’d love to hear ‘em!

H/T: Business2Community

Happy Holidays from Onimod Global

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At the holiday season, our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our progress possible. It is in this spirit that we say… Thank you and best wishes for the holidays and happy New Year!
The team at Onimod Global.