What do you need to do if you don‘t have enough knowledge about UX? What if you don‘t have the skillset? The problem is that normally UX analysis is not part of the SEO skillset. But UX is not more than just focusing on the visitor. If you want to get your hands dirty with UX and analytics, the 4 principles explained below will be a good starting point for you.
Competition in the today’s e-commerce marketplace is a tough race. To stay ahead of the competitors, online stores need to up their SEO and PPC game and find new ways to increase conversions. Read about workable tips tried by Google, BigCommerce and CommerceHub to improve your online business performance and refine your e-commerce marketing strategy.
Successful PPC campaigns have two aspects: thorough keyword research and well-planned remarketing ads. Lunching the perfect remarketing strategy can be tough. During our latest #SEMrushchat, we invited Michelle Morgan to share her insights on improving PPC campaigns through remarketing ads. We discussed how to remarket ads by focusing on the target audience, and so much more.
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
For anyone who’s ever looked at an advertisement on the Internet and thought to themselves, “I, for one, hope I am not being brainwashed by malevolent actors sitting in an undisclosed room lit by a single dim light bulb,” I have some pretty cool news.
Facebook has decided to give users more information about the ads they see and the businesses and organizations with pages on the site.
The decision, announced last week by COO Sheryl Sandberg, is a response to criticisms that the social network does not do enough to make sure advertisers are not doing bad stuff – spreading messages of hate, swinging presidential elections, and the like.
“We underinvested in prevention,” said the chief operating officer at Facebook HQ. “We underinvested in proactively policing the ecosystem we have built.”
Now, when a user visits an advertiser’s page, such as yours, he or she will find a tab labeled “Page Info and Ads.” Here, users will find some basic – yet useful – information about your business: the names you’ve used in the past, how often you’ve changed your name, and when you created the page.
Additionally, users can check out the ads you’re currently running, including the ones that aren’t shown to them. They can filter your ads by country and flag anything they deem inappropriate – whether it’s violent, sexually explicit, misleading, or any other bad adjective you can dream up.
This announcement follows the big news from the spring: Facebook now tells users in the U.S. who paid for a given political ad and how much that advertiser is paying the platform overall. The same features will soon roll out in Brazil, which has an election coming up in the fall.
Evidently, Facebook would like to avoid a repeat of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which recently landed our boy Zuck in Congress (and inspired some truly imaginative memes that you should browse at your leisure).
How will this impact my business?
Well, assuming you’re not deliberately attempting to undermine democracy as we know it, y’all should be fine.
Jokes aside, this announcement comes with some serious implications for Facebook advertisers.
Knowledge drop: you have competitors, and your competitors want to beat you. Now, your industry rivals have the power to see all of your active Facebook advertisements – and to report them, if they feel so inclined. It’s not yet clear whether Facebook will take measures to prevent businesses from flagging their competitors’ ads without valid reasoning. However, it is unlikely that the platform will remove fair, inoffensive content simply because it was flagged a couple times.
And, no – we don’t recommend that you blindly report your competitors’ ads for no reason. We’re all adults here, right?
Now, for the more unsettling idea: that your competitors can look at every single one of your Facebook ads and try to do them better.
Of course, studying the strategies of your opponents and acting accordingly is nothing new – that’s exactly why Bill Belichick is Bill Belichick (rude SpyGate comments unwelcome). But, it’s less than ideal to have all of your Facebook ads queued up in a single convenient location, complete with geographical filters, for your competitors to review at length.
Again, it’s unclear if Facebook will take steps to monitor this behavior. They could, of course, track businesses and their employees and make sure they’re not spending lots of time in the Active Ads sections of their rivals’ pages. Until then, however, it seems to be fair game, which means you should seize the opportunity while it’s there.
Blatantly ripping off the ideas of others in your industry? Not advisable. Staying on top of your competitors’ paid social tactics to give yourself a better chance of effectively reaching consumers? The Patriot Way.
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.
Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet if said rose was synonymous with an entire industry and accounted for the bulk of the revenue generated by the world’s most popular search engine?
We’re about to find out.
Google has made the executive decision to consolidate its overwhelming abundance of ad products under three brand new umbrellas: Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform, and Google Ads Manager. Behold, logos!
As is tradition, change cannot occur without casualties. In this cause, we’re saying goodbye to the digital marketing world’s favorite portmanteau: AdWords.
You didn’t misread. Google is in fact sunsetting AdWords, but in name alone.
At the highest level, this massive announcement was likely instigated by the proliferation of mobile and the shift towards an audience-centric mindset. More opportunities to reach more people across more channels is infinitely easier to take advantage of when all available solutions live in the same place.
This and a slew of other shakeups (more consolidation! Smart Campaigns!) were announced by Google’s Senior VP of Ads and Commerce, Sridhar Ramaswamy, just a week before Google Marketing Next, where blanks will surely be filled in.
In this article, we’ll demystify the announcement and explain:
Why this rebrand is happening now
What Google Ads means for the future of keywords
Whether or not Smart Campaigns are for you
Before we take a closer look at how Google’s shocking brand overhaul will impact advertisers and agencies moving forward, a bit more on exactly what’s going on.
Introducing Google Ads…
Obviously from our perspective, the most important piece of this announcement is the elimination of AdWords (the brand) and the creation of a new brand: Google Ads.
Per our ad-tastic overlords, Google Ads “represents the full range of advertising capabilities [Google] offers today… to help marketers connect with the billions of people finding answers on Search, watching videos on YouTube, exploring new places on Google Maps, discovering apps on Google Play, browsing content across the web, and more.”
Along with other channels, formats, and placements, GDN, YouTube, and Shopping (most of which were acquired, not built internally) have called AdWords home for a minute now. Unfortunately, AdWords is synonymous with search. Having additional channels folded into the same interface has been confusing folks for years now. I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly come across clients who have no idea their video, banner, and search creative are all served from the same platform.
It’s Google’s hope that this new, simpler name will usher in understanding and leave the door open to expand advertising options without confusion in the future.
… and Google Marketing Platform
You can probably jump right over this one if you’re a small business…
Use DoubleClick or Analytics 360? Not any more!
Built atop existing integration between the formerly disparate platforms, the second new brand borne of consolidation, Google Marketing Platform will allow enterprise marketers (and the agencies that service them) to marry ad creative and analytics in a single location. This will make it easier for both parties to “plan, buy, measure and optimize digital media and customer experiences in one place.”
As part of Google Marketing Platform, Google has also released a new feature called Display & Video 360. This tool aims to enable “creative, agency, and media teams to collaborate and execute ad campaigns end-to-end in a single place.” This collaborative sandbox situation sounds similar to Facebook’s Creative Hub, which is, as the kids would say, hella useful.
The bottom line: Pretttttttttty neat if you’ve got reason to use it (but if you’re not Adidas or La Croix or some luxury SUV manufacturer, it may as well not exist).
… and Google Ad Manager
Finally, we come to Ad Manager, Google’s shiny new programmatic platform.
A mashup of DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange (with a buzzword-worthy logo to boot!), Google Ad Manager is the search titan’s “complete and unified programmatic platform,” designed to “do even more for [Google’s] partners—earning them more money, more efficiently, wherever people are watching videos, playing games or engaging with content, and however advertisers are looking to work with them.”
Overhauling Brand Architecture in the Name of Simplicity
As I mentioned earlier, these substantial rebranding efforts are fueled by a growing need for simplicity in online advertising.
Consider the following…
Conceptually, AdWords was built for a computer-first world, one where someone gets home from work, has a smoke, retires to their chambers, and surfs the web for what very well may have been the first time that day.
If you’re younger than me, you might not even remember such a place existed.
Today we live in a mobile-first world, one in which we make initial queries on phones, conduct research from a three-monitor setup at the office, watch product videos on YouTube, and fork over our credit card information via some kind of voice-powered-AI.
Google can help advertisers reach prospects at every stage of this funnel, a fact that simply isn’t conveyed by “AdWords.” Google Ads on the other hand…
Google Ads (all three new names, in fact) is succinct enough to make it clear what value business can derive from the platform and broad enough to house future Google acquisitions without inciting further confusion. Win-win.
This simplicity is by no means limited to naming conventions: One new(ish) feature that exemplifies the simplicity Google’s striving towards is the new Smart Campaigns.
How Smart are “Smart Campaigns”?
Built atop the same tech that powered AdWords Express, Smart Campaigns are tailor-made for busy small business owners with little in the way of paid search expertise, and little in the way of time. The feature allows busy advertisers to “create ads in minutes and drive real results—like making your phone ring, sending leads to your website, or bringing customers to your store.”
Sounds neat, but will they work?
If you recall, AdWords Express, though fast, was not particularly effective for many businesses because it stripped control from advertisers and put it in the hands of machine learning. Smart Campaigns build on the premise that most small businesses just want to drive calls, store visits, and conversions, and don’t have the time or expertise to learn how to use AdWords (uhh, Google Ads), so why not place your budget in Google’s machine learning-enabled hands.
Fast? Totally. But that doesn’t mean it understands the ins and outs of your business, and that’s a problem.
That being said…
Ultimately, it comes down to a simple question: do the time savings and the results from the simplified product generate a net win for your business? If you’re only spending a few hundred dollars a month on advertising, Smart Campaigns might be a decent option for you. On the other hand, if your monthly budget has a comma (or two, or three), it’s a different story entirely.
Embracing Audiences Over Keywords
Complexity across Google’s advertising platforms has led to a need for simple solutions.
In the past, we’ve speculated about Google transitioning away from keywords in favor of audience-centric targeting, similar to what you might find in paid social channels like Facebook and LinkedIn (and we aren’t the only ones!).
By stripping “words” from the name of its ever-evolving ad platform, Google has begun the process of shifting advertiser perception away from keyword intent (the secret sauce that makes search queries so damn valuable as an advertising tool) and to a world where our focus shifts towards audiences.
While search will always remain an intent-centric and thus keyword-reliant space (augmented with audiences via tools like RLSA, in-market, etc.), the rollout of Google Ads makes taking a holistic approach to online advertising (investing in channels that don’t directly result in conversions) more palatable for many small businesses.
Implications for Agencies (and SaaS Companies)
Naturally, if you’re an agency or in-house SaaS marketer, there are some changes you’re going to need to account for.
For one, any paid and organic initiatives that previously hinged on the keyword “adwords” or ancillary keywords related to it will need to be tweaked. If you’re an agency that offers AdWords services, you’re going to need to figure out how to guide your clients through those changes.
The good thing is, “adwords” as a term and as a concept isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Campaigns leveraging it won’t suddenly drop off the page. Still, it will be a good idea to monitor paid and organic search volumes around “google ads” and “adwords” as you go about making page updates and bid adjustments.
Google Ads: A Brave New World?
So..ultimately, what’s changing here?
Are you looking at massive campaign overhauls? No, probably not.
Google’s new brands will be rolling out gradually over the next month; and given its commitment to transparency, you can expect day-to-day campaign operation to remain more or less the same. In effect, Google has streamlined its ad and marketing experience. And in a growingly complex landscape of digital marketing apps, tools, and software, that’s a move we can get on board with.
Struggling with YouTube video marketing? Learn how to get started with a new channel, learn simple steps & techniques on how to do keyword research, create & upload videos, grow your channel with organic video views, and find out which video equipment we use. Here is how to achieve the 1,000 YouTube subscribers & over 4,000 hours of video watch time.
Banner ads have been around for a very long time (check out the first one, from 1994). But that doesn’t mean we’ve solved all their problems. Display ads have lower click-through rates than text ads. it can be arduous to create different sizes for different placements; and historically, if you wanted to create something dynamic, you were limited to clunky and non-secure Flash elements.
Public perception hasn’t quite kept up with technology. HTML5 has been a glorious addition to the banner ad game, and strong HTML5 ads have been shown to increase click-through rates substantially when compared to static banner ads—to the tune of 267%, according to one Adform study. Compare an HTML5 ad to a standard static ad, and it’s easy to see why you get that uptick in performance:
They move!
Today, we’re going to give you the lowdown on HTML5 ads. We’ll discuss what they are and how to make them; show you some ways you can shoot to achieve those massive increased click-through rates; and show you examples of some effective HTML5 ads in action.
Let’s get into it!
What Are HTML5 Ads?
HTML5 is the latest iteration of HTML—one of the markup languages browsers use to present content. HTML5 is the first version of HTML that allows developers to write video, audio, and others animations directly into the source code of a page—thus eliminating the need for plugins like Flash.
See it in action here.
HTML5 ads are at once more attractive to click on and less intrusive to look at—because they live within the page, they’re more subtle, more elegant, and not quite so interstitial-y.
The big draw, as mentioned above, is that HTML5 ads include thumb-stopping motion elements like videos and gifs. Part of banner ad fatigue comes from an inability to discern the static elements on the page from the static elements in your ad. HTML5 ads demand views and clicks because they stand out from the rest of your on-page content.
Aside from traditional motion elements, HTML5 also supports 3D and interactive (read: the user can play around with it by touching or clicking on it) ad design. They run perfectly within native apps, and can be created to display responsively in all placements, on any device (something Flash ads could not do)—thus eliminating the need to create ads with multiple sets of specs for multiple placements.
How to Make HTML5 Ads
Google announced in 2016 that all Display ads would be served in the HTML5 format, and that Flash ads would be discontinued. This announcement was met with a bit of concern—mostly from campaign managers concerned with their ability to produce code-based ads, quickly and in-house. Flash ads were a security issue, sure; and not all devices could run them; but the alternative seemed like more work, and less output.
Luckily, you don’t need to be a full stack developer—or even be fluent in HTML5—to create an HTML5 ad. There are dozens of tools—Google Web Designer, Bannersnack, Flexitive, etc.—that allow marketers with limited knowledge of web-based code to create dazzling and click-worthy HTML5 ads.
Some of these special products—take, er, WordStream Advisor—allow you to skip the creation process nearly altogether. Merely enter your website or product page’s URL and some relevant ad copy. Advisor harvests the best images from your site or web page for ad creative; harvests your logo and company colors; then automatically generates HTML5 ads in the seven most common display ad sizes.
There are several options at your disposal when if you want to pump out in in-house HTML5 banner on the fly. If you’re still considering creating one from scratch, check out this great workshop from DoubleClick. You’ll need to have a strong facility with HTML5; you should also know that your ad will need to be SSL compliant.
HTML5 Ad Examples
It’s quite possible you’re still on the fence about creating HTML5 ads. Perhaps you need to see them in action to believe in their efficacy. We have you covered. To pique your inspiration, we’re going to show you three ways you can create HTML5 ads that give you a chance at drastically increasing click-through rates. We’ll show an example for each, and discuss why each ad is effective in utilizing the ascribed tactic.
Let’s look at some ads.
1. Make it expansive, not intrusive
One of the best parts about using code to write an ad is that you can essentially make it as expansive as you want. An HTML5 ad is like a webpage within a webpage; accordingly, you can customize it so users have immersive brand experiences without ever leaving the page on which they see your ad. Take this ad for Major League Soccer by Undertone:
Click here to see it in action.
This ad speaks to the “flashy but not intrusive” modus operandi I discussed earlier. The bright and dynamic create, when you first open the page, is transparent—this ad looks like a part of the page viewing experience; not something “extra” that’s impeding the user from accessing his or her content. And, if the opening creating is intrusive, it’s gone in a flash—the ad changes size and retreats to the corner of the page, where it’s hardly bothersome, but definitely still present.
From there, if the user’s intrigue is piqued, she runs her cursor or finger over the minified ad creative and clicks/presses. Doing so opens an expansive chamber of highlights which allows the user to either revel in a Michael Bradley give-and-go, flip through to the next highlight, or click “View Schedule” to see when the next game near them is taking place. If you’re a small business, you can think of this like a lead for one of your brick-and-mortars.
Expansive, but not intrusive is possible; and if you accomplish it, you won’t have to accost users for clicks—they’ll click through on their own volition.
2. Put your products in motion
Flashing imagery is great; but if you can animate your products without using video, you’ll have a streamlined ad that doesn’t sacrifice performance for slick aesthetic. Take this ad from Jeep:
In quick succession, Jeep uses HTML5 run through three panels advertising one product feature—with selective copy for each panel—before the product itself virtually drives onto the page. When you run your cursor over the last still shot, the “Renegade Details” call-to-action, which brings users to a Jeep landing page, is the final part of the ad that moves—an animation which basically tells the users how to interact with the ad without being overly pushy about it.
The notable thing here, though, is the way Jeep puts its product in motion. Much like an interactive web page that reveals information as you scroll, the animation is accomplished without video, so there’s no need to embed any cumbersome files to achieve the desired effect. And, unlike a traditional gif, the ad plays through once and is done (we made it into a gif, so you won’t see that action here)—so, if the user doesn’t click on the first try, your ad will not continue to invade his eye space with its flashiness.
Leveraging this kind of animation is a great way to show your products performing in their natural habitats while maintaining fully optimized and succinct ads.
3. Gamify your promotion
Excuse us for the language flip flop here, but this HTML5 ad Revenue Engineers created for online gaming company NordicBet was too good not to include:
What better brand to gamify an ad than an online gaming brand? You’ll see gamified ads in a number of formats—completing a crossword puzzle, making an animated basket, shooting an animated target—but the result is always the same: the user is enticed to click through to a landing page by playing the game. How can you resist playing a little impromptu roulette?
This ad is particularly effective because it doesn’t directly send users to a landing page after they spin the roulette wheel. Rather, it displays the “prize”—a link to a registration form—in a widget on the left with the call-to-action, “Receive Your Gift.” From there, users are led to a registration page complete with a form field in which they fill in their information. This is another form of permission marketing that falls in line with the non-intrusive examples we’ve already discussed.
Gamifying your ads with HTML5 is a great way to entice clicks; and this ad shows that you don’t need to be intrusive or spammy to do so.
Making the Most of Your HTML5 Ads
Feel a knowledge gap between your understanding of HTML5 ads and the level of creative design achieved in the examples we discussed? Don’t sweat it! HTML5 ads are now easier to create than ever; and accessing one of above-mentioned tools—like a free trial of WordStream Advisor—will put you on the fast track to HTML5 ad success.