SEM Directions – What are the Emerging Trends?

SEM Genesis – Google Ads

 Why do we need Ads?

There is a higher chance of conversion for your potential customers when Ads are shown i.e., they interact using the PPC (Pay Per Click) model

Another two stats that was intriguing is that sales were affected negatively, when there were No Ads and the rate of conversion was quite significant when Ads were shown

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) vs. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEM is a form of Paid Advertising that enhances the chances of your website showing up higher in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) results that aids in improving its awareness or visibility in the eyes of potential customers

This method also Improves the traffic to the site by having a higher quality of the proper TG (Target Group) of the customers that you would need

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) working

There are two ways to look at the process of how Google Ads showcases the results of the brand’s engagement with the customer

1. From Platform’s perspective: Auction based approach i.e. based on the money and relevance of the Ad and LP (Landing Page)
2. From User’s perspective: Research based approach on what has been the past performance of the Ad i.e. have the users liked the Ad, which means how many times has the Ad been clicked?

Brand Success = SEO (Search Engine Optimization) + SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

• You would want your brand / firm to be shown during every search, however a Silo approach will only get your site on the GDN (Google Display Network) for only a short period of time
• Hence, it’s imperative that you have two strategies i.e. SEO & SEM with having separate relevant experts. The former is more of a left-brain action and the latter is a right-brain work
• These points above indicate clearly that as a firm, you need to look at SEO with SEM and should not choose one over the other

OVERVIEW OF GOOGLE ADS

What are Google Ads?

It is advertising platform in the online world similar to what the top Traditional Media (TV / Radio / Magazine / Newspapers) is there is the offline world. It is a great place since it has all the benefits of these Ads at a much lower Price point

This platform was earlier known as Google AdWords. It aids in two important strategies

1. Ad Creation that include the targeting & payment
2. Ad timing and date

Google Ads is the best tool for SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

SEM is called PPC (Pay Per Click) where, you as the brand / firm pay Google for the Ads shown on it network which comprises of either the Search Network or Display Network

Search Network is the page of Google when any Ad shows up as shown below

Display network are different website like NDTV / CNN which have partnered with Google and you can show your Ads there – Also called Banner Ads

 Why Google Ads

Before a decision is made about buying any product or looking for a service, a search is made by most of the customers and it is imperative that as a brand, you show up

Since the user is clear about what he/she want, the Intent is made upfront so that Google is able to show your business if it fits the search

There are three categories of search and your business should satisfy at least one of it for the website to show up

1. To keep oneself happy – Entertain (Movies / Magazines)
2. To Know something – Enlighten (News / Similar business)
3. To find something – Information (Product / Service)

GOOGLE ADS – CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES

 Types of Ads Served by Google Ads

1. Search Ads

When your potential customer, enters any word in the Google bar, it is termed as he /she is making a Search using a keyword. These could be done on platforms like Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu etc. The sites that are shown after the search is made is called the Search Results

2. Responsive Search Ads

• Its an Adaptive Ad format that is developed using Googles AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) based on the information given by you in the Ads that you did for your campaign
• The biggest advantage here is that all the heavy lifting is taken care by Google – You just need to give proper data points and over a period of time Google will create multiple combos and present the highest converting Ad
• There are 3 major areas that Responsive Search Ads help you with
  1. The Ads are flexible & adaptive such that it fits across any device, whatever be the dimensions and the information will not get lost
  2. It saves time by you just giving information on the headlines and description, while Google will take effort to show the best combinations

• The ads can reach more potential customers as there is more chances of your ads competing in the Google’s auction pool even though you have not paid more as your Ads are more relevant

There are 2 more reasons that enhance the strength of Responsive Search Ads over the normal text / search ads

1. You can write more as you have space for three headlines with 90 characters each (Earlier, it was two with 80 characters each)
2. For Google to make good use of your inputs, you can create up to 25 headlines and 4 descriptions – So the combinations become more potent

 

3. Display Ads

• These are also called Banner Ads and these are images with links to LPs (Landing Pages) with messages being shown along with the image or on the image
• The Ads show up based on the profile of the person who is looking at the website. Google takes into account, the Demographics & In-Market situation of the person
  1. For e.g. if you are into selling of cars, that Ad will be shown to the potential customer
  2. On the other hand, if you are into selling of apparels, that ad will be shown

• Hence when, you notice that there are different Ads that come on the same site, when two different persons land on it. One more element that is taken into consideration while showing ads is Remarketing

• As a research work, look up for the terms that will aid you understand Display Ads better – Remarketing, Demographics, In-Market

Alt Tag – Platforms like Google Ads are where you can create your Ads

Caption – Google Ads: A new method of advertising

4. Video Ads

• These are Ads that are shown as videos when your potential customers are viewing their favorite video content on YT (YouTube) or such similar websites (YT is the 2^nd largest searched platform after Google)
• People are now consuming Video equal or than search and hence as a brand, it is imperative that you focus on Video Ads in addition to other formats

5. Product Listing Ads

• If you are considered an E-Commerce firm, then the Ads that you will be doing would be predominantly in this domain, where you will highlight the details of your Products only
• E-Commerce firms are those firms which deal in only product sales and are not involved in any service-based business
• You will be listed on Google Merchant Centre (https://www.google.com/retail/)
• The product will be highlighted here and you will update all the information here and create your Ad Copy here
• Google Ads will only act as the interface for showcasing the product details like brand, image, pricing etc.
• All these would be listed in the Google Merchant Centre from where the data would be picked up and shown when search is made like ‘Buy good hiking shoes’

6. Universal App Campaign (UAC) Ads

These are Ads that depict the Apps when any search is made on GDN sites / Play Store / Search

Interstitial Ads are only type of Ads and they are not created on the Ads platform. When an Ad covers the entire screen, this term is used. These types of Ads are considered one of the best formats because of two reasons viz. it is played mostly in-between two stages of a game & has 100% chance of being seen

What is A/B Testing?

When multiple campaigns / ads are created, you might end up with a confusion – Which is performing better?

There are places within Ads where the performance of the campaigns can be shown, but setting up an experiment is better option

A/B testing is nothing but, duplicating the original campaign without disturbing it

The key step is to create a Draft that can be applied to the existing campaign or made as an experiment to the new campaign

The new version can then be checked with the old one to find the difference and understand which is performing better – The experiment or the old campaign?

It can be done for Search & Display campaigns

Why A/B Testing is needed?

Most of the times, there is a limitation on the budget and hence A/B testing becomes critical during that time

This enhances the chances of closure i.e. improves CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) and hence profitability

Not many advertisers are using this and hence by adopting this strategy, you can gain an upper hand easily while doing your campaigns

What happens next in A/B testing?

• After you have made your experiment live, then Google provides various outputs
• Experiments and drafts will run for a period of one to two weeks
• Further to it, a report will be generated on both with analysis done with detailed information
• Based on this, you can then decide – which one to keep running and at what bid amount?
• This will ensure that the better performing campaign will be tuned to give the best results
• You also have the option of pausing the campaign or applying the similar setting of the original campaign on the draft
• The original campaign will not be deleted, unless it’s done specifically by you
• This is generally done when the competition is high or you are a new player in the market, as once you have matured, you understand what works and what doesn’t

Monitoring your Experiment

• All monitoring s possible only if the experiment has been running for at least a week
• The process to set up your experiment is like this
  • Campaigns > Specific Campaign Name > Segments > Experiment.
  • Campaign Name > Drafts and Experiments > Campaign Experiment
• Under the 2^nd option, you can look for specific names

Why Shopping Ads?

There are some unique benefits of tuning Shopping Ads. From the Brand/Advertiser’s perspective:

• Easy to create
• Generate a higher chance to reach the customer – Better than a physical shop
• In comparison to offline strategies, its a low inventory cost option and hence improves the profitability and ROI (Return on Investment)

From the user’s perspective

• The ad will show the availability of the stock and will avoid any unnecessary visit to the stores as the customer is aware of the inventory levels
• It provides a better and pleasant experience as there is no need for a physical visit to the stores and door-delivery is possible
• Similar to a physical store both the benefits of exchange guarantee & choice of products is available through this
• Several online payment options have now evolved, making the payment process, much easier

These points ensure that both the players are getting benefitted from the ads

A guide to create Shopping Ads (A Step by Step approach)

• Sign up on Google Merchant Center (google.com/retail) & create an account there by using your Gmail accounts.
• You will enter your website’s URL in Merchants account, paste HTML verification code in your website backend, verify and claim that URL.
• Then Google Merchant account will be linked to Google Ads
• Then on Google Merchant account, they will have to first create a product feed by creating a new Google spreadsheet. Fill all the product data of the products for which you need to do an ad.
• Upload the spreadsheet by clicking on upload option
• After uploading the product feed (product data), it will take maximum 2 hours to reflect this product feed in your Ads account.
• Go to Ads and start creating the ad.
• Your merchant account will be linked, select that account. When creating the ad group, select the product feed which you had created and which took max 2 hours to get LIVE.
• Create ad in the normal way and submit. Ads post approval will go LIVE.

Remarketing

• It is based on the concept of tagging the user so that he /she can be followed anywhere on the internet and that’s how your customers end up seeing an ad about a product or service which was seen earlier
• Through this strategy, it is possible to have a discussion that is pertinent to the user
  • E.g. You go to Archies and check a birthday card. Now even if you are reading about MS Excel, you would be shown an Archie’s Ad

Search Vs Display

• Both have the Pros and the time and place determine, the type of Ad that you would like to engage with
• Search Ads are when the user is clear about the requirement and has clearly shown the intent to find out the next steps
• Display Ads are a strategy where the user is reminded that he / she was interested in something and needs to be reminded

GOOGLE ADS – CAMPAIGN ENHANCEMENT TOOLS

Ad Extensions

• These are additional pieces of information that have the potential to enhance the Ad Quality and hence have the potential to make your Ads appear in the first few results during the Search
• This has the additional benefit of being seen more – hence leading to higher CTR (Click Through Rate) and improved conversions
• This leads to one of the best ROIs (Return on Investment) in the advertising space

There are several types of Ad extensions. Some of them are mentioned below

1. Site Link Extensions

• it aids in higher number of clickable links – Anchor text when the Ads are displayed
  • This is basically, a format where various webpages of your site can be shown
• This leads to higher portion of the screen – in online terms: More Real Estate
• There are two pointers to note: It will work only for top results & possible higher send dur to more Clickable areas

2. Location Extensions

• This only works if your business is listed on GMB (Google My Business)
• Once, this extension is enabled the address of your firm is picked up from GMB
• This is an optimal solution for businesses that have a physical store

3. Call Extensions

• In this strategy, you add your phone numbers directly – But these are not greatly used as the phone information is added in the description field itself
• When this information is added, if the user is seeing the Ad from a mobile or tab, they can call directly

4. App Extensions

• This is a good solution if you have an App developed for your business and want to increase it awareness
• This is generally used to increase App Installs through Search Ads. You also have an option at the campaign level to go for App Conversions. If you choose that, then you might not need this extension

5. Review Extensions

• When a reputed third party has endorsed your product/ service, you can use that in this extension, which gives more credibility
• Highlighting a review / any similar good work improves the chance of conversion as research has shown that potential customers have a higher chance of clicking, if there are some good reviews

 Use Keyword Research tool for finding the right Keywords & planning your campaign

• Keywords are the search terms that are entered by users in the search bar of Google or any other search engine like Bing
• Keyword Planner is a free tool offered by Google Ads platform to understand some key aspects of your keywords
  • It shows data on competition, search volume, trends, min & max bid amount, similar keywords
  • The Bid rates are only indicators based on geography, season and demographics – As an advertiser, you need to look at these numbers as only benchmarks
• Keyword research is very critical work that can aid you in designing your website and developing the content as per the Target Group’s (TG) need

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