Digital Insights: A Year in Review

10 January 2018

Come read our top 5 updates we feel made digital advertising standout in 2017!

This month we are taking a new spin on the digital insights blog and are looking back at the digital highlights of the past year. 2017 has introduced some big changes to the advertising world including the welcomed new AdWords interface, the overwhelming success of mobile and discovering digital ad spend has finally surpassed TV! (read more here).

 

The past 12 months have been educational to say the least with new insights happening nearly every week. To make it a little easier to digest and to make sure you are hitting the ground in 2018, we have reviewed the year and handpicked our top 5 updates we feel made digital advertising standout in 2017!

    1. New AdWords Interface

 

Late 2016 Google announced that they would be introducing a new AdWords experience complete with a new AdWords interface.  The new interface has been steadily rolling out to advertisers and over the past year we have seen this implemented on many of our client campaigns.  There have been some brilliant updates including promotion extensions, household income targeting in search, audiences pages and more! Read the full story here.

 

    1. Google Life Events Targeting

 

Google have rolled life events targeting to YouTube, marking an important addition to an advertisers' arsenal.  We were lucky enough to have access to this when it was still in Beta and can really see how this will add value to client campaigns.   Life events targeting allows advertisers to engage with viewers when they are in the midst of important milestones and are most likely to change their shopping habits or make major purchases.

We are now able to reach users in the key months before or after life events:

  • University graduation
  • Moving House
  • Marriage

 

For example, someone who's likely to move house in the next 12 months, say, will investigate mortgage rates or houses for sale. Someone likely to move much sooner than that might investigate removal companies, and somebody that has moved is likely to then start looking at new furniture once those large expenses have been paid for.

    1. Promotion Extensions

 

AdWords promotion extensions allow advertisers to show a price tag icon beneath ads, highlighting a sale or specific offer on your website. Set up is as simple as creating other ad extensions but the promotion will really stand out in the SERP! Find out more about the set-up here.

    1. Similar Audiences for Search

 

Similar to Facebook's 'Lookalike Audiences', this targeting option allows advertisers to find users with similar search behaviour to those in your RLSA audiences who haven't yet visited your website - basically, users Google believe will be interested in your products or services who are not yet brand aware!

Early beta tests have shown conversion rates similar to core RLSA audiences and 50% better than other new visitor audiences! Find out more here

    1. New Look Search Ads

 

The appearance of the ad label on Google Search changed in 2017 - the solid green background was replaced by a new green outline with white background label, giving the appearance of an organic post. 

With so many new digital revelations in the past year we can't wait for what 2018 will bring to the digital advertising world. To get you off to a good start this year we have a few resolution recommendations to consider:

  1. Don't fear new advertising innovations, they have happened for a reason!
  2. Test more - this is crucial to optimisation.
  3. Stay up to date - if you have been following our Digital Insights this year, you may have noticed the world of digital changes at a rapid pace. Keep your ear to the ground to make sure you are ahead of the game!

 

 

 

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