This Week’s Industry News
Compiled by the Rocket Clicks Team
Top Stories
Google Changing AdWords Name to Google Ads
After 18 years, AdWords will cease to be and will now be called Google Ads. Taking a look back, AdWords launched in 2000 with about 350 advertisers which specifically ran text ads on desktop Search. Since then, the platform has evolved to support other ad formats like shopping, display, video, and app installs. Google’s head of ads and commerce Sridhar Ramaswamy stated that “Google Ads, in our opinion, is a much more straightforward representation of what Google advertising can provide.” Source: Search Engine Land
Indexing API for Job Posting URLs
Google’s new indexing API allows site owners to directly notify Google when job posting pages are added or removed. This allows Google to schedule job postings for a fresh crawl.
Currently, the API can only be used for pages that include job posting structured data. You can check each time Google received a notification for a given URL. To set this up, you will have to use Google API Console to create a project and have verified ownership in Search Console. Source: Google Blog
Facebook Pages Now Show All Ads a Page is Running
In a continued push for transparency around pages and ads for Facebook, pages now include an “Info & Ads” section that lists all ads a page has run across Facebook and it’s partner networks. Anyone can now go to a page and see it’s full scope of advertising in addition to an option being included to flag an ad that may be deemed as “suspicious”. Facebook will now also share more detailed page information like when it was created and if there have been any recent name changes. According to Facebook, more page information will be available in the near future. Source: Marketing Land
Local Pack updates
Google has added a new local pack maps filter in the search results to let you filter based on the last time you visited a location. You can filter based on places you have not visited, ones that you have or both using the filter. Icon have also been added to map listings to display “visited 10 months ago” or “saved to places” under each listing. Google is also testing more specific dynamic filters for search queries in the local pack, so if you search for best restaurant within 15 miles, you will be able to filter by “top-rated” and “within 15 miles.” Source: SEO Round Table
Analysis
Why You Should Test Target ROAS in Shopping
PPC Hero Dan Rocklin makes a case for testing Target ROAS bidding in Shopping campaigns in AdWords. He first notes that many advertisers are skeptical of automated bidding due to bad past experiences, but notes that Google’s machine learning algorithms have consistently been improving over time. He also notes that even if the performance gains end up being marginal or non-existent, setting an automated Target ROAS bid strategy will free time for the digital marketer to spend more time on other strategies. In addition, when thinking back on that failed test, the author notes that more often than not the algorithm may not have been able to make a decision right away due to limited data, so time and patience may be required. Rocklin also asks readers to consider running the Target ROAS test again if it was run in a campaign that was limited by budget and currently is not limited by budget as initial results may have led to limited data. Source: Dan Rocklin, PPC Hero
Google Maps Performance Cards
Google My Business has a dashboard performance card that provides a summary of your business’s reach and engagement on Google. You can see how many views, searches and actions you’ve received over the past 28 days from the Home tab. The view tab highlights where your business’s views take place in search and Maps, the searches tab show the breakdown of your business’s direct and discovery search traffic and Actions highlight the most common actions when viewing your business, like clicks to your site, direction request ions and click to call. Use these features to gather more insights about your business performance. Source: SEO Roundtable
