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Google’s new responsive Search ads, local campaigns, & YouTube ads all leverage ML

Google unveiled a big revamp for all its advertising products last month that simplified branding and introduced new features. Numerous services will be consolidated and better integrated with one another. Today, at Google Marketing Live, the company is better detailing these changes that leverage machine learning.

Search ads were one of Google’s first offerings, and new responsive search ads leverage machine learning to “be helpful and personalized” at scale. Testing shows that this approach results in 15% more ad clicks, with the feature rolling out to all advertisers over the next several months.

Simply provide up to 15 headlines and 4 description lines, and Google will do the rest. By testing different combinations, Google learns which ad creative performs best for any search query. So people searching for the same thing might see different ads based on context.

YouTube is also an important advertising platform for the company due to how consumers have a tendency to turn to videos “for inspiration and information on purchases large and small.”

For example, nearly 1 in 2 car buyers say they turn to YouTube for information before their purchase. And nearly 1 in 2 millennials go there for food preparation tips before deciding what ingredients to buy.

A new Maximize lift — already in beta and available globally this year — feature will target people “who are most likely to consider your brand after seeing a video ad.”

This new Smart Bidding strategy is also powered by machine learning. It automatically adjusts bids at auction time to maximize the impact your video ads have on brand perception throughout the consumer journey.

Local shopping is another important component of advertising today as stores compete with the likes of Amazon and other online retailers. “People still make the majority of their purchases in physical stores,” according to Google with mobile searches for nearby locations growing 3x in the past two years, while “almost 80 percent of shoppers will go in store when there’s an item they want immediately.”

To address this trend, new Local campaigns are designed to drive visits with businesses providing a location and ad. Google will “automatically optimizes your ads across properties to bring more customers into your store.” Similar, Smart Shipping campaign types will gain goals for increasing store visits and customers.


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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com