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Google to ban ads for ‘payday loans’ and other lending at extortionate interest-rates

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Google Adwords will be banning ads for so-called ‘payday loans’ and other lending at very high interest rates. As of July 13th, Google will no longer accept ads for loans that have to be repaid within 60 days, or any loan with an APR exceeding 36%.

The change was announced on Google’s Public Policy Blog.

When reviewing our policies, research has shown that these loans can result in unaffordable payment and high default rates […] This change is designed to protect our users from deceptive or harmful financial products.

Google also shared a stat on action taken against harmful ads in general …


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Google extends accidental click protections to native ads on mobile

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As Sundar Pichai said in the 2016 Founders’ Letter, advertising allows Google’s services to be free. At the same time, it cares about delivering high quality ads and nothing ruins the experience more than accidental clicks. In a blog post, the company delved into various measures that prevent accidental clicks and announced it was extending click protections to native ads on mobile.


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Canada ends investigation into anti-competitive search and ad practices by Google

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With imminent troubles looming in Europe, Canada just closed its three year investigation into anti-competitive practices involving Google’s search and advertising business (via The Verge). The country’s Competition Bureau ultimately “did not find sufficient evidence” that Google’s practices harmed local rivals.


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RIP Flash: Google display ads will be all HTML5 by January 2017

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Google announced on its AdWords G+ profile today that its display ads will soon be 100% HTML5. From June 30th this year, display ads built using Flash can no longer be uploaded into AdWords or DoubleClick Digital Marketing. From January 2nd, 2017, Flash format display ads will no longer run on the Google Display Network or through DoubleClick.


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Google blocked more than 17M fake ‘software system warning’ ads, 12.5M misleading medicinal ads in 2015

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Google has published a blog post revealing just how many bad ads it removed from the web in 2015. Spoiler: they removed a lot.

There can be all kinds of bad ads, whether they’re ads which falsely claim to help weight loss, or phishing sites that trick unassuming web users to submit personal information. Thanks to a team of some 1,000 employees, and some clever computer algorithms, the company was able to remove a ton of ads and ban a huge number of misbehaving advertisers…


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Google Chrome to begin pausing Flash ads around the web on September 1st

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Adobe Flash is notoriously both resource intensive and ubiquitous on the web, which hasn’t helped the open web survive in the consumer shift to mobile devices that have smaller screens and processors. Flash isn’t even supported in most mobile environments anymore because of its poor performance. Google is as a result working hard to eliminate Flash content from its ad network and create a better web browsing experience. Today it announced September 1st is when it will begin pausing many of the Flash ads seen around the web for users of its Chrome web browser.

Fortunately for Google, it’s able to convert most of the Flash ads uploaded to its AdWords advertiser network to the less intensive HTML5 automatically. The company provides a section on its support site where advertisers can go to see what Flash ads are eligible for this conversion, and it has even made a step-by-step tool for converting ads which can’t be automatically converted or haven’t already been uploaded to Google’s servers.

Google first announced this shift back in June, and while the company has its own mobile operating system with a massive amount of native apps in the form of Android, it’s still a big proponent of the web. Perhaps because that’s where it was born, but really because the web isn’t closed off like mobile operating systems, and the underlying hypertext language of the web allows the company to easily scrape and index it for its Search business, among other things. The company introduced a setting to its Chrome browser in March which enables this disabling of Flash plugin content. Chrome for Android and iOS doesn’t support it at all.

With new Report Editor, analyze data using charts and tables directly within AdWords

Many of us are visual learners, and by visualizing data you may be able to notice trends that you otherwise wouldn’t have by just looking at the numbers written out. Google understands this, and is making it possible to quickly visualize data from its AdWords online advertising service through a simple drag-and-drop tool available soon from directly within AdWords itself — yes, no more needing to download your data and explore it elsewhere.


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Google will now walk advertisers through how to bid based on their objectives

Google has a lot of data on how different decisions made throughout the creation of an AdWords display marketing campaign can lead to a lot of different end results. Now it wants to use that insight to help marketers make the right decisions to reach their objectives, be it a transaction or even just an engagement with their website, and has created a step-by-step solution to do just that.

The new tool for display ads, live now in AdWords, takes marketers through the whole ad campaign creation process based on what they want to result to be. For example, someone who just wants people to visit their website may not realize that they can pay just for each click they get, rather than every single impression. Someone who wants to optimize for the amount of times their advertisement is simply seen, though, will probably want to pay for viewable impressions, or those ad placements guaranteed to be visible on the page (i.e. not needing the user to scroll to see them). Using the new setup flow, advertisers can also input their website URL and have Google choose keywords they may want their ad to appear against in search results.

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There are a lot of small decisions like these that advertisers have to consider when creating a new campaign, and a lot of ways to make a mistake that impacts the results. So this new tool simply makes it a lot easier to not mess up. It’s important for Google, too, because a low return on investment for an advertiser is a negative experience that may lead them to not using AdWords again.

Get ready to see search ads in Google’s Play Store: they’re rolling out now

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Google at its I/O developer conference back in May took some time to discuss improvements it was making to its Play Store for Android devices. Of those, one area in particular the company touched on was improving the discoverability of apps through better categorization and the ability for developers to A/B test their listings to find which combination of titles and screenshots would lead to the most downloads.

Another way the company has been working to help developers drive awareness of their apps has been through testing Play Store search advertisements, placing a developers’ app at the top of search results against specific keywords. The ability to purchase these placements is starting to roll out today.
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Local advertisers can now display places ratings in their AdWords ads

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In a world where we’re increasingly reliant on our phones to navigate the world, online reviews can make or break local businesses. Lawsuits regarding negative reviews show up in the news at least a couple times every year, and these review pages are increasingly becoming the battleground where individuals protest against businesses partaking in practices they disagree with. On the other hand, however, a good rating online can entrench and create a moat around a business for years to come. That’s why Google now allows advertisers to include their Google reviews in their AdWords ads.
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Google makes targeting the right customers using Analytics data easier

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Google has a new update out to its Remarketing Lists for Search Ads product that will make it easier for marketers to use Analytics to target the right potential customers and in the process get a higher return on their advertising dollar investment. And while these terms might sound like complete gibberish to you, from a high-level it’s actually not too complicated.


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Report: European mobile networks to block Google & other web ads, threatening free sites

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The Financial Times is reporting that European mobile carriers are planning to block Google and other web ads in order to reduce demands on their networks and break Google’s hold on advertising (via TNW).

According to the story, which cites anonymous sources, the carriers have installed software from Israeli ad-blocking firm Shine in their data centers to block advertising in Web pages and apps, but not social networks.

Many websites, 9to5Google among them, depend on ad revenue to deliver free content to their readers. Any move to block ads could have far-reaching consequences … 
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Video ad viewability is 54% across the web, but as high as 91% on YouTube (Infographic)

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Advertisers want to know that when they pay for a video ad on YouTube or elsewhere across the web, that the advertisement can actually be seen by viewers. A lot can effect an ad being seen, such as the viewer never scrolling to the part of the page where the ad is placed, or users simply scrolling past the ad too quickly to really catch a glimpse. Taking a look into these things, Google recently published the results of a study identifying the “5 factors of viewability,” or, in other words, the things that impact the chance of a video ad being seen.

Unsurprisingly, YouTube and Google’s video ad strategy seems to be strong compared to the rest of the web…


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You can watch Google’s AdWords event right here (Livestream)

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Grab a front row seat at the AdWords livestream on Tuesday, May 5th - YouTube 2015-05-05 10-26-30

Google released a video yesterday teasing all the exciting AdWords announcements it has in store, and today the livestream featuring them is about to be underway. Among the announcements that Google mentioned yesterday include new mobile-focused ad formats, tools to help automate and scale all the things you do in AdWords, and new measurement products to help you measure the impact of your ads across a variety of platforms.


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Google releases video teasing new products at tomorrow’s AdWords livestream

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Google has published a video (above) on its AdWords blog today teasing its next-generation products which will be announced during tomorrow’s annual livestream.

In a previous blog entry, Google said that the event will reveal new products that will help customers:

  • Create better mobile experiences for your customers at the moments when they’re looking for your products and services
  • Measure all the moments that matter to your business – online and offline, across multiple devices and touchpoints
  • Customize and scale everything you do in AdWords, to unlock the full potential of increasingly complex consumer journeys

The stream will kick off at 12:30 PM eastern time, but until then viewers can still register for the live webcast.

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Google AdWords app for Android now available

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Google has just officially launched an AdWords app for Android, and it’s available starting now for all existing AdWords customers globally.

The app brings a companion experience to running AdWords campaigns on the desktop with the ability to view campaign stats, update budgets and bids, get support from Google, and more. It will also bring real-time notifications for AdWords to your Android device.

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More from Google:

Whenever you open the app, you’ll see an overview of your clicks, costs, and conversions. For deeper insights, you can view metrics by ad group, day of week and device… You’ll also receive customized suggestions that you can act on immediately. For example, if there’s an opportunity to get more impressions by adjusting your bids, we’ll let you know so you can make the change right from the app.

The new AdWords app for Android is available on Google Play now for devices running Android 4.0 and up.

  • View campaign stats
  • Update bids and budgets
  • Get real-time alerts and notifications
  • Act on suggestions to improve your campaigns
  • Call a Google expert