Google Ads
Google Ads’ campaigns are a primary traffic and sales channel for many ecommerce businesses. Our vast library of Google Ads’ articles addresses setup, tag management, Google Shopping, structured data, automated bidding, and more.
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Google Ads
Google Ads Updates Search Terms Report, Keyword Match, More
October 10, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
Google Ads released a slew of updates in September to provide advertisers more clarity into ad auctions, performance metrics, and more. This transparency is welcome, especially as the holiday season is around the corner.
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Google Ads
3 Optimizations for Google Shopping Campaigns
September 13, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
The benefits of Google Shopping are compelling. Advertisers consistently experience strong revenue, traffic, and return on ad spend while often paying less per click than standard search campaigns. Still, the performance of Google Shopping ads, like all ads, could plateau. Thus continuous optimizations are key to sustaining results.
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Google Ads
Breaking Down Google Ads New ‘Strikes’ Policy
August 8, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
Google Ads recently introduced a pilot program to combat repeat policy violations. Beginning in September, advertisers who continually violate ad policies will suffer consequences. The system will use "strikes" to assign penalties.
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Google Ads
Need More from Pay-per-click Ads? Try Planning
July 15, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Pay-per-click advertising is essential for many ecommerce and omnichannel retailers. Google, Facebook, and other ad platforms have made it easy to set up a campaign. PPC success, however, often depends on careful planning and preparation, not rushing out to place ads.
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Google Ads
Understanding Dynamic Search Ads in 2021
July 13, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
Ecommerce sites often have hundreds or thousands of product pages. Creating keyword-based ads in Google for each page is laborious and sometimes impractical. That's the purpose of dynamic search ads. Advertisers can tell Google which pages and themes to target on their sites, and Google will dynamically show ads for those targets from relevant search queries.
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Google Ads
Google Ads Updates Performance Max, Customer Match, Product Feeds, More
June 8, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
In its annual Marketing Livestream event last month, Google addressed updates to Google Ads, among other topics. Only a handful of the updates could produce noticeable performance changes for advertisers. I'll review the most impactful updates in this post.
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Google Ads
How to Show Product Ratings in Google Ads
May 30, 2021 • Robert Brady
I've been looking for a set of adjustable dumbbells for my home-based gym. I searched on Google and couldn’t help but notice the yellow rating stars for two of the advertisers. The stars are a strong visual contrast from the other search results.
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Google Ads
When to Auto-apply Google Ads Recommendations
May 3, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
Google Ads is steadily incorporating machine learning into daily account management. Google recently introduced a feature to auto-apply its suggestions in the “Recommendations” tab, offering 17 types of auto-apply recommendations in three categories.
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Google Ads
Understanding Google Ads Impression Share
April 5, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
I'm frequently asked by Google Ads advertisers how their campaigns compare with competitors. It’s an imprecise question. It could refer to performance, exposure, messaging, or more. The most relevant answer is typically impression share — the number of impressions your ads receive divided by the total available.
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Google Ads
CommerceCo Recap: Google Ads Smart Bidding Explained
March 17, 2021 • Armando Roggio
Google Ads Smart Bidding uses machine learning to optimize performance and streamline account management. Done well, Smart Bidding should lead to improved results as your campaigns (small or large) tap into Google's insights about the folks who use its search engine and advertising network and what makes a successful ad.
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Google Ads
Changes to Google Ads Impact Campaign Setup
March 5, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
Google has recently announced three changes that will force advertisers to rethink how they set up campaigns. The changes are: broad match modifier moving to phrase match, responsive search ads becoming the default ad type, the decision to not create alternative tracking identifiers.
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Google Ads
5 Practical Uses for Google Ads Editor
February 4, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
Many tools can help manage a Google Ads account. But the most effective, in my experience, is Google Ads Editor. It's an offline application to download an account and make bulk edits and additions. The tool has saved me days of tedious work by turning hours-long tasks into minutes.
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Google Ads
A Data Studio Template to Automate Ecommerce KPIs
January 5, 2021 • Morgan Jones
Automating key performance indicators streamlines data collection and enables real-time reporting. Collecting and reporting from multiple data sources is possible in Google Data Studio, an excellent platform. To help, I've created a free Data Studio template that you can use for your business. I'll explain the template in this post.
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Google Ads
4 Uses for Google Ads’ New Insights Tab
January 4, 2021 • Matthew Umbro
Google Ads introduced Insights in late 2020. The new beta feature will roll out to advertisers in the coming months. Similar to the Keyword Planner, Insights provides advertisers a sense of trending keywords.
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Google Ads
Big Changes from Google Ads in 2020
December 23, 2020 • Robert Brady
The year 2020 witnessed raging Australian wildfires, a presidential impeachment, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Google Ads had some big changes this year, too.
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Google Ads
When to Apply Google Ads Recommendations (or Not)
December 3, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
The work of a pay-per-click ad specialist is seemingly never complete — more optimizations are always possible. Google Ads provides a recommendations tab to help. These include changes to core account components.
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Google Ads
Understanding Google’s Smart Shopping Campaigns
November 2, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
I’ve written many articles in the last year that address Google Ads' automation. Used carefully, automation — bidding, dynamic copy, scripts — can free up time for strategy. In this post, I’ll focus on Smart Shopping campaigns for Google Shopping.
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Google Ads
Google Ads Decreases Search Terms Visibility
October 4, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
In early September, Google Ads announced that the search terms report would disclose fewer user queries. The explanation from Google is to "maintain our standards of privacy and strengthen our protections around user data." The search terms report allows you to see the actual queries from users.
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Google Ads
Using Google Analytics to Optimize Google Ads
September 13, 2020 • Morgan Jones
The Google Ads reporting suite in Google Analytics is essential for advertisers looking to drive profitable sales. I'll explain the setup and analysis process in this post. Before you can view Google Ads reports in Google Analytics, complete a couple of steps.
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Google Ads
4 More Google Ads Scripts to Automate Tasks, Save Time
September 6, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
Google Ads scripts automate routine tasks. Last fall, I shared three such scripts that are helpful to me. In this post, I'll address four additional Google Ads scripts that automate tasks and save time.
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Google Ads
What Is Performance Marketing?
August 26, 2020 • Armando Roggio
With performance marketing, businesses pay only when they get results. While it doesn't necessarily guarantee a good return on investment, performance marketing is often a contributor to success for ecommerce merchants.
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Google Ads
‘Buy On Google’ Opens to All Merchants
August 5, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
Google Shopping has made its second significant change in the last few months. The first change was implementing free Google Shopping listings. The second is opening the “Buy on Google” program for all merchants, commission-free.
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Google Ads
Understanding ‘Explanations’ in Google Ads
July 26, 2020 • Robert Brady
You may have noticed blue, hyperlinked performance stats recently in your Google Ads interface. This is a new feature called "explanations." In this post, I’ll explain explanations and how they can improve results.
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Google Ads
3 Ways to Scale Ecommerce with Data
July 9, 2020 • Anna Kayfitz
Scaling an ecommerce business requires insights into the market, consumers, and products. In this post, I'll address each aspect and how data can help.
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Google Ads
The Anatomy of a Text Ad
June 30, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
Google and Microsoft advertisers have had to rethink quality copy with the format of expanded text ads and responsive search ads. But the principles of the copy are the same for all pay-per-click ads: include the searcher's query, the product's value propositions, and a clear call-to-action.
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Google Ads
Guide to Google Ads Automated Bidding Options
June 4, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
Automated bids in Google Ads remove control from advertisers and rely on Google's algorithm for cost and performance. Google can set automated bids by the query, ad creative, apps, browser, language, operating system, and search partner. Plus, automated bidding utilizes first- and third-party data and other signals not available to advertisers directly.
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Google Ads
Don’t Drop Google Shopping Ads Despite the Free Listings
May 7, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
In a surprise, Google announced on April 21 that a portion of listings on the Google Shopping tab would be free. Google had required sellers to create a Merchant Center account and run Shopping Ads through Google Ads. Henceforth, sellers with Shopping listings will still need a Merchant Center account but not Google Ads.
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Google Ads
Google Brings Back Free Shopping Listings
April 30, 2020 • Jill Kocher Brown
This week, after a 12-year hiatus, Google reintroduced free listings to the shopping tab of search result pages. These free listings potentially fill a need that has been festering for years, enabling more ecommerce sites to compete in shopping searches.
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Google Ads
How to Use Competitors’ Names in Google Ads
April 20, 2020 • Robert Brady
A hotly debated topic in paid search marketing is bidding on competitors' names and phrases. The considerations go beyond legalities. Whether to do it, and how, is what I'll address in this post.
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Google Ads
In Google Ads, Balance Automated Bids with User Control
April 8, 2020 • Matthew Umbro
In "3 Handy Google Ads Scripts to Automate Tasks," I addressed methods to expedite pay-per-click management. But, in my experience, advertisers should cautiously embrace Google's push to automate campaigns. The key is to find the right balance of automation and user control.
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