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The holiday season is right around the corner - are your Shopping campaigns prepared to maximize increased shopping traffic? To help you get a head start identifying product data gaps and measuring your competitiveness in Shopping campaigns, we’re rolling out product status reporting and absolute top impression share.


Recover potentially lost Shopping traffic

If your Shopping campaign includes products not eligible to serve, that means disapprovals could be affecting the number of shopping results you show up on. See how many of your products are ready to serve by adding product status reporting to reporting charts in the ‘product’ and ‘product groups’ page. For example, a dip in ‘products ready to serve’ means your products are no longer eligible to participate in the auction.
Historical performance using Shopping product status

A new diagnostics report in the products page helps identify your aggregate product status, like products ‘ready to serve’ or ‘disapproved.’ Add performance columns like Clicks and Conversions to the report to prioritize where product updates can make the biggest impact to lost traffic. Click on each product status to see more details on how to fix the issues immediately. Alternatively, you can also view a full list of affected products directly in AdWords from the report. Develop a routine cadence to go through your Shopping campaigns and identify the top performing products not eligible for auction as products details frequently change, especially with the peak holiday season coming up.
Use the products tab (1) and diagnostics report(2) to see product status (3)



New metric shows how often your Shopping ad is in the top spot

Now that your products are eligible to serve, it’s time get them in front of shoppers. The left-most ad on mobile Shopping results get up to 3X more engagement from shoppers1; impressions in this position are called “absolute top” impressions. To see the percentage of time you’re showing in this top position, use absolute top impression share (Search abs. top IS column in AdWords).

Absolute top impression share is the number of “absolute top” impressions you received in Shopping results over the total times you could’ve been in the top impression.

For instance if you showed up as the “absolute top” in 8 search results but were eligible for 20 results, then your absolute top impression share would be 40%. If you have a high absolute top impression share, it means your products often appear at the top position in Google Shopping results. “Absolute top” impressions include ads from the Shopping carousel on Google search results and is available for both Shopping ads and Local Inventory ads.
The “absolute top” impression in mobile Search results
You can use this metric to optimize seasonal campaigns and get in front of more shoppers. Let’s say you sell kitchenware and plan to have a holiday sale on pots and pans. Separate out the sale products into their own product group. Monitor it for two days and adjust bids upwards if you need to make your ads more prominent. Also review absolute top impression share by device at the ad group level. You can optimize an underperforming device audience by increasing the bid modifier. Ad quality is the other factor in growing your absolute top impression share; include high quality images, relevant product titles, and the correct GTINs across your inventory to improve the quality.

To monitor your impact in key categories, you also can combine absolute top impression share with other competitive metrics such as click share. By increasing both metrics, you’re claiming more of shoppers’ attention.

The diagnostics report and absolute top impression share are available starting today in the new Adwords experience2.

To learn more about how to use absolute top impression share and other metrics to prepare for the holidays, visit our Help Center.

Posted by Thomas Houit, Product Manager, Google Shopping
1. Source: Google internal data, Q4 2016 on US mobile Shopping carousel
2. The new AdWords experience is rolling out to all advertisers throughout 2017. Once you have access, you can switch back and forth between the new and previous experiences.

The right ad rotation can help you show your best ads to people looking for what you have to offer. However, it’s not always clear which rotation makes the most sense for your business. That’s why, starting in late September ...
The right ad rotation can help you show your best ads to people looking for what you have to offer. However, it’s not always clear which rotation makes the most sense for your business. That’s why, starting in late September, we’re simplifying ad rotation to two settings: “optimize” and “rotate indefinitely.”


Optimize for your best ads

Powered by Google’s machine learning technology, the new “optimize” setting prioritizes ads that are expected to perform better than other ads within an ad group. This setting will optimize your ads for clicks in each individual auction using signals like keyword, search term, device, location and more.

Keep in mind that using an optimized ad rotation with three or more ads per ad group can increase both clicks and impressions. The more of your ads our system can choose from, the better the expected ad performance.

If you'd like to prioritize conversions, the best way is to use Smart Bidding. Smart Bidding helps you tailor your bids based on the likelihood of a conversion, and will choose the ad most likely to drive that conversion. Note that if you’re using Smart Bidding, AdWords will automatically use the “optimize” ad rotation.


Simplifying even rotation

While an optimized ad rotation works best for most advertisers, we know that some of you prefer more control with an even rotation. Because the “rotate indefinitely” setting is already the easiest way to give your ads equal preference, it will be the sole option for an even rotation going forward.

And to give you even more control, ad rotation settings will be available at the ad group level–meaning that you can use multiple rotation settings across a single campaign. Learn more about ad rotation in the AdWords Help Center, and read our best practices guide to find out which rotation setting is right for you.

Posted by Sylvanus Bent, Product Manager, AdWords
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From finding the right keywords to creating the best ads, you invest a lot of time optimizing your campaigns to drive visitors to your website. But none of that matters if your landing pages aren’t turning those visitors into customers.
From finding the right keywords to creating the best ads, you invest a lot of time optimizing your campaigns to drive visitors to your website. But none of that matters if your landing pages aren’t turning those visitors into customers.

Did you know that nearly one third of smartphone users will immediately switch to another website if yours doesn't satisfy their needs?1 In fact, 64% switch because there are too many steps or they can’t find the information they’re looking for.2

In other words, if your landing pages aren’t mobile-friendly, you’re losing customers and sales.


The “Landing pages” page

Earlier this year at Google Marketing Next, we introduced the “Landing pages” page to help you see how your landing pages are performing. We're rolling it out over the next few weeks in the new AdWords experience.* On this new page, you’ll see which URLs in your account are mobile-friendly, which ones drive the most sales, and which ones may require your attention. For example, find the pages that get a lot of clicks, but aren't mobile-friendly. Then prioritize them for your webmaster so you can convert more of your ad clicks into sales.



Sort “Clicks” in descending order to identify landing pages you may want to fix




“An ad click is just the start of the customer's journey. Everything after that―the speed, mobile-friendliness, ease of use―is paramount to the success of our campaigns. So naturally we're incredibly excited to see this landing page data in AdWords.” ― Nicole Jennings, Senior VP of Paid Digital Media, PMX Agency






“It’s amazing how quickly we can now identify landing page issues and propose the right fixes. When we can get web teams to prioritize changes that improve both organic and paid search performance, it's a big win for everyone.” ― Zach Morrison, President of Elite SEM










Mobile-friendly Click Rate

One of the first metrics you’ll want to look at is “Mobile-friendly Click Rate”: the percentage of mobile clicks that go to a mobile-friendly page, as defined by Google's Mobile-Friendly Test. This metric gives you an idea of which landing pages result in the most or least mobile-friendly experiences. Sort the column in ascending order to identify pages you may want to fix.


Test for mobile friendliness

Once you find a landing page that needs attention, simply click to run a test. AdWords will open up Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test in a new tab so you can review the potential issues, for example the page text being too small or the things people can tap on being too close together.
Google's Mobile-Friendly Test



Learn more

The “Landing pages” page shows data for Search, Display and Video campaign landing pages, however “Mobile-friendly Click Rate” is currently available for Search landing pages only. We’ll be expanding on this data in the coming months. You can learn more in the AdWords Help Center, and learn how Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) can speed up your landing pages to help improve campaign performance.

Posted by Jon Diorio, Group Product Manager, AdWords
1-2. Google / Ipsos Connect, Rising Consumer Expectations in the Micro-Moment, U.S., Dec. 2016 n=1,516 US online smartphone users, A18+
* The new AdWords experience is rolling out to all advertisers throughout 2017. Once you have access, you can switch back and forth between the new and previous experiences.

We recently announced that we'll be moving all AdWords app install campaigns to Universal App Campaigns (UAC) later this year.

With UAC, you can reach the right people across all of Google’s largest properties like Google Search, Google Play, YouTube and the Google Display Network — all from one campaign. You also get access to ad placements exclusive to UAC, like the home and app listing pages in the Google Play Store. These placements connect you to users in “discovery mode” as they browse for their next favorite app.
We recently announced that we'll be moving all AdWords app install campaigns to Universal App Campaigns (UAC) later this year.

With UAC, you can reach the right people across all of Google’s largest properties like Google Search, Google Play, YouTube and the Google Display Network — all from one campaign. You also get access to ad placements exclusive to UAC, like the home and app listing pages in the Google Play Store. These placements connect you to users in “discovery mode” as they browse for their next favorite app.

UAC ad in the Google Play store
UAC uses Google’s machine learning technology to analyze hundreds of millions of signal combinations in real time to optimize your bids and ads to find the best app users for your business goals.

In this post, we’ll share some best practices on how to get the best performance from Universal App Campaigns — whether you’re looking for install volume, in-app actions or both.


Pick the right goal for your campaign


You’ll need to pick an objective for your Universal App campaign. Tell your campaign what kind of users you’d like. This means 1) identifying what you’d like your app users to do, and 2) defining the value of that action.
Example: Say you’re a mobile game developer who’s about to launch a new app. You want as many users to install your app as possible for a target cost-per-install (CPI). Say you expect 1 out of 10 people who install your game to buy a $20 upgrade in the first 30 days. You can afford to pay up to $2 per install (or $20 ÷ 10 installs). Pick the campaign objective “Install volume” and set your target cost-per-install (CPI) to $2. 



Reach different types of users with different campaigns


If you have multiple goals, you can set up a separate campaign for each one. Each campaign will optimize your bids and ads for a specific type of user you’re trying to reach.
Example: After launching your game, you decide you’d like more users who are likely going to buy something, like a $20 upgrade you offer.  
This doesn’t mean that you’d like to stop finding other types of users. You may still want to find people who will install and engage, but not necessarily pay. You create a separate campaign alongside your first one. You set this second campaign’s objective to be “In-app actions.” You calculate your target cost-per-action (CPA) of to be $20, equal to the value of the upgrade.  
Setting campaign bidding objectives
Then, you decrease the target CPI and lower the budget for the first campaign focused on “Install volume.” This signals to AdWords that you’re more interested in users who are likely to complete an in-app action.


Use budgets to find the right mix of users


You can also change the mix of new users for your app as your business needs change.
Continuing the example: Say it’s been a couple of months and you’ve added a social feature and new levels to your game. You want to get this update to as many new users as you can.You adjust the target CPI and budget UP for the campaign that’s focused on “Install Volume.” At the same time, you adjust the budget DOWN for the campaign that’s focused on “In-app actions.” You’re signaling to AdWords yet another change in direction.
After setting new target bids and budgets, periodically measure results waiting for at least 100 conversions before making changes as needed. The campaign needs roughly 100 conversions to recognize and apply patterns confidently to find the users you’re looking for.

Marketers are already seeing positive results from their Universal App campaigns:

“Zynga now operates 100% of AdWords spend through UAC, however we did not get here overnight as it was a long process of testing and learning to understand how to make UAC work for us at scale. We are now able to scale up games profitably and increase operational efficiencies across all aspects of our user acquisition efforts by leveraging UAC machine learning.” - Tyson Nguyen, Senior Manager User Acquisition


“Performance is at the core of our business and Universal App Campaigns out-performed manual campaign management, allowing us to achieve efficiency at scale.” - Jonna Onselius, Mobile Marketing Manager



“As the largest online bus booking platform in the world, increasing bus booking transactions is crucial for our business to stay competitive. UAC helped us achieve this by maximizing transactions at a minimal cost and adapting faster to changing market dynamics when compared to standard app install campaigns.” - Rajiv Kondal, Director, Performance Marketing

“Using relevant ad placements in the Google Play Store, Universal App Campaigns have accelerated our new user growth and expansion into new markets.” - Richard Fenning, Digital Marketing Specialist

Stay tuned for another blog post where we’ll talk about how to steer performance for UAC with your creative assets.

Meanwhile, you can read our best practices guide to learn more about how to get the most from your Universal App Campaigns.

Posted by Sissie Hsiao, Director of Product Management, Mobile Advertising

When you first created your AdWords account, you agreed to Terms and Conditions that provide a common understanding in basic areas like policy, payment and liability. As AdWords grows to meet the needs of businesses around the world, we sometimes need to make updates.
When you first created your AdWords account, you agreed to Terms and Conditions that provide a common understanding in basic areas like policy, payment and liability. As AdWords grows to meet the needs of businesses around the world, we sometimes need to make updates.

Starting today, we’re rolling out new Terms and Conditions in all countries and territories. Please read through these updated terms carefully. They include:

  • More flexibility to notify or inform you via phone calls, text messages and emails.
  • New provisions related to how products and features are tested within AdWords.
  • In the U.S., Canada, and most countries in Latin America and Asia, a provision to use arbitration to resolve disputes rather than jury trials or class actions.* Follow the instructions in the dispute resolution section of the terms to opt-out of this provision (U.S. and Brazil only).
  • New provisions related to the disclosure of technical errors and bugs within AdWords.
  • New data protection terms related to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other EU privacy frameworks.


As with any legal document, you might consider consulting an attorney if you have any questions.


Action required

Please review and accept the new Terms and Conditions by signing in to your AdWords account. When prompted, click ‘“Accept” to indicate your acceptance.

If you use the AdWords API or a third-party tool, you’ll need to log directly into your AdWords account to accept. Accepting won’t affect any of your bids, budgets, invoicing or other campaign settings. However, if you “Decline,” your ads will no longer be eligible to serve.


Don’t see the new terms?

We’re rolling out the new Terms and Conditions globally over the next few months. If you don’t see the prompt to “Accept” the new terms after signing in to your AdWords account, you may need to wait and accept at a later date—we’ll send an email notification once your account(s) is ready. Or someone you’ve authorized to act on your behalf, for example an advertising agency, may have already accepted.

You can view the previous Terms and Conditions in the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Sugeeti Kochhar, Product Manager, AdWords
* Does not apply to countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Throughout the day, when people want to go somewhere, watch something, or buy something, they reach for their mobile phones for help. And it's often a mobile app that delivers what they need — whether it's a new pair of running shoes or puzzle game to pass the time during a flight delay.
Throughout the day, when people want to go somewhere, watch something, or buy something, they reach for their mobile phones for help. And it's often a mobile app that delivers what they need — whether it's a new pair of running shoes or puzzle game to pass the time during a flight delay.

We launched Universal App Campaigns (UAC) two years ago to make it easier for you to grow your app business. UAC uses Google’s unique machine learning technology to help find the customers that matter most to you, based on your business goals — across Google Play, Google.com, YouTube and the millions of sites and apps in the Display Network.

Since then, UAC has delivered unprecedented growth and app engagement for developers and marketers. Advertisers that optimize for in-app actions with UAC, on average, drive 140% more conversions per dollar than other Google app promotion products.1

To help more advertisers take advantage of these benefits, we'll be focusing our efforts and moving all AdWords app install campaigns to UAC later this year. Starting on October 16th, all new app install campaigns created in AdWords will run on UAC. Existing Search, Display and YouTube app promo campaigns will stop running on November 15th, so it’s important to start upgrading to UAC as soon as possible.

Three easy steps to help you move your campaigns to UAC

  1. Review your current AdWords app promotion campaigns: log into AdWords > click the Ads tab and identify your top performing text, banner and video ads.
  2. Create a new UAC and set the right performance goal: build a new UAC by clicking the +Campaign drop-down menu from the "Campaigns" tab > select Universal app. Copy and paste any top performing creatives, especially images and videos, into your new UAC.
    • Set up AdWords conversion tracking through Google Analytics for Firebase, Google Play or one of our third-party App Attribution Partners to find more of your high-value users. Learn more
    • Then, choose the bidding option that best supports your business or campaign goals:

  1. Set the right bids: calculate the average CPI, CPA or ROAS of your existing campaigns as the starting point for your UAC performance goal. Then, monitor your new UAC and adjust bids over time to meet your goal, as there may be some natural changes in performance as you transition between campaign types.


Check out more Best Practices here.


How UAC helps you find more of the right app users

UAC uses machine learning to make the smartest decision for each ad, analyzing hundreds of millions of potential signal combinations in real time — like where people are engaging with your ads and which creatives and keywords perform best.
For example, we may learn that active PayPal users tend to search on Google Play for apps to transfer money to their friends. So, we’ll show more ads on those types of queries and related content.

Over the coming months, we'll deep dive into new features and continue to share best practices to help you get the most out of UAC.

Posted by Sissie Hsiao, Director of Product Management, Mobile Advertising
1. Google Internal Data, July 2017

With more searches now happening on mobile than any other device, expectations for the mobile experience are higher than ever. In fact, over ...
With more searches now happening on mobile than any other device, expectations for the mobile experience are higher than ever. In fact, over 65% of smartphone users now expect to get immediate information while using their smartphone.1 However, mobile constraints can make this difficult–smaller screens and higher latency often get in the way of you showing your customers what they want to know or buy.

Updates like expanded text ads have already helped to make mobile ads more useful and informative, and we’re continuing to build on those principles with extensions. That’s why, starting later this month, we’re changing how mobile ads show sitelinks, callouts and structured snippets.


Useful, tappable sitelinks

Sitelinks help you send people to specific pages on your site directly from your ad, like your store hours page, product pages and more. Going forward, we’re simplifying how mobile sitelinks will show by using both horizontal buttons and larger vertical links.



This makes it easy for you to send people to more relevant, deeper parts of your site–all while giving them the kind of tappable mobile experience they’ve come to expect. Early results show that people are twice as likely to interact with your sitelinks in this new format.2


Making callouts and snippets more readable

Callouts and structured snippets are extensions that provide additional information below your ad copy. Whether it’s to promote a unique offer or highlight a specific aspect of your business, they can be a great way to show off all that your business has to offer.

Previously, both of these extensions appeared in a separate line below your ad. Now, they’ll appear in-line with your ad copy in paragraph form. This means that, on average, more of your callouts and structured snippets will be available to show with your ad. Based on our user studies, people have found this new formatting to be more informative and engaging.3

Learn more about ad extensions in the Help Center, and read our best practices guide to learn how to make your extensions as appealing as possible.

Posted by James Parker, Product Manager, AdWords
1. Google / Ipsos Connect, Rising Consumer Expectations in the Micro-Moment, U.S., Dec. 2016
2. Google internal data
3. Google internal data