We're excited about the results we've seen advertisers drive using innovations in AdWords throughout 2013. I wanted to recap a few of the improvements that stand out for me in terms of helping advertisers better connect with consumers and grow their business. I'd also like to share a glimpse at some of the improvements we're planning in AdWords in 2014 and ask for your suggestions and feedback.
Succeeding in a constantly connected world
People are constantly connected and moving from one device to another as they communicate, shop and stay entertained. So last February, we introduced
enhanced campaigns for AdWords. With enhanced campaigns, it became much simpler to manage campaigns across multiple devices while optimizing for your customers' intent and context -- like their location and time of day. Along the way, we shared lots of
best practices and
case studies showing ways to improve your website and grow your business by engaging customers on screens of all sizes.
On top of the new enhanced campaign architecture, and over the course of the year, we went on to add
powerful bidding tools, a new
audience dimension for search ads, and
advanced conversion measurement.
Saving time and increasing performance with powerful new bidding tools
Setting bids to get the best results is important, but it can also be difficult and time consuming. That's why many advertisers use automated tools to save time and more consistently achieve their performance goals. So in addition to the manual bid adjustments in enhanced campaigns (
see our "Bid Like a Pro" guide), we launched new, more flexible automated bidding strategies.
Flexible bid strategies let you selectively apply strategies like Target Cost Per Action or Target Top of Page Position within your campaigns, so you can choose the most appropriate manual or automated bid strategy for your keywords and ad groups. Several of our automated strategies, including
the new Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) strategy, use unique real-time prediction systems that automatically adjust your bid for each auction based on the expected value of a potential click. Many advertisers and agencies, including Point It, have tested and found
strong results.
Unlocking new potential with an audience dimension for search ads
Advertisers have consistently asked us for the ability to tailor search ads to the needs of their best customers. So in June, we introduced a valuable new audience-based capability to search ads: The ability to tailor your bids, ads or even keywords based on a user's previous visits to your website. Thousands of advertisers, such as
Tirendo and WorldStores, have since taken advantage of bidding more optimally for past site visitors to increase their ad visibility, drive incremental sales, and improve ROI using
remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA).
Delivering advanced conversion reporting and more holistic insights
Many businesses, like
American Apparel and
Room & Board, count on AdWords to drive phone calls, visits in store, and orders placed through a sales rep. This year, we've made significant strides in making these conversion objectives measurable in AdWords so you can better optimize and allocate budget. We added the ability to
measure conversions across accounts,
import conversions into AdWords from a CRM system, and
count phone calls as AdWords conversions.
We also introduced a new metric,
estimated cross-device conversions, to help you better measure conversions that start with an ad click on one device and end with an online conversion on a different device.
Amplifying your productivity and your business in 2014
As we look ahead into 2014, we're thinking a lot about ways to amplify your productivity in AdWords. We want you to keep the power, but streamline the work. So you can expect substantial improvements around workflow efficiency, campaign planning, analysis and reporting, opportunity identification, and testing.
We're also developing ways we can make it easier to run AdWords campaigns as a direct extension of your business. This means providing ways to bring your business and website data more directly into AdWords, and allowing campaign elements to work in a more seamless, dynamic, and optimized manner.
And we'll continue innovating with new ways to measure marketing performance in a constantly connected world.
What's on your wish list for 2014?
We get a lot of great ideas from your suggestions and feedback, so please keep it coming. Tell us what's on your wish list for 2014 at
http://g.co/awfeedback. You can also keep up with all the latest updates on AdWords on our
Google+ page.
We're excited to make AdWords even better for you in 2014. Thanks again for your partnership.
Jerry Dischler, VP Product Management, Search Ads
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