Pay Per Click Advertising

Upcoming Changes in Google Ads

As a PPC agency, we’re always keeping a close eye on updates that could impact our campaigns. Today, we’re excited to share some important changes Google Ads is rolling out. These updates focus on search ads query matching and brand controls, aiming to give advertisers more precise control and better insights into your campaign performance.

More Search Terms Reported by Aggregating Misspellings

Misspellings in search queries are already matched to the correct keywords in campaigns. However, many of these misspelled queries haven’t been visible in the search terms report due to privacy thresholds. These are limitations that prevents data sets that are too small to be shared. That’s about to change.

With the new update, misspelled search terms will be aggregated with their correctly spelled counterparts. This means, on average, you’ll see 9% more search terms that previously fell under the “Other” category.

Why This Matters

This is a significant improvement as it provides a clearer picture of which keywords are driving traffic, leads, and sales. By having more comprehensive data, you can fine-tune your campaigns more effectively, ensuring your budget is spent where it counts the most. More visibility is always a good thing so we’re looking forward to this change.

Negative Keywords Now Block Misspellings

Managing negative keywords just got easier. You no longer need to include all variations of misspellings in your negative keyword list. Adding the correct spelling will now block all misspellings automatically.

What This Means

This update simplifies account management and helps streamline negative keyword lists. However, we’re cautious about relying solely on this feature. Where there’s a risk of wasted budget, we’ll continue to monitor and add variations as necessary to ensure optimal performance.

Brand Inclusions in Broad Match Campaigns

Google is introducing brand inclusions in broad match campaigns. This feature ensures your ads match only to queries related to your brand name in broad match campaigns. This update also comes with a name change from “brand restrictions” to “brand inclusions,” following user feedback for clarity.

The Benefits

Advertisers might start seeing recommendations to switch your brand-focused campaigns to broad match and apply brand inclusions. This improved targeting aligns with the trend we’ve observed: Google is enhancing broad match capabilities. While broad match has improved significantly, we believe there’s still a place for other match types to ensure your campaigns are as effective as possible.

Brand Exclusions Across All Match Types and Dynamic Search Ads (DSA)

Previously available in Performance Max campaigns, brand exclusions are now being rolled out in Search ads. This feature will allow you to prevent your ads from showing on queries and misspellings for certain brand names across all match types and DSAs.

How This Helps

Brand exclusions will help you ensure your campaigns are properly targeted and your budget is allocated effectively. By reducing overlap, you can better separate branded campaigns from product and service-based ads, enhancing overall campaign performance.

Final Thoughts

The Google Ads ecosystem goes through regular changes. While these updates aren’t groundbreaking, they do resolve several bugbears for PPC agencies and Google Ads specialists. Small time savings across admin tasks means more time can be invested in others areas and more data and better targets are obvious benefits.

If you’d like to learn more about how these changes will effect your campaigns or are interested in our PPC services, please get in touch.

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