Google Ads are an excellent way to reach new customers online. Google’s ad platform allows you to be very specific about the keywords and audience you’re targeting, but if you’re new to the platform you may prefer a more automated approach to advertising.

With this in mind, Google recently unveiled major changes to their ad platform, many of which are designed to simplify the entire process. So what should you know about Google’s new and improved ad platform? Spend 4 minutes watching the video or read on for the tips.

Smart bidding makes the auction process easier

If you’re a beginner-level user of Google Ads and aren’t quite sure where to start, the new smart bidding feature is for you. Smart bidding uses auction-time bidding, which means it uses machine learning to automatically optimize for conversions in each and every auction.

Smart bidding can simplify the entire bidding process. All you really need to do is let Google know what your goal is, whether it’s getting people to read your blog post or register for your webinar, and Google will handle the bidding process for you.

Google homepage
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Google’s display network is all-or-nothing

One downside to using smart bidding is that it prevents you from handpicking sites from Google’s display network. There are a ton of third party sites that ads can display on, but with a lot of these sites you won’t get anything out of advertising on them. This would be fine if you could just not select these sites, but with smart bidding your only option is to select all or none of the sites in the display network.

Expert mode provides the full Google Ads experience

Switching from smart bidding to expert mode offers the entire range of Google Ads features and campaign types, and allows for more control over your bidding strategy. When it comes to Google’s display network, this means that you can decide if you want your ads to appear on third party sites or focus only on Google.

For example, if you sell fishing gear you can place an ad on a specific YouTube channel geared to fishing enthusiasts.

Google Discover is great for users and advertisers

Discover, which replaces the Google news feed, is superior to other news feeds because it uses algorithms to get to know user preferences. Once familiar with a user’s tastes, Discover will show content specifically tailored to this user’s interests. By discovering relevant content is this way, a user is essentially sent on a web surfing journey.

During this journey is the perfect time to reach these potential customers, and that’s where discovery ads come into play. With discovery ads, you can leave it up to Google to place your ads where they feel is relevant. All you have to do is provide them with pictures and copy, and they’ll make sure your ad is seen by interested Discover users.

Gallery ads allow you to show a series of photos

Imagine you’re a photographer or interior designer. It would be hard for potential customers to see what you can do from just one photo, so wouldn’t you prefer to show an ad with multiple photos? Well that’s exactly what you can do with gallery ads, which allow you to have a carousel of 4 to 8 pictures that people can scroll through.

The early stats on gallery ads are encouraging, as Google is seeing 25% more interaction than with other ad types.

With these improvements, Google Ads has taken steps to make things simpler for less experienced users, but Expert Mode give advanced users access to all the features they’re used to.

Want more tips on using Google like a pro? Take advantage of the free resource The Top 5 Google Analytics Reports You Need and learn how to measure the success of your online campaigns.

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