Tag Archives: Search Ads

Get ready for Smart Shopping and Local campaign upgrades

New year, same trend: Consumers continue to tap into an ever-growing number of places to get inspiration and find what they need. This past holiday season, 54% of shoppers used five or more channels, like video and social media, to shop over a two-day period.[ec0303]

Performance Max uses Google’s automation to help advertisers reach shoppers as they browse for things they love — online and in stores.[053cc9]It builds on Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to deliver the same foundational features, while adding brand new inventory and automation insights. Starting in April, you can begin upgrading your Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to Performance Max to access additional inventory and formats across YouTube, Search text ads and Discover.[d34fff]Based on early testing, advertisers who upgrade Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max see an average increase of 12% in conversion value at the same or better return on ad spend (ROAS).[7cb4f9]

Performance Max allows you to grow online, offline or omnichannel sales by unlocking all of Google’s ad inventory from a single campaign with a product feed. For example, you can transform your Video ads into your digital storefront and highlight your top products on YouTube — right where valuable customers are watching relevant video content every day.

Learn how to upgrade Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to Performance Max

Here’s a preview of the upgrade process so you know what to expect and how to plan ahead to set your campaigns up for success.[c7f14c]

Keep these key milestones in mind as you prepare for the upgrade:

  • Create new campaigns with Performance Max: You can continue using your existing Smart Shopping and Local campaigns until you’ve upgraded them to Performance Max later this year. For any new campaigns you create in Google Ads, start using Performance Max. You’ll access ad inventory that’s already available in Smart Shopping and Local campaigns plus new inventory and formats — including across YouTube, Search text ads and Discover.[d34fff]
  • Upgrade with a one-click tool: Starting in April, you can easily upgrade your Smart Shopping campaigns with a new “one-click” tool in Google Ads. You’ll be able to upgrade your Local campaigns with the tool starting in June. The tool gives you flexibility to upgrade specific campaigns or all of your campaigns at once.[076e64]Learnings from your existing campaigns will be used in your new Performance Max campaigns to maintain consistent performance.
  • Upgrade automatically: From July through September, your Smart Shopping campaigns will be automatically upgraded for you. Your Local campaigns will be automatically upgraded from August through September. You will no longer be able to create new Smart Shopping and Local campaigns once your existing campaigns are automatically upgraded. The automatic upgrade process will conclude by the end of September to ensure you’re well prepared to use Performance Max for the 2022 holiday season.

Leading e-commerce partners like Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce are already working to support Performance Max so more merchants can benefit from new inventory and formats to connect with their customers. All merchants and partners will be able to upgrade their Smart Shopping and Local campaigns through the Google Ads API later this year. Learn more about the process in our developer blog.

Prepare for campaign upgrades with new resources

Tune in to our upcoming webinar in February, where product experts will demonstrate the one-click upgrade tool and dive into best practices for creating new Performance Max campaigns. They’ll also explain the new technology used in your campaign upgrades to help you get better results, faster.

Meanwhile, our updated Performance Max best practices guide has new recommendations geared towards achieving your online and offline goals. You can also explore the infographic below to understand how to use Performance Max with other Google Ads campaigns.

Infographic of how to use Performance Max together with other campaign types based on advertiser objectives: Lead Generation, Online Sales, Offline Sales (omnichannel) or Offline Sales (offline-only). The guidance is for advertisers to maximize performance in their Search campaigns first. At the bottom, it shows three options for how to grow performance across other channels. Advertisers can test Performance Max to access all Google Ads inventory from a single campaign, upgrade to Performance Max later this year if they’re currently using Smart Shopping or Local campaigns, and/or use Video, Display or Discovery campaigns if they want to increase performance on specific channels or reach specific audiences.

In the coming months, we’ll share tools and tips to help you at each milestone and make your upgrade process as smooth as possible. In the meantime, share your questions and comments and we’ll address them in our upcoming webinar. You can also follow @AdsLiasion to stay updated throughout the process.

Performance Max campaigns launch to all advertisers

In an unpredictable year, change has been a reliable constant. And we’ve seen this clearly in online consumer behavior. For example, Google Image searches for "yard landscaping ideas" have grown globally by over 80% YoY1 as people look for more ways to spruce up their homes. Meanwhile, searches for "best all-inclusive resorts" have grown globally by over 200% YoY2 as people get inspired to travel again.

Thankfully, advertisers don’t have to predict the future to be ready for it. If change is the challenge, automation is the solution businesses and agencies are using to stay ahead of ongoing shifts in consumer demand. Last year, we introduced Performance Max campaigns as a new way to buy Google ads across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign. They complement your keyword-based Search campaigns to help you grow performance across Google’s full range of advertising channels and inventory.

After strong beta results, Performance Max campaigns will roll out to all advertisers around the world starting today. They will also become the next generation of Smart Shopping and Local campaigns, which will both upgrade to Performance Max next year.3

Illustration of six mobile devices lined up next to each other, each showing a different ad example across Google’s channels. From left to right, they show ads on YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Google Maps. Above the phones are the logos for each.

Performance Max campaigns help you increase conversions across Google’s full range of advertising channels and inventory.

Find more customers where they are

Consumers are moving seamlessly between online experiences to find buying inspiration. 70% of U.S. shoppers report buying from a brand after seeing it on YouTube,4 and 91% of Google feed users say they took some kind of shopping or product-related action immediately after discovering new products, services or brands on their feed.5

Performance Max allows you to promote your business across all Google Ads inventory. As a result, you can show up for more customers and drive more conversions based on your goals. In fact, advertisers that use Performance Max campaigns in their account see an average increase of 13% total incremental conversions at a similar cost per action.6 Whether you’re focused on increasing online sales, generating leads, or growing offline sales, Performance Max helps you achieve your goals in four main ways:

1. Increasing conversions and value: Automation optimizes your budget and bids across channels to help you capture new conversion opportunities in real time.

Performance Max has helped us activate a complementary, full-funnel strategy. Thanks to advanced machine learning capabilities, we’ve been able to gain incremental reach and conversions very efficiently. Inmaculada Lestayo Campos
Digital Marketing Manager, Allianz

2. Finding new customers: Unlock new audience segments by using Google’s real-time understanding of user intent, behavior and context to show up in the right moments with more relevant ads.

Performance Max can be activated quickly and at scale to optimize the web journey and drive more subscriptions. It delivers strong targeting signals for a more competitive CPA and dynamic budget optimization by channel. Guylain Meykiechel
Head of Global Media Strategy, Deezer

3. Gaining richer insights: Performance Max campaigns are now part of the Insights page to help you understand how automation is working and how you can improve your campaign. Using the Combinations report, you can also see how your top-performing assets are being combined to build creatives.

  • Image of the Insights page in Google Ads. The first section shows a line graph in the center with red and blue trend lines going up. There are additional sections titled “Top insights” and “Zoom in on conversion changes within your campaign.”

    Explore the Insights page to understand what’s driving performance.

  • Image of the Insights page in Google Ads. The top of the image includes two cards, each labeled “Audience Insight.” Below the cards is a chart titled “Top audience segments,” with columns for “Audience segment,” “Type,” “Share of conversions” and “Index.” The first three rows of audience segments have a green “Optimized” label next to them, while the last two rows have a blue “Signal” label next to them.

    See which audiences are influencing performance the most — including new audience segments you might not have expected or known about before.

  • Image of the Combinations report in the Google Ads interface, titled “Top image combinations.” Below are six cards, each with a colorful illustration, including a woman with her cat and dog, a dog being examined at the vet, and a dog and cat sleeping on the couch next to each other. An example illustrated logo shows an animal paw superimposed on a shield. Text headlines are: “Get top-rated coverage”, “Pet insurance”, “Protect your pet with trusted insurance” and “Low deductible, includes a 24/6 chat line.” At the bottom right of each card is a blue link to preview each ad.

    See which assets perform the best together in the Combinations report and get ideas for future assets to upload.

4. Working together with automation: Steer automation by providing high-quality creative assets and sharing your expertise about which audiences are most likely to convert.

The results from Performance Max campaigns were amazing. They helped us enter a new market to grow potential customers in a short period. We’d like to roll out Performance Max to other markets as well! Evelyn Zhao
SEA Regional Marketing Manager, SAIC-MG Motors

Get new features designed for retailers and local marketers

Performance Max campaigns allow retailers and local marketers to access new ad inventory and formats not currently available with Smart Shopping or Local campaigns — including on channels like YouTube, Search and Discover. To help you increase sales, Smart Shopping and Local campaigns will both upgrade to Performance Max in 2022. We’ll work closely with you and your partners to get feedback and build the right tools to help you easily transition your campaigns. Stay tuned for more information early next year.

We know the holidays are a critical time of year for your business. You should continue using Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to reach more shoppers across online and in-store experiences this holiday season. However, when the time is right for your business, you can start testing Performance Max campaigns before next year’s campaign upgrades.

Not only did Performance Max outperform our previous Smart Shopping campaigns, but it also took our efficiency to the next level, and allowed us to grow our revenue in a more profitable way. Eric Tsai
VP of Marketing and Business Development, Joybird
Performance Max became such a significant contributor towards our marketing objectives that we are now planning to roll it out across all of our accounts. Simon Achermann
Head of Online, microspot.ch

In the next few months, we’ll introduce new features in Performance Max specifically for retailers and businesses with store locations. For example, you’ll have the option to focus your campaigns to exclusively optimize for new customer acquisition. If you’re a retailer with a local inventory feed, you’ll also see new Search and Maps ad formats powered by your products to help drive more foot traffic to your stores.

Upgrading Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to Performance Max next year will help you get more value from Google Ads while simplifying the number of campaigns you use to achieve your goals. We’ll continue investing in Performance Max and improving our automation technology over time to help you get better results.

To set your Performance Max campaigns up for success, check out our new best practices guide and video. You can also take the Skillshop e-learning course for Performance Max campaigns to get more tips on how to use them to their full potential. And explore the Demystifying Automation interactive demo to learn how different automation technologies can supercharge your marketing capabilities.

1. Google Data, Global English, Jun 22, 2021 - Aug 20, 2021 vs Jun 22, 2020 - Aug 20, 2020
2. Google Data, Global English, Jun 22, 2021 - Aug 20, 2021 vs Jun 22, 2020 - Aug 20, 2020
3. In Europe, Performance Max campaigns can be used with any Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) you work with. The ads will show on general search results pages and on any other surfaces the CSS has opted in to.
4. Google/Talkshoppe, US, whyVideo study, n=2000 A18-64 Genpop video users, Feb 2020
5. Google/Ipsos, Google Feed Consumer Insights, June 2020, Online survey. Americans 18+ who made a discovery on at least one Google feed (feeds defined as Google app, Chrome app, YouTube, Gmail) on a mobile device. Base: Feed users n=1,053
6. Google Data, Global, Ads, July - September 2021

Performance Max campaigns launch to all advertisers

In an unpredictable year, change has been a reliable constant. And we’ve seen this clearly in online consumer behavior. For example, Google Image searches for "yard landscaping ideas" have grown globally by over 80% YoY1 as people look for more ways to spruce up their homes. Meanwhile, searches for "best all-inclusive resorts" have grown globally by over 200% YoY2 as people get inspired to travel again.

Thankfully, advertisers don’t have to predict the future to be ready for it. If change is the challenge, automation is the solution businesses and agencies are using to stay ahead of ongoing shifts in consumer demand. Last year, we introduced Performance Max campaigns as a new way to buy Google ads across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign. They complement your keyword-based Search campaigns to help you grow performance across Google’s full range of advertising channels and inventory.

After strong beta results, Performance Max campaigns will roll out to all advertisers around the world starting today. They will also become the next generation of Smart Shopping and Local campaigns, which will both upgrade to Performance Max next year.3

Illustration of six mobile devices lined up next to each other, each showing a different ad example across Google’s channels. From left to right, they show ads on YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Google Maps. Above the phones are the logos for each.

Performance Max campaigns help you increase conversions across Google’s full range of advertising channels and inventory.

Find more customers where they are

Consumers are moving seamlessly between online experiences to find buying inspiration. 70% of U.S. shoppers report buying from a brand after seeing it on YouTube,4 and 91% of Google feed users say they took some kind of shopping or product-related action immediately after discovering new products, services or brands on their feed.5

Performance Max allows you to promote your business across all Google Ads inventory. As a result, you can show up for more customers and drive more conversions based on your goals. In fact, advertisers that use Performance Max campaigns in their account see an average increase of 13% total incremental conversions at a similar cost per action.6 Whether you’re focused on increasing online sales, generating leads, or growing offline sales, Performance Max helps you achieve your goals in four main ways:

1. Increasing conversions and value: Automation optimizes your budget and bids across channels to help you capture new conversion opportunities in real time.

Performance Max has helped us activate a complementary, full-funnel strategy. Thanks to advanced machine learning capabilities, we’ve been able to gain incremental reach and conversions very efficiently. Inmaculada Lestayo Campos
Digital Marketing Manager, Allianz

2. Finding new customers: Unlock new audience segments by using Google’s real-time understanding of user intent, behavior and context to show up in the right moments with more relevant ads.

Performance Max can be activated quickly and at scale to optimize the web journey and drive more subscriptions. It delivers strong targeting signals for a more competitive CPA and dynamic budget optimization by channel. Guylain Meykiechel
Head of Global Media Strategy, Deezer

3. Gaining richer insights: Performance Max campaigns are now part of the Insights page to help you understand how automation is working and how you can improve your campaign. Using the Combinations report, you can also see how your top-performing assets are being combined to build creatives.

  • Image of the Insights page in Google Ads. The first section shows a line graph in the center with red and blue trend lines going up. There are additional sections titled “Top insights” and “Zoom in on conversion changes within your campaign.”

    Explore the Insights page to understand what’s driving performance.

  • Image of the Insights page in Google Ads. The top of the image includes two cards, each labeled “Audience Insight.” Below the cards is a chart titled “Top audience segments,” with columns for “Audience segment,” “Type,” “Share of conversions” and “Index.” The first three rows of audience segments have a green “Optimized” label next to them, while the last two rows have a blue “Signal” label next to them.

    See which audiences are influencing performance the most — including new audience segments you might not have expected or known about before.

  • Image of the Combinations report in the Google Ads interface, titled “Top image combinations.” Below are six cards, each with a colorful illustration, including a woman with her cat and dog, a dog being examined at the vet, and a dog and cat sleeping on the couch next to each other. An example illustrated logo shows an animal paw superimposed on a shield. Text headlines are: “Get top-rated coverage”, “Pet insurance”, “Protect your pet with trusted insurance” and “Low deductible, includes a 24/6 chat line.” At the bottom right of each card is a blue link to preview each ad.

    See which assets perform the best together in the Combinations report and get ideas for future assets to upload.

4. Working together with automation: Steer automation by providing high-quality creative assets and sharing your expertise about which audiences are most likely to convert.

The results from Performance Max campaigns were amazing. They helped us enter a new market to grow potential customers in a short period. We’d like to roll out Performance Max to other markets as well! Evelyn Zhao
SEA Regional Marketing Manager, SAIC-MG Motors

Get new features designed for retailers and local marketers

Performance Max campaigns allow retailers and local marketers to access new ad inventory and formats not currently available with Smart Shopping or Local campaigns — including on channels like YouTube, Search and Discover. To help you increase sales, Smart Shopping and Local campaigns will both upgrade to Performance Max in 2022. We’ll work closely with you and your partners to get feedback and build the right tools to help you easily transition your campaigns. Stay tuned for more information early next year.

We know the holidays are a critical time of year for your business. You should continue using Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to reach more shoppers across online and in-store experiences this holiday season. However, when the time is right for your business, you can start testing Performance Max campaigns before next year’s campaign upgrades.

Not only did Performance Max outperform our previous Smart Shopping campaigns, but it also took our efficiency to the next level, and allowed us to grow our revenue in a more profitable way. Eric Tsai
VP of Marketing and Business Development, Joybird
Performance Max became such a significant contributor towards our marketing objectives that we are now planning to roll it out across all of our accounts. Simon Achermann
Head of Online, microspot.ch

In the next few months, we’ll introduce new features in Performance Max specifically for retailers and businesses with store locations. For example, you’ll have the option to focus your campaigns to exclusively optimize for new customer acquisition. If you’re a retailer with a local inventory feed, you’ll also see new Search and Maps ad formats powered by your products to help drive more foot traffic to your stores.

Upgrading Smart Shopping and Local campaigns to Performance Max next year will help you get more value from Google Ads while simplifying the number of campaigns you use to achieve your goals. We’ll continue investing in Performance Max and improving our automation technology over time to help you get better results.

To set your Performance Max campaigns up for success, check out our new best practices guide and video. You can also take the Skillshop e-learning course for Performance Max campaigns to get more tips on how to use them to their full potential. And explore the Demystifying Automation interactive demo to learn how different automation technologies can supercharge your marketing capabilities.

1. Google Data, Global English, Jun 22, 2021 - Aug 20, 2021 vs Jun 22, 2020 - Aug 20, 2020
2. Google Data, Global English, Jun 22, 2021 - Aug 20, 2021 vs Jun 22, 2020 - Aug 20, 2020
3. In Europe, Performance Max campaigns can be used with any Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) you work with. The ads will show on general search results pages and on any other surfaces the CSS has opted in to.
4. Google/Talkshoppe, US, whyVideo study, n=2000 A18-64 Genpop video users, Feb 2020
5. Google/Ipsos, Google Feed Consumer Insights, June 2020, Online survey. Americans 18+ who made a discovery on at least one Google feed (feeds defined as Google app, Chrome app, YouTube, Gmail) on a mobile device. Base: Feed users n=1,053
6. Google Data, Global, Ads, July - September 2021

Magic in the making: The 4 pillars of great creative

Consumers report that helpfulness is their top expectation of brands since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 78% saying a brand's advertising should show how they can be helpful in everyday life.1 This means businesses need to quickly engage audiences with meaningful messages, using immersive storytelling to bring their brand and products to life.

To help you build visually-rich ad experiences that easily drive consumers to action, we've brought together our top creative guidance across Google Ads solutions in a single guide. Learn to craft stronger calls-to-action, engaging ad copy and striking visual assets — plus, get the latest insights from our team of creative and data scientists at Creative Works. You can also explore tips by marketing objective in order to craft more impactful creative to meet your business goals.

An image of two phones featuring natural soap products.

Dr. Squatch using a clear call-to-action, engaging copy and rich product visuals with Google Ads.

The 4 pillars of compelling creative

Lead with a clear call-to-action:Personalized descriptions perform up to two times better for their campaign goal versus non-personalized descriptions.2 This means businesses need to help consumers immediately see what they have to offer by including words like "you" to draw attention, and adding their product or brand name in headlines and descriptions.

Connect more authentically with a wide variety of assets:Audiences take action faster if they can relate to your message — 64% of consumers said they took some sort of action after seeing an ad that they considered to be diverse or inclusive.3 And images that feature people perform over 30% better for their campaign goal versus images that don’t.4 Given the variety of consumers looking online for new products to try, brands should show a wide range of people using their products or services to resonate with audiences.

Build for smaller screens: Images with no overlaid text, or overlaid text under 20 characters, perform up to 1.2X better for their campaign goal versus images with longer overlaid text.5 With people spending more time on a broad range of small devices, businesses should consider how and where consumers are seeing their ads and provide visual assets that clearly communicate their call-to-action.

Give your creatives time to test: We've seen that waiting 2-3 weeks between changes to ad creative minimizes performance fluctuations, allowing the Google Ads system time to learn and adapt to your most effective assets. Review Ad strength and asset reporting to better understand which assets resonate best and help you make the call on which to remove or replace.

An image of two phones featuring beauty products.

Beauty brand COSMEDIX using a variety of image assets in multiple aspect ratios with Google Ads.

Get help with building better assets

Consumers expect businesses of all sizes to offer more helpful brand experiences. Stand out with more relevant, engaging offers with help from our new guide to building better creative. And for more support with developing new creative assets or campaign strategies, check out our approved creative production agencies to find the right partner to help you achieve your business goals.

1. Kantar, COVID-19 Barometer Global Report, Wave2, runs across 50 countries, n=9,815, fielded 27th-30th March 2020.

2. Google internal data based on an aggregate study of median performance of campaign goals for Responsive display ads (CTR), Discovery ads (CTR, CVR), Video action campaigns (VTR) and Video discovery ads (VTR) across 78K assets for Media & Entertainment, Retail, and Finance verticals. Global. January 2020 - June 2021.

3. Google/Ipsos, U.S., Inclusive Marketing Study, n of 2,987 U.S. consumers ages 13–54 who access the internet at least monthly, Aug. 2019.

4. Google internal data based on an aggregate study of median performance of campaign goals for Discovery ads (CTR, CVR), Video action campaigns (VTR), Video discovery ads (VTR), App campaigns for installs (IPM), and App campaigns for engagement (EPM) for Media & Entertainment, Retail, and Finance verticals. Global. January 2020 - June 2021.

5. Google internal data based on an aggregate study of median performance of campaign goals for Discovery ads (CTR, CVR), and Responsive display ads (CTR) across 78K assets for Media & Entertainment, Retail, and Finance verticals. Global. January 2020 - June 2021.

Magic in the making: The 4 pillars of great creative

Consumers report that helpfulness is their top expectation of brands since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 78% saying a brand's advertising should show how they can be helpful in everyday life.1 This means businesses need to quickly engage audiences with meaningful messages, using immersive storytelling to bring their brand and products to life.

To help you build visually-rich ad experiences that easily drive consumers to action, we've brought together our top creative guidance across Google Ads solutions in a single guide. Learn to craft stronger calls-to-action, engaging ad copy and striking visual assets — plus, get the latest insights from our team of creative and data scientists at Creative Works. You can also explore tips by marketing objective in order to craft more impactful creative to meet your business goals.

An image of two phones featuring natural soap products.

Dr. Squatch using a clear call-to-action, engaging copy and rich product visuals with Google Ads.

The 4 pillars of compelling creative

Lead with a clear call-to-action:Personalized descriptions perform up to two times better for their campaign goal versus non-personalized descriptions.2 This means businesses need to help consumers immediately see what they have to offer by including words like "you" to draw attention, and adding their product or brand name in headlines and descriptions.

Connect more authentically with a wide variety of assets:Audiences take action faster if they can relate to your message — 64% of consumers said they took some sort of action after seeing an ad that they considered to be diverse or inclusive.3 And images that feature people perform over 30% better for their campaign goal versus images that don’t.4 Given the variety of consumers looking online for new products to try, brands should show a wide range of people using their products or services to resonate with audiences.

Build for smaller screens: Images with no overlaid text, or overlaid text under 20 characters, perform up to 1.2X better for their campaign goal versus images with longer overlaid text.5 With people spending more time on a broad range of small devices, businesses should consider how and where consumers are seeing their ads and provide visual assets that clearly communicate their call-to-action.

Give your creatives time to test: We've seen that waiting 2-3 weeks between changes to ad creative minimizes performance fluctuations, allowing the Google Ads system time to learn and adapt to your most effective assets. Review Ad strength and asset reporting to better understand which assets resonate best and help you make the call on which to remove or replace.

An image of two phones featuring beauty products.

Beauty brand COSMEDIX using a variety of image assets in multiple aspect ratios with Google Ads.

Get help with building better assets

Consumers expect businesses of all sizes to offer more helpful brand experiences. Stand out with more relevant, engaging offers with help from our new guide to building better creative. And for more support with developing new creative assets or campaign strategies, check out our approved creative production agencies to find the right partner to help you achieve your business goals.

1. Kantar, COVID-19 Barometer Global Report, Wave2, runs across 50 countries, n=9,815, fielded 27th-30th March 2020.

2. Google internal data based on an aggregate study of median performance of campaign goals for Responsive display ads (CTR), Discovery ads (CTR, CVR), Video action campaigns (VTR) and Video discovery ads (VTR) across 78K assets for Media & Entertainment, Retail, and Finance verticals. Global. January 2020 - June 2021.

3. Google/Ipsos, U.S., Inclusive Marketing Study, n of 2,987 U.S. consumers ages 13–54 who access the internet at least monthly, Aug. 2019.

4. Google internal data based on an aggregate study of median performance of campaign goals for Discovery ads (CTR, CVR), Video action campaigns (VTR), Video discovery ads (VTR), App campaigns for installs (IPM), and App campaigns for engagement (EPM) for Media & Entertainment, Retail, and Finance verticals. Global. January 2020 - June 2021.

5. Google internal data based on an aggregate study of median performance of campaign goals for Discovery ads (CTR, CVR), and Responsive display ads (CTR) across 78K assets for Media & Entertainment, Retail, and Finance verticals. Global. January 2020 - June 2021.

How retailers can stand out this holiday season

The holiday season is just around the corner and consumers are already ramping up their shopping. For example, U.S. searches for “holiday gift ideas” in August have already surpassed 2020 levels. As of June, 58% of U.S. holiday shoppers said they will shop online more this season than in previous years and 59% said they will shop earlier to avoid an item being out of stock.1

Consumers are leaning into the blended online and in-store shopping experience, with digital-first behaviors like curbside pickup and buy-online-pick-up-in-store likely to continue as we head into the holidays. As of mid-August, 70% of U.S. shoppers are buying the majority of the items they need in stores, compared to 61% in June.2 For more holiday insights to help you prepare for your busiest season, tune in later today for Think Retail on Air at 10 a.m. PDT. 

Get ready to meet customers wherever they like to shop! Here’s a checklist to help you maximize success during the most important shopping season of the year.

1. Highlight your differentiated fulfillment options

Quick shipping and easy returns are top-of-mind for shoppers this year; 78% of U.S. holiday shoppers say they will shop at stores that offer free shipping.3 Today, we are announcing new shipping and return annotations in Google Search and Shopping results – across free and paid listings. Shoppers can now see when their orders will arrive, with shipping annotations like "Free delivery by Fri, Dec 24,” “Get it by Dec 24” and “Free X-day” for products that ship for free in five business days or less. 

To give shoppers more confidence in their purchases, you can now indicate extended holiday return windows with return annotations like "Free 90 day returns" or "Free returns until Jan 31.”

Two phones are depicted showing shoes for sale on the Shopping tab. The phone on the left highlights a pair and reads “Free delivery by Fri, Dec 24” and the one on the right highlights a pair and reads “Free 90 day returns.”

Highlight your holiday shipping and return options to shoppers

2. Showcase your products in more places across Google

Every day, hundreds of millions of people come to Google to shop and explore products. Showcase your products in free listings across Google to help them find what they’re looking for. If you useShopify, WooCommerceor GoDaddy, you can now get started right from their platform. Seamlessly sync your products to show up on Google for free and boost your products to reach even more shoppers with Smart Shopping campaigns to utilize machine learning, or Shopping campaigns to maximize control. 

You can also turn your YouTube video into a virtual storefront to showcase your most popular items. Connect a product feed to either your Video action campaigns to drive customers to your site, or to your App campaigns to take them to your app. In the coming weeks, most advertisers will be able to link a product feed to Discovery ads to show more relevant products in moments where customers are exploring their interests in Google’s feeds. 

There are four phones all depicting screenshots of available shopping formats on Google. The first shows images of indoor plants for sale on the Shopping tab. The second shows beauty products, like lotion, available for sale under a YouTube ad advertising the same brand. The third shows the same beauty products for sale in an ad on the YouTube Home Feed. The final image shows homegoods, like lamps and storage baskets for sale within an App ad.

Showcase your products in free listings on the Shopping tab, or promote your products using Video action campaigns, Discovery ads and App campaigns

3. Connect with shoppers in the physical world

Shoppers don’t just turn to Google for things they want to buy on the web; they also use Google to find what they need nearby. For example, searches for "open now near me" have grown globally by more than 200% year over year.4 In the U.S., searches for “local gift shops near me” have increased 440% in just the past month as people switch between online and offline shopping — more than ever before. If your physical stores are open for in-store shopping, it's crucial to make sure your customers can easily find you online.

Start by building your digital storefront, so shoppers can find information about your nearby stores and the products you have available in them. Keep your Business Profile up to date to ensure customers see accurate business hours, in-store services and safety measures. Help customers feel more confident in their in-store shopping trips by listing your local products for free on Google, or promoting those available for in-store pickup or curbside pickup using local inventory ads. 

If you have store-specific goals, like in-store promotions or location reopenings, you can promote your stores to local shoppers using Local campaigns. Easily connect with holiday shoppers searching for businesses like yours on Google Maps, Search, YouTube and the Google Display Network and help them find what they need at your local store.

Many of your customers alternate between shopping online and in-store depending on their comfort level and community guidelines. Google offers a variety of ways to measure the impact that your online ads have on your physical store, including store visits and store sales measurement. You can then act on this data by adding it to your Smart Bidding to grow total sales, whether they happen online or offline.

There are two phones showing products for sale that are available in-store. The first shows the products tab on Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Business Profile page on Google. The second shows a Google Search results page advertising dog beds that are available for curbside pickup or pick up today in nearby stores.

Show products available in-store in your Business Profile for free (left) or those available for curbside pickup via local inventory ads (right)

4. Prepare for the rush using automated formats, planning tools & reports

It's more challenging this year to plan your holiday marketing campaigns, so we’ve introduced more tools and reports to help you focus on profitability. Starting with seeing the most popular brands and products, check out the best sellers report to help you decide which new brands and products to stock for the holidays. If you’re running sales or promotions to move inventory especially in the lead up to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, then you’ll soon be able to see real-time with deals reporting in Merchant Center.

As you set up your ad campaigns for success, tools like the Insights page and Performance Planner can help you identify trends and plan budgets so you’re not missing out on shopper demand. And if your business has an app, you can verify you’re sending shoppers to the right places in your app using two new tools: the deep link validator and impact calculator. 

Grab your virtual front row seat at Think Retail on Air

For more holiday shopping insights, join us for Think Retail on Air today at 10 a.m. PDT. After the live keynote, we’ll have hands-on sessions where we’ll dive deeper into specific product solutions and best practices. If we’ll miss you at 10 a.m. PDT today, you can catch it on demand anytime after the live show. 

We hope these solutions can help you prepare for a successful holiday season!

1. Google commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, US n-506 Online consumers 18+ that plan to shop for the holidays, June 17-20, 2021
2.  Ipsos COVID-19 Tracker, US ~n=1000 online consumers 18+ per market. Aug 12-15, 2021
3. Google commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, US n=515  online consumers 18+ who will shop for the holiday season. June 17-20, 2021
4. Google Data, Global English, Jun 1, 2021 - Jul 30, 2021 vs Jun 1, 2020 - Jul 30, 2020

How retailers can stand out this holiday season

The holiday season is just around the corner and consumers are already ramping up their shopping. For example, U.S. searches for “holiday gift ideas” in August have already surpassed 2020 levels. As of June, 58% of U.S. holiday shoppers said they will shop online more this season than in previous years and 59% said they will shop earlier to avoid an item being out of stock.1

Consumers are leaning into the blended online and in-store shopping experience, with digital-first behaviors like curbside pickup and buy-online-pick-up-in-store likely to continue as we head into the holidays. As of mid-August, 70% of U.S. shoppers are buying the majority of the items they need in stores, compared to 61% in June.2 For more holiday insights to help you prepare for your busiest season, tune in later today for Think Retail on Air at 10 a.m. PDT. 

Get ready to meet customers wherever they like to shop! Here’s a checklist to help you maximize success during the most important shopping season of the year.

1. Highlight your differentiated fulfillment options

Quick shipping and easy returns are top-of-mind for shoppers this year; 78% of U.S. holiday shoppers say they will shop at stores that offer free shipping.3 Today, we are announcing new shipping and return annotations in Google Search and Shopping results – across free and paid listings. Shoppers can now see when their orders will arrive, with shipping annotations like "Free delivery by Fri, Dec 24,” “Get it by Dec 24” and “Free X-day” for products that ship for free in five business days or less. 

To give shoppers more confidence in their purchases, you can now indicate extended holiday return windows with return annotations like "Free 90 day returns" or "Free returns until Jan 31.”

Two phones are depicted showing shoes for sale on the Shopping tab. The phone on the left highlights a pair and reads “Free delivery by Fri, Dec 24” and the one on the right highlights a pair and reads “Free 90 day returns.”

Highlight your holiday shipping and return options to shoppers

2. Showcase your products in more places across Google

Every day, hundreds of millions of people come to Google to shop and explore products. Showcase your products in free listings across Google to help them find what they’re looking for. If you useShopify, WooCommerceor GoDaddy, you can now get started right from their platform. Seamlessly sync your products to show up on Google for free and boost your products to reach even more shoppers with Smart Shopping campaigns to utilize machine learning, or Shopping campaigns to maximize control. 

You can also turn your YouTube video into a virtual storefront to showcase your most popular items. Connect a product feed to either your Video action campaigns to drive customers to your site, or to your App campaigns to take them to your app. In the coming weeks, most advertisers will be able to link a product feed to Discovery ads to show more relevant products in moments where customers are exploring their interests in Google’s feeds. 

There are four phones all depicting screenshots of available shopping formats on Google. The first shows images of indoor plants for sale on the Shopping tab. The second shows beauty products, like lotion, available for sale under a YouTube ad advertising the same brand. The third shows the same beauty products for sale in an ad on the YouTube Home Feed. The final image shows homegoods, like lamps and storage baskets for sale within an App ad.

Showcase your products in free listings on the Shopping tab, or promote your products using Video action campaigns, Discovery ads and App campaigns

3. Connect with shoppers in the physical world

Shoppers don’t just turn to Google for things they want to buy on the web; they also use Google to find what they need nearby. For example, searches for "open now near me" have grown globally by more than 200% year over year.4 In the U.S., searches for “local gift shops near me” have increased 440% in just the past month as people switch between online and offline shopping — more than ever before. If your physical stores are open for in-store shopping, it's crucial to make sure your customers can easily find you online.

Start by building your digital storefront, so shoppers can find information about your nearby stores and the products you have available in them. Keep your Business Profile up to date to ensure customers see accurate business hours, in-store services and safety measures. Help customers feel more confident in their in-store shopping trips by listing your local products for free on Google, or promoting those available for in-store pickup or curbside pickup using local inventory ads. 

If you have store-specific goals, like in-store promotions or location reopenings, you can promote your stores to local shoppers using Local campaigns. Easily connect with holiday shoppers searching for businesses like yours on Google Maps, Search, YouTube and the Google Display Network and help them find what they need at your local store.

Many of your customers alternate between shopping online and in-store depending on their comfort level and community guidelines. Google offers a variety of ways to measure the impact that your online ads have on your physical store, including store visits and store sales measurement. You can then act on this data by adding it to your Smart Bidding to grow total sales, whether they happen online or offline.

There are two phones showing products for sale that are available in-store. The first shows the products tab on Dick’s Sporting Goods’ Business Profile page on Google. The second shows a Google Search results page advertising dog beds that are available for curbside pickup or pick up today in nearby stores.

Show products available in-store in your Business Profile for free (left) or those available for curbside pickup via local inventory ads (right)

4. Prepare for the rush using automated formats, planning tools & reports

It's more challenging this year to plan your holiday marketing campaigns, so we’ve introduced more tools and reports to help you focus on profitability. Starting with seeing the most popular brands and products, check out the best sellers report to help you decide which new brands and products to stock for the holidays. If you’re running sales or promotions to move inventory especially in the lead up to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, then you’ll soon be able to see real-time with deals reporting in Merchant Center.

As you set up your ad campaigns for success, tools like the Insights page and Performance Planner can help you identify trends and plan budgets so you’re not missing out on shopper demand. And if your business has an app, you can verify you’re sending shoppers to the right places in your app using two new tools: the deep link validator and impact calculator. 

Grab your virtual front row seat at Think Retail on Air

For more holiday shopping insights, join us for Think Retail on Air today at 10 a.m. PDT. After the live keynote, we’ll have hands-on sessions where we’ll dive deeper into specific product solutions and best practices. If we’ll miss you at 10 a.m. PDT today, you can catch it on demand anytime after the live show. 

We hope these solutions can help you prepare for a successful holiday season!

1. Google commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, US n-506 Online consumers 18+ that plan to shop for the holidays, June 17-20, 2021
2.  Ipsos COVID-19 Tracker, US ~n=1000 online consumers 18+ per market. Aug 12-15, 2021
3. Google commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, US n=515  online consumers 18+ who will shop for the holiday season. June 17-20, 2021
4. Google Data, Global English, Jun 1, 2021 - Jul 30, 2021 vs Jun 1, 2020 - Jul 30, 2020

Think Retail on Air is Tuesday, August 31 at 10 a.m. PDT

It’s time to get ready for the holiday season! This year, we expect shoppers to continue using the digital-first services they learned during the pandemic, like curbside pickup and grocery delivery, in combination with in-store shopping trips. We see this across Google, where searches for "now near me" have grown globally by more than 100% year over year and searches on Google Maps for “curbside pickup” have increased globally by 5,000% year over year.1

To help you capture the opportunity this holiday season, we’re hosting Think Retail on Air 2021 on Tuesday, August 31 at 10 a.m. PDT. During this virtual event, we’ll share the latest holiday shopping insights, category trends and Google solutions to help you prepare your business for the holidays. You’ll hear from product experts and industry leaders, including:

Image depicts 6 people along with their names, job title and company. The first is Matt Madrigal, VP/GM, Merchant Shopping at Google. The next person is Suchi Sastri, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group. The next person is Christina Willis, Director of Marketing at Best Buy. Then there is Jen Meacham, Shopping Sales Specialist at Google. Then, Karolline Maciel Mariano, Product Lead, Automation at Google. Finally, Chris Card, Head of Industry, Video at Google.

After the live keynote, you’ll be able to tune in to our hands-on sessions. Be sure to join the right track for you, based on your business’ needs and level of readiness:

  • If you're looking for a holistic overview, be sure to watch the “Google Academy holiday best practices” sessions for growing online sales and growing in-store sales. 

  • If you’re looking to dive deeper into specific product solutions, or just want to learn more, be sure to watch the “Advanced strategies for growth” sessions in the other tab. 

Register now to reserve your virtual front row seat!

1. Google Data, Global English, Jan 26, 2021 - Mar 26, 2021 vs Jan 26, 2020 - Mar 26, 2020

Think Retail on Air is Tuesday, August 31 at 10 a.m. PDT

It’s time to get ready for the holiday season! This year, we expect shoppers to continue using the digital-first services they learned during the pandemic, like curbside pickup and grocery delivery, in combination with in-store shopping trips. We see this across Google, where searches for "now near me" have grown globally by more than 100% year over year and searches on Google Maps for “curbside pickup” have increased globally by 5,000% year over year.1

To help you capture the opportunity this holiday season, we’re hosting Think Retail on Air 2021 on Tuesday, August 31 at 10 a.m. PDT. During this virtual event, we’ll share the latest holiday shopping insights, category trends and Google solutions to help you prepare your business for the holidays. You’ll hear from product experts and industry leaders, including:

Image depicts 6 people along with their names, job title and company. The first is Matt Madrigal, VP/GM, Merchant Shopping at Google. The next person is Suchi Sastri, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group. The next person is Christina Willis, Director of Marketing at Best Buy. Then there is Jen Meacham, Shopping Sales Specialist at Google. Then, Karolline Maciel Mariano, Product Lead, Automation at Google. Finally, Chris Card, Head of Industry, Video at Google.

After the live keynote, you’ll be able to tune in to our hands-on sessions. Be sure to join the right track for you, based on your business’ needs and level of readiness:

  • If you're looking for a holistic overview, be sure to watch the “Google Academy holiday best practices” sessions for growing online sales and growing in-store sales. 

  • If you’re looking to dive deeper into specific product solutions, or just want to learn more, be sure to watch the “Advanced strategies for growth” sessions in the other tab. 

Register now to reserve your virtual front row seat!

1. Google Data, Global English, Jan 26, 2021 - Mar 26, 2021 vs Jan 26, 2020 - Mar 26, 2020

Building for the future to help you prepare for what’s next

The COVID-19 recovery process will vary by country, region and business sector, but the transformation will have an impact on all of us. Google is committed to providing economic relief and supporting the pandemic recovery efforts, which is why we’re working to provide accurate vaccine information and increasing vaccine access to people around the world, with a particular focus on countries that are continuing to experience the pandemic most intensely.

We’ve also been focused on how our products can help make things easier for people during this difficult time. Last year, we revamped our roadmap with simple, helpful solutions like curbside pickup for Local Inventory Ads and booking services directly in Search results through Local Services Ads. In 2021 we’re continuing to fine-tune our products to help advertisers connect with consumers even as the world around us keeps changing.

Join us today at Google Marketing Livestream 2021 at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET to learn more — including a deep dive into our latest innovations across privacy, measurement and automation.

Developing privacy-safe advertising technology

Time spent with digital media increased 15% last year, according to eMarketer, as people turned to devices like smartphones, connected TVs and computers. As they use digital tools to manage more aspects of their lives, people want to know that their privacy is protected and we expect these concerns will only increase in the future.

A healthy ads ecosystem is critical to keeping the internet open and accessible for everyone, but we must also ensure that people feel safe when they are online. Now is the time for our industry to rethink our practices and take bold action to regain people’s trust. That’s a key reason why we announced earlier this year that we won’t build alternate identifiers once third-party cookies are phased out. 

The good news is that it’s possible to improve privacy while still delivering business results. We’re collaborating with the web community to build solutions like those in the Privacy Sandbox. It’s an open-source initiative to develop new technologies centered on privacy techniques like anonymization, aggregation and on-device processing designed to support key advertising use cases such as interest-based ads, measurement and more.

Navigating new measurement and
audience strategies

Accurate measurement of your marketing is especially critical so that you know where to invest to drive the most impact. But the tools advertisers have historically relied on to measure results — such as cookies and other identifiers — are rapidly changing. We're focused on ensuring privacy-safe measurement is accessible to businesses and brands of all sizes. 

We're investing across our products to help unlock insights into consumer behavior and purchasing decisions using machine learning. For example, we’ll soon be including Display and YouTube, as well as in-app conversions, in all Google Ads attribution models, including data-driven attribution powered by Google’s machine learning. These changes will help you properly value the impact of all your Google Ads campaigns.

We recently shared how we're making it possible for you to use your consented first-party data to preserve accurate measurement, even when fewer cookies are available. First-party data can also help you connect with more of the right people for your business. We're now expanding the availability of Customer Match to nearly all advertisers to reach and re-engage customers across ad types. As we look to the future, you can expect to see more innovations like these to help with your transition to a privacy-first world.

Improving automation with better performance

As the recovery continues, advertisers can automatically tap new pockets of growth by using products that dynamically respond to the market conditions most relevant to their business. Today, advertisers are applying automation to more aspects of their campaigns than ever before — from automatically assembling and selecting the best-performing creatives with responsive search ads, to finding more search queries that perform using broad match keywords, and setting the right bid for every auction by factoring in a wide range of signals that predict performance using Smart Bidding. In fact, we’ve seen that automation products are even better together. For example, companies that switch from phrase match keywords to broad match keywords in campaigns that use Target CPA bidding see 25% more conversions.

Text says: Broad match finds new, high-performing queries and emerging trends. Smart Bidding delivers the right creative for each query at the right price. Responsive search ads automatically assembles the most relevant creative

Combining our automated products creates a multiplicative effect for driving growth — starting with keywords, bidding, and creative

Since automation is delivering strong results for advertisers, we want to help you use it in more places. Today more than 80% of advertisers use automated bidding to take the guesswork out of setting bids and to achieve their performance goals. For example, advertisers who want to optimize their campaigns based on return on ad spend use Target Return on Ad Spend (Target ROAS) Smart Bidding strategies to automatically optimize bids and maximize revenue. Now we’re expanding Target ROAS to work across even more of Google’s channels, including Discovery ads and Video action campaigns.

Just like with automation, you get more efficiency and better results when our advertising tools work together. So we've made it easy for retailers to connect your Google Merchant Center feed to Discovery ads and Video action campaigns. This will help you use images and video to drive product discovery and purchases for your full product catalog. In March, when we compared more than 900 Video action campaigns, we found advertisers that added product feeds drove 60% more conversions at a lower cost, compared to advertisers that didn't add product feeds.

Demonstration of a product feed added to Video action campaigns

 Product feed added to Video action campaigns

Bringing the full value of automation to more advertisers 

Last year we shared that we were testing a new type of campaign called Performance Max. It brings together the best of Google’s automation to help advertisers drive better results across all of Google’s channels: YouTube, Display, Search, Discover and more. Starting today, Performance Max campaigns are expanding to thousands of additional advertisers, with general availability coming later this year (visit the Google Ads Help Center for more details and complete this interest form if you’d like to join the beta).

We’re also adding support for Performance Max campaigns on the Insights page. We heard beta testers tell us they wanted more transparency into how automation is working and what’s driving performance changes. With this update, you’ll be able to see things like which audiences are converting, top-performing creatives, auction insights and trending search categories. You can also preview how your best ads are showing up on each channel.

Screenshot of Insights Page in Google Ads

Insights page showing “Top assets” for Performance Max campaigns

vodafone logo

We’ve seen great results during early beta testing. Vodafone Turkey, part of the Vodafone Group, a leading telecommunications company in Europe and Africa, adopted Performance Max with the goal of scaling lead generation for its phone plans across all of Google’s channels to reach more potential customers. During testing, Performance Max campaigns drove an 18% increase in leads at a 70% lower cost per acquisition compared to their Search campaigns. As a result, Vodafone Turkey adopted Performance Max campaigns as its main lead generation campaign on top of its standard keyword-based Search campaigns. Visit the Advertising Solutions Center to see more Performance Max success stories from companies like Neo4j and MoneyMe.

“We're always keen on adopting new advertising technologies that create sales growth with lower costs. Performance Max aligns with our business objectives and helps us acquire new customers without cannibalizing sales between campaigns.”
Ayda Yorukoglu - Digital Marketing Product Owner, Vodafone Turkey

Grab a (virtual) front row seat at Google Marketing Livestream

We’re continuing to learn from you to understand how we can make Google’s products better for the future. Tune in to Google Marketing Livestream today at 8 a.m. PT / 11 a.m. ET to hear about these innovations and much more.

Thank you for your partnership, and we look forward to seeing you soon at Google Marketing Livestream.