Tag Archives: Display Ads

New MRC accreditations and partners for Google and YouTube ads measurement

Is my marketing working? It sounds like a simple question, but in today's complex environment, answering it correctly is a challenge. To help advance advertising measurement, we’ve invested in third-party accreditations through the Media Rating Council (MRC), and partnerships with leading measurement technology providers. Together, these efforts help ensure that the metrics our advertising solutions deliver are trusted, align with industry standards, and can be compared across providers.

Today, we’re announcing new MRC accreditations across Google advertising products, including Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform (specifically Display & Video 360 and Campaign Manager), and Google Ad Manager.1

We’ve also made progress with Google Measurement Partners for viewability, brand safety, and reach reporting on YouTube.

Trusted metrics across Google’s advertising solutions

Advertisers consistently tell us that they struggle with comparing media placements to determine where to invest their limited marketing resources. It’s a problem that’s made even worse when media providers use different definitions of commonly accepted metrics like clicks, impressions, and viewable impressions.

By endorsing the MRC standards and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) guidelines for media measurement, we stand on the side of marketers, who deserve transparency and fairness in their media buys.

Below, you’ll see the comprehensive list of MRC accreditations we currently maintain across search, display, and video ads on the web and in apps. Accredited metrics include various aspects of our clicks, served impressions, viewable impressions, and invalid traffic detection and filtration. 

MRC Accreditations

With today’s announcements, YouTube video ad impressions and viewability metrics for desktop, mobile web, and mobile in-app are now fully MRC accredited in Google Ads, Display & Video 360, and Campaign Manager. And we’ve begun the audit process for MRC accreditation of recently added metrics, including brand safety and Unique Reach reporting on YouTube in Google Ads.

“Google has consistently demonstrated a commitment to helping advertisers and publishers achieve transparency and quality in measurement through its work with the MRC. In addition to submitting products for initial consideration for MRC accreditation, Google also has expanded on the scope of what’s being submitted for existing accredited products. This progress is emblematic of what we at MRC consider to be our core industry mission: to help lift the bar for quality in measurement consistently upward.”

—George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director, Media Rating Council

“Google’s efforts to create transparency and choice through MRC accreditation demonstrates their commitment to delivering a better, more responsible advertising ecosystem. The ultimate goal is to ensure transparency at every step in the complex advertising supply chain, and Google’s efforts are helping us achieve that objective."

—Bob Liodice, CEO, ANA

More transparent YouTube measurement with trusted partners

To help advertisers measure YouTube media in a verified, privacy-safe way with the measurement solution of their choice, we've also made progress with Google Measurement Partners for viewability, brand safety, and reach reporting.

First, the YouTube data feed for video viewability reporting by third-parties is currently under audit by the MRC. Our ultimate goal is to achieve MRC accreditation for our integrations with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS), so advertisers can be confident that YouTube metrics have been third-party verified, no matter where they choose to measure.

In addition, brand safety verification on YouTube by both DoubleVerify and IAS is now in expanded beta. In beta tests with DoubleVerify and IAS, we’re seeing 99 percent success rates on brand safety across both auction and reserve, including Google Preferred.2

We’re also expanding our partnerships for reach measurement, which now include Nielsen, comScore, Kantar, and soon, Meetrics. This month, YouTube’s integration with Nielsen for mobile in-app measurement has expanded to Australia and Italy. This is in addition to the U.S., Canada, Japan, U.K., Germany, and France which are already available.

To know if their marketing is working, advertisers need access to accurate, timely metrics they can trust, regardless of which measurement provider they choose. Looking to the future, we’ll continue investing in measurement solutions and partnerships that help advertisers understand and compare the impact of their investments using commonly accepted metrics and standards.


1. New MRC accreditations achieved since our blog post in February 2017 include:

  • Google Ads:

    • Served Ad Impressions for video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

    • Viewable Ad Impressions for video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

    • Sophisticated Invalid Traffic Detection & Filtration for Clicks for search and display on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app, and Viewable Ad Impressions for video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

  • Google Marketing Platform:

    • Display & Video 360:

      • Clicks for display and video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

      • Served Ad Impressions for display and video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

      • Viewable Ad Impressions for display and video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

    • Campaign Manager:

      • Clicks for display and video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

      • Served Ad Impressions for display on mobile web and mobile in-app

      • Viewable Ad Impressions for display on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app

      • Sophisticated Invalid Traffic Detection & Filtration for Served Ad Impressions and Viewable Ad Impressions for display and video on desktop and mobile web

  • Google Ad Manager:

    • Served Ad Impressions for display on mobile web and mobile in-app, and for video on mobile in-app

    • Viewable Ad Impressions for display on mobile web and mobile in-app, and for video on desktop, mobile web and mobile in-app


2.  DoubleVerify and IAS Testing, Global, June 2018


Create more effective ads for today’s consumer

Consumers are more curious and more demanding than ever before. They expect to get things done faster–engaging with ads that are uniquely relevant to them. In fact, 91 percent of mobile users bought or plan to buy something after seeing an ad they described as relevant.1 That means it’s critical for marketers to create a wider variety of ads that are diverse.

By creating more diverse ads and utilizing Google’s machine learning, your ads will be more helpful, more personalized, and relevant to more people. This means your ads can show more often, reaching potential customers when they're looking for what you have to offer. We know this kind of optimization works: On average, advertisers that combine Google’s machine learning with multiple creatives see up to 15 percent more clicks.2

Creating relevant ads at scale can be a challenge, and products like responsive search ads, responsive display ads, and Universal App campaigns can help. That’s why we’re introducing new insights to make it easy for you to create the ad experiences your customers expect.

Get more out of your responsive search ads

Responsive search ads combine your creativity with the power of Google’s machine learning to help you deliver relevant, valuable ads.

  • To make it easier for you to create more effective responsive search ads, you’ll now be able to preview ad combinations as you build them. This shows you what your ads might look like, and you can even browse through them to double-check your work.
  • You can also view reporting for headlines, descriptions, and top combinations to help you see what’s showing up most often on the search results page.

RSA Best Practice

New best practices for Search ad groups

Apartments.com is a leading online resource for home and apartment rentals. Using responsive search ads, the brand was able to create ads that were more relevant to people at key moments in the rental process. As a result, Apartments.com saw a 10 percent lift in clicks. ForRent.com, another brand in the Apartments.com network of sites, saw a 16 percent lift in clicks with a similar strategy.

Measure the strength of your ads

Innovations like responsive search ads can help you create relevant, personalized ads at scale. However, it can be a challenge to know when these ads have the right amount of information. That’s why we’re introducing ad strength.

You’ll see ad strength both when you write a responsive search ad and as a column in Google Ads. Ranging from “Poor” to “Excellent,” this metric measures the relevance, quantity, and diversity of your ad copy. Combined with actionable feedback, ad strength makes it easy for you to improve the effectiveness of your ads.

Ad Strength UI

Use ad strength to create more effective responsive search ads

Ad strength will be available as a column starting in early September, and in the responsive search ad creation interface over the next several weeks. Support for responsive display ads will follow in the coming months.

To get started with ad strength, we recommend providing as many distinct headlines, descriptions, and other assets as possible. This will help Google's machine learning generate a larger number of relevant, effective ad combinations.

  • For a responsive search ad, provide as many headlines and descriptions as makes sense for your business. If you’re having trouble getting started, we recommend focusing on creating at least five headlines.
  • For a responsive display ad, provide up to 15 images and five logos, headlines, and descriptions per ad.

Promote your app at scale

App marketers are also making the shift to more diverse creative. With Universal App campaigns, Google’s machine learning automatically combines your creative assets with content from your app store page to create personalized, relevant ads at scale.

We recommend providing at least four to five text, video and image assets in varying lengths and sizes. If you’re looking for more guidance, we have an online course to help you design and optimize your creative for a Universal App campaign. If you want to learn more about promoting your mobile app in Google Ads, you can view the other courses at g.co/learnappads.

1. Google / Purchased, April 2017

2. Google internal data

Source: Google Ads


Tailor your ads with dynamic remarketing – Google Best Practices


If you think people make purchase decisions quickly, think again. Today’s consumers visit websites at least 6 times, on average, in the purchase process.1 And for those who abandon a shopping cart, 75% say they intend on returning to a company’s website to make a purchase.2

We’ve created a new best practices guide, Tailor Your Ads with Dynamic Remarketing, to help advertisers win those crucial “ready-to-buy” moments with dynamic remarketing and relevant ads. As business data feeds are crucial to dynamic remarketing campaigns, this guide focuses on how to create and optimize your feeds. It covers topics such as:
  • Setting up high-quality business data feeds 
  • Providing complete product data 
  • Keeping your business data feed fresh 
  • Activating dynamic remarketing ads 
Check out these dynamic remarketing best practices to drive more relevant ads and improved performance.

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Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing crew
1. Source: Google/Nielsen Study: Mobile Path to Purchase: Five Key Findings, November 2013 
2. Source: BI Intelligence Study: Shopping Cart Abandonment Report, March 2015.

Source: Inside AdWords


Making the Most of Display Advertising – Google Best Practices

Guide to Programmatic Advertising on the Google Display Network

Today, people have higher expectations of ads than ever. It’s never been more important to tailor messages to the right people at the right moment as they engage in blogs, news sites and more across the web.

We’ve put together a new guide, Making the Most of Display Advertising, to help you deliver relevant ads and efficient results on the Google Display Network. The guide touches on topics such as:
  • Reaching the right audience at the right moment 
  • Matching the message to the moment 
  • Optimizing for performance 
Check out these display advertising best practices to deliver on consumers’ expectations and drive more sales for your business.

Want to stay on top of even more Best Practices? Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter. 

Posted by Matt Lawson, Director, Performance Ads Marketing

Source: Inside AdWords