Today in Digital Marketing - The Google Ads Micro-Management We Want

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

Google caves under industry pressure and lets marketers more finely control their ad campaigns. Money is flowing back into ad-tech. TikTok pulls even more music off their app. And marketers are worried that AI will take their jobs.📰 Get our free daily newsletter📈 Advertising: Reach Thousands of Marketing Decision-Makers🌍 Follow us on social media or contact usLinks to all of today’s stories here GO PREMIUM!Get these exclusive benefits when you upgrade:✅ Listen ad-free✅ Back catalog of 20+ marketing science interviews✅ Get the show earlier than the free version✅ “Skip to story” audio chapters✅ Member-only monthly livestreams with TodAnd a lot more! Check it out: todayindigital.com/premium✨ Already Premium? Update Credit Card • CancelMORE🆘 Need help with your social media? Check us out: engageQ digital📞 Need marketing advice? Leave us a voicemail and we’ll get an expert to help you free!🤝 Our Slack⭐ Review usUPGRADE YOUR SKILLSInside Google Ads with Jyll Saskin GalesGoogle Ads for Beginners with Jyll Saskin GalesFoxwell Slack Group and CoursesSome links in these show notes may provide affiliate revenue to us.Today in Digital Marketing is hosted by Tod Maffin and produced by engageQ digital on the traditional territories of the Snuneymuxw First Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada.Our Sponsors:* Check out Kinsta: https://kinsta.comPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It is Thursday, February 29th. Today, Google caves under industry pressure and lets marketers more finely control their ad campaigns. Money is flowing back into ad tech, TikTok pulls even more music off their app, and marketers worry that AI is taking their jobs. I'm Todd Maffin. That's ahead today in Digital Marketing.

It's the season for new styles and you love to shop for jackets and boots. I'm Todd Mathen. That's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N.C-A. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Ever since Google rolled out PMAX and started working on artificial intelligence, it seems like they keep taking away transparency, not letting us see into that black box. Well, surprise! Google Ads is now giving us more transparency and control over a really important part of their media buying platform.

And with me to give you the lowdown, our Google Ads correspondent, Jill Saskin-Gales. Jill spent six years at Google and today runs Inside Google Ads, a fantastic Google Ads training program. Hello, Jill. Hello there. So we are talking about the Search Partners Network here, which up until the last six months, eight months or so, we hadn't really heard a lot about. Can you give us a refresher? What are search partners? Search partners are other websites that have an on-site search powered by Google. So think of

like a news website, you go to your favorite newspaper's website, you're searching for an article, the results come up, there might be some ads there. So that would be search partner placements. And that search is powered by Google. You can think of it like AdSense is how you can run display ads on your website to monetize. So this is like AdSense for search ads. Right. So we see these on other websites. And I guess they're kind of like they've got a backdoor to Google. It sort of acts as like a white labeled search engine for that website. Exactly. Rather than having your own search algorithms or using whatever your website platform comes with,

you can have on-site search powered by Google. And with that, make some money by allowing Google to place search ads there. So is this like actually real transparency, Google's kind of version of it? What are we getting here? It is real transparency. I give Google credit.

So right now you may be running ads on search partners if you have a search campaign or a performance max campaign. With a search campaign, you can opt out of search partners if you want to. With a performance max campaign, you can't because performance max is all inventory. So the change that's happening now is that Google has never publicly released what sites are part of that search partner network. You never got any insight into where those ads are running, just, you know, impressions, clicks, cost, if it was in a search campaign, and no information if it was in PMAX. And so the change now is you're going to start to have a placement report for where those search

partner ads are showing. So you'll see exactly which websites you're potentially showing search ads on. And that is brand new across Google's products. That is very interesting. Why do you think they made that change? The change came from industry pressure. There's this firm analytics that kept releasing these very negative reports about Google.

And while I agree with Google's stance that a lot of these reports are misleading and not terribly accurate, people were incensed. They're like, why are we paying for this thing with absolutely no insight? Like even with display placements or video placements in PMAX, you can at least see what websites or what YouTube channels your ads are showing on that's never been available for search. And I think, in my opinion, Google got away with that for far too long. So it's a welcome change. Now you can see exactly where your ads are showing,

regardless of whether it's a search display or video ad. So if I were to try to translate this to the Meta platform, or Meta has audience network, where those ads are display ads, and they usually appear at the bottom of crappy mobile games. So would this be getting a list of, I guess, those underperforming mobile games? Is that a fair comparison? It's kind of like that.

So Google's similar product to the audience network would be the display network. And right now you can't get all the way down to like clicks, cost, conversion, etc. It's just impression level reporting. So you'll know how many impressions you served on display, on video, and now on search as well on various websites, apps, and channels. So you don't know how different ones perform. You can imagine how certain advertisers would drive themselves crazy trying to over-optimize that, but you can at least know, are you showing ads there? And so if you're an advertiser who's concerned about showing ads in certain places, not only can you now see if you're showing ads there, but you can exclude and ensure in the future you don't show ads there. So that is

also new. In the past, you could have placement exclusions saying, I don't want to show ads in these apps, or I don't want to show ads on these websites. But that would only apply to kind of display video and app placements. It would not apply to search partners. So you could have ended up showing ads on a website that you wanted to exclude because it was part of the search partner network. And so now that gap is going to be fixed in the next couple of days. And if you do exclude something at the account level, it will also be excluded for search partners, at least for PMAX. Google hasn't explicitly confirmed if this will apply if you're running on search partners through a search campaign. I'm sure that will become clarified in the next couple of days, but at least on the performance max side, those exclusions will apply as well. Oh, so would we be able to just use it like a block list?

Exactly. And so the way you do that in Google Ads, you go to tools. It's a section they recently renamed. It's at the account level. And as of a couple of days from now, that will exclude across all inventory, whether it's search partners, display network or video network. Let me ask you this. If you were running a campaign for a client in Google Ads, would you take advantage of this? Would you micromanage and look at that report and see which websites are bad for whatever brand safety reasons and like individually pull ones and block ones. Like, would you be at that level of control? I personally wouldn't. I've seen, you know, when I worked at Google, we worked with very large advertisers who were concerned about a lot of this stuff.

At the time I was there around the 2020 election, it was a lot of political concerns and breaking news concerns and things advertisers didn't want to show on. And so in that circumstance, you can block whole topics rather than going to this placement level. So you can say, you know what, I just don't want to serve on breaking news, or I don't want to serve on anything that has to do with religion or politics or whatever. And then there's also certain ways to let Google know like how brand sensitive you are, That would be my language, not Google's language. So there are other more scalable ways to address this. But if you're working with, you know, a marquee brand client who is really, really concerned that they may have that stray ad showing somewhere they don't want it to, then either you're lucky to have this functionality

now, or I'm sorry, you have this functionality now that you can actually start to guarantee that. Right. It's good news, isn't it? I mean, you know, in the past we've seen Google, especially with Performance Max, kind of remove all control away. And now it looks like this and a couple of previous announcements

in the last couple of months, it looks like they're giving a little bit of control back to advertisers. They are. I will give Google credit for that in this, you know, generative AI assets and PMAX and just give us your money and we'll take care of it for you. There have been some new features like this recently that are providing a bit more control and transparency, whether it's this brand restrictions, brand exclusions.

So let's see if that trend continues or not. Time will tell. Indeed. Jill, thank you. Thank you. Jill Saskengales is our Google Ads correspondent. She's here every second Wednesday. You can learn more about her Google Ads training program at our affiliate link, which is b.link slash gatraining.

And you can watch our full unedited interview. There's a link to it in today's newsletter, which you can sign up to for free by tapping the link in the show notes or going to todayindigital.com slash newsletter. After a quiet couple of years, the ad tech sector is buzzing again with early stage investments and the promise of big mergers and acquisitions later in the year. While it's too soon to call it a surge, the recent flurry of investment activity marks a big shift from the cautious approach seen last year, particularly in AI and connected TV technologies.

Vibe.co, for instance, a French startup positioning itself as the Google ads of streaming, recently secured $22 million in a funding round. Vibe wants to be a one-stop connected TV platform for all small and medium-sized enterprise marketers. This week also saw TV Scientific announce a $9 million investment and ad tech veteran Michael Rubenstein launched a $6 million funding round

for his new AI venture. Industry insiders anticipate a steady stream of mergers and acquisitions in the latter half of this year, driven by private equity firms and larger marketing groups looking to expand through acquisitions. It's the season for new styles, and you love to shop for jackets and boots. So when you do, always make sure you get cash back from Rakuten. And it's not just clothing and shoes. You can get cash back from over 750 stores on electronics, holiday travel, home decor, and more.

It's super easy. And before you buy anything, always go to Rakuten first. Join free at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at rakuten.ca. Start shopping and get your cash back sent to you by check or PayPal. Get the Rakuten app or join at Rakuten.ca. R-A-K-U-T-E-N dot C-A. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance,

your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. TikTok is hitting a sour note as it starts to remove even more songs from its platform. The move is part of an ongoing feud with the Universal Music Group over music rights, affecting not just UMG signed artists, but others who are just linked to the label.

TikTok this week announced on its website it is removing tracks written or co-written by UMG songwriters. This decision comes after talks between TikTok and UMG fell through, leading to the removal of big hits by Taylor Swift, Drake, Olivia Rodrigo and others earlier this year. UMG accused TikTok of pushing for an unfair deal, particularly around AI generated music and proper compensation for artists. This tussle has silenced many TikTok videos that featured UMG songs, leaving creators scrambling for alternatives.

But meanwhile, artists like Harry Styles, who aren't signed by UMG, but have publishing deals with the label, are now also being caught in the crossfire. As TikTok users feel the pinch, YouTube is making its move, wooing short-form video creators with a new feature that lets them remix music videos,

including those from UMG's catalog. We reported earlier on TikTok's plans to make any post shoppable using its ability to identify products in a video and linking to a product page. It appears this is now rolling out, quoting social media today. Quote, some users are now seeing a new toggle within the video upload flow that enables them to switch on identify similar objects, which when activated will then identify objects in your video via TikTok's object identification AI and highlight potential product matches that you can purchase in the app. As with virtually all of TikTok's

functions, it's already active in Douyin, the Chinese version of the app, and has been for years, providing more ways for users to find and buy products in-stream, which is now the major moneymaker for Douyin. The app drove more than $270 billion in direct product sales in 2023, rising 60% year over year. And it's that success that's now driving the strategy at TikTok, where parent company ByteDance is hoping to replicate its evolution with Western consumers. A staggering 87% of marketers are worried about losing their jobs to technology, according to a fresh report from Gartner. And the concern is not without merit, as a quarter of marketing leaders are eyeing staff cuts this year due to the rise of generative AI. The report also highlights a heavy MarTech load, with 61% of marketers grappling with tech or process changes in the last year.

On a brighter note, generative AI could be a balm for workplace burnout. According to the report, marketers deeply involved with the tech are 30% less prone to burnout and 40% less likely to jump ship in the coming year. A Gartner executive urged chief marketing officers to prioritize talent development and change management. The report draws on surveys from more than 1,800 marketing and business executives. We have a link to it in today's email newsletter, a link to which you will find in today's show notes. YouTube is expanding access

to its new video editing mobile app, which it calls Create. It's designed specifically for shorts creation. Now, users in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey should have access to it. Quoting social media today, quote,

Originally announced that its Made On showcase event in September last year, YouTube Create is a free video editing tool which provides access to a range of functions that make it easier to make more complex video clips, including audio cleanup, which removes background noises, auto captions available in English, Hindi, and Spanish, filters, effects, and transitions, access to royalty-free songs, and direct publishing to YouTube, including both shorts and long-form content. It's basically YouTube's version of CapCut, providing a broader toolkit of creation tools to customize and maximize your videos, unquote. And perhaps a snub to its smartphone rival, YouTube's Create app is currently not available on any Apple devices.

So yes, I'm back from the holiday. My wife and I had a nice holiday for a week in a very sunny place. And I learned something about suntan lotion. It turns out there is a big difference between regular suntan lotion and kids' suntan lotion. The resort we were staying at had a kids' version, which was like half the price of the adult version. And when we were buying it, the clerk even said, are you sure you want this? This is the kids version. And I looked at the tube and it's like it was 50 SPF like the adult version was and it was half the price. Why wouldn't I?

Well, let me tell you. There's a reason. It turns out the kids version doesn't really blend into the skin as well. It doesn't absorb into the skin. Maybe it has more zinc or something. And so we looked like we had just put the first coat of clown makeup on our face. It looks pretty goofy. It does absorb after like a half an hour or so, but you really got to rub it in. So, lesson learned. Anyway, thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.