It seems like Google Ads announces changes just about every other day. These announcements range from being minor technical updates to huge changes in targeting or tracking. It’s awesome that Google is transparent about changes large and small, but sometimes it can be difficult to know which ones to pay special attention to.
While most of the announcements aren’t exactly Earth-shattering, there are always a few hidden gems and pieces of crucial information you don’t want to miss. We know you don’t have the time to scroll through Google’s announcements to cherry-pick the news that matters to you–that’s why we’ve done it for you this month. Here are the Top 5 Google Ads Updates that were announced in April 2021.
1) A change to how Smart Bidding strategies are organized
Google announced on April 20th that some changes are coming to these automated or “Smart” bidding strategies.
- Maximize conversions will have an optional target CPA
- Maximize conversion value will have an optional target ROAS
This means advertisers will have more control over these Smart bidding strategies, and can optionally optimize for a target cost per conversion or target return on ad spend. For now, Target CPA and Target ROAS bidding strategies will still be available, but Google stated that later this year these options will go away.
2) Supporting partners through the rollout of Apple’s new ATT policies
Google announced on April 26 that Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policies are going to bring some changes to Google Ads tracking, particularly for App-install campaigns.
Google stated that “Once Apple’s ATT policies take effect on April 26, 2021, we will no longer send the Google click identifier (GCLID) for iOS 14 traffic coming from ads on a handful of Google apps. Traffic from other Google sources will not be affected and will continue to include GCLIDs.”
Google is vague on what the “handful of apps” that will be affected are, but it seems that the effects should be minimal for most advertisers promoting web-based conversion goals.
3) The Insights page is now available to all advertisers globally
Last year Google rolled out a beta version of the Insights page, which gave select advertisers access to trending searches related to their business. Starting April 14, the Insights page was officially made available to all Google Ads users. This generates information on trending searches, as well as how your account is performing for these trends.
4) Making it easier to work with your Customer Match lists
Customer Match is a Google tool that uses information your customers have shared with you to reach and re-target them and other customers like them across Google Ads.
On April 29, Google announced new updates to make customer match lists more useful and efficient. Now, when you upload a customer list you will instantly get a match rate (the percentage of your list that is usable on Google) instead of having to wait up to 24 hours. Additionally, suggestions for updating your lists will surface on the Recommendations page, to keep your lists from becoming stale.
5) A new way to help you optimize your campaigns more efficiently
As of April 14, you will now have the option to opt-in to auto-apply certain recommendations. This means instead of manually approving recommendations one by one, Google will automatically apply its recommendations for categories you select. This can be a great way to save time if you have a hard time keeping up with the Recommendations tab, but make sure you only opt-in for actions you would want applied 100% of the time.
We hope this list was helpful in bringing these important Google changes to your attention and saves you the time and hassle of having to pick through them yourself. If you’d like to save even more time and get better Google Ads results, book a call with us today.
Not sure how to respond to bad reviews? Click here for a copy of our Free Negative Review Response Guide.
Did you enjoy this content?
Don’t miss a thing, sign up for our newsletter below