A global audience of marketers attended or watched the livestream of the Google Performance Summit on May 24 2016. The key theme and inspiration focused on our mobile-first world. The keynote announced several new innovations and redesigns for Analytics and AdWords. We’ve summarized the five most compelling unveilings and takeaways:
1. You Need to Understand Intent and Context
As of 2015, searches on mobile overtook those on desktop. Our phones are now the first thing we reach for in the morning and the last thing we look at everyday. For brands, this mobile-first behaviour means there are new opportunities to engage in valuable micro-moments, to make themselves visible and relevant in a consumer’s moment of “I want to know” or “I want to go” or “I want to buy”.
With so many searches and micro-moment opportunities, how can your brand chose the right moments and avoid interrupting or getting in the way? By understanding search intent and context, and meeting the needs of your consumer in that micro-moment. Be visible and useful when your consumers are looking for answers.
2. Make the Most of Your First Impression
A text ad can be the first introduction between your brand and your target consumer. And first impressions are lasting impressions. 91% of smartphone users turn to their phone for ideas while doing a given task (Micro-Moments, Think With Google). Acting on this consumer behaviour insight, Google is redesigning the format for text ads with 2 critical changes: a longer headline, and a longer single description line. The result is more than 50% additional ad text, and this will be rolling out throughout 2016.
Here’s how the current (standard) and new (expanded) formats compare: