This year’s Google Marketing Live, much like the previous year, brought forth a wave of AI-powered advancements tailored for advertisers. The 90-minute keynote witnessed nine presenters unveiling a total of 30 products and features. Over the coming days and weeks, we’ll delve deeper into each of these offerings, providing insights into what marketers and advertising specialists think about their rollout. For the time being, let’s provide a concise summary of the most significant announcements from Google Marketing Live 2024, along with initial feedback from seasoned PPC marketers.

Contents

• Automatic ad placements in AI overviews
• AI-powered, personalized recommendations and advice
• AI creative asset production for PMax campaigns
• AI-enhanced Shopping Ads
• New visually immersive ad formats and features
• Cohesive first-party data management
• Visual brand profiles on search
• New profit optimization goals on PMax
• What we didn’t see at Google Marketing Live 2024
• What it all means

8 key takeaways from Google Marketing Live 2024

The GML keynote was a whirlwind of information packed into 90 minutes. Let’s break down the most significant announcements from the event.

1. Automatic ad placements in AI overviews

Following Google I/O’s announcement last week, Google announced the wider availability of AI overviews within search results (previously known as SGE or Search Generative Experience). Currently, Google is conducting tests on automatically positioned Search, PMax, and Shopping Ads within these AI Overview boxes.

The advertisements will appear in a designated “Sponsored” block, distinguishing them from both organic and AI-generated content. These ad placements will be automated by Google, triggered when the ad aligns with both the user’s search intent and the AI Overview. This eliminates the need for advertisers to manually target these specific placements. Greg Finn of Cyprus North Marketing highlighted the cautious optimism shared by several marketers regarding these new Overview Ads. While viewed as a positive step, there are concerns about their positioning further down the page and the potential impact on generating significant traffic. Additionally, the effect on CPCs remains a question mark.

2. AI-powered, personalized recommendations and advice

In another experimental initiative, Google is leveraging AI to expedite the decision-making process for consumers engaged in substantial or complex purchases. This is achieved by presenting them with personalized product suggestions. To illustrate this, Google used an example of an individual seeking storage solutions. Imagine a user searching for “short-term storage” and subsequently clicking on a pertinent ad. This action would lead them to a guided shopping interface where they could provide answers to questions and even upload an image depicting the items they intend to store.

Google’s AI then steps in to analyze the inputted details and recommends a storage unit of the appropriate size. It might even suggest supplementary products like packing supplies. From there, the user can seamlessly transition to a dedicated product page on the business’s website to finalize their purchase. This particular ad feature is presently undergoing testing. Its success will determine its eventual availability across other industry verticals.

3. AI creative asset production for PMax campaigns

Google revealed additional features and tools aimed at empowering advertisers to create assets for their PMax campaigns with greater speed and scalability. These novel features encompass:

• The ability to specify brand guidelines for elements like colors, fonts, and imagery.
• Image editing capabilities allowing for background addition and extension, object insertion, and image resizing to fit various ad placements (picture adding a plant and widening the wall in a furniture ad).
• Automated ad generation directly from a product feed.
• Conversion metrics provided at the asset level.

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4. AI-enhanced Shopping Ads

Shopping Ads received a significant boost with the integration of AI through various upgrades, all geared towards creating a more immersive and engaging shopping experience.

Virtual try-on for apparel

Google is expanding its virtual try-on (VTO) experience by extending it to apparel ads. Starting with men’s and women’s tops, this feature will enable users to visualize how specific styles might look on diverse body types.

3D product images

Using Adidas sneakers as a case in point, Google showcased novel 360-degree shoe views designed for ad integration. Google generates these 3D renderings by utilizing images provided by the seller. This feature has the potential to be a sought-after option for the select group of PPC professionals who can utilize it effectively. It’ll be intriguing to observe how many holiday season ads embrace this technology.

Source

In-ad, short-form product videos

Advertisers are now equipped to incorporate short product videos—crafted either by the brand itself or by influencers—directly into their ads. These videos will be interactive and clickable, allowing shoppers to explore related products and receive styling recommendations. Additionally, the ads will showcase pertinent product details beneath each video.

5. New visually immersive ad formats and features

Google revealed its plans to expand demand-gen video ad campaigns by introducing fresh options for advertisers. These features include:

• Clickable stickers generated from existing image assets.
• The ability for users to swipe left, leading them to a dedicated branded YouTube landing page.
• AI-powered animation capabilities that can transform static images into dynamic content.

6. Cohesive first-party data management

In a strategic move to elevate the quality of data employed in guiding AI outputs, Google announced the general availability of its Ads Data Manager platform, marking its exit from beta testing.

Ads Data Manager empowers advertisers to consolidate first-party data sourced from various platforms like YouTube, Google Ads, HubSpot, and Shopify. This consolidation enhances data visibility and actionability. Furthermore, the platform functions as a “check engine light,” assisting marketers in ensuring their data practices are both safe and responsible. In essence, heightened data transparency and organization are positive developments. However, seasoned PPC specialists like Kirk Williams of Zato Marketing astutely observed that this new platform might serve as an additional avenue for Google to gather and control data.

7. Visual brand profiles on search

Sellers are now presented with the opportunity to establish a dedicated brand profile on Google Search. These profiles can incorporate elements like branded imagery, enticing product deals, engaging videos, and much more. Another notable inclusion within these brand profiles is reviews sourced from Product Listing Ads. The extent of control advertisers will have in curating which reviews are displayed remains to be seen.

8. New profit optimization goals in PMax

Performance Max campaigns will now offer advertisers the ability to optimize their ads with a focus on profit maximization. According to Google, early adopters leveraging these new profit goals have witnessed a 15% increase in campaign profit compared to those solely relying on revenue-centric goals.

What was missing from Google Marketing Live 2024

While this year’s GML keynote provided plenty for advertisers to be enthusiastic about, the conspicuous absence of certain topics was noteworthy.

No B2B-specific products or features

For yet another year, the 90-minute Google Marketing Live session predominantly centered around the introduction of products tailored to assist business-to-consumer (B2C) brands in maximizing returns on their Google Ads expenditures. Notably absent was any mention of a B2B-focused company, relevant example, or applicable use case. Naturally, the inclusion of such elements would have been highly welcomed.

No (or too few) small-business case studies

The vast majority of Google advertisers fall under the category of small businesses. It didn’t escape notice that nearly every example, case study, and customer success story highlighted large, well-established brands leveraging Google’s latest features to attract new customers.

Source A large portion of the use cases presented for the newly announced features at Google Marketing Live 2024 revolved around the travel and e-commerce sectors—industries known to flourish within the realm of search ads. In contrast, a typical small business might not reap the same level of benefits from these specific features. One can only hope that Google intends to harness the power of AI to simplify advertising for smaller businesses operating with more modest budgets.

What it all means

Google presented a whirlwind of information during the 90-minute GML keynote. While some announcements seemed genuinely valuable in achieving the ultimate goal of driving greater revenue through Google Ads, many others gave the impression of being repackaged, AI-enhanced iterations of previous offerings.

Shiny new AI features don’t solve the biggest pain points for advertisers

Google’s trajectory has leaned towards increased automation for years. At present, these new AI-powered features resemble a familiar vehicle with a fresh coat of paint. As aptly put by Julie Bacchini, President of Neptune Moon and Managing Director of PPCChat, in her tweet, “So overall, it does not feel like anything really that impactful was announced. A whole lot of AI will be everywhere, but not much else.”

Source What advertisers truly desire is enhanced transparency and control over their ad campaigns. This explains the enthusiastic response to the announcement of new PMax controls and reporting capabilities. It would be ideal if Google prioritized its AI development towards assisting advertisers in effectively managing their ads and comprehending performance metrics, rather than focusing on creative production that primarily benefits large-scale brands within a limited number of industries.

The effectiveness of ads in AI Overviews is still unknown

Marketers are justifiably apprehensive (see here and here) about the potential ramifications of AI Overviews on their organic search traffic. Google appears to be banking on these new AI Overview ad placements as a means to alleviate some of these concerns. However, PPC marketers have raised numerous questions about Overview Ads. Are they positioned too far down the page? What will their impact be on CPCs? “It’s always a bit concerning to me when Google takes liberties such as these,” commented Cliff Sizemore, the Sr. Marketing Manager of Growth here at nexus-security by LocaliQ. “Just from my experience in search, the queries and intent (close variants in particular) aren’t always in line with the keyword, and I have the same concern about this. I can see how it would be helpful to users to find what they’re looking/shopping for, but AI isn’t perfect, so only time will tell when it comes to the impact on advertisers.” The strategic placement of these ads by Google will be another point of interest. It’s highly probable that, for the time being, Google will prioritize mitigating risks to its core revenue stream by ensuring that SERPs with high commercial intent remain centered around traditional ads, as opposed to relegating them to the depths of AI Overviews.

New ad features may increase clicks but drive up CPLs

It’s conceivable that the introduction of these new AI-driven features—360-degree product views, integrated in-ad videos, clickable stickers—will contribute to an increase in ad click-through rates. However, a higher click-through rate ultimately proves ineffective if it fails to translate into a corresponding rise in conversions. These additional clicks have the potential to inflate the cost per lead (CPL), a trend already observed and documented in our most recent search advertising benchmarks report. We’ll provide a more comprehensive analysis of these announcements and novel AI features in an upcoming post. In the meantime, the key takeaway is abundantly clear: Google is making substantial investments in AI across its entire ecosystem. One gets the sense that users might not share the same level of enthusiasm for AI as Google does. Moreover, as with the advent of any new technology, there are bound to be some bumps along the road. Rest assured, we’ll be here to guide you through these evolving changes.