AdWords adds new feature for automating paid search [@SmartInsights Alert]

AdWords promises new update will save time, boost CRO and reduce CPA

Google have announced a series of new features for AdWords aimed at making dynamic search ads more effective. Dynamic search ads are the AdWords product which creates ads dynamically based on website content, rather than manually setting up keywords on which to bid. The idea is this allows businesses to not miss opportunities they wouldn't have known to bid on with a manually set up keyword-based campaign. It also means when the website content is updated the search ads automatically update, so there is no risk of having out of date ad copy after site updates.

Google has pressed ahead with the announcement despite the hurricane of negative PR whipped up by the revelations regarding ads being placed by YouTube and Google Display Network on unacceptable content, such as terrorist propaganda or far right groups. Because search ads don't appear on sites (only in SERPs), AdWords has avoided the controversy that has plagued Google's other ad products. If you're looking to shift online spend to a medium with greater brand safety, dynamic search ads could be one option worth considering.

Page Feeds : Choose what products you want to promote.

Page feeds, a new featured launched yesterday, lets you select the list of products you wanted to promote with PPC campaigns, and then AdWords does the rest. By uploading a spreadsheet of products and associated landing pages, AdWords can then create ads based on the copy on your landing pages and automatically identify relevant keywords to bid on. The main benefit of this feature is that it can save you loads of time, so it could be useful either for micro-businesses who don't have a dedicated PPC manager or for larger businesses with large sites and a large number of products. The fact that the SERPs which the ads are served on is automated can also allow you to reach more customers than manually setting up bids of certain keywords.

If you want to know more about how to set up Page Feeds you can see a walk-through of the setup process here.

Dynamic Search Ads update makes them more effective - in theory.

Google has also announced that it's latest AdWords update has improved the effectiveness of Dynamic Search Ads by tweaking the relevancy criteria so ads only display on the most effective SERPs. They claim this increase in conversion rates and a decrease in cost per action, which if true makes dynamic search ads a more attractive for people considering where to spend their paid search budget. However, Google did not provide exact figures to quantify their claims of increased conversion and reduced cost for advertisers, so it's impossible to assess exactly how much more dynamic search ads are likely to be. The best advice I can give is to set a campaign up for your business and monitor the returns closely to see if this type of activity is relevant for your business or not.