AdWords Account Management – The Web Authority

June 9, 2022June 8, 2022

What Your Google Ads Manager Wants You to Know About the Cookieless Future

Be Prepared for the Sunset of Google Analytics in 7/2023

July 2023 is coming sooner than you think. Do not be unprepared for the important changes that are coming in how Google Ads tracks conversions. Failure to take this seriously will impact your advertising, costs, the ability to measure the successes from your Google Ads advertising investment and may even cause a decline in sales.

Cookies are changing in July 2023. Google will be sunsetting Universal Analytics (UA), removing third party cookie access from the Chrome browser, and Google Ads will not record conversions in your advertising account from third party cookies after that date.

What Happens to Conversions in this New World in Google Ads?

Right now, most Google Ads conversions are tracked via third party cookies. That means if you have not embraced first party data and G4 Analytics, your Google Ads account may not show all conversions that are being generated from Google Ads. You still will get conversions, but you just won’t know where the conversion came from. For some clients, they will erroneously feel that Google Ads is not working for them, and cut ad spend budgets in error. For many this will create a loss in sales and may even drive some companies out of business.

The Impact of the Cookie Change for Google Ads Account Management is Significant

Google Ads advanced bidding algorithms all use cookies to record conversions. Without valid conversion data the bidding algorithms will have trouble setting appropriate bids and Google Ads will not be able to deliver targeted results. This will most certainly lead to fewer and more expensive conversions when actions are only partially recorded.

Conversions are not going away with this new cookieless world, but the ability to see which conversions are driven by Google Ads will be gone if you do not move to first party data and cookieless conversion tracking by July 2023.

Google Ads has stated that using G4 and Google Ads first party data in website codes will generate data that it will combine with AI to extrapolate conversion data points that it will use for the advanced bidding algorithm and conversion reporting metrics.

From the Google Ads Manager Perspective

Many clients are simply not aware of how automation is used in their Google Ads account. Bidding from the keyword level and even ad text inclusion by viewer is all driven by conversion results. Without strong and valid conversion data to base these decisions on, we return to manual bidding which drops conversion numbers and in many cases does not let an account be competitively placed in the Google Ads auction. And, the bidding algorithm drives up costs and escalates the cost per conversion as it has no idea what to bid based on no data or flawed data. The responsive ad engine does not understand which pieces of ad text generate a return and so does not create compelling ads that generate sales.

Performance drops and clients start to think that Google Ads is not a good investment. They stop advertising and their phone stops ringing, sales drop, and then suddenly everything becomes a crisis.

Without the first party data which powers the Google Ads advanced bidding algorithm and Google’s ability to fill-in conversion data using AI, Google Ads stops working for an account.

But, your competitors are moving forward and continuing to leverage their first party data in Google Ads to get results. What happens is those that did not embrace first party data, G4, and early preparation simply get left behind and lose business to others that could have been theirs.

Our Recommendations Is to Be Prepared

We recommend using the first party data of Google Ads tracking code to track conversions on your website and using G4 Analytics for a deeper insight into your website traffic.

Don’t wait and get caught in a spiral of confusion and lack of important decision making data. Plan ahead and actively work to assure your website and Google Ads conversion code is transitioned and ready for the cookieless future before the deadline.

For more information on this important topic we recommend this article at Search Engine Land.

For help with Google Ads optimization and how you should move forward with implementing first party data, please contact us from our website.

August 4, 2021August 2, 2021

Strike… Google Institutes Penalties for Not Following the Rules

It’s called three strikes you’re out – Google has instituted new penalties to get advertisers’ attention to policy violations.

Our concern is the number of false positives that we routinely see and the difficulty in resolving these issues due to the inability to just pick up the phone and chat to a Googler. Since Covid, Google now has an “ask for a call” option. It appears that support is now based in India. Many times the return calls we get are marked as No Mo Robo calls and are blocked by Verizon after one ring.

Management of this new program will be problematic. Here’s just one example – a client sells trailer hitches. Images are frequently marked as violations as Google thinks the image of the trailer hitch looks like a gun.

Here’s the full release that Google has sent to advertisers and account managers.

Dear Advertiser,

In September 2021, Google will introduce a new strike-based system to enforce against advertisers who repeatedly violate Google Ads policies. We will begin implementing the strike-based system on Sep 21, 2021, with a gradual ramp up over a period of 3 months, for the following policies: Enabling dishonest behavior, Unapproved substances, Guns, gun parts and related products, Explosives, Other Weapons, and Tobacco. The policy coverage of the strike-based system will be expanded to add additional policies in phases over time and advertisers will be notified each time new policies are brought within scope of the strike-based system.

Please note that this update does not impact the account suspension procedures for egregious Google Ads policy violations.

What’s changing:

To help ensure a safe and positive experience for users, Google requires advertisers to comply with Google Ads policies. As a part of the Google Ads enforcement system, Google will begin issuing strikes to advertisers, which will be accompanied by email notifications and in-account notifications to encourage compliance and deter repeat violations of our policies.

An advertiser’s first policy violation will only result in a warning. But advertisers will earn their first strike if we detect continued violation of our policies. Advertisers will be able to receive a maximum of three strikes, and the penalties applied with each strike will progressively increase. Temporary account holds will be applied for the first and second strikes (for 3 and 7 days respectively), while the third strike will result in an account suspension.

An advertiser placed on a temporary account hold will be required to remedy the violations in question and to submit an acknowledgement form to resume serving ads. Following this acknowledgement, their account will be released from the temporary account hold state either 3 days after the first strike was issued, or after 7 days for a second strike. Advertisers can also appeal a strike decision if they believe it was issued in error. Ads will resume serving immediately after successfully appealing the strike. Accounts will remain on temporary hold if no action is taken by the advertiser to either acknowledge or appeal a strike. Strikes will remain on the Google Ads account for 90 days unless they’re successfully appealed.

Accounts suspended following a third strike will not be able to run any ads or create new content unless the suspension is successfully appealed. Learn more about suspended accounts.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Google Ads Team

July 28, 2021July 27, 2021

Google Ads – New Charges for Taxes in Many Countries

I have just received this notice from Google and we knew it was coming when the EU added taxes to Google’s activity.

Dear Advertiser,

As of 1 October 2021, we will include a surcharge to your invoices or statements for ads that are purchased through Google Ads and for YouTube placements purchased on reservations basis, and that are served in the following specific jurisdictions:

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Ads served in Austria: a 5% Austria DST Fee added to your invoice or statement

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Ads served in France: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement

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Ads served in India: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement

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Ads served in Italy: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement

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Ads served in Spain: a 2% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement

•

Ads served in Turkey: a 5% Regulatory Operating Cost added to your invoice or statement

•

Ads served in the United Kingdom: a 2% UK DST Fee added to your invoice or statement

These surcharges are being added to cover a portion of the costs associated with complying with digital services tax legislation in these jurisdictions.

Learn more about jurisdiction-specific surcharges

Thank you,

The Google Payments Team

Unfortunately we should never have assumed that Google would simply pay these taxes for us. They are being directly passed to Google Ads advertisers.

For a number of our clients who advertise globally this impact makes reaching foreign markets more expensive starting in October.

June 10, 2021June 9, 2021

How to Understand Your Data Studio Report Graphs

If you are one of our client’s you receive a report daily on your account activity from Data Studio. These reports help you as a business owner to understand the conversion activity that Google Ads is driving with your advertising investment.

I have posted several screenshots to help you understand several very important and common scenarios.

Limited by Budget

When I see many spikes in an account during the month, it typically shows that the account is limited by budget. Google is trying to meter out the ad spend to spread it over the month, but has to lower the daily budget between activity as there is simply not enough budget in the account to support the activity that exists.

The image below shows a longer time frame of an account limited by budget. You can see many peaks and valleys as Google overspends on some days and then cuts back on others as it tries to pace the budget to cover demand.

Not enough budget to support activity available.

The image below shows in a smaller time period this same peak and valley. When I go into the account I can see that Google spent more than 20% on one day and then had to cut the budget back for the next several days, causing this jagged appearance.

Showing an account limited by ad spend budget.

Business to Business Activity

Another scenario we see frequently is typically seen in business to business accounts. Here, although ads continue to serve 24/7, we can see that conversion activity is typically happening on weekdays. In this case the valleys in the account match Saturday and start to show strong activity happening consistently on specific days of the week. Notice how the peaks of activity are at nearly the same height throughout the month. This account is not restrained by budget, but rather is reflecting how customers and prospects react with ads.

Business to Business heavy weekday activity.

Google Reacts to Both Scenarios

When using Smart Bidding in your account Google’s machine learning algorithms work hard to deliver conversions and over time understands how your prospects and customers use your ads. For Business to Business clients Google pays less for clicks and even drops ad spend on times it knows your customers are not converting or are not active. In the scenario in the image above, Google does not spend the full daily budget on the weekends, saving more money to spend on active weekdays.

Experience Makes the Difference

As a Google Partner and a Certified Google Ads Professional, McCord Web Services know Google Ads and can leverage this knowledge to provide the lead generation results you seek. Find out more about our programs today.

We encourage you to review our price list to understand that we work hard to make exceptional account management affordable for you and your agency.

October 9, 2020October 9, 2020