AdWords Manager – The Web Authority

June 27, 2024June 27, 2024

Google is Dropping Continuous Scroll in Search Results

Team reviewing a proposal from McCord Web Services.

In a significant shift, Google has announced that it will be dropping continuous scroll for search results and moving back to displaying 10 organic results per page. This change reverses a feature that had been rolled out to improve user experience by allowing seamless scrolling through search results. The reversion to the classic 10 results per page format is expected to have a profound impact on organic search results and the need for businesses to invest in Google Ads to maintain visibility.

Introduction

If you’re a business owner who relies on Google Ads for your online presence, this Google search update is a game-changer. For a while, continuous scroll made it easier for users to browse through multiple search results without having to click ‘next.’ Now, Google is reverting to its original format of displaying only 10 organic results per page. This change will undoubtedly influence how businesses approach their SEO and advertising strategies. Here’s why this shift is crucial and how it impacts organic search results and Google Ads.

The Impact on Organic Search Results

Decreased Organic Visibility

One of the most immediate impacts of this change is the decreased visibility for websites that are not on the first page of search results. With continuous scroll, users were more likely to see and click on results beyond the first 10. Now, being relegated to the second page or higher means potential organic traffic will drop significantly.

Increased Competition for Top Spots

The fight for those coveted top 10 positions will become fiercer. Businesses will need to work even harder to produce high-quality, SEO-friendly content regularly. This means investing in SEO experts and consistent content updates to stay competitive.

Quality Over Quantity

While quantity has always been a factor in SEO, quality will now take center stage. Google’s algorithm favors sites with valuable and relevant content. Therefore, businesses must prioritize creating engaging blog posts, detailed articles, and informative website content to improve their chances of ranking within the top 10 results.

The Impact on Google Ads

Increased Need for Advertising

With fewer organic results being displayed per page, businesses will find it more challenging to gain visibility through organic search alone. This change will likely push more companies to allocate budgets for Google Ads to ensure they remain visible to potential customers.

Higher Competition and Costs

“As a Google Partner and SEO expert, my firm feels that businesses will need to increase advertising budgets in Google Ads and work with an SEO expert to provide quality blog and website content in order to improve site visibility,” says Nancy McCord, Founder of McCord Web Services. This increased reliance on Google Ads will lead to higher competition for ad placements, potentially driving up the cost-per-click (CPC) for competitive keywords.

Strategic Ad Campaigns

Businesses will need to become more strategic in their ad campaigns, focusing on targeting the right audience and using compelling ad copy to stand out. This also means leveraging all available features of Google Ads, such as ad extensions and A/B testing, to maximize ROI.

Conclusion

The shift back to displaying 10 organic results per page is a significant change that will influence both organic search results and Google Ads strategies. Businesses must adapt by investing in high-quality content and increasing their advertising budgets to maintain visibility. By understanding the implications of this update, business owners can make informed decisions to stay competitive in an increasingly challenging digital landscape.

Stay ahead of the curve and consider working with an SEO expert to optimize your website and a Google Ads consultant to enhance your ad campaigns. This dual approach will help ensure that your business continues to thrive online despite the evolving search engine landscape.

June 11, 2024

Leveraging Consent Mode: A Must for Your Website and Google Ads Strategy

Solutions Ahead Privacy Forward Marketing

In an era where data privacy is paramount, businesses must adapt to ever-changing regulations to ensure compliance and maintain customer trust. One essential tool in achieving this is Google’s Consent Mode.

As Google Partner’s and Google Ads specialists, we want to assure that you and our customers stay up to date on things we feel are important to embrace in order to be compliant with privacy protection for website visitors.

This blog post will explore what Consent Mode is, its significant benefits, and the steps to implement it on your website and Google Ads.

What is Consent Mode?

Consent Mode is a framework developed by Google to help websites and advertisers manage user consent for data processing. This feature allows you to adjust how Google products, such as Google Ads and Google Analytics, behave based on the consent status of your visitors.

When a user does not give consent to data collection, Consent Mode modifies the behavior of tracking scripts to respect these preferences, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations. This means that while essential functionalities remain, the data collected for advertising and analytics is limited, keeping your operations within legal boundaries.

Key Benefits of Using Consent Mode

Compliance with Privacy Regulations

One of the most significant benefits of implementing Consent Mode is that it helps your business stay compliant with privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). These regulations require explicit user consent for collecting and processing personal data. Consent Mode ensures that user preferences are respected, mitigating the risk of non-compliance and potential fines.

Enhanced Trust and Transparency

By visibly respecting user consent, your business fosters a sense of trust and transparency. Users are more likely to engage with your brand when they know their privacy preferences are honored. This can lead to increased customer loyalty and a better overall user experience.

Improved Google Ads Functionality

Google has indicated that using Consent Mode is crucial for the continued effectiveness of Google Ads features. Without activating Consent Mode, remarketing or customer match lists may not be served as audiences in the future. Additionally, conversion tracking might be disabled in Google Ads accounts, severely limiting your ability to measure and optimize campaign performance.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Even without full user consent, Consent Mode can still provide valuable insights. By leveraging aggregated and anonymized data, businesses can continue to make informed decisions without compromising user privacy. This ensures that marketing strategies remain data-driven and effective.

Steps to Implement Consent Mode

Implementing Consent Mode on your website involves several key steps:

Step 1: Partner with a Cookie Service Provider

To manage user consent effectively, you’ll need a cookie consent service provider, such as Cookiebot or OneTrust. We personally like Cookie Script for our own provider and for our clients. These tools help you collect, manage, and store user consent preferences in compliance with privacy regulations.

Step 2: Configure Google Tag Manager

Next, set up Google Tag Manager (GTM) to handle the consent signals from your cookie service provider. GTM allows you to deploy and manage various tracking scripts on your website, ensuring they respect user consent preferences.

Step 3: Integrate Google Analytics and Google Ads

In GTM, configure Google Analytics and Google Ads tags to work with Consent Mode. This ensures that data collection and ad functionalities adjust based on the user’s consent status. Google’s documentation provides detailed instructions on how to set this up.

Step 4: Test and Validate

Once everything is configured, thoroughly test your implementation to ensure it works correctly. Monitor the behavior of your tags and make sure they adjust according to user consent preferences. Validate that data collection and ad functionalities comply with privacy regulations.

Conclusion

In today’s digital landscape, prioritizing data privacy is non-negotiable. By implementing Consent Mode, your business can stay compliant with evolving privacy regulations, build trust with users, and maintain the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaigns. Don’t wait until it’s too late—start integrating Consent Mode today to safeguard your operations and continue thriving in a privacy-conscious world.

For more detailed guidance and resources, visit Google’s official Consent Mode documentation and take the first step towards a more compliant and transparent digital strategy.

September 27, 2023September 27, 2023

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

To our blog readers, at McCord Web Services for visibility, we are just now starting to see the strike notices appear in the accounts. Remember three strikes means your account is suspended for 90 days and sometimes depending on the violations, forever.

June 21, 2023

The Value of Using a Google Partner for Google Ads Management

Put Google Ads to work for you with new AI tools.

It just makes sense to get more sales from your investment in paying an account manager with experience to manage your Google Ads program.

How So?

Google Partners are companies that have been certified by Google to manage Google Ads campaigns for businesses. They have the latest Google Ads product knowledge to set up and run campaigns effectively so you can stay focused on your business.

Google Partners have built a relationship with Google and harness Google’s ability to drive long-term success. Google Ads offers Partners benefits focused on education, insights, access, support, and recognition.

1. The value of a Google Partner is that a Partner can help you achieve your business goals by providing you with the latest product knowledge and insights.

2. They can optimize your Google Ads campaigns for better performance, as well as provide you with data-driven insights to make informed decisions, and help you stay ahead of your competition.

3. Partners can also help you save time by managing your Google Ads program for you so that you can focus on running your business.

4. They can help you get the most out of your advertising budget by providing you with the latest product knowledge and insights.

McCord Web Services a Performance Marketing Firm

When you are ready to get serious about promoting your business on Google Ads, it makes sense to consider a Google Partner for the best possible results. Find out more about what we do and reach out to us today for a free estimate.