The Latest from Google: March 2018

In this edition, Google announces the launch of Shopping Actions, adds custom intent audience targeting and introduces the Speed Scorecard and Impact Calculator.

Google Shopping Actions

It’s no surprise consumers are using technology for more than just information. They are looking for ways to make tasks less complicated and easier to complete. This also applies to shopping. To provide consumers a frictionless shopping experience, last week Google announced Shopping Actions. Through this new program, consumers are able to use a universal cart across mobile and desktop devices when using Google Assistant, Google Express and the Sponsored Shopping unit on Search.

Consumers can use a shareable list and instant checkout, making shopping more integrated into everyday life. They can add products to the universal cart as needs arise and complete the order at a later time. Other features like 1-click re-ordering, personalized recommendations and basket-building increase repeat customers.

For advertisers, Shopping Actions is set up as a pay-per-sale model. Shopping Actions appear within the sponsored Shopping Unit on the Google Search page and organic rankings are not impacted or changed.

Google reports that in early testing:

• On average, retailers saw an increase in total conversion at a lower cost, compared to running Shopping ads alone.
• Participating merchants saw a 30 percent average increase in basket size.

Custom intent audiences

At the Search Marketing Expo West, Google shared that soon advertisers will be able to target consumers on YouTube who recently searched on Google. They are calling this type of targeting custom intent audiences. It will allow advertisers to serve another touchpoint toward conversion. Google suggests this targeting will perform best when paired with TrueView ads since advertisers can customize a call-to-action.

Google highlighted Betterment, an online investment company, who through custom intent audiences saw a 245 percent increase in searches on Google, and a return on ad spend six times higher than previous YouTube campaigns.

Click-to-message reporting

Back in 2016, Google introduced click-to-message ads to allow consumers a simple way of connecting with advertisers. This month, Google announced that it will soon launch reporting for this type of ad. Here are the performance reporting features you can expect:

• Chat rate – how often users start a conversation.
• Chart start time – the timestamp for when a user sends a message. This can help advertisers schedule message extensions.
• Message – total number of messages within a single chat to help advertisers understand which campaigns are resulting in the longest conversations.

Speed Scorecard and Impact Calculator

It’s no secret that speed on mobile is important for user experience. Google says that 53 percent of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes more than three seconds to load. To help brands understand their site speed, earlier this year Google introduced Speed Scorecard and Impact Calculator.

Speed Scorecard – a tool to compare mobile speed with other companies. It displays the speeds of thousands of sites from a dozen countries.

Google’s recommendation:

• For mid-range mobile devices with 3G, a site should load and become usable within five seconds.
• For devices with 4G, a site should load within three seconds.

Impact Calculator – a tool to estimate the revenue impact from improving mobile site speed. It displays how much brands can gain by increasing load time.

According to a SOASTA study, for every second delay in page load time, conversions can fall by up to 20 percent. If you don’t know the mobile speed of your site, use these new tools to understand your current state and identify where you can maximize optimization efforts.

As we learn more about these new features and developments, we’ll continue to keep you apprised of what you need to know. Reach out to us if you have any questions. As a certified Google partner, we can help you navigate through all things Google so you can continue to drive qualified traffic through your campaigns.

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