Have you checked out new ad format-google Discovery Ads
Google announced two big image-driven ad tests at its Marketing Live event last year. Gallery ads for Search campaigns didn’t make it and are set to be phased out, while Discovery ads have emerged from testing and are now available to all advertisers globally.
Discovery campaigns were quietly rolled out last month and now available globally. Discovery ads are eligible to serve across the YouTube Home and Watch Next feeds, Discover feed on the Google Search app and in Gmail Promotion and Social tabs and open up new avenues for both Google and advertisers.
Can’t find these in your feed? Here’s why
If you still didn’t figure out this in Discover feed yet, that’s because Google is treading very lightly here. The company says it is being very cautious — particularly about ads in Discover feed.
There is currently just one ad slot — in position three — on the Discover feed. Google holding the quality bar high and only showing the ads that have the best image assets that are most relevant to users in that context.
Google machine learning is used to determine when to serve a Discovery ad that will deliver the best results on the campaign objective,
Social media marketers, Now you can’t ignore Google Ads,
Discovery campaigns take their cue from Facebook’s success at exactly this type of visually impactful, native ad format targeted based on audience data rather than search intent.
While it rolled out last year the Discover feed had only around 800,000 monthly users. Now, Google is rolling up usage across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail surfaces to claim a combined audience of 2.9 billion people. This approach to audience totals takes a leaf from Facebook, which started reporting usage across its “family of apps” last year. Facebook reported 2.99 billion monthly active people (MAP) as of March 31.
To put it clearly, Google is offering reach on par with Facebook.
To make it abundantly clear that Discovery ads are aimed at paid social dollars, Google spells it out. In one case study cited in google announcement, Deckers “repurposed high-quality images from social campaigns” for Discovery ads last holiday season. In another, Gareth Cleevely, VP head of paid search at iProspect, says, “We’ve seen them deliver positive performance further down the funnel with up to 48% lower cost-per-action compared to social ads.” And yet another, Phil Twigg, head of acquisition at MandM Direct, says, “We were able to quickly scale our social media campaigns to Discovery ads.”
It is the Discovery ads that come out of the social vernacular that tend to perform best, said Dischler. He noted that in evaluating ad creatives during testing, they’d know which ones were created by social teams, display teams, and search teams. Those who are using or adapting ads starting from social assets, including high-quality images, have been most successful in using Discovery ads to “inspire users and generate demand,” he said. Advertisers are “now understanding the value of a more multi-faceted marketing strategy.”
Discovery campaigns aren’t just another effort by Google to move beyond search intent and deliver audience connections throughout the funnel, they give Google an avenue into working with social budgets and teams. Which team is ultimately responsible for Discovery campaigns will vary, but in many cases, agencies and companies will have search, display, and now social teams with a hand in Google Ads campaigns.
How to get started with Discovery campaigns
Discovery campaigns are now available in Google Ads.
Discovery ads can be seen in the google ads tab as shown here. There are two ad formats: Discovery carousel ads with multiple images and Discovery ads with a single image.
For image assets, you can have Google scan your website for images that meet the size requirements, upload images, or select stock images from a library. The key is to have eye-catching, high-quality images. Google’s creative guide for says, “Aspirational imagery and a copy is crucial.”
As with responsive search ads (RSAs), Discovery ads serve combinations of headlines and descriptions automatically. Enter up to five headlines and five descriptions.
Google will also show a weekly impression estimate based on your geographic targeting. For the United States, it is 3.3 billion, while for India it is 6.9 billion
You can let Google automatically choose the call to action text in your ads or choose from more than ten options such as “Apply Now,” “Contact Us,” “Download,” “Visit Site,” and “Shop Now.”
Discovery campaign ad groups should be organized your campaign by strategy or theme.
In addition to location, Discovery campaigns can be targeted by the audience and/or demographic (age, gender, parental status, and household income).
Smart bidding is required here and Ad Rotation and Frequency capping are not available for this campaign type. Also, note that you should choose an average daily budget at least 10 times the value of your target cost-per-action (CPA) bid and wait for at least 40 conversions before making changes to your campaign.
All the best for trying out a new ad format