Review of Google’s 2016 Performance Summit Keynote

Google held its Summit Keynote on May 24th, 2016. Below are six things we learned.

Mobile Is Serious Business

We all knew Google was in love with mobile; they officially got married at the summit.

According to Sridhar Ramaswamy, Vice President of Ads & Commerce at Google, there were more searches from mobile devices than from desktops in the past year. Google is now building its future around integrating mobile experiences with every living moment. This has and will continue to influence AdWords, Google Analytics and more.

AdWords Bid Adjustments & Display Ads

AdWords users will soon be able to bid with greater granularity by setting individual bid adjustments for mobile, desktop or tablets. Google also announced the introduction of automatic display ad creation. Provide a headline, copy, image and URL and Google will create responsive display ads for you!

Location Location Location

One-third of mobile searches are location related.

Google is focusing on offering ad opportunities that will appear at the right time and place. Relevancy equals results. Advertisers can leverage Google’s growing pool of data to increase ROI through ads.

Digital & Physical – No More Boundaries

Google wants to tear down the walls that stand between digital and physical worlds. Using case study data, Google proved that ad exposure and digital touch points positively influenced local foot traffic.

With this in mind, Google will offer local search ads across their network, Google Maps and begin displaying promoted map pins. Cards are also making a greater appearance on mobile devices.

AdWords Platform Design Updates

Although it was only a portion of the summit, the new AdWords design was a major focus for many viewers.

Two changes that stood out:

1. The new homepage reveals insights without the need to dig for data. This includes top performing campaigns, click drivers, conversions and devices.
2. To reduce campaign setup time and confusion, users can now select their advertising goals and be shown options that will help achieve those goals. (Facebook has done this for years).

When Will the AdWords Changes Become Universal?

Google will be testing changes and rolling out the new interface throughout 2016-2017.

Read more about Google’s Performance Summit Keynote.

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