Google Marketing Live 2024: Key Updates and The Impact on Marketers

The 2024 Google Marketing Live event was a lot to take in, as Google unveiled several updates allegedly designed to supercharge our advertising efforts. From AI-powered creative assets to immersive shopping ads, there’s a lot to unpack. Let’s dive into these updates and explore what they could mean for digital advertisers.

Table of Contents

• Search and Shopping Ads in AI Overviews
• Power Pair: Search and Performance Max Campaigns
• Enhanced Brand Controls for PMax Campaigns
• New Reporting and Controls for PMax Campaigns
• YouTube Shorts: Vertical Video and Creator Partnerships
• General Retail & Commerce
• Google Ads Data Manager
• Measurement Diagnostics Hub and AI Essentials
• Demand Gen Campaigns
• Apps: Web to App Connect and SKAdNetwork Enhancements
• YouTube Innovations
• Measurement and Audience Solutions

Search and Shopping Ads in AI Overviews

What’s New:

Google is testing search and shopping ads in AI-generated overviews for users in the U.S. This new approach leverages AI to present more dynamic and relevant ads based on user queries. The AI Overviews will now include sponsored ads above or below them, and when searching with  Google Lens and Circle, shopping ads will show at the top. These ads will integrate seamlessly into the AI-generated content, appearing in a section clearly labeled as “Sponsored.” 

Google Lens has existed in many different forms since May 2017, and Circle was announced in January 2024, but they both should continue to grow in popularity because of how helpful they are (I think people just don’t know about the features yet). With shopping ads at the top, Google has a reason to push it more. If you’re unfamiliar with Circle, Android users can search simply by making a gesture on their phone with a finger without leaving the app. I hope this becomes available to all phones since it is beneficial to search for things you have trouble describing or to quickly find things you want to purchase from anything you see online.

Also mentioned were Interactive ad experiences on Search ads with multimodal inputs like images to receive specific recommendations. Google is testing these with select advertisers without a public rollout timeline yet. This is so limited that I don’t feel it’s necessary to focus on it.

What It Means for Marketers:

This change offers a more interactive and visually engaging way to reach consumers. Advertisers can now place their products directly in AI Overviews, increasing visibility and potential conversions in the new experience. It emphasizes the need for marketers to optimize their visual assets and stay ahead in the AI-driven search landscape.

These updates showed me that people’s search methods are changing and that Google Lens and Circle are the future of scary keyword-less searches that marketers need to prepare for. This is at least part of the reason why Google is pushing PMax and loose match types, but keywords will still be king in 2024, and Google has to be more transparent about what clicks we are paying for. 

Power Pair: Search and Performance Max Campaigns

What’s New:

Google pushed their new “Power Pair” strategy which is simply using both Search and Performance Max campaigns with Smart Bidding. They claim this strategy will deliver the highest conversion performance and ROI across all of Google’s platforms and that advertisers using this combination can expect improved results by leveraging the strengths of both campaign types.

What It Means for Marketers:

This is not a new strategy but highlights the synergy between targeted search campaigns and Performance Max’s broad reach. Marketers should cautiously consider using both campaign types to maximize results and ensure a balanced approach to performance and creative flexibility. This can also be stepping stone for channels you’ve yet to explore, such as YouTube, Display, Google Discovery, Gmail, and other placements for Google.

Enhanced Brand Controls for PMax Campaigns

What’s New:

Google is introducing new controls that allow advertisers to share their brand guidelines with Google’s AI, including colors and fonts. This also includes uploading images that AI can use to generate on-brand creative content and the ability to use AI-powered image editing. Google also announced partnerships with Canva, Smartly, and Pencil Pro, enabling direct creative exports.

What It Means for Marketers:

Marketers can ensure that AI-generated content aligns with their brand identity while maintaining ad consistency and quality. This tool helps bridge the gap between creative automation and brand integrity, making AI a more reliable partner in advertising.

I am still hesitant that Google AI can create truly on-brand assets, but it could work if you need something for a quick sale or promotion. This will get better with time, but it feels like a sneaky way to get you to try PMax and Demand Gen campaigns since it appears these tools will only be for those campaign types.

New Reporting and Controls for PMax Campaigns

What’s New:

• The ability to see conversion metrics for each creative asset
• YouTube visibility through placement reports with better exclusion options
• Conversion lift and incrementality studies to see if your ads are making a difference
• Impact testing through experimentation to better predict future performance of additional videos, images, and text creatives.
• A new diagnostics experience for PMax, Demand Gen, Search, Video and Display that with a single view with the option to drill down for additional details. 

What It Means for Marketers:

These enhanced reporting tools provide deeper insights into what resonates with customers, enabling more informed decisions about creative strategies. This transparency may help optimize ad performance and ensure resources are allocated effectively, but Google needs to give us more actionable data to optimize these campaigns. This has always been the biggest pain point for PMax campaigns, so thank you, Google for doing something in the right direction because something is better than nothing. 

YouTube Shorts: Vertical Video and Creator Partnerships

What’s New:

Google emphasized the importance of vertical video in YouTube Shorts, noting that it increases viewer rates by over 40%. They also announced new partnership ads powered by Brand Connect, enabling collaborations with YouTube creators. Additionally, they’re introducing interactive features like stickers and swipe functionalities to enhance user engagement.

What It Means for Marketers:

Marketers should prioritize vertical video formats for YouTube Shorts to boost engagement. Partnering with popular creators can enhance authenticity and trust, leveraging the influencer’s audience for greater reach and impact. The new interactive features can make ads more engaging and drive higher conversion rates.

General Retail & Commerce

What’s New:

• Product Studio (only available in Merchant Center Next or the Google & YouTube app in Shopify) now allows advertisers to create videos from a single image. Visual brand profile on Google Search allows brands to highlight their stories with videos, images, and promos. 
• 3D shopping ad formats, starting with shoes, providing a 360° view of products. This feature leverages AI to create dynamic and engaging product visuals.
• Immersive shopping ads are being tested with some advertisers in apparel and beauty. This allows short videos from your brand to be included with your shopping ads along with additional products and useful customer quotes/reviews. 
• Virtual try on in Shopping ads for mens and womens tops will allow you to see how clothes fit on a diverse set of body types. 
• ROI & Loyalty for PMax and Standard Shopping
  • Profit optimization in smart bidding will allow campaigns to use Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) to prioritize higher profits
  • Loyalty member sales through specific promotion in your ads like member-only exclusives and pricing
  • First order promotions for new customers only to help get that first sale
  • AI-Powered Dynamic Sale Pricing to update your prices based on sales from your website store to get purchases and drive profit
  • For PMax with store goals, you can feature redeemable digital coupons where customers can save offers in Maps. 
• Insights
  • More actionable performance insights are coming to Merchant Center Next along with next steps recommendations
  • Category level insights and demand trends for your shopping ads with competitive benchmarks and optimization opportunities
  • Better agency client management with a single point of entry to Merchant Center which will give you quicker insight. 
• Apps are more shoppable
  • Connect a merchant center feed to app campaigns which will then be eligible to serve in Discover inventory
  • Ability to easily create better themed ad groups with relevant and tailored ads though feed filtering
  • Adding promotion assets to app campaign to highlight promos and sales
  • Seasonality bid adjustments and promotional event bid adjustments
  • Ability to link audience lists to find high-value shoppers more likely to convert

What It Means for Marketers:

These tools offer more dynamic and engaging ways to showcase products and be profitable while improving the shopping experience and potentially increasing conversion rates. Marketers should experiment with these tools to enhance their visual storytelling and product presentation.

One general concern I have is Google knowing your product profit margin. Although this could be for your benefit, Google is ultimately driven by profit and could hit you with more expensive CPCs because they know you can afford them . I’ll be watching this closely, as it could go either way.

Google Ads Data Manager

What’s New:

Google Ads Data Manager is now available to all advertisers, simplifying the process of integrating first-party data into campaigns. This tool helps advertisers to seamlessly connect and manage data from various sources like Salesforce, BigQuery, and Google Cloud Storage.

What It Means for Marketers:

This tool makes it easier to leverage valuable first-party data, enhancing targeting accuracy and campaign performance. Marketers should ensure they are effectively integrating and utilizing their data to maximize the benefits of AI-driven advertising.

This is interesting timing with the rumors of Google looking to acquire Hubspot in the near future. Either way, adding more first-party data tools to Google Ads is a win for advertisers.

Measurement Diagnostics Hub and AI Essentials

What’s New:

Google introduced Measurement Diagnostics Hub to identify data gaps and optimization opportunities along with integratingAI Essentials into its optimization score and recommendations aimed to help businesses integrate AI into their strategies. These tools lookto streamline the process of ensuring that campaigns are performing optimally and taking full advantage of AI capabilities.

What It Means for Marketers:

These tools provide a clear pathway for optimizing ad performance and integrating AI, but don’t start adding these recommendations just to improve your OptiScore or you will likely ruin your account. Google doesn’t know your business like you do, so ask yourself if these recommendations make sense before adding them. Marketers should be aware of these recommendations to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving digital landscape but shouldn’t add them without thinking critically about their potential ramifications.

Demand Gen Campaigns

What’s New:

Demand Gen campaigns aim to maximize presence on YouTube, Shorts, Discover, and Gmail. They now include animated image ads for YouTube Shorts (auto-generated from images in your product feed if you have a Merchant Center account), video placement asset pinning to control where videos show through Creative Preferences, and easier creation of Lookalike segments with a reduced minimum list size of 100. Google has also integrated Demand Gen with Display & Video 360 and Search Ads 360 for better performance optimization.

What It Means for Marketers:

Demand Gen campaigns enhance visual storytelling and help reach more qualified customers with engaging formats. The ability to pin video assets and create Lookalike segments from smaller lists allows for more precise targeting and improved engagement. I’ve always liked this ad type and think it has a place in many Google Ads strategies.

Apps: Web to App Connect and SKAdNetwork Enhancements

What’s New:

Web to App Connect is easier to adopt for various ad formats, including Search, PMax and Shopping, delivering higher conversion rates for clicks landing on apps versus mobile websites. Google also announced the ability to run incrementality experiments through geo-based app campaigns and made enhancements to SKAdNetwork reporting to improve attribution for iOS app campaigns.

What It Means for Marketers:

These updates help drive better performance from app campaigns, ensuring higher engagement and more accurate attribution. Marketers should test these features to maximize app conversions and accurately measure campaign impact.

YouTube Innovations

What’s New:

• Interactive Shorts Ads with Stickers: Introducing stickers to Shorts ads to make them more interactive
• New Viewer Engagement Features: Enabling viewers to swipe to a landing page or double-tap to like
• Expanded YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program: Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants can sync products to YouTube
• Partnership Ads Powered by BrandConnect: Bringing creator-made videos into ad campaigns
• Improved Ad Transparency: More insight into where YouTube ads appear, with new placement and thematic exclusions

What It Means for Marketers:

These updates help make Shorts ads more engaging and interactive, increase sales through creator collaborations, and provide better control and transparency over ad placements.

Measurement and Audience Solutions

What’s New:

• Google Ads Data Manager: Simplifies using first-party data
• New Customer Acquisition Goal with Google Analytics: Use additional GA4 signals to distinguish between new and existing customers to help drive performance with campaigns using this goal.
• Cross-Channel Budgeting in Google Analytics: Tracks campaign pacing and performance
• Google-Engaged Audiences: A new data segment for re-engaging website visitors
• Generated Insights in Google Analytics: AI-powered insights for trends and recommendations
• Enhanced Reporting in Google Ads and Search Ads 360: Faster and more visual data filtering
• Measurement Diagnostics Hub: Validates and troubleshoots measurement setups
• Meridian Open Source MMM: Helps measure marketing strategy impact
• Benchmarking in Google Analytics 4: Compares performance against similar businesses
• Full-Funnel Measurement in GA4: Integrates with Campaign Manager 360 for comprehensive insights

What It Means for Marketers:

These solutions help streamline data management, improve audience targeting, provide faster insights, and ensure robust measurement foundations. Marketers should leverage these tools for better performance tracking and strategic planning.

Conclusion

Google Marketing Live 2024 has set the stage for a year of AI changes in digital marketing. With AI tools enhancing our creative processes, new ad formats engaging users more effectively, and improved data management systems, we may start to see Google Search look significantly different. It’s essential to approach these updates with a lot of skepticism. AI advancements always sound impressive, but the real-world effectiveness remains to be seen. I advise experimenting with these new features to stay ahead of the curve but always remember the fundamentals and your core strategy.