A new Performance Planner is available in Google Ads. The tool is designed to help advertisers understand how to allocate a set monthly budget across all of their campaigns based on Google’s projections for maximizing incremental conversions — or other advertising goal.

Google says: „The Performance Planner identifies the best spend amounts for your campaigns to drive incremental conversions. For example, let’s say you have a $92,000 monthly budget across 100 Search campaigns.

The planner will recommend how to distribute that $92,000 across those Search campaigns to maximize conversions and project results from these changes in your forecast. 

You can also use the planner to try other adjustments (e.g., different spend levels, CPAs) by clicking on the different spend points to see resulting changes in conversions. For example, you can see the difference in conversion volume you could receive at a $12 CPA against a $20 CPA. 

Within your plan, you can dive deeper into campaigns. You can view a campaign-level forecast, and allocate spend accordingly to that campaign. You can even add keywords to see how new terms would affect potential performance.

What does Performance Planner do?

Performance Planner tells you, the advertiser, how to change your bids and budget to maximize a specific metric across your campaigns.

While we can’t see all of the calculations happening on the back end of this tool, we know for sure that it takes the following into account:

• Existing Performance (current spend, conversions, conversion value, etc.)
• Past Performance (same dates one year ago if your account has that data)
• Billions of search queries (according to the announcement)

Then, as the Google announcement points out, Performance Planner simulates relevant ad auctions in aggregate, including variables like:

• Seasonality (see the full explanation below)
• Competitor Activity
• Landing Page

Requirements for campaigns

Campaigns must meet the following criteria to be eligible for forecasting. The tool will notify you when campaigns are not eligible.

• Have been running for at least 72 hours
• Have received at least 3 clicks in the last 7 days
• Have received at least one conversion in the last 7 days (if the campaigns focus on conversions)
• Are Search campaigns that use a manual cost-per-click (CPC), enhanced CPC, target cost-per-action (CPA), maximize clicks, or maximize conversions bidding strategy.

Short conclusion

This tool won’t tell you how much budget you should start off with, but it can provide some directional (key word here) insights into how changes in spend could impact performance of campaigns that already have enough historical data.

You may have missed this news, but Bing Ads have changed their name. And the new name is Microsoft Advertising as a part of rebranding.

What Microsoft says about changes:” We’re evolving, too. We’re changing our name from Bing Ads to Microsoft Advertising. It’s a simple shift because our clients and partners already know us as Microsoft, and many are already tapping into our new advertising products that go above and beyond search, such as the Microsoft Audience Network.

You’ll see the change start today as BingAds.com becomes MicrosoftAdvertising.com. Our partner program is evolving too, becoming the Microsoft Advertising Partner Program. Over the coming months, all of our experiences and materials will be updated to reflect Microsoft Advertising.

Why is Microsoft doing this?

Think back to July 2018 when Google did something similar, renaming AdWords to Google Ads. Clearly a move to demonstrate the platform had gone far beyond text ads, requiring a broader name.

Microsoft’s motivation is clearly rooted in some of the same notion. Pay-Per-Click advertising has moved way beyond matching up search terms and intent with advertising opportunities to drive action.

Microsoft is aligning Microsoft Advertising (the platform formerly known as Bing Ads) with the broader aspects of search marketing. In its announcement today,

Microsoft led with the notion about “making each connection feel one-to-one, at just the right time and place.”

By rebranding to Microsoft Advertising, the company can more readily connect what it’s doing in the PPC world with other marketing-specific products such as the Microsoft Audience Network.

The company is also planning to develop a deeper connection to its partner program, which is now known as the “Microsoft Ads Partner Program.”

Will something change for advertisers?

In simple terms, not much. Of course, you might need to update some of your bookmarks and relearn some vocabulary, but for the most part, things will continue as they are now.

In the long-term Microsoft will be trying to rebrand itself as an advertising network that doesn’t just rely on search ads and can compete with the big boys.

Short conclusion

Hopefully, the name change will put Microsoft back on the leaderboard as one of the most influential and popular advertising networks out there.

And with them teasing new and upcoming advertising products, it seems that Microsoft is investing a lot into improving its advertising network.

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is an online tool that can help you with the tracking codes and collecting analytics on your website. It can also be used in conjunction with Google Analytics to make collecting this information so much easier.

GTM has so many great features that are easy to use, and the best part is, it is completely free. The program can keep track of all your information through one tool, which stores all your data in a centralized location.

You maybe never ever heard of it, or you can read this definition and wondering how it can help you and what are the benefits of using Tag manager.

Is it easy to use?

Google Tag Manager is not “easy” to use without some technical knowledge or training (courses or self-taught).

You have to have some technical knowledge to understand how to set up tags, triggers and variables.

If you want to set up event tracking in Google Tag Manager, you’ll need someknowledge about what “events” are, how Google Analytics works, what data you can track with events, what the reports look like in Google Analytics and how to name your categories, actions and labels.

Is Google Tag Manager different from Google Analytics?

Google Tag Manager is a completely different tool used only for storing and managing third-party code. There are no reports or any way to do analysis in GTM. Google Analytics is used for actual reporting and analysis.

All conversion tracking goals or filters are managed through Analytics. All reporting are done in Google Analytics.

How can I benefit from using Google Tag Manager?

You can setup and track basic events like PDF downloads, outbound links or button clicks. Or, complex enhanced ecommerce product and promotion tracking.

It may help your site load faster depending on how many tags you are using. Also you have flexibility to play around and test out almost anything you want. Another benefit is it works with non-Google products.

Short conclusion

In short, Google Tag Manager is a user-friendly solution to managing the tags, or the snippets of JavaScript that send information to third-parties, on your website or mobile app.

In more detail, GTM makes your life easier by simplifying the process of adding these JavaScript snippets to your website. Instead of updating code on your website, you use the interface to decide what needs to fire and on what page or what action.

Google Marketing Live is an annual Google event where they unveil newest products and get you insight on what to look out in the future.

We know today’s consumers are more curious than ever. And as a result of mobile, they are able to get what they want, when they want it. Indeed, being on the go no longer means being out of reach.

For businesses, this creates even more opportunities to connect with current and potential customers—on and offline.

One thing was clear from the July 2018 branding shift and message change: They want to make it easier than ever before to run ads and be successful with Google Ads. And they are delivering on that goal.

Last year’s keynote emphasized transparency and trust. While those tenets were still very much in play this year, and while machine learning once again came to the fore, the core message was simple: Be responsible, be there, and be useful.Deliver relevant ad experiences to the right people at the right moments—all while being respectful of their privacy preferences.

What changes are coming to Google Ads

1. Feed-based advertising gets a facelift with Discovery Ads

They’re introducing a new way to advertise on it. Discovery ads provide an open canvas for advertisers to engage consumers in a swipeable image carousel. Discovery ads offer plenty of reach—you can serve them across the YouTube home feed, Gmail promotions tab,  and the feed in Google Discover. They also leverage machine learning to, over time, deliver the best ad to your prospects.

2. Immersive creative comes to the search network with Gallery Ads

Like Discovery ads, Gallery ads exist in the carousel format and allow consumers to seamlessly swipe through your image creative. Unlike Discovery ads, they sit at the top of the search results page. That means advertisers now have the ability to not only show ads to prospects at the precise moment they’re searching for keywords related to their products or services; but show those same prospects the kind of legitimately immersive image creative that is going to induce clicks.

3.Big improvements to smart bidding

Smart bidding, otherwise known as auction-time bidding, refers to Google Ads’ use of machine learning to optimize your bids for conversions or conversion value.

4. YouTube bumper ads for everyone

Residing snugly in the Google Ads interface, the bumper machine is a handy new tool that can turn any video shorter than 90 seconds into a collection of YouTube-ready bumper ads. It’s slated to roll out later this year at no additional cost to advertisers. Plus, it comes with a suite of basic editing tools that give you total control over the final products.

5. Custom affinity + custom intent = custom audiences

Case in point: Google is merging custom affinity audiences and custom intent audiences to create, quite simply, custom audiences. A key difference between this and a Facebook custom audience, of course, is Google’s direct access to search data.

Someone are annoyed with them, someone skips them instantly, someone install ad blocker on their laptops and computers. But a large number of people watch Youtube ads, especially if they are targeted to the right audience.

Youtube is after Google most visited site in the world. Imagine how many people are they every day and watching some ads.

Although YouTube Ads campaigns run via Google Ads, YouTube advertising is different from other online ad options. The platform relies solely on video (of course), but it also includes unique ad options and specifications.

How to start with Youtube ads

Pretty simple, we may say. The first step to set up YouTube Ads is to create a YouTube channel. From there, you’ll be able to publish your video ads. Sign in to YouTube with your Google Account, then click on “My channel.”

You can either use your Google account name or, if you have a brand account, choose another name, such as that of your business.

Once you click “Create Channel,” you can start uploading your video ads. YouTube videos can be published as any of four different types:

• Public videos can be viewed by anyone.
• Unlisted videos don’t show up on your channel or in search results but can be viewed by someone with the direct link.
• Private videos can be viewed only by people who were invited to see it.
• Scheduled videos allow you to select the date and time they become public.

Link Google Adwords to your channel

To do this,log into your Google Ads account (or My Client Center if you’re an agency). Then click Tools at the top of the page and select Linked Accountsfrom the Setup Column.

Follow the prompts to add your YouTube channel. If you’re the account owner, the linking will happen automatically. If someone else owns the account, you need to enter the email of the owner and request access.

Create your first campaign

YouTube Ads campaigns are set up through your Google Ads account. Once you log in, select the “Video” campaign type.

Then, select your marketing objective, or opt for a campaign without a goal. By choosing no goal, you have more flexibility to craft the campaign the way you want it.

You can choose from four objectives: Brand awareness and reach, Product and brand consideration, Website traffic and Leads.

How much does it cost to advertise?

YouTube advertising works the same way as other Google Ads campaigns—using an auction. You have complete control over how much you spend on your ads.

You can set a maximum amount for your overall campaign, as well as a target bid amount for each ad group you create.

Keep in mind that the greater your budget, the greater your reach.

Short conclusion

Advertising platform that can deliver great results at a relatively low cost. Many factors play a role in the success of your campaigns. Start small, learn from your experience, and optimize your YouTube ads for the future.

After spending hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars, there are pretty good chance that your boss or client will ask you for some reports.

Reporting on a regular basis is an inevitable task for any business measuring ROI for their ad budgets.

There are number of data you can show to the people, but we will focus on the ones we think are the most important. Make sure that your reports are digestible, easy to understand and appropriate for the audience at hand.

How to create PPC reports

Don’t include too much data in reports

Your first step should be to remove all the unnecessary charts, graphs, screenshots, etc. It’s harder to create action items when you have too much information. Include the information that will help guide your decision or that is valuable to the client’s business.

Show results

Providing wide lens context from the start is going to make for a much stronger meeting. When showing the results, tie everything back to your business or marketing goals.

PPC metrics to include

While Google offers tons of really granular measuring tools for very specific numbers, there are a few key metrics that you should include in every PPC report. Metrics we recommend are: clicks, costs, conversions, cost per conversion and return on ad spend. For recipients who are not used to looking at PPC reports, you can even translate the PPC terms into business terms.

Use graphs

Including trend graphs helps them visualize performance and ask questions, especially if there are peaks or dips in traffic and conversions.

Explain changes

With each trend graph, you should include a brief explanation. A sentence or two is all you want here. If you start including long paragraphs of text on your reports, then that’s a hint that the data isn’t speaking for itself and you need to re-think which metrics you’re including.

Short conclusion

Following these tips you’ll have the building blocks you need to have a smart, efficient conversation about your PPC performance. By spending less time hunting for insights from your reports, you can spend more time on actually optimizing your accounts.

Amazon has quietly added negative keywords to Sponsored Brand ads for both Seller Central advertisers and Amazon Advertising advertisers. For those who may need a reminder, Sponsored Brand ads show most regularly at the top of search results in the headline position.

What are negative keywords?

Well, they are negative and we used them to block our ad from appearing in certain search results. This allows you to filter words or phrases that aren’t related to your but could be costing you money and irrelavant clicks.

The negative keywords are a great addition to the sponsored brand ads. Sponsored brand ads are great for brand defense, as you can ensure you have your products showing at the top of branded queries.

Benefits of negative keywords

This types of keywords refine your product target to the most relevant searches. You have options to exclude terms that aren’t related to your product or brand, and focus on those keywords and searches that drive sales.

Negative keywords ensure that your impressions and clicks are potential sales leads.

Negative keywords in Sponsored Brand Ads

Sponsored brand ads are great for brand defense, as you can ensure you have your products showing at the top of branded queries. Now with the addition of the negative keywords, if there are similar searches you don’t want your ads showing for, the negatives can help in avoiding those searches.

While the negative keywords are a great addition, there is still a need for more transparency with Sponsored Brand ads.

Google AdWords is one of the most advanced advertising platforms that allow big and small businesses to have their products and services advertised in front of potential customers.

If you’ve been using the platform, you’ll know that there are numerous targeting options and settings that cater to different types of businesses.

Running an effective AdWords campaign requires intelligent work. You can’t simply throw $5,000 at Google and expect to get leads. Instead, you need to do your homework and leverage the targeting (and other) tools the AdWords platform puts at your disposal.

Here are some tips we use when we create campaigns:

Good account structure

A well-structured AdWords account is a must if you want your ad spend to turn a profit. Keywords, ads and ad groups in each campaign should be tightly related. In turn, Google will reward you by lowering advertising costs.

Put your money on Search network campaigns

The Search network is the bullseye when it comes to targeting the hottest potential customers for your products and services. Unlike marketing on the Display network, which interrupts your prospects as they browse the web, prospects on the Search network have actually taken an action by searching for a solution to their problem — already qualifying them as a lead.

Ad copy and images are important

Ad copies are responsible for attracting the right prospects while repelling those who won’t convert to customers. Your target audience will always respond better to one of the two big ideas. For ads that run on the display network, images are just as important as ad copy. The images you choose for your ads need to grab the attention of prospective customers to make them want to click on your ad.

Test and track your ads

Testing different keywords, ads, and bid strategies will help you find the best option to meet your CPA goals.In order for Google to properly track conversions, the AdWords conversion tags must be properly placed on the thank-you pages your prospective customers land on, after taking the desired conversion action on your website.

Set up campaigns for different devices

It’s not a good idea to assume desktop and mobile traffic produce the same results. With mobile usage on the rise, there’s a good chance a large percentage of your AdWords traffic is coming from mobile devices. Structuring your campaigns by device type allows you to handle desktop traffic independent from mobile traffic.

Use negative keyword list

It’s a good idea to make sure you’re not receiving clicks from unrelated searches in your campaigns. Setting one main negative keyword list at a campaign level will cover all of your ad groups inside each campaign. Keep in mind, negative keywords can also use broad, broad match modifier, phrase, and exact match types to control the traffic that triggers your ad.

Short conclusion

The work of an AdWords marketing campaign is never done. Once it’s up and running, you’ll want to constantly make adjustments. Try small variations on ad copy, keywords, landing pages and anything else you can think of to see what works and what doesn’t. Even a small improvement can make a big difference.

Ask a marketer or business owner what they’d like most in the world, and they’ll probably tell you “more customers.”

This is important because those people coming to your website are leads. And leads can be converted into customers, which means more revenue for your business.

Tips to increase traffic to website

Social media – When it comes to increasing traffic to your website, social media cannot be overlooked. Social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and more.

Businesses over the world have found them to be effective for gaining followers and directing them back to their main website.

Write blog – Writing blog posts might seem like a waste of time, but it is the best way to establish yourself as an authority in your industry. Every day, people are searching for useful content online.

Utilize SEO – On-page SEO is the best way to get your website to rank highly on search engines. This means more people see you’re website and will visit it. There are many on-page SEO tips and trick that you can use to increase your ranking.

The most popular include writing long-form content, making sure the content is relevant to what people are searching for and including meta descriptions as well as appropriate keywords.

Find backlinks – Backlinks tell search engines that your website is popular, which makes them rank it highly. So speak to industry influencers and complementary businesses to link back to your website.

E-mail marketing is not dead – According to a survey by HubSpot, 59% of people said that emails influence their decision to make a purchase.

However, the success of email marketing depends on a number of factors. These include posting at the right times and making sure the content is relevant.

Post on Linkedin (this is not a joke) – LinkedIn has become much more than a means of finding another job. The world’s largest professional social network is now a valuable publishing platform in its own right, which means you should be posting content to LinkedIn on a regular basis. 

Engage with your followers – For instance, when you comment on your Facebook posts, people might view your Facebook profile to interact with you more. Here, they will most likely find the link to your website, sending more traffic towards it.

Make sure your site is fast and responsive – If your site takes forever to load, your bounce rate will be sky high. Make sure that your pages are as technically optimized as possible, including image file sizes, page structure and the functionality of third-party plugins.

Ensure that your website is accessible and comfortably viewable across a range of devices, including smaller smartphones.

Short conclusion

If you don’t have a website these days, your business might as well be non-existent. And when you do have one, you need to know how to drive traffic to your website.

More traffic means more revenue for your business. Utilize social media, get comfortable with SEO tricks, and always put your audience first.

Cyber-security is sadly something which has only come into the popular subconscious in the last decade or so. An area that is certainly not immune is web hosting and website management.

It’s likely that if you have a website then you might pride yourself on already understanding some of the threats which are out there for you and your website.

Which plugins will lock out the bad guys?

Sucuri Security

The Sucuri Security plugin offers both free and paid versions, yet the majority of websites should be fine with the free plugin. As for the free features, the plugin comes with security activity auditing for seeing how well the plugin is protecting your website.

It has file integrity monitoring, blacklist monitoring, security notifications, and security hardening.

Jetpack

Jetpack is made by people from WordPress itself so it’s one of the more popular options for security for your WordPress. Jetpack has a variety of uses, pertaining to social media, website speed and spam protection.

iThemes security

The iThemes Security plugin (previously known as Better WP Security) is one of the more impressive ways to protect your website, with over 30 offerings to prevent things like hacks and unwanted intruders.

It has a strong focus on recognizing plugin vulnerabilities, obsolete software, and weak passwords.

Google authenticator

Google Authenticator offers a two-factor authentication option for your site. It’s a one-off feature: Google Authenticator only offers this security, in a very simplistic way.

And yet, it is actually a fabulously good option for a lot of people. GA will offer you a second layer of security at any login portal.

Wordfence security

Wordfence Security is one of the most popular WordPress security plugins, and for good reason. This gem pairs simplicity with powerful protection tools, such as the robust login security features and the security incident recovery tools.

One of the main advantages of Wordfence is the fact that you can gain insight into overall traffic trends and hack attempts.

Security Ninja

Security Ninja has a great selection of features attached to its free package, which makes it a valuable resource for those wanting to do security on a budget.

The main plug-in, and the only one you can get in the free deal, performs over 50 checks to various points of the login process, as well as monitoring user passwords to get read of weak login information and educate users on security.

Short conclusion

They say purchasing real estate is one of the best investments you can make. For such a high-value investment would you not want to protect it to the best of your ability?

That’s why you buy insurance and consider setting up an alarm system or some security cameras.

And you should think the same way when it comes to your WordPress website.