Google Introduces Promotions Extensions, Custom Intent Audiences and Ad Variations to AdWords

As Black Friday kicks off the festive sales season this week, Google has rolled out a range of brand-new features exclusive to the latest AdWords interface.

You can expect increased campaign customisation options and control thanks to the introduction of Promotions Extensions, Content Intent Audiences and Ad Variations to the platform.

These additions are welcome news for retail businesses aiming to ramp up their AdWords activity during this lucrative period.

Promotions Extensions:

Google has created Promotions Extensions which allow you to add a percentage off, promotional code or offer period to existing text adverts.

The Promotions Extensions include full customisation options (occasion, discount type and date ranges), to enable you to advertise special seasonal offers (e.g. 50% off Women’s Shoes on Boxing Day).

We were intrigued to see the impact of the Promotions Extensions, so we began using them for our the day they were launched.

Custom Intent Audiences

Taking inspiration from Facebook and Twitter’s in-depth audience targeting techniques, Google has updated their AdWords in-market audiences and best-practice remarketing list, so you can better target your business’ key demographics.

There are two options available:

1. Custom: You can create your own custom audiences based on popular topics and URLs related to your product
2. Auto-generated: Google will create audiences and show you the estimated reach and performance for each version

Regardless of which option you choose, the new Custom Intent Audiences feature will allow you to improve your campaign targeting, and significantly increase performance.

Ad Variations

You can now test multiple ads in a matter of clicks, and view results once they are statistically significant, with the latest Ad Variation roll-out.

This new feature has the potential to offer a highly efficient way to test not only ad messaging, but language trends, calls-to-action and unique selling propositions for your business in a rapid format – not only for improved results but fast market testing.

Although further testing is still required to evaluate the real value of Ad Variations, it effectively streamlines previous testing methods to make the process more efficient.

Google has announced that they will continue to roll out new features exclusively to the new AdWords interface despite some user resistance.

What are your thoughts on Google’s new AdWords additions? Do you believe they will improve your campaigns?

To discover more about these changes, click here.