Google Ads Reveals Its Top Three Priorities for 2022

Google Ads has committed to providing a better experience for its users as buyer behaviour shifts throughout the pandemic.

Google Ads recently revealed its top three priorities for 2022: automation, measurement, and privacy.

These aren’t necessarily new priorities, but rather a shift in how they’re focusing on each one. Let us take a closer look.

Automation Provides New Opportunities

Jerry Dischler, Vice President and General Manager of Google Ads, discussed how changes in consumer behaviour present both challenges and opportunities.

His conversations with brands have centred on the importance of readiness, speed, and agility in driving growth. Later, he says:

“Over 80% of Google advertisers are now using automated bidding to free up time and improve ad performance.”

Google is emphasising the use of Performance Max and Discovery campaign types under the Automation pillar.

Both campaign types are concerned with reaching a large number of people with a single campaign. Google touts the following benefits of these campaigns:

Management should be simplified (less campaigns)
Reach across multiple channels
increased ad inventory
Conversions in increments

Google recommends using Smart Bidding, responsive search ads, and broad match keywords for single-channel campaign types such as Search, Display, and YouTube.

The Measurement of the Future

It’s no secret that measurement has been a difficult topic for the majority of advertisers. With the iOS 14 update, the removal of third-party cookies in the future, and other changes, new approaches to measurement will be critical for success.

It will be more difficult to demonstrate the value of marketing if you do not have meaningful results and data to back up your efforts.

Google is introducing new privacy and measurement solutions, such as:

Increased conversions
Mode of Consent
Modeling conversions
Attribution based on data

The solutions implemented will rely on your first-party data and privacy-protected APIs.

These efforts prioritize the user by protecting their privacy while also listening to the needs of advertisers in order to track campaign efforts.

Meeting Digital Privacy Expectations

It’s difficult to go a day without hearing about some kind of privacy breach. Google recognizes the growing need for user privacy and control.

While you must cultivate relationships with your customers, they must also be assured that their data is secure and that they can maintain some level of anonymity.

Google has updated its privacy playbook to meet these demands from both advertisers and users. This playbook’s three main highlights are as follows:

Developing direct customer relationships
Keeping measurement accurate and actionable
Maintain the relevance of your advertisements.

You can capture first-party data for more 1:1 direct communication, such as email marketing or in-app messaging, by building direct relationships with customers.

What does this imply for marketers?

While we are all accustomed to relying on paid media to drive the final sale and demonstrate direct ROI, its role may need to change. Of course, this is dependent on your overall strategy.

For example, instead of focusing on the final sale, some of your non-branded or awareness efforts should focus on capturing first-party data.

If you can capture that first-party data on the first touch, you can attribute a final sale back to that initial touchpoint. Just keep in mind that your attribution modelling must be updated to reflect changes in strategy.