In every Google Ads account, there is a Recommendations section. It’s in the left nav right between Overview and Campaigns, so Google is giving it a very heavy visual emphasis.
I’ve written about this before (back when they called them Opportunities), pointing out both good things and bad things that cropped up. Recently I’ve noticed another wrinkle from Google.
Increased Education
While Google Ads’ recommendations have been pretty sparse on the “why” in the past, they are trying to educate users more with these recent changes. Here is an example I saw for a recommendation about the Target Impression Share bidding option:
As you can see, there is a full paragraph under the initial recommendation that explains what the feature is. Here is the text if the image is too small to read:
Target impression share automatically optimizes your bids to help you achieve your impression share goal. Your goal can be based on showing your ad on the absolute top of the page, on the top of the page, or anywhere on the page of Google search results within the maximum CPC bid limit you set. You may see changes in impression share and cost if you use Target impression share.
This is followed by three bullet points on the benefits of the page. Again, shown here for ease of reading:
- Optimize for visibility: Focus on your impression share goals
- Automated bids: Simplify bid management while staying within the maximum CPC bid limit you set
- Tailored reporting: See reporting metrics tied directly to your campaign’s impression share target
This is great selling right here. Tell them what it is and then tell them what’s in it for them. Very smart.
Apply Right On The Spot
The last thing they do that is really smart is making it possible to implement the change right away. The advertiser doesn’t have to navigate to the campaign, then setting, then bidding type, etc. There is a drop-down box for choosing the strategy:
Once you’ve picked the option all that’s left is to click Apply. Then Google takes care of the rest for you.
The one suggestion I would have for Google is that the numbers in the table don’t update when the strategy is changed. My guess is that most advertisers would use different CPC bid limits and expect different impression share depending on the choice they make.
Conclusion
The team at Google Ads keeps making improvements in the Recommendations and they’re making it much more advertiser-friendly in the process. They’re effectively communicating what the feature us and why advertisers should use it. I’d love to know how this affects the rate of implementation on these suggestions.
Do you utilize the Recommendations tab? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!