New Audience Targeting Options For Google Search

By:   Bilal Kamal         Topic:  New Audience Targeting Options For Google Search

     
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Good news, search advertisers: In preparation for the upcoming holiday season, Google has announced two new ways to reach your target audience via text ads. Affinity for In-Market Leads With the help of prospective and seasonal event segments, you can easily deliver the best message to high-quality prospects. 




In the next few weeks, we'll take a closer look at the new targeting options that will arrive in your Google Ads account and discuss their potential impact on your vacation marketing strategy. Then I'll wrap up my advice on the next steps you can take.


Affinity search target     

If you're familiar with display advertising, familiar prospects aren't new. Marketers have been able to use this for a long time to reach potential customers on the GDN. By default, affinity leads are consumer groups that show all interest in a particular topic. To determine eligibility for a particular affinity audience, Google considers factors such as search history and webpages you visit often.


      

Soon, you can improve your search campaigns by layering your affinity leads above your keywords. We use a case from a company that sells camping equipment in an announcement post. If this is your company, you can traditionally target keywords like 'tent for camp' to reach your potential customers. You can target your keywords through affinity audiences, while targeting your passion for the outdoors. .

In other words, using affinity audiences in search allows you to refine your targeting so that consumers looking at text ads increase their conversion potential.

Impact on Holiday Marketing Strategy

At the end of the year, competition is fierce on the search network. In general, advertisers tend to increase their budget and target more keywords. As a result, it's pretty difficult to drive meaningful website traffic with common keywords like 'camp tent'.

Layering affinity leads over search keywords can help reduce holiday marketing noise. As competition intensifies and CPC increases, you can't afford to waste time on prospects with low conversion potential. It is not necessary thanks to affinity leads.

Seasonal event segments for in-market prospects

Since 2018, in-market prospects have helped search advertisers improve conversion rates by connecting with consumers who are actively researching and comparing products. For example, if you spend a few weeks searching for a query like 'men's jeans' and visiting an e-commerce website like H & M, Google will be an in-market audience for apparel and accessories. This makes it easier for retailers who sell men's jeans to reach people like me, that is, those interested in buying. 

 


Soon in-market audience targeting will become even more powerful with the introduction of seasonal event segments, a subcategory of consumers that actively research and compare products in preparation for an upcoming holiday or event. Since you know that upcoming people are having a special day in mind (e.g. Valentine's Day), you can write timely suggestions and targeted messages.

In other words, seasonal event segments for potential customers in the market can help you distinguish between consumers who are generally interested in your business and those who are interested in your business for a specific reason.

Impact on Holiday Marketing Strategy

Undoubtedly, Black Friday and Christmas get their own in-market segment when this update arrives at the Google Ads interface. It's not easy to use these features to reinforce your message when competition is fierce.

For example, let's say you sell winter outdoor clothing-coats, hats, scarves, etc. Black Friday can especially reach people who want to buy clothing from retailers who have pre-sale promotions on the market. With this in mind, you can write a message like this: “Winter Coat W Ladies Limited Black Friday Sale.”

Next steps for you

In the next few weeks, you'll see similar interest audiences for search ads and seasonal event segments in your Google Friday advertising account. In other words, time must pass before Black Friday comes.

Is it a good idea to immediately stratify your affinity audiences for high performing keywords? no. The general purpose of rolling out affinity leads for search is to refine your text ad's reach and increase conversion rates. However, if you stratify your affinity audiences for a group of keywords that are already doing business, you run the risk of blocking high quality audiences and lowering conversion rates.

Instead, test your affinity audiences with clear ad groups. If you receive a lot of impressions on the keywords in that ad group, but don't have a high conversion rate, then you may be able to get help from similar interest prospects.

The same logic applies to seasonal event segments for in-market prospects. We don't immediately experiment with seasonal segmentation on top performing in-market prospects. Let's highlight it again and find potential customers who can use boost clearly and see how seasonal segmentation works. Insight is valuable but the steak is not big!