Google recently announced a significant change to its Search Ads 360 platform. Since its inception more than a decade ago, SA360 has grown in power, making it easier than ever for companies to market their search advertising campaigns.
Users will be able to access the classic platform experience while the new platform experience is being rolled out over the following months. In this article, I’ll go over what’s new in Search Ads 360 and show you how to make the most of your budgets and inventory.
1. More support for alternative media
Increased support for alternative search engines including Microsoft Ads and Yahoo!
For years, other advertising channels have been overlooked, resulting in time-consuming workarounds to link data and make bulk modifications. As a result of the new upgrade, Google claims that you will be able to complete more tasks from the same location.
Search Ads 360 will now support the following functionalities for Microsoft Advertisers:
- Advertisements in response to searches
- Extensions on the phone
- Advertisements for local inventory
- Access to a wide range of audiences
Dynamic search advertisements and site link extension scheduling are now available to Yahoo! Japan advertisers.
2. Obtaining new features
The latest features in Google Ads will now be supported by Search Ads 360, including:
- Performance Max is a new goal-based campaign type that gives performance marketers centralized access to all of their Google Ads inventory.
- Advertisers can run ads in Google Discover feeds to create highly visual, exciting tailored ad experiences through discovery campaigns.
- YouTube and Display Advertising (previously only on the platform)
Advanced enterprise innovation tools have also been provided by Google, allowing teams to expand common tasks such as:
- Campaign administration
- Make rules that are automated.
- Use labels for a variety of sponsors at the same time.
Templates will bring together existing elements like inventory management and ad building to create a more uniform and scalable experience.
3. Inventory management that is up to date
A new inventory management system streamlines operations and gives you more power over how you use your advertising space.
SA360 can develop ready-to-go sponsored search ads using dynamic data from your inventory feed, such as the price, description, and availability of your product. This tool is especially beneficial for industrial verticals where costs and availability change regularly, such as Airlines Hotels Live, and Streaming Entertainment Retail Businesses with geo-specific offers.
How does Search Ads 360 work?
- Make a list of attributes for your feed, such as product name, price, and landing page, and provide high-quality data.
- Make templates for each output you want to generate, such as a campaign, ad group, ad, or keyword. (Hint: begin small!)
- To create highly relevant advertising, use functions and characteristics.
- Examine your output and make adjustments until you’re satisfied with the results.
- You’ll have ready-to-go, tailored campaigns in your account in minutes.
Marketers will be able to manage templates across client accounts in the new Search Ads 360, allowing them to update ads at scale.
4. Managing the budget
Any media manager will tell you that managing account budgets and pacing is one of the most important and toughest aspects of campaign management, especially at scale.
Budget management will be upgraded and integrated with the new ‘Performance Center’ as part of the current Search Ads 360 version. Google expects to release full access to these planning tools later this year, allowing users to experiment with various media budget flighting scenarios.
Features
Some of the elements incorporated in the current budget management system are as follows:
- Visual graphs that show the objective and expected spend, as well as key performance indicators (KPIs) like CPA (cost per acquisition) and revenue.
- Your budget bid strategy determines the automatic budget allocation and bid changes.
- Capabilities for forecasting based on historical performance data that takes seasonality into account
- Based on previous data, estimated total spending and the likelihood of meeting target spend.
- Reports are timed daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual.
- We should expect these tools to become more precise and streamlined for company planning as Google adds additional features throughout the year.
A new appearance
With identical navigation and a familiar user experience, the new Search Ads 360 experience is quite similar to the Google Ads platform. When you first access the SA360 platform, you’ll see the same account overview dashboard that you see in Google Ads, allowing for easy navigating between the two.
Toward the future
Google’s new Search Ads 360 update opens the door to the next generation of enterprise performance optimization solutions. The new changes will enable you to complete more work in one location, saving time and giving a better cross-channel view for data-driven decision-making.